Story, photos by Ray Mar Productions
My kind of town Chicago is… the perfect place for The Marquee Show.
There is an old adage you’ve all heard, “Big things come in small packages”. I mention that because like any new show that has given birth, it will take time to grow. Although the Marquee Show is in its inaugural year, and may not have drawn thousands of people yet, the quality of information just in the opening seminar was worth the price of admission alone. I was extremely impressed with the powerhouse show producer K.C. Kokoruz. He tirelessly dedicated 18 months into the show’s logistics planning and securing tremendous top rated presenters.
Opening the show was internationally renowned Event Planner Michael Cerbelli sharing the 2018 version of his ever-popular “Hot List”. Annually the “Hot List” shares the latest and greatest new concepts in entertainment ideas such as hyper vision, levitating flowers and centerpieces, party slate, digital deception, music acts and more. Many of these concepts are created to help professional people in the entertainment industry to up-sell new and fresh ideas to increase their bottom line by being unique in their respective markets.
Many entertainment companies usually don’t survive because they are too comfortable with the status quo and don’t want to think outside the box. However, the companies who ultimately decide to take their businesses to a new level, will invest their time and money by attending trade shows such as the Marquee Show and learning from top tier speakers.
Speakers in the seminars included: DJ Brian B, John Murphy, Eric Wenning, Alan Berg, Matt Radicelli, Rob Johnson, Jazmine Gonzalez, Randy Bartlett, Steve Bowen from Australia and K.C. Kokoruz.
Subjects covered a variety of topics, such as game shows, upgrades, same sex weddings, attracting higher end clientele, marketing and advertising, building your multi-op company, getting healthy, making midweek money and much, much more.
Vendors included various Photo Booth Vendors, Pro Gobo, ADJA, Photo Booth Association, DJ Event Planner, DigiGames and Floyd Rose Audio who displayed incredible sounding headphones.
There were so many great seminars and lots of informational nuggets to take back to the office, but for me the nugget that stood out personally was from Matt Radicelli who said, “Grow People, Not Things”. Be responsible and make sure your employees are not overworked.
Overall for the inaugural show, on a 10 point scale, I would rate it an 8. In a perfect world, attendance could have been better and should have been considering the hard work and intense marketing effort that was invested for 18 months, but truthfully, in my opinion I don’t always believe “bigger is better”.
For the vendors, the numbers are important which obviously lead to more sales opportunities. As an attendee, I feel the more intimate the show, the better it is for educational opportunities as well as getting to know new colleagues and nurturing old friendships.
The location was 5-10 minutes from the Chicago O’Hare Airport with a free shuttle which was very convenient. A box lunch was also provided which was a nice touch and a casino was within a half mile from the venue.
For the inaugural show, it was certainly a very pleasant experience and I would say to anyone looking to increase their bottom line and move their companies to the next level - make your plans to be a part of the Marquee Show in Chicago for July 2019.
Check out some of the photos below and go to the Marquee Show Facebook website page for even more event photography!
