ASI Dallas Scores Big with Packed Show

Football champ Emmitt Smith shares winning business strategies during memorable keynote

TREVOSE, PA – February 8, 2013 – The ASI Show™ scored big this week in Dallas at a high-energy show featuring added-value education, over 500 top suppliers and 16 team-building distributor sales meetings, including Counselor^® Top 40 distributor American Solutions for Business’ (asi/120075) winter conference.

Taking place Wednesday, February 6, through Friday, February 8, at the Dallas Convention Center, ASI Dallas delivered a record-breaking opening exhibit day with more than 3,000 distributors walking the show floor. The largest industry event in the Southwest attracted 3,645 distributors and 510 suppliers (including 56 exhibiting for the first time in Dallas).

“This is the second time we’ve held a meeting at ASI Dallas, and we always have a great turnout,” said Larry Zavadil, CEO of American Solutions for Business. “We have 280 of our top sales producers at the show. We all gathered yesterday morning at the show opening and walked in together. It was fantastic. ASI Education has been great, and we found tons of ideas on the show floor. Every vendor we’ve come across has a unique solution to offer.”

Thirty-year industry veteran Barry Lipsett, CEO of Charles River Apparel (asi/44620), called the show “incredible” and said, “We did so well we are going to double the size of our booth next year.”

“Traffic has been great at ASI Dallas and the energy has been fantastic,” said Gabe McGraw from industry supplier Gold Bond (asi/57653).“Everyone is coming ready to discuss projects. Distributors are coming in with a list, which makes it easy because that translates into orders and everybody benefits. We’ve been so happy with ASI Dallas – in fact, with all of The ASI Shows – because they’re really big producers for us.”

Fox News featured ASI Dallas on its Wednesday broadcast, showcasing many of the innovative ad specialty items seen at the show. Also this week in Dallas, ASI^® offered on-site demos of over 40 new features now available in ESP Mobile™ for iPhone, iPad and Android.

On Thursday night, the industry came together at a boisterous Gala Celebration, featuring dinner, a live band and a mechanical bull at the world-class entertainment venue Gilley’s, home of the “Urban Cowboy” legacy. Other notable networking events included a standing-room-only keynote by three-time Super Bowl champion and “Dancing with the Stars” winner Emmitt Smith, who advised a packed house on successful small business strategies.

“Emmitt Smith offered some great advice on setting goals and continuing to work toward them throughout your life,” said Dominic Caldara, of Proforma Divine Corporate Supply (asi/491329). “Otherwise, you’re just going to stand still and never evolve. It’s an important lesson that all businesspeople should listen to if they want to be successful.” The keynote was co-sponsored by Pepco Poms (asi/77280) and Showdown Displays (asi/87188).

Timothy M. Andrews, president of The ASI Show and president and chief executive officer of ASI, described the show floor as “high energy” and said a lot of people he spoke to are excited by the coming sales year and a more positive economic outlook, especially in Texas, where the state’s unemployment rate recently declined for the fourth straight month. Much of the private sector growth is attributable to the energy industry, which is spurring job growth in many other industries, including the promotional products industry.

“ASI Show loves Dallas, where everyone is so appreciative of ASI’s long-standing tradition of providing every possible resource and opportunity to suppliers and distributors committed to taking their business to the next level,” said Andrews. “All week, we’ve all been feeding off the positive energy on the show floor, quality education, outstanding business advice and superior networking.”

On August 12, ASI returns to Dallas for the inaugural Promotions Southwest expo at the state-of-the-art Irving Convention Center. Click here for more info and to register for the new show, timed to help distributors prepare for all-important fourth-quarter sales.

To learn more about exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities for 2013, contact Karen DiTomasso, vice president of sales, at [email protected].

For complete coverage of the show, including blogs and videos, visit www.dev-asicentral.com.

About The ASI Show
The ASI Show was created for active ASI member distributors and suppliers, and attracts more distributors than any other industry show – with 20,000 attendees. Offering a full education conference, networking opportunities and a manageable one-floor/one-hall layout, The ASI Show provides a complete trade show experience. In five host cities per year (Orlando, Dallas, Long Beach, New York and Chicago), The ASI Show is ideal for advertising specialty businesses searching for new ideas and new business. Additionally, The ASI Show runs the Advantages Roadshow, the ad specialty industry’s most popular traveling show, the ASI Virtual Trade Show™, ASI’s hosted buyer event.

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