{"id":2405,"date":"2013-07-18T19:32:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T23:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2013-07-18T19:32:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T23:32:36","slug":"asi-delivers-biggest-best-industry-event-of-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/2013\/07\/18\/asi-delivers-biggest-best-industry-event-of-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"ASI Delivers Biggest, Best Industry Event of Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ASI<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> ended its 2013 <em>ASI Show<\/em><sup>\u00ae<\/sup> season with a great show in a wonderful town, attracting more than 4,200 distributors from firms in 47 states and 12 countries. Over three days at McCormick Place, our Chicago show \u2013 the largest ad specialty show of the summer \u2013 really delivered.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.asishow.com\/?__utma=92964109.1560124359.1372267108.1372276934.1372278930.3&amp;__utmb=92964109.0.10.1374187477&amp;__utmc=92964109&amp;__utmx=-&amp;__utmz=92964109.1372267108.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&amp;__utmv=-&amp;__utmk=88120979\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/picshow2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To me, the Chicago show is more than a trade show \u2013 it\u2019s an opportunity. Whether you came for the 78 education sessions, the black-tie <em>Counselor<\/em><sup>\u00ae<\/sup><em> <\/em>Awards or the non-stop networking, the best the industry offers is right at your fingertips.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, you get to work hard and play hard in one of my favorite cities. To a Midwestern boy like me, Chicago is the center of the universe, filled with terrific museums, stunning architecture, the best deep-dish pizza on earth and some of the nicest people you\u2019ll ever meet. No wonder a record 17 distributor companies, including Allegra Network (<em>asi\/372000<\/em>), EmbroidMe (<em>asi\/384000<\/em>), iPROMOTEu (<em>asi\/232119<\/em>), WorkflowOne (<em>asi\/333647<\/em>) and HALO Branded Solutions (<em>asi\/356000<\/em>) chose the Windy City to hold major sales meetings.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not alone in my praise. Here\u2019s what attendees had to say about the show:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cASI Chicago has so much to offer,\u201d said Brian Hiner, of HALO Branded Solutions (<em>asi\/356000<\/em>). \u201cIt\u2019s so important to get out on the show floor and meet face-to-face with suppliers. As many shows as there are \u2013 I believe ASI Chicago is the one that makes the difference. It\u2019s one of the industry\u2019s best events.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Troy Lewis, of J.H. Specialty (<em>asi\/232445<\/em>), said he enjoyed the diverse array of exhibitors along with the hot products. \u201cThere are so many items debuting here,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m leaving with many new items to show my clients. I absolutely recommend attending ASI Chicago. Nothing compares to seeing products up close and personal.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The show was also deemed worthy enough to attract the attention of the prestigious <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/business\/ct-biz-0718-promo-show-20130718,0,4245990.story\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Chicago Tribune<\/em><\/a> newspaper, which ran a story in its business section, along with nine online photos and interviews with a slew of companies, including Vernon Hills, PromoPet, St. Regis Crystal, Helping Hand, American Greenwood, Dunbar Foods and Lion Circle.<\/p>\n<p>Exhibitors (including 83 new to Chicago this year) were just as pleased. Scott Anderson from Leed\u2019s (<em>asi\/66887<\/em>) told us his booth was busy from the get-go, thanks to a great mix of quality distributors. And despite the heat wave, there\u2019s no better time than July or place than the three-day Chicago show to kick off the second half of the year and to prepare for the all-important fourth-quarter selling season.<\/p>\n<p>And if you weren\u2019t inspired by the networking and the deal-making, you had to be motivated by Thursday\u2019s keynote by Christopher Gardner, the inspiration for the Will Smith movie \u201cThe Pursuit of Happyness\u201d (pictured here with ASI\u2019s chairman, Norman Cohn, in a borrowed <em>ASI Show<\/em> hat).<a href=\"http:\/\/www.asishow.com\/?__utma=92964109.1560124359.1372267108.1372276934.1372278930.3&amp;__utmb=92964109.0.10.1374187477&amp;__utmc=92964109&amp;__utmx=-&amp;__utmz=92964109.1372267108.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&amp;__utmv=-&amp;__utmk=88120979\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/chrisG.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t ever let anyone tell you you can\u2019t do something,\u201d Gardner told our audience about the time he lived on the streets with his 18-month-old son before his smarts and his moxie helped him break into the financial industry and become a self-made millionaire. \u201cYou want something \u2013 go get it. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are some other gems he shared with us:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cThe greatest honor you\u2019ll ever have in your life is someone you love knowing you\u2019re going to be there when they need you.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cWhen you get your toys, you got no time. You can make money, but you can\u2019t make time. How much time do you have in your life? Not enough.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cWhat you do does not define who you are.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cSometimes you gotta do what you gotta do before you can do what you want to do.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gardner\u2019s is an unbelievable story, but if he doesn\u2019t make you believe you can do anything as long as you set your mind to it, I don\u2019t know who can. But you need to get a plan, stick to the plan and, above all, be passionate.<\/p>\n<p>If you missed this year\u2019s show, don\u2019t worry. We\u2019re coming back next year \u2013 and registration is now open for the 2014 <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.asishow.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">ASI Shows<\/a><\/em> (Orlando, Jan. 5-7; Dallas, Feb. 4-6; Long Beach, March 25-27; New York, April 3-4; and Chicago next July) at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asishow.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.asishow.com<\/a>. Special 2014 presentations include keynotes by former President George W. Bush and the stars of the hit ABC reality show, \u201cShark Tank.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For complete coverage of <em>ASI Show<\/em> Chicago, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asicentral.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.asicentral.com<\/a> for a wealth of information, including blogs and videos from ASI\u2019s on-site editorial team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ASI\u00ae ended its 2013 ASI Show\u00ae season with a great show in a wonderful town, attracting more than 4,200 distributors from firms in 47 states and 12 countries. Over three days at McCormick Place, our Chicago show \u2013 the largest ad specialty show of the summer \u2013 really delivered. To me, the Chicago show is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asi-shows","category-members","category-news-about-asi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2405"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2410,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions\/2410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}