Yes, the title is lifted from a Bob Seger song, but the sentiment is actually lifted from the magical holiday song by the Waitresses, called “Christmas Wrapping”, which includes the brilliant line about the calendar being down just one page. I’m sorry, but my alleged street cred can’t be tied to a novelty song when I could instead opt for one by a legend like Bob Seger.
Nevertheless… here we are, ready to stick a fork in 2017 and likely into the eye of anyone with whose politics we don’t agree. 2017 has been an interesting year for me, to say the least but, in the words of Elton John: I’m still standing. Okay… the words were actually those of Bernie Taupin, but why let that get in the way of a good column. Or this one, for that matter.
As I write this, it’s the 26th of November. I’m sitting here in my office, wearing shorts, with the windows open, drinking an iced coffee. I couldn’t have written that a year ago. Well… I could have, but (a) it would have been lying, and (2) it would have been foreshadowing what I wasn’t prepared to discuss with the rest of you.
At this time last year I was in the stages of negotiating with the Gold Coast Promotional Products Association to become their new Executive Director. That I had never been an Executive Director of anything didn’t dissuade me from pursuing this opportunity. That I’d never been a magazine columnist before didn’t stop this publication’s forerunner, Identity Marketing, from hiring me either (maybe that’s not a good example after all). Nevertheless, I’m pleased to say that both of these moves worked out. Hopefully the other parties agree.
“Moves”? Did I say “moves”? Scroll up… you’ll see for yourself. The biggest adjustment of 2017 was the physical move the Trophy Wife, our dog, and I made to south Florida. Yes… the land of the Early Bird dinner, blue hair, and white belts. I’m pleased to say that neither of us (nor the dog) has fallen for any of these traits.
The day that we sold our home in New Jersey, our son and daughter-in-law came by to tell us they were having a baby. No… not at that very moment, but in about eight months. Due date: the fourth of January, 2018. My first reaction: wow... she (SPOILER ALERT) is due the day before Dan’s birthday! Maybe they’ll share the date! My second reaction, however, was, “Crap… I need to be in Orlando that day for the ASI Show.”
If you know anything at all about producing a trade show, it is nearly impossible to reschedule them. The likelihood of rescheduling them around the uncertainty of the date of birth of the grandchild of the person representing the association to whom the organization is giving a free booth… well… you know how THAT’S gonna play out.
If you know anything at all about birthing babies, it is even less possible asking them to reschedule. They are highly unreliable and it only gets worse once they leave the womb.
My Board of Directors and I agreed that I have to be ready to drop everything and be prepared to return to New Jersey for the birth of this child. As such, don’t look for me in Orlando in January. While there is a possibility that my granddaughter will be born the last week of December, I’m not going to announce anything so that I can take the time off and not go to the Orlando show.
Wait… I probably shouldn’t have shared that.
Hey… it’s not like I was at the show in 2017 either. That show was supposed to have been, essentially, my coming-out party. The fact of the matter was that I was horribly ill at the time, and was medicated to the point where I did little other than serve as a paperweight for the show contracts and membership forms we were distributing. Rumor has it that I did a very good job: membership was up this year, and our show was a great success. Maybe I need to be medicated more often.
While there is a likelihood that I won’t make it to Orlando in early January, there is a much better chance that I will see many of your smiling faces in Las Vegas a few weeks later. I mean no disrespect to the people from ASI (no… really… I don’t, you’d know it, and so would they), but the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas truly is the promotional products industry’s leading event. The Orlando event is a terrific trade show; the PPAI Expo is our convention.
To me, that’s the key word right there. Las Vegas is where the industry, as a whole, convenes. Conferences take place during the week, ceremonies as well, seminars… oh, and then there’s the industry’s largest trade show. To me, the bottom line is that the PPAI Expo is where you need to be if you are a player on the national and international level.
My grandfetus, Charlotte, had better be aware of the importance of this event. I can’t keep working around her schedule.
Mike Schenker, MAS, is the executive director of the Gold Coast Promotional Products Association (GCPPA), as well as “all that” at Mike Schenker, Consulting. He is a promotional industry veteran and member of the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) Hall of Fame. He can be reached at mike@mikeschenker.com.