July Newsletter 2023
EDPA Future Workforce Committee in Action!
EDPA’s Future Workforce Committee, the EDPA Southeast Chapter and a large group of EDPA volunteers exhibited at the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Annual Conference July 15-18 in Atlanta, GA. EDPA met with K-12 school counselors, college professors, graduate students, and school counseling supervisors to bring awareness to the exhibition industry and discuss the career opportunities.
Thank you to the army of EDPA volunteers and member companies who helped make this initiative a success. A special shout out to Matthew Little, Sandra Braun and Lynn Reves who led the teams and coordinated our efforts!
Thank you to the following EDPA member companies for providing materials and services:
Hill & Partners
Exhibitus
The Expo Group
CORT
BrightPipe
Champion Logistics
AdNormous Graphics
Brumark
Nth Degree
Nuvista
Las Vegas Expo
Aria AV
Kubik
Deckel & Moneypenny
Thank you to the following individuals who gave their time to staff the EDPA booth:
Chris Griffin – Crew XP
Michael McMahon – Hill & Partners
Kent Agramonte – beMatrix
Donna Jensen – CDI Worldwide
Glen Ruggiero – On Location
Russell Greenway – Nth Degree
Matthew Little - Nuvista
James Zacharias - Brumark
John Lamb – Champion Logistics
Denny Spaulding – Champion Logistics
Hayda Toro – AdNormous Graphics
Rick Buffkin – Lancaster Management
Alex Hill – Taylor Visual Communications
Dasher Lowe - EDPA
EDPA ACCESS 2023 is Coming – Tickets On Sale Soon
EDPA will be hosting our 3-day annual conference November 28th – November 30th at Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, Florida. Don’t miss out on one of the most well attended industry events. Registration and event details will be coming next month. We look forward to seeing you there!
The 29th Annual Randy Registration is Open –
Get Your Tickets Today!
Registration is now open for the 2023 Atlanta Randy! This year's event takes place on October 6th once again at Stone Mountain Golf Club in Stone Mountain, GA.
Join us to support our friends and families in the exhibition industry who have suffered severe tragedies or face insurmountable medical expenses. We are looking forward to getting our community back together in support of this great cause.
Date: October 6th
Course: Stone Mountain Golf Club in Stone Mountain, GA
Register: https://rsmgc.org/atlanta/
If you or someone you know in the trade show industry has suffered a severe tragedy or faces insurmountable medical expenses and is in need of financial assistance, please download and submit the application here.
You can also support the Randy Smith Foundation by joining The Chicago Randy taking place on July 31 at the Seven Bridges Golf Course in Woodridge, Il and The Get Out of the Gutter bowling event taking place on August 24 at Bowlmor in Atlanta, GA.
FIT Graduate Exhibition &
Experience Design Pinnacle & Epic Games
For the 2023 sponsored project in the Spring semester, students of the Graduate Program in Exhibition and Experience Design (EED) at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), collaborated with Pinnacle, an experiential marketing agency, on a student project in experiential design. For this project FIT EED students presented concepts for an experiential pop up to the Pinnacle’s representatives Chris Fredericksen, Chief Creative Officer and
Adam Carnes, Creative Director, as well as to Diana Diriwaechter, Epic Games Education Lead.
At least 175 colleges and universities are now members of the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) and offer officially recognized varsity esports programs. To encourage diversity and inclusion in esports, Epic Games is piloting a collegiate outreach program to promote Epic Game’s flagship title, Fortnite, and industry-leading game development platform, Unreal Engine, to students and prospective students underrepresented in the gaming industry.
Students’ pop-up exhibition was designed for deployment to job fairs, gaming tournaments, and student events at college campuses, including HBCUs (Historically Black College Universities) and Seven Sisters campuses. Through this process students learned (a) professional design and pre-production processes of experiential marketing activations and (b) how to utilize Unreal Engine’s bleeding-edge 3D visualization tools.
“As an EED graduate myself, my expectations for FIT’s Students were high. Collaborating with practicing professionals, they design human-centered experiences that prioritize storytelling. The creativity displayed by this group was pure inspiration, with each student presenting a distinct style and voice in their technical execution and delivery. We can anticipate remarkable achievements form them in the future.”—Adam Carnes, Creative Director, Pinnacle.
Click here to view Student Portfolios.
For more information on joining the EED program or design partnership projects please contact: Christina Lyons, Chair, FIT Graduate Exhibition & Experience Design, christina_lyons@fitnyc.edu
Find out about opportunities to get your company’s message out to our industry.
Email Sales@edpa.com for more information.
State-of-the-Nation Report from The Exhibitor Advocate, Exhibitor Group and Explori
The Exhibitor Advocate, Exhibitor Group and Explori released a state-of-the-nation report that provides unique and unparalleled insights on the exhibition industry from the perspective of exhibit marketers. This comprehensive report conducted by live event research specialists Explori is the culmination of extensive quantitative research and represents findings from 255 exhibit marketers currently running event programs for organizations of all sizes covering a range of industries.
The report’s aim is to provide deep understanding of the current challenges, strategies, and opportunities facing exhibit marketers who either have direct decision-making power or advisory influence over the decision to exhibit at trade shows. Overall, the study found that exhibitions remain a valued sales and marketing channel amongst event teams and their senior leadership. However, the global inflation situation, along with increasing exhibit costs, are changing the way spend is distributed between events or decreasing per-event spend on in-person events for 2023. Budget cuts for exhibit-related activities are looming for those who are struggling to clearly demonstrate exhibit ROI against business and commercial objectives.
