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Upcoming Events for The Classic Exhibits Family: Word on the Street — Sept. 10th thru Sept. 14th

September 16th, 2012 Mel White COMMENTS
Upcoming Events for The Classic Exhibits Family

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Not only is this “the busy” season, but this is also a busy time for events at Classic.

First, Club 815 Fundraiser

The time is finally here. The Fundraiser Ride for Mike and Janet Swartout is this Saturday, September 22. Yes, it’s the culmination of months of training, but more importantly, it’s the culmination of your tremendous support for Classic’s Design Director, Mike Swartout, who is battling cancer. Thanks to those who have been so very generous by contributing to the team that includes Joel Roy from Creative Dimension, Greg Garrett from Greg Garrett Designs, David Brown from Optima Graphics, Tony Ricci from Optima Graphics and his lovely wife Betsy, Mel White, Charlie Shivel and me from Classic, and my step-father Grant Murrell.

Your donations and support have been nothing short of humbling. Many have been asked us to resend the information so you can still donate. It certainly is not too late. Jut click this link to support our team. And remember to let us know if there is anyone in your life that we can ride “In Memory of” or “In Honor of” as we scale Mt. Hood next Saturday.

Club 815 Fundraiser: https://ssl.charityweb.net/echelongranfondo/hood_river/club815poweredbytheedpafoundation.htm

Special note to our team –Guys and Gal, I truly am honored by your participation and really look forward to spending a couple days together riding, hanging out, and recovering. It’s going to be fun. And I know I speak for Mike and Janet when I say “Thank You” for your inspiring willingness to take on this challenging event.

Shared Knowledge University (SKU)

After the ride, Shared Knowledge University starts at Classic Exhibits Monday morning September 24. The training will be two comprehensive days for experienced and new Classic Distributors.

Like the last SKU event, we will cover everything from product training to procedures to design to project management for Classic Exhibits, Classic Rentals, Eco-systems Sustainable, and ClassicMODUL.

Optima will be there to give a graphics presentation. And you will have the opportunity to spend time and meet all the Classic Exhibit employees that you work with everyday on the phone.

Like any event, it can’t all be work. 🙂 We have two evening events planned that the attendees will really like. Both located at very unique and very “Portland” venues.

To those who are registered, I am really looking forward to seeing you and showing why I think Classic Exhibits and its employees are simply the best.

A little teaser . . . To those distributors who have Exhibit Design Search on their website, expect BIG, BIG changes this week. The new EDS is done, Version 3.2. You can see it on Classic’s website now. It will appear on your website sometime this week. Expect a blog post from Mel in the next day or two detailing all the changes.  They are significant!

Hope you all have a great week ahead. Be well.

Kevin Carty
http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
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SKU…What a Pisser: Word on the Street — April 23rd thru April 27th

April 29th, 2012 Mel White COMMENTS
Classic Exhibits SKU--Shared Knowledge University

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

What a Pisser

If you attended Shared Knowledge University, you know what I am talking about. 🙂

This past week, we held Shared Knowledge University (SKU) training at Classic Exhibits. Based on the early feedback, I think it was a successful event. We had 24 enthusiastic distributors from as far east as Albany, New York, as far south as New Orleans, and as close as Las Vegas and Orange County.

The two day training was conducted at the Classic Exhibits facility and a nearby Courtyard by Marriott. We started each morning with the classroom portion at the Marriott. Then after lunch, we headed over to Classic for hands-on product training where the attendees toured the shop, learned about the rental program, and then spent about three hours each day disassembling products as well as learning about how, why, and when each product was brought to market.

Don't Ask!

Don't Ask!

For a training session to be successful, everything has to come together just right. Here are two elements from SKU that seemed to shine.

Engaged Attendees. Our compliments to the attendees. All 24 came ready to learn. As the trainers, we can’t express how much we appreciate that. Thanks for asking good questions, participating in every session, and for giving us your full attention for two days — even after a late night in the Boiler Room on Monday. You made it easy. Mostly, we appreciate how you embraced the “shared knowledge” theme by sharing your experiences during the sessions and the social events. Your coaching added so much, particularly for the those distributors new to Classic and/or the industry. Thank you!

