At the American Wholesale Marketers Association’s (AWMA) Real Deal Expo in Las Vegas, this innovated twist on an attention-getting device was sighted.

The exhibiting company was MeWantCaffeine and this guy wandered the aisles before show hours, tanking up exhibitors and early show walkers with hot coffee.

Really, that is a tank of coffee on his back. The gent was armed with cups and cream and sugar as well and made sure his contacts knew who he was and where to find his booth. Read More...

They can be a troublesome thing, but they add so much to an exhibit: lights.

An exhibit actually looks drab without a wash of lights. But this short entry is about something we all need to have: basic repair skills. Read More...

Closing a show can be tough–but it can be fun and relatively painless, too. The Rule of Thumb that it takes half the time to tear down that it took to set it up really does work. If we hadn’t to have waited for crates we would have been finished in 3 hours (it took 6 hours to set the booth).

Things to remember on the down: Read More...

The booth went up today. The usual stuff happened: the crew showed up on time, the electricians took a too-long lunch, it was a mystery finding all of the graphics. But in the end, it all came together and looked really good. And like the photos and initial designs.

Tip #1: make sure you have all of the photos, drawings, crate lists and guides you can have in advance. It takes you less time when you are prepared. This seems like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t do this. Read More...

The more you visit Vegas, the more you don’t recognize it. The Hilton has been remodeled and new towers added. The car rental process at the airport has been streamlined so you only catch one bus. Off to the hall soon to see how the AWMA show is shaping up.