When you hear something like this, you have to go take a look and when you find a New Orleans band playing the start of your trade show, you know the day’s going to be good.
We were blessed with a steady stream of booth traffic throughout the first day, and would like to thank all those who stopped by for their time, interest, and stories about their great events. We look forward to following up with you soon!
Just landed in Orlando yesterday at 10AM, and we’re already half installed in the booth. By the time I arrived at the scenic shop, our crews had already completed the custom cabinets and furniture for the install, as well as a huge sign frame that would attach to some recycled truss. I worked quickly with Dennis and Colin to complete the wiring and assembly of the recessed lighting, hopefully enough to give us some decent ambient light on a mostly-dark show floor. A bit of the old, a bit of the new, and we had a truck loaded down with all our goods, and six plasmas from partner NMR.
Roland and I headed over to the Convention Center only to find that for the first time since its inception, LDI would be held in the NEW portion of the Orange County Convention Center. After finally finding the POV docks, we were unloading carpet, finding an electrician to get us a special pig-tail for our little power pagoda, and busy installing padding and carpet. By the time we finished that, Nicolas was thru the marshalling yard and gear started to arrive about 4PM. Colin joined us soon thereafter, and we started assembly of the large sign.
The pieces fit together after a bit of wrangling, and we attached the truss to a 550-lb base plate and soon had everything ready to go up. I was designated the ropes guy (sometimes being a big guy has its advantages!) and we slowly but gracefully put the sign into the air. We were out by 7, in time for Roland to see his son’s baseball team go undefeated for the season, Colin to get back home before he leaves today for a site survey in Chicago, and for Nicolas to head over to the new Hilton next door to do a strike of some scenic panels. We go back today to finish the cabinet installations, and hopefully get the plasmas up and the programming working with the touch-screens.
(Boston, MA) SGASi will be in Boston starting tomorrow 7/24 for the 84th Annual IAAM Conference & Trade Show, booth 517. If you’re local to the area, grab a free ticket for Sunday or Monday, and stop by and see us.
I’ll be there with Dennis Smith, Keith Menne, and Roland Black until tuesday 7/28. For more info on the show, follow the @SGASi live twitter feed.
Just a quick note today to thank all of our friends for stopping by. In particular quite a few employees of our Audio Design sister company (c.2001) including Bob Owens, Mike Frazee, John Stancil, and William “Chip” Sams. It’s good to see them all doing well and appreciate the support.
I’m flying back to Michigan tomorrow but Dennis Smith will still be in the booth, answering all your questions about the merge, our new combined strategies and product capabilities. Many thanks to Roland Black for putting in hard time on the show floor today and helping us out, he’ll be blogging about the scenic division’s capabilities soon.
For those of our clients I just met today, it’s an honor to be working with you and I look forward to hearing more about your projects.
Quick recap of SGASi merger:
Best of luck to everyone for a great show tomorrow.
Infocomm 2009 Ribbon Cutting
Got the slideshows up and running in the booth, checked the #ic09 feed to see what people were talking about. Evidently there as a ribbon cutting ceremony going on. Rushed out the door and ended up running into TR Stimson at the Ribbon Cutting ceremony (president-elect of Infocomm and fellow twitterer @TRStimson). We’re following you! The reception we’ve received from clients and friends alike has been amazing.
SGASi employees Dennis Smith and Roland Black
I spent most of the day with Dennis Smith and Roland Black, Technical Director for SGASi’s amazing scenic division. Sara Link joined us this afternoon. She works with dozens of clients here in Orlando on projects of all sizes. Roland’s marketing background, audio background, and design background are a huge asset. I’m thrilled to be working with such talented and well connected people in our industry.
With the news breaking only a week ago, our decision to attend Infocomm was made quickly.
I sent a quick render to my new co-worker Colin Murphy, SGASi’s scenic director and got a quick response. His sketch included two aluminum framed panels, a custom base out of plywood, some brackets, and some quick work on the CNC machine they have in the shop. All told they put a few hours into it on monday, and when I arrived on tuesday I was astounded. From an AI file straight into the third dimension, I was a client for a moment, and I was hooked on the quality, speed, and
pride of the work.
Colin and his crew nailed it from the logo depth (I think I said, “I trust you.”) to the gradient arc layer, and perfect black text. The mountin on the plexi was slick, and the custom bolts and caps that we’d end up using as standoffs were full pro. Amazing work at any rate, let alone the 24 hour turnaround.
Colin used stock aluminum panels, added a couple plasma mounts and as soon as the paint was dry, it was loaded into the truck and shipped off to the Orange County Convention Center. We dropped it off at 4:30, a full 30 minutes from the dock closing. We’re in.
With Colin back to work, the install was performed by Dennis Smith, Executive Vice-President of SGASi, Erik Steele, SGASi Field Technician and myself.
Dennis, Erik, and Ben Installing the SGASi Booth at Infocomm 2009
Spandex was attached with velcro to the backs of the frames, then we installed the sign.
SGASi Logo Installation
Our friends at LMG came through with the 42″ sony’s (Thanks guys!) and we’re set for Tuesday.