Trade Show TalesBlog

Design Monday…. 560 Weeks

It’s been 10+ years, starting with April 18, 2005. This week represents the 560th weekly Design Monday with over 1300 individual designs. During that time, we’ve missed a week here and there — usually on a holiday — but only 3-4 at most.

It started at EXHIBITOR 2005. We had a binder full of designs in our booth, and Mike Swartout doing renderings for distributors on the show floor. Time and again, distributors would say to us, “Oh, I didn’t know you did [fill in the blank] — customization, modular exhibits, hybrids, counters, etc.” So we said, “How do we show distributors who we are, not who they think we are?” The decision was made to send new designs to the Classic Exhibits Network each week. We chose Sunday because we wanted the email to be one of the first things distributors saw Monday morning.

Over the years, the templates have changed, and Eco-systems Sustainable Exhibits was added to the mix about two years ago.

Frankly, our discipline has been impressive. Week in and week out, we’ve sent you 2-3 new designs at 12 noon PST (3 pm EST) each Sunday. Most Design Mondays tap into the skills of designers, project managers, graphic designer(s), Kevin Carty, our Production Manager, and me. Not every design is a winner, but we’ve done OK and it’s always been a wonderful place to experiment and get your feedback.

If this seems like we’re patting ourselves on the back — we are. And you too. Many of the designs showcase your design requests and your consultative work with customers. Some are presented “as is” in Design Monday. Others serve to push concepts even further. Not everyone gets built, but that’s OK as well.

We’d like to think Design Monday has accomplished three things:

1. It made us a design leader,

2. It’s been HUGELY instrumental to our consistent year-over-year growth, and

3. It has served to bind us all closer together, via the designs and the blog.

While you may not read/review DM each week, you always know we’re here to assist you on your next project.

Here’s to Design Monday 122115! Have a very Happy Holiday.

–Mel White
mel@classicexhibits.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
https://twitter.com/melmwhite

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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions. Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100 or www.classicexhibits.com.

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