No blue light in Aisle 9?
From my years of organizing advertising trade shows at the old Coliseum at Columbus Circle, PT learned a few tricks of the trade -- wear sensible shoes, be thorough in canvassing the exhibits, make notes right on vendor literature, take the gewgaws, skip the candy.
But one can be dragged off course. Which is what happened to PT. About three quarters through the exhibits, I ran into some acquaintances at an aisle crossing and got involved in conversation. Resuming my march, I forgot to complete that aisle.
Later, someone asked if I had seen the Plainfield booth. I hadn't, because I'd gotten sidetracked. But I also didn't remember what aisle that had been. So, PT turned to the directory.
Surprise! No listing for Plainfield among the hundreds of vendor exhibits.
PT went out to the registration area, where a busy but very kindly supervisor hauled out the enormous ring binder with the space contracts filed in it. She quickly found the listing and gave me the booth number, casually adding "Well, the reason it's not in the printed directory is the reservation came in at the last minute."
Ah, Plainfield! Sigh.
Finally found the booth, sandwiched in a nook at the end of an aisle. With a small selection of handouts -- the UEZ's 'Home Arts' program brochure and a new piece entitled 'Growth by Unity.' Director Jenny Wenson-Maier was holding down the fort when I visited, having given UEZ coordinator Jacques Howard and recently-returned Wayne Awald a break to tour the show themselves.
A few rows away, PT spotted a parking meter manufacturer that was intriguing because they offered an electronic management system allowing many parking spaces to be managed by one 'meter' which tracked the money, the time and made all its data available wirelessly to parking authority workers carrying handhelds.
Councilors Linda Carter and Elliott Simmons were also looking over the system and gave PT an opportunity to try out my new toy -- a cellphone sized camcorder.
You can see the very first effort as posted on YouTube here:
YOUTUBE PARKING VIDEO
PT was also pleasantly surprised to find Front Street merchant Cooper Furniture also had taken a booth. I was told the show is a very good one for them, and that they always book business installing new office furniture in various municipal, county and state offices as a result.
Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs took part in the proceedings, too.
She moderated a panel on women in politics which PT checked out, and did a good job at it. The mayor also took part as a speaker at another panel on affirmative action. That one I was not able to attend.
The presence of her security detail did arouse considerable comment from attendees who asked what that was about. PT noted that several mayors I spotted -- including Cory Booker and Robert Bowser -- seemed to be traveliing without armed escort, though being enormously popular they always had a crowd around.
That means the taxpayers footed the bill for hotels and meals for the entourage.
Business as usual for the Queen City.
-- Dan Damon
Check out PT's previous post on the League of Municipalities 91st conference at "Connect! Motivate! Inspire!".
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2 comments:
Hi Dan,
I was there too and saw the security detail. On the other hand, you had Perth Amboy and Paterson Mayors mingling with the attendees. No police, no secret service. To me it's funny.
Mayor Booker of Newark and Mayor Faison of Camden both had their personal armed security details with them and in the workshops. Dan, I guess you just weren't able to distinquish them from the others in the crowd because you were so focused on Mayor Brigg's detail. I was there and saw them all, however I didn't see you. But then I wasn't looking for you either. Just shows what you were really there to do.
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