March 23, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, March 23, 2020: What a Year Last Week Was

We’re all dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Work, play, daily activities and more are all curtailed or affected. It seemed like last week put us on the precipice of something that we’re not quite ready for. In this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, I share a few observations on what I’ve seen.

Here’s the ongoing, probably mostly up-to-date database of events and tradeshows that have been cancelled or postponed: On Location

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: Secret City, the Australian series starring Anna Torv of The Fringe fame.

March 9, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, March 9, 2020: Expo West and a Week in LA

Natural Products Expo West was postponed and/or cancelled a couple of days before floor doors were to open. I happened to be sitting on the airplane headed to LA for the show when I got the news.

This week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee podcast/vlog is more or less a travelogue of the 6 days I spent in LA and surrounding area, along with a few comments about Natural Products Expo West. I worked with clients to make sure they had return shipping handled and connected with several old friends and relatives.

Take a look/listen:

Show Notes: I mentioned a handful of folks that I encountered during the week.

Jay Gilbert interview

Paul Jackson interview

Drew at Radio.com – Entercom Radio, including JACK-FM.

Roger Steffens, author, speaker, Bob Marley historian, reggae collector (Wikipedia page)

Roger’s Instagram page: The Family Acid.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: having a little free time on the road.

March 2, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, March 2, 2020: Marcus Vahle and John Pugh

Share Experience is a new company formed late last year by Marcus Vahle and John Pugh, both with long experience in the event and tradeshow world. Given what looks to be a unique approach to carving out their niche in the event world, I thought it might be fun to catch up with them for a conversation on this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee:

Check out Marcus and John’s new company Share Experience.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: Dean Koontz’s “The Forbidden Door.”

February 24, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, February 24, 2020: Hiett Ives

Hiett Ives is a four-decade veteran of the tradeshow industry. He publishes a weekly newsletter on language that is short and fun to read. Hiett also helps companies gather more leads at tradeshows with his company Show Dynamics.

Check out our conversation on this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee:

Check out Hiett’s company, Show Dynamics, here.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: The release of “I’ll See You Again in 25 Years” by Completely Grocery and The Sauce Unlimited.

February 3, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, February 3, 2020: Jim Wurm

The first time I walked “backstage” at a tradeshow, I realized how nuts it really was. A thousand different things going ten thousand different ways. Thousand of exhibitors, laborers, electricians, forklift operators, scissor lift operators, and so much more are all involved in an elaborate dance that takes place over a few days until opening day when everything looks perfect. Then once the show is over the same crazy dance happens in reverse.

Most people don’t think about what goes on behind the scenes, as long as it happens and their exhibit looks great for the show. But, oh, the things that have to happen for the show to take place.

For this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, I sat down with Jim Wurm, Executive Director of the Exhibitor Appointed Contractor Association. The EACA is the main organization that advocates for all of those behind-the-scenes companies and employers. And there are a lot of different ones. Really good conversation and yes, I learned quite a bit:

Find the EACA here.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: the full Kobe Bryant tribute put on by the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night before they played the Portland Trailblazers.

January 27, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, January 27, 2020: Taking a Stand

How does taking a stand on what might be a controversial issue affect a business? Are there places where you can take a stand and make your viewpoint known without stepping into controversy? This week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee takes a look at taking a stand:

Podcast referenced in this week’s episode:

Chris Hayes’ “Why Is This Happening?” featuring an interview with ESPN’s Howard Bryant.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING is actually two things.

Oregon Ducks Women’s Basketball Team

Oregon State Beavers Women’s Basketball Team

January 20, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, January 20, 2020: Downtime

It’s a holiday here in the US as we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Are you taking the day off? Are you working? How do you get downtime when you need it? And yes, you really do need it! What is motivation? And do you really need it? What about focus? Is that better?

So many questions. I take on a few of them on this morning’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee:

Link to the Marc Maron WTF Podcast interview with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: FAWM – February Album Writing Month.

January 13, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee: January 13, 2020: Focus and Motivation

Do you need motivation to get something done, or do you need focus? Or is there something more? On this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, I dig into both concepts to see what it all means.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: The National Football League Playoffs.

January 6, 2020

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, January 6, 2020: David Meerman Scott

I first crossed paths with David Meerman Scott over a dozen years ago. Since then he’s written several books and been a keynote speaker at countless conferences, discussing the changing world of marketing and public relations. On this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, David joins me to talk about his just-released book, Fanocracy, co-written with his daughter Reiko Scott.

This week’s ONE GOOD THING. Actually, four of them!

Dolomite Is My Name, the new Eddie Murphy movie:

Also: Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron.

And: Nicholas Kristoff’s column: This Has Been the Best Year Ever, his annual look at so many good things going on in the world.

And: An Astronaut’s Guide to Optimism. Chris Hadfield’s short video on the good and amazing things in the world amongst the noisy badness:

December 16, 2019

TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, December 16th, 2019: FUN

What is fun? Why are some things fun to you but not to others, or vice versa? Why do some people appear to have more fun that you, even though they’re doing the same thing?

Lots of things to explore on the nature of FUN on this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee. Also, today is ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons’ 70th birthday, so he gets a little shoutout!

This week’s ONE GOOD THING: Exhibitor Magazine.

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