Commenting on the report, Mark Brewster, CEO of Explori, stated, “Many of our clients amongst both exhibition organizers and corporate event teams have expressed real concerns over the current inflationary conditions. There is little doubt that the demand for 'in-person' is high and trade shows have bounced back with a vengeance. However, the research identifies a friction between the spiraling costs of exhibit programs and pressures on budgets with the absence of measurement data on the real value exhibitions have on achieving business objectives. For this reason, when we were approached by the Exhibitor Advocate, we were enthusiastic to deliver and fund this important research.”
Jessica Sibila, Executive Director of The Exhibitor Advocate adds, "This report is a game-changer for the exhibit marketing industry. It offers a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities faced by exhibit marketers and provides actionable recommendations to drive success."
Mark Johnson, Owner of Exhibitor Group, said, “We're excited to partner with Explori and The Exhibitor Advocate to deliver this timely and relevant content that is vital for event professionals.”
Key findings from the report shed light on the dynamic nature of exhibit marketing in 2023. Among the standout statistics include:
7/10 exhibitors agree that their organization’s leadership sees exhibits as a ‘valuable, irreplaceable’ part of the marketing mix.
94% of the exhibitors we surveyed expect some level of change to their exhibit programs in the next three years.
82% of those planning to exhibit at fewer in-person shows said exhibit-related costs were a factor in their decision.
61% of exhibitors say that previous experience at a show is a key factor in their decision to exhibit.
Exhibitors’ inability to demonstrate event ROI to senior leadership is the greatest internal challenge after budget pressures.
Whilst many senior leaders view exhibits as a valuable marketing channel, 30% are now unconvinced that they are essential.
A full copy of the report can be found on the Exhibitor Advocate website - https://exhibitoradvocacy.com/exhibit-leader-insights-report/
EDPA Northwest
Event Title: Summer Social 2023
Date: July 20, 2023
Location: Maumee Bay Brewing Company, 27 Broadway Street, Toledo, OH 43604
Time: 3:00 - 6:00pm EDT
Event Description: Join your colleagues and friends at Maumee Bay Brewing Co. Food and fun are on the menu, and we will discuss Employee Retention, Incentives and Future Workforce. Virtual Guest Speakers include Chris Griffin from Crew XP, Matthew Little from Nuvista, and Tom Gardner from Access TCA. Tickets are $45.00/person. Please RSVP by 7/17/23. Tickets are limited to 40 attendees.
Registration link: tinyurl.com/29zeftkr
EDPA Upper Midwest
Event Title: UMEDPA kickoff event at Top Golf
Date: August 17, 2023
Location: Top Golf 6420 Camden Ave. N. Brooklyn Center, MN 55430
Time: 4:30 – 6:30 pm CDT
Event Description: An evening of golf, food, drinks, networking and fun!
Registration link: https://UMEDPAevents.rsvpify.com
EDPA Midwest
Event Title: Chicago Randy Smith Golf Outing - 20th Anniversary!
Date: July 31, 2023
Location: Seven Bridges Golf Club - One Mulligan Drive, Woodridge, Illinois, 60517
Time: 12:00pm CDT shotgun start. Reception/dinner to follow golf.
Event Description: Join us for the 20th annual Chicago Randy Smith Golf Outing on Monday July 31st. Proceeds benefit The Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic which helps families in the exhibit industry who have suffered severe tragedies or face insurmountable medical expenses. We have some special surprises in store to help celebrate our 20th anniversary of this great event!
Registration link: Register Here
EDPA Southeast
Event Title: Get Out of the Gutter
Date: August 24, 2023
Location: Bowlmor Lanes
Time: 4:30-8:30 pm EDT
Event Description: Join the SE EDPA Chapter for the 16th Annual team bowling event to help support The Randy Smith Memorial Golf Classic.
Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/get-out-of-the-gutterfor-a-good-cause-tickets-657576036627
EDPA Texas
Event Title: Trivia Night
Event Date: August 9th – Challenger TBD
Event Location: Zoom
Time: Trivia Night - 5:00 - 6:00pm CDT
Event Description: SPONSORED BY CLASSIC EXHIBITS - Join us for a fun evening and test your trivia skills aiming to win a $50 Amazon gift card. ALL ARE WELCOME!
Registration link: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86951770992?pwd=K2N5bzgzMkZNNjZsU2Q0cjZjOVBDZz09
Meeting ID: 869 5177 0992
Passcode: 264690
EDPA Texas
Event Title: 2nd Annual Top Golf Tournament
Date: August 14th
Location: Top Golf The Colony
Time: 5:30 – 9:00pm CDT
Description: Join the Texas EDPA Chapter for the 2nd annual Top Golf Tournament and enjoy a night of networking, education, good works, and FUN!
Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/texas-edpa-2nd-annual-top-golf-tournament-tickets-669080185847?aff=oddtdtcreator
EDPA Las Vegas
Event Title: EDPA Las Vegas Family Night at The Ballpark
Date: July 27, 2023
Location: Las Vegas Ballpark
Time: 6:00-10:00pm PDT
Event Description: Watch the Las Vegas Aviators take on the Sugarland Space Cowboys from the 3rd Base Party Deck on $2 Beer Night! Adult and Children tickets available. Food and non-alcoholic beverages are included with your ticket.
Registration link: https://www.edpalv.com/event-info/edpa-las-vegas-family-night-at-the-ballpark