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Last night I made a presentation at the Las Vegas Wedding Network about effective wedding trade show exhibiting (Mining Bridal Show Gold).

It included a wide range of issues, from goal setting to training employees, following to asking for the order. Naturally, it included a rather entertaining segment on the important rationale in staging a booth.

To me, one of life’s great puzzles, is why virtually every trade show provides you a table and two chairs. The table may be useful if placed effectively, but the chairs are not just useless, they are a big-time-negative-factor.

You want people to look you in-the-eye, not down at the top of your head. You should either be standing, or, if you need some support (maybe you have a bad back or get tired feet easily), then upgrade to a bar stool or similarly high chair.

The only thing worse than one chair is two chairs. Two people, seated, will tend to turn and talk to each other, and unknowingly ignore the prospects, as they move into the area outside the booth. If you even have the ‘appearance’ of ignoring a prospect, in most cases they will just keep walking.

My advice: For your next bridal show, 86 the chairs!!

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: Andy Ebon, bridal show, chairs, trade show, wedding marketing blog, wedding show

I love a good inside joke. The kind where you can have a quiet chuckle because only YOU get it.

My dad, a fulltime freelance writer. would often work on anthologies. Occasionally, he might be one writer short to contribute a chapter. In those cases, he might write that piece under a pen name. A perfectly acceptable practice in the field. My favorite pen name that dad used was “Chester Butterworth.” It gives you a visual that “Martin Ebon,” his real name, does not. The joke for me was that reviewers or other writers would occasionaly quote Butterworth. Very funny stuff.

Having a quiet chuckle is fine. Believe your own B.S., and promoting it, is another thing, entirely.

Recently, we have seen a growth in the number of phony awards recognition. These ersatz awards don’t pass the smell test. They are fraudulent in multiple ways.

During my 2-year tenure as NACE National Membership VP, we completely transformed the application and judging process for industry awards. The first challenge was to completely renovate the submission process, making certain that subjectivity in judging would be minimized. Documentation was defined, clearly. It now takes time and effort to submit for an award, but the end result is fair, even-handed judging, and industry awards that actually mean something.

The other day, I received a solicitation from the selection committee of the U.S. Local Business Association acknowledging me for an award. Part of the verbiage read, as follows:

The USLBA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

This is unadulterated nonsense. For the price of $80 or $100, I can buy business a plaque that touts non-existent achievement, judged by a non-existent selection committee. It’s quite a scam. I’m sure they sell a lot of plaques, though.

The only weaker move would be to actually buy one of these plaques and promote them as reality.  It would be the phoniest of all self-promotion. Yet, I’ve seen companies that hang these in their office, and place plaque images on their websites.

So, I’m calling these companies out. If you see a wedding industry business promoting phony award recognition on their website, please email me their web address, so I can embarrass them, directly. Hopefully, you’re not participating in this charade.

This hype and any other similar hype should be called out for what it is: PROPAGANDA

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: awards, ersatz awards, phony self promotion, uslba

Not so amazingly, I made it through my shoulder surgery (December 1st). As part of the pre-surgery procedure, they injected me with a ‘nerve blocker’ that numbed me from the right side of my face, down my shoulder and arm, all the way to the finger tips on my right hand. The nerve blocker, plus the anesthesia, protects you from the pain of the surgery and dissipates in 18-24 hours.

After you get over the grogginess, you feel pretty good, and maybe over confident. Because the next morning you wake up and feel like you took a gun shot in the shoulder. In make case, four gun shots. Let the painkillers begin. Every four hours, without fail.

Add the home therapy (6-8 hours, daily), shoulder sling, and it’s a regular party.

On Friday, the real work began… major league physical therapy. My introduction to a 3-times weekly workout, that supplements exercises at home, for about the next 7-8 weeks. Doctors, with a sense of humor, refer to it as the torture chamber. It comes under the category of necessary evil.

The therapist asked me what I’d like to be able to do after completing therapy. My short list wasn’t complicated, but as well as mundane things like shaving, I’m hoping to play racketball again. He didn’t seem to think that was out of the question.

I’m now able to wear the sling on an ‘as-needed’ basis and return to the computer keyboard in moderate stints. I’m even able to drive, if necessary.

Goal Setting for 2009: I already have a log of big goals for 2009, and I couldn’t help but wonder how these 2-3 months were going to affect my work and life in general. One can’t will this kind of setback away. One can simply adjust mindset and workload. Work through the pain and avoid the easy excuses that lead to procrastination.

When one attends a grieving group after the loss of a friend or relative or enters a workout room for rehab, the one thing you immediately realize is this: No matter how bad your situation may be, there is always someone or several people who have bigger challenges than yourself.

Now, forging ahead is always easier said than done. I look for inspiration wherever I can find it. Let me share two people who inspire me.

I have a small sign posted above my desk that reads: “What would Denver Do Today?” Denver is Denver Smith, a friend of mine since the early 1970’s. He was a musician, composer, arranger all-around talented guy. He passed away in 2000, still a very young man, from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). ALS is one of the most insidious afflictions. It chips away at every function in your body, and you slowly wither away.

Being the creative soul that Denver was, he decided he was going to make one final recording with the help of a variety of collaborators. His persistence, even if it only meant a few notes in a single day, was simply unbelievable. I challenge you to read the whole story: The Last Notes: Dying songwriter strives to hold onto creativity (PDF from Tennessean.com).

My other big inspiration is the lively, energetic, and talented “DJ Big Daddy” Sean McKee. Earlier this year, Big Daddy was diagnosed with a form of cancer that was going to require radiation treatment, 7 days a week, every morning for 2-3 months.

Sound like a work hiatus, doesn’t it? Not for Big Daddy. Each morning, he drove to the treatment center. Our mutual friend, Mike Walter, called him every morning to provide moral support. Big Daddy would burst into the treatment center and a kind word for everybody. He quickly became their favorite patient.

Equally amazing to his attitude was his work schedule. He performed the reckless abandon of a perfectly healthy 25-year old. Seems making clients happy by doing what he loves might be therapeutic, too.

As of a couple of weeks ago, Big Daddy is cancer-free. Talking to him, you would never think there was a single doubt in his mind about a complete recovery. Maybe not in his mind, but one never knows how these things play out.

So now, Big Daddy has me on speed-dial. Like Mike did for him, he wants to make sure I maintain a constant positive outlook.

I offer this inspiration to  you: I’m not planning to turn into Superman, but I’m going to work through this challenging period with all the positivity and energy I can muster. I’m going to eliminate useless activity, focus on my marketing plan for 2009, and work through balance of 2008 like a hot knife through butter.

Will I have bad days? Sure.

On those days I’ll remember two things: What would Denver do today? and the way Big Daddy closes his phone calls. To let you know he cares about you, he always closes with: Big Daddy loves you…

Now, go run through a wall!!

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Authority

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: 2009 goals, mike walter, sean big daddy mckee, shoulder surgery