FHEA 2012 - Booth 513

It is that time of year again!  On October 8th and 9th a-fabco will be mingling with physicists, engineers, architects along with many other building industry professionals at the Florida Healthcare Engineering Association Annual Meeting and Trade Show.  This year FHEA celebrates their 50th Anniversary with a Gala on Tuesday evening.  

 
We will have a sample of a lead lined integral blind at the show which seems to be the newest up and coming product being specified by architects in healthcare facilities.   
 
 

If you are going to the show please stop by Booth 513 and say hi to Jerry and David.  Sadly I will be skipping the show this year as someone needs to stay back in the office :)

Orlando

Let me start this post by saying I like Orlando, the city has a lot to offer beyond the mouse.  There is nice hiking and canoeing in the Little Big Econ State Forest.  What seems to be lacking in Orlando are street signs at major intersections.  You know those nice big street signs that are nowinstalled on the same lines as the stop lights.  The road name is readable from a distance and you even know what street number you are at.

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I drove over to Orlando for a trade show and got lost twice.  I am pretty good with maps but it's hard to read one while driving.  The first issue was though the Goggle map called a road  by a name all the signs said Hwy ....  Well how the heck am I supposed to know Highway ... is also named ---?   It must be a local thing.  But I was able to get to the hotel before the show started and even had time to help set up the booth.  Breathing normally.

Big sign where is the # block?

The second lost episode (no not that one) was from the trade show to the hotel.  It was dark and raining which makes for fun times anyway.  It should have taken me 15 minutes to get to the hotel from the trade show.  At 30 mins. I called my BFF and begged her to please get on her computer and figure out where the heck I was.  I hadn't run into the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf or even Georgia so how lost could I be?  Turns out I wasn't too far off the beaten track I just turned right when I should have turned left.  Of course if there had been a street sign and the street sign had the street numbers by block on it I would have realized my mistake 20 minutes before.  Thankfully my BFF stayed on the phone with me and directed me to the hotel.  How can I not love cell phones and the internet!

Living in the Sunshine State I love tourists!  I want to keep tourists happy so they keep coming back and spending their hard earn dollars in my state.  Orlando is a city that tourists flock to - in droves.  Most rent cars since Florida isn't known for any transit system.  My plea to the City of Orlando is get your DOT to work and make some readable road signs and install them at every major intersection.  Please!

Trade Shows

a-fabco, inc. exhibits at a few but very specific trade shows to highlight our radiation shielding protection products.  In the last, almost, two years I have been to five and organized four of them.  We have committed to the FHEA show is in September and I really would like to do something different since this will be my third time at this particular show.  We did get an absolutely fabulous booth location! 

We have a great booth and a product information dvd on a constant loop that can be seen easily on a 46” monitor.  Last year I had some lead glass, lead brick and lead drywall samples made up so interested attendees could handle the different products.   



Lead Brick Sample



With money tight and show attendance down I am trying to come up with ideas to freshen things up.  One thought was a game of “How much does the lead brick weigh?”   It doesn’t look heavy but it is!  Not sure of prizes but something small and useful.

I am trying to convince my male co-workers to have some pink polo shirts made with our navy blue afab logo on it.  They don’t like that suggestion but a bright shirt gets attention especially at a trade show where navy and black are the norm. 

At the ASHE show in March Milliken Carpets had these great pins made up with lots of fun sayings in bright colors. The colors represented their product choices for hospitals.  I loved the idea but it wouldn’t work for afab’s products.

I am hoping inspiration will strike between now and September with enough time to implement. Of course if you have any suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments!