The first industry trade show I worked took place here at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. I was working as a professional photographer for an exhibiting client at the time, and he asked me if I could help out with a bit more than the brochure work I was doing for his company.

The year was 1983.

"It's like a big brochure you stand in front of," he said simply, when I asked him to tell me what, exactly, was a trade show exhibit.

That display was a modest 10' x 10' modular setup, and I've continued to help clients make the most of these ever since. All across the United States. Some in Germany. A lot in each of the three major venues of Mexico.

My projects have averaged 1,600 square feet. But my larger work, on the Messegelande Düsseldorf, for example, totaled 4,500 square feet — governed by a $1.36 million budget an a 15-month (2 fiscal years) timeline for turnkey project management.

In 1998, my consulting firm, Proteus Trade Show Marketing, prevailed in a highly competitive bid to conduct a first of its kind feasibility study for the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau. This 3-year project analyzed potential, and then subsequently mapped out a plan for the launch of a city-owned exhibition and conference here in the United States.

In service to the exposition industry itself, I was appointed to 3 consecutive terms on the Exhibitor Magazine Editorial Advisory Board.

I was further elected and served a 3-year term on the Board of Directors, Center for Exhibition Industry Research ("CEIR"). During my tenure, I was drafting author for the original Exhibition Industry Promotion Campaign.

Exhibit the Power!