Marshall Yard:

If you’ve kept tabs on the evolution of Marshall-Yard over the years, you probably know some of our more prominent “characters” that make us who we are. Originally there was Kevin, the Mississippi Map Turtle. Next, there was the Trade Show Blog Master, a tyranical and predatory ruler who cracks the whip that keeps this blog motivated. Ever the optimist, the blog master’s reputation precedes him at every moment of the day.

It is without any further ado, that I introduce our latest friend here at the blog:

The Trade Show Blog Sherpa.

He does all of the heavy lifting for us here at the blog. Got a question about how many amps that 42″ LCD screen will require? Sherpa has the answer. Need to know how many labor hours that hanging canopy will add to the booth? 2 hours, says he. Need to send a graphic panel to McCormick Place because the installer scratched the original? No problem, he’ll be down there in less than an hour - thanks Sherpa. (more…)

Our pet’s become our family, no doubt about it.  Catalyst Exhibits holds our employee Dog Day every year before Christmas.  This year was no exception as the dogs, about 20 of them came in every shape and breed.  From mutt’s to pure breeds, they roamed the halls.

We were hopeful that we would have Duchess - who was attacked recently by coyote’s right outside her backdoