Portland International Auto Show
Today marks the official end to the Portland International Auto Show, and the beginning of the two and a half day move out period. Reflecting back on this last week I realize how much I have learned. Starting last Sunday, we began moving cars into the Oregon Convention Center’s various ballrooms, meeting rooms, and exhibit floors. Let me tell you, trying to coordinate hundreds of cars in to their designated spots is not for the faint of heart or those without tennis shoes on. I feel like I have walked (and run) more during this last week than I did the entire time I lived in New York City, and I walked to all my classes every day when I lived there. During the move in period, I was stationed in the Portland Ballroom which was the Eco Center. The Eco Center was an entire ballroom of cars that are more eco friendly and have fewer emissions than normal cars, such as hybrids and electric cars. There was an over 35 miles per gallon section, an under $21,000 section, as well as various different types of vehicles that were better for the environment in the other areas of the ballroom. After coordinating all of the cars into their various spaces, we were required to take keys and disconnect battery cables, as per fire marshal rules. Let me tell you how hard it is to find some of the batteries on hybrid and all electric cars. Nothing looks the same under the hood, that’s for sure. After a few mishaps such as a gas line leak, hydraulic fluid spill, and an oil leak, all of the cars were cleared by the fire marshal and the show opened. The Triumph crew handled everything flawlessly even when faced with difficulties and truly shined during the show opening and throughout the weekend. Interning at a company that feels like a family is one of the best things I have found so far at Triumph and I have loved every minute of my internship, even after two days of running back and forth between rooms and I feeling like my feet were going to fall off. It is so rewarding seeing everything that you helped put together actually work and look good. Later on today the craziness will ensue again as all of the cars have to be taken back out of the convention center to go back to their respective dealerships or manufacturers. I am sure that the move out will be even smoother than the move in. Stay tuned for next time to see how the show closed! See you next week!
Aliahna
Seattle Snowpocalypse during Gift Show
Hey everyone! Well, this week has been a crazy one to say the least. Triumph was the general contractor for two different major trade shows last week, and on top of that we were preparing for a snow storm of epic proportions (according to the news). After hearing about the impending snowpocalypse, the good people at Triumph decided to put all of the personnel that were going to be working at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center during that time in a hotel in downtown Seattle so that we could get to and from work safely and easily. We were all pretty thankful for that, especially on Wednesday when the snow actually started to fall. First I feel the need to say, people in the Western Washington area do not know how to handle snow. No finger pointing here, since I am a native Washingtonian, it is just a fact. Not only do people not know how to drive in it, it also affects all business in a huge way. Local government comes to a standstill, businesses close up for the day, and even McDonalds closed early! That’s saying something. The day that the snow storm actually hit, one of our shows was moving out, one was moving in and every single exhibitor was concerned about getting out of Seattle before their flight got cancelled and their freight got held up. For the first time in at least ten years, Sea-Tac International airport closed all of its runways. Trucks were lined up ten deep to try to get to the convention center and pick up their freight and get out before the weather got any worse. On top of all of that, there were at least three more shows scheduled for the next week that over half of our exhibitors were trying to get to. The major point of all of this is that snow, flooding, or any other kind of natural happening can affect your business and there is nothing you can do about it but be patient. Customers are very understanding when they know that you are dealing with something that is out of your hands. Fortunately both shows opened and closed without a hitch last week despite the snow, and for that we are very fortunate. All of us at Triumph are confident that our next show, the Portland International Auto Show, will go even better. Especially because there isn’t supposed to be any snow! Stay tuned for next week, it should be action packed!
Aliahna
Triumphs new Intern – Aliahna
Hi there! My name is Aliahna and I am one of the newest interns at Triumph Expo & Events, Inc. I am a Senior at LIM College in New York City, and as a requirement of my school, I am completing a five month internship in the field of my choice. I could not think of a more exciting, fast paced industry other than the events industry to do my internship in and I was ecstatic when I was hired at Triumph. I started my internship a little over a week ago and have already learned way more than I expected! Because my internship is over five months long, I will be able to be exposed to all of the different aspects of the company here at Triumph. Right now I am in the Exhibitor Services department and we are in the middle of two different major shows and are planning for another show next week in Portland. Starting off in the Exhibitor Services department has been extremely beneficial for me because I had no idea what exhibitor services even was before I started at Triumph. Yes, I’ve worked and volunteered at plenty of other events and shows, but not from the contractor side, only from the management and planning side. There is so much that goes into a trade show that no one from the consumer side ever sees, and that is where Triumph comes into the picture. Last week I got to help with the Seattle Gift Show and help with the exhibitors moving into the show, and this week we are helping them move out of the show while simultaneously helping another show move into the same venue on the same day, but into different rooms. There is never a dull moment in the trade show industry, and I am definitely learning that in my first two weeks here at Triumph. Stay tuned because I will be writing weekly about my adventures at Triumph and all of the different things that I am learning!
Aliahna
Triumph Introduction
Hello!
Welcome to the Triumph Expo & Events, Inc.’s blog. My name is Lynetta and I am the administrator of this blog and an office administrator at Triumph. I’m not the only contributor though. We’ll have multiple employees from Triumph Expo & Events blogging about various topics: the tradeshow industry, the life of an entrepreneur, innovation, etc. We’re very excited to be able to share the different aspects of our industry with you.
Contributing bloggers will come from all aspects of the industry, from exhibitors up to our own CEO. I sincerely welcome you to our blog and I hope you’ll enjoy reading what we write just as much as we enjoy sharing it with you.
~Lynetta
