Trade Show Guru

It snows in the winter. “Duh”, you say? Well, for some of us living on the coast in Southern California, we tend to forget there are four seasons. It’s really not that hard to forget that there is something called “winter”, especially when one has a tomato plant in the backyard that never got pulled out last fall and now has a dozen green tomatoes on it. Fortunately, thanks to the internet and blogging, our friends in colder climates can remind us that it snows in the winter. [Read more →]

Just like when you’re designing trade show booths and it’s critical to pick a clear and compelling tag line, when you’re writing a blog post, it’s equally important to pick a clear and compelling post title, preferably with your targeted keywords in it, and with a twist or teaser that will make a reader or searcher want to click through. Well, based on that, I’m not sure I picked a good title for this post (maybe I should stick to just writing about trade show booths). My options for the title were, “My Wife is Lucky”, “We Won”, “Some People have all the Luck,” “We’re (not) Going to Disneyland”, “Why Do I Always Pick the Wrong Line”, and “My Wife is Famous.” [Read more →]

A week ago my family and I went to a local park. There is a dry stream bed that runs through the park, and we were walking along it exploring when we came across these rock piles. I was stunned. The photograph doesn’t really do them justice. I felt like I had just come across Easter Island. These rocks are stacked on top of one another. There are bigger rocks stacked on smaller rocks, and the joints are not flat but angled and precarious-looking at best. There is no mortar or cement holding them together, and no hidden steel bars running down the center. They are just perfectly balanced. Whoever created these piles was talented. [Read more →]

So what do trade show booths and a roll of duct tape have to do with each other? Probably not what you think. If you’re thinking that you should have a trade show booth that you can repair like MacGyver, that’s not what this post is about. And actually, you should have a trade show booth that is well designed and built so that you don’t have to repair or fix it, either with bubble gum, paperclips, or duct tape (at this point I am reminded of the old saying, “if you can’t fix it with duct tape, you probably just haven’t used enough duct tape”, but back to the post). [Read more →]

I’m generally against commercialism, which may seem strange since I’m work in the trade show marketing business, but life is full of contradictions (and hypocrisy). Anyway, my 6 year old daughter is hooked on High School Musical (bye bye Disney Princesses!). It started with her seeing the movie on DVD at a friend’s house, twice. Then Grandma got her the music CD from the movie, and I’ve heard the High School Musical soundtrack at least 100 times now (no exaggeration). [Read more →]

Whether your children are grown up on not, and whether or not you have children, I strongly urge you to read this post. You won’t regret it. And it you don’t…

I’m what is often referred to as a mean dad. To put it another way, I am a parent. I am the law. I think you get the picture. I believe in the same methods for disciplining children that Lin at Telling It Like It Is describes so well in her post, How to Discipline Children. [Read more →]

I saw an awesome video of a chainsaw-powered B29 bomber model airplane a month or so ago, and filed it away in my memory in the event I might need a “filler post” over the holidays. Well, the day for that filler post has arrived. The video is nothing short of amazing. It takes a bit over 7 minutes, but even if you only watch the first minute, you’ll get the idea. A couple of airplane enthusiasts built a model B29 that looks to have about a 20 foot wingspan. For the four engines, they mounted chainsaw engines with propellers in each of the engine pods. [Read more →]

40 years ago, on Christmas eve, 1968, this famous photo “earthrise” was taken, when mankind saw our tiny blue and white planet from deep space for the first time. No matter how many times I see this photo, every time it gives me chills. Even more so, the story of Apollo 8, inspires and awes me. It, and the whole story of all the Apollo missions, is best recounted in the amazing movie, [Read more →]

I puzzled, and puzzled, till my puzzler was sore… about what to write for this post. The following is what I came up with. It seems that with the end of the year fast approaching, there will be a lot of lists coming out, so I thought I’d beat the rush and get my list out now. Being the trade show guru, I also thought I ought to write a list about a trade show related topic. “Mistakes” is always a catchy word to have in a title (probably the word “mistakes” is even more popular than the word “secrets“, but not as popular as “free“). Top 3 lists always seems very popular too. So I added these thoughts all together [Read more →]

What is the Ultimate Christmas Gift? I know, but I don’t know. How’s that for a riddle? Isn’t that just the kind of “huh?” answer you’d expect from a guru?

The ultimate Christmas gift is what you get for a person that already has everything they need. It’s the gift somebody needs but doesn’t know they need. What it is depends on the person receiving the gift as well as the person getting it. [Read more →]