In the midst of the madness of a thousand other vendors setting up their trade show booths on the massive Orlando convention center floor I set out to do the same this morning. Only my task was a little simpler than most. I unclipped a wrench and pair of side cutters that were fastened to the back of our booth, unclipped the snow screen that was fastened across the front for shipping. I then undid eight bolts, swung open the two side panels and fastened them in place with the handy brackets that were also fastened to the rear of the booth. I plugged in the power, rolled out the pre-cut carpet and fastened it to the floor with a little double sided tape. The decal didn’t take long to apply to the floor. It only took a few minutes to plug in and test the TV’s and aim the lights. .As quick as that we were ready to roll for the 2019 IAAPA EXPO. The show starts on Tuesday morning. That gives us a whole extra day to take in the new Star Wars Land at Disney!
IAAPA TIME - BOOTH 671
It is that time of year once again! This is the week of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions EXPO - the largest trade show serving our business. I woke up extra early this morning at 3:00 am, travelled all day and arrived in Orlando just early enough to go to the convention center. I wanted to grab a sneak peek of our booth to make sure our display had arrived in good shape and was placed correctly in our booth space. I was delighted to see that everything was perfect! Tomorrow morning I’ll head back onto the showroom floor and unwrap the display, swing open the side panels and roll out the carpet. Peter and Hailey are making the journey tomorrow to join me. To all of our friends attending the show we are at booth number 671.
Those were the days!
Back when I was only fourteen years old I got a part time job at the local Blueberry Creek general store and gas station in the very small town we lived in. I pumped gas and sold groceries along with a host of other chores. Gas was only twenty-five cents a gallon back then. On top of that my boss insisted I always add an extra nickels worth of gas to every customer’s tank. A bottle of coke sold for twelve cents plus a three cent deposit. I remember one of my friend’s older brothers came by the store regularly, filled up his very nice car with gas and drank a coke while he waited for me to do the chore. When I was done he would always toss me the empty bottle and tell me to keep the deposit. That was a three cent tip - no small matter when I was only making a buck an hour. Those were indeed the good old days!
