EDPA Mid-Atlantic Chapter Meeting

 

Did you know EDPA is launching its first-ever Mid-Atlantic Chapter?

 

It's about time, isn't it?

 

We knew you'd agree, so we're inviting you to roll up your sleeves, start thinking of ideas  and help launch the first ever Mid-Atlantic Chapter of EDPA.

 

When: 5:00 pm on Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Where: The first meeting will be held at NTP

Why: This is our new chapter's first meeting and your support will help get it off the ground.

 

Please contact me at 703.706.8208 or kshevlin@ntpshow.com if you would like to attend or if you would like to participate in future events. There is no cost to attend the first meeting as we will be putting together nominations for a board of directors and a plan for future meetings.

 

Please forward this to anyone who may be interested in this new chapter. All trade show industry professionals welcome!

 

NTP is located at 313 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.

 

I hope you'll join us in launching this exciting – and important – new chapter of EDPA!

 

Kellie Shevlin

TS² Sales and Industry Relations Manager

National Trade Productions

313 S. Patrick Street

Alexandria, VA 22314

www.ntpshow.com

"We Know Shows"

 

Plan to exhibit at TS² 2007, THE Industry Event for Exhibit and Event Professionals, July  31 - August 1, 2007 in  Washington, DC.  For more information about TS², please visit  www.ts2show.com

 

AUTHENTICITY

Trend to Consider-
Authenticity is our quest for real in a sea of confusion. It is quite simply being real and presenting real textures, materials and ideas. Examples are everywhere. Consider the popularity of “Reality TV”. Dramatic craft and art are sacrificed for the feeling of watching a real experience.
We are searching for connections anywhere with unique but believable stories, and expect products and services to deliver. We have all grown visually weary by the onslaught of images. It pains me to admit (because I am very illustrative as a designer) that it is increasingly hard to impress anyone with a static image. Photoshop image doctoring has made it difficult to truly believe any photograph. We need to touch people with solids and spaces in a way that only a designed environment can. You can sense authentic places and people in a way you can trust. Have you ever felt that you were in the wrong neighborhood, bar, place? What about the feeling in good place, can a picture do it justice?
As our trust in enterprises erodes and human emotions are battered by dissolution, we look to connect with anything and everything to create complete experience in the absence of human relationships. One of the strongest reasons to attend a tradeshow is to get back the connectedness that we loose by working much of our lives in front of a computer. Exhibits are becoming more a place to create that connection experience rather than just trying to attract people visually. Maybe we are witnessing the change from Trade Shows to Trade Events .

My favorite example is an exhibit from EuroShop 2005. In this refrigeration company booth the wall beside the ‘café' section of the booth is made entirely of real ice blocks. Yes, they were melting all the time. It is striking because it touched all your senses and it was the most visceral way to explain just what this company is about. It needed no logos cut in it or colors added or artificial anything. Logistically a challenge but the message was clear and the buzz was fantastic.

Hilary Howes, in the Sept. 2005 EDPA newsletter