When I wrote about trade show exhibits a few weeks ago, it brought back many memories. I mentioned that I’ve participated in trade shows in three different ways: as a consumer, as an exhibitor, and as a member of the working press.

But I forgot one.

For six months, I worked for a company that produced trade show exhibit graphics. It was six months, in many ways, that I’d like to forget. I learned a lot about trade show exhibit graphics in that short time. And I really liked the technical end of things. But lets just say there were some aspects of the business I didn’t enjoy, whatsoever.

The firm I worked for marketed itself as a digital color printer, although it primarily produced trade show exhibit work. As an account manager, I had to call upon a wide range of clients–from the very smallest design shops and exhibit houses to the very largest pharmaceutical corporations (of which there are plenty here in joisey).

A huge amount of money is thrown around in the trade show exhibit world–much of it due to the tight time frames and crazy logistics. Did you want that rush, rush rush, or triple rush?

I could only stand to ride that monkey for so long … and I won’t get into the gory details here. But ply me with a tropical drink (or two) at your trade show exhibit booth some time, and hey, I just might share.