Content is KING. Whether it is a Distributor Open House or a manufacturer’s training program, content is the glue. For that content, we have many to thank. Mel, first and foremost, pulled together the Master Plan and served as the Master of Ceremonies in the classroom. I know I speak for Mel when I say how proud we are of our staff and their participation in the training. In particular, Mike Swartout (Design Director), Wade West (PM), Charlie Shivel (PM) and Jeff Garrett (Setup PM). We were impressed by their sessions, the content they shared, and their presentations. Last, but certainly not least, our thanks to Dave Brown from Optima Graphics and Eric Albery from Eco-Systems Sustainable Exhibits. They not only agreed to fly to Portland for the training, but also conducted engaging and educational sessions as well.

I thought I’d share a few post-SKU comments from the attendees:

“The flow of the training was just-right, with a sensible progression from overview, to key people, processes, and products. And as much as I thought I had figured-out EDS from my own exploration, the EDS training took me that last bit of the way to understanding its great value as a sales tool.”

“The visit to Classic Exhibits proved very informative and I thought being able to see how your facility operates as well as being able to see the actual properties in person helped us get a better understanding of how the process works. Another added bonus was being able to have some hands on experience with tearing down some of the pop ups so we could have a better understanding when those questions come in from our clients we will be able to answer to them.”

“I talked to many of the attendees towards the end of Day 2 and all of them had great things to say about the presentations, the products, the knowledge, and the organized agenda. You guys did an amazing job putting this together!”

We will be holding another SKU event in mid-September. If you are interested in attending the next SKU training, please let Reid Sherwood or me know. Attendance will be limited to 25.

Two last things for the attendees: DO NOT FORGET THE OREGON PLEDGE! And . . . if the most memorable part of your time in Portland was the porcelain art at Bridgeport, then we succeeded as hosts.

Be well and have a great weekend.

–Kevin Carty

p.s. As a reminder, through May 31 your customer will receive a free copy of the book Build a Better Trade Show Image by Marlys Arnold on any hybrid display purchase. For a sneak peek, here’s a 45 page sample of the ebook. Also, take a minute to checkout the current specials in Exhibit Design Search in the Exhibit Specials gallery — 10 ft., 20 ft., and island designs.

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Shared Knowledge University (SKU): Word on the Street — April 16th thru April 20th

April 22nd, 2012 Mel White COMMENTS
Classic Exhibits SKU--Shared Knowledge University

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Class is in Session

For seven years, we have been committed to “Shared Success.” The concept is simple: What can we do to make our distributors better and to help them be more successful. Their success, in turn, makes us more successful. It requires listening, sharing, and implementing ideas to serve them and their customers.

For the past four years, we’ve talked about “Shared Knowledge.” Shared Knowledge is our commitment to make as much information as possible available to our distributors via our website, our design database, and our past order database. This IP has proven to be invaluable to selling Classic exhibits to your clients. For example, many of the kits on Exhibit Design Search include links to the set-up instructions, graphic dim sheets, and photos of those kits (and variations of those kits).

Shared Knowledge University (SKU)

Now we are embarking on the next phase of this program: SKU — Shared Knowledge University. SKU is a comprehensive group training program at the Classic Exhibits facility in Portland Oregon, the first one will be held Monday and Tuesday, April 23rd and 24th.

Product training is not new to us. We average about one training session every three weeks, but those trainings have been small one-on-one sessions with a distributor and/or their sales team.

Shared Knowledge UniversitySKU is much the same, but also different. There will be 24 people from 10 companies for a group training schedule. The training promises to be comprehensive and intensive over two full days. It will include all the Classic Exhibits lines, as well as ClassicMODUL Aluminum Extrusion, Classic Rentals, Eco-Systems Sustainable Exhibits (by Eric Albery) and Optima Graphics (by David Brown).

The Eco-systems and Optima sessions will focus on their products and services and highlight how their companies partner with Classic Exhibits.

To say we are “excited” for Monday and Tuesday is to minimize how we are approaching these two days. Mel and I see it as our next step in supporting Shared Success.

For those attending, we look forward to seeing you and to having some good “off hours” fun as well. We are excited to show you what Portland offers during our dinner excursions.

For the rest of you, I will report back on the training and hope you will partake in this new program. We plan to make SKU a regular event three times a year. We will announce the next session soon, most likely in September.

On another note.  Business continues to be positive. We thank you for your business and hope you are experiencing the same success.

Have a great weekend!

–Kevin Carty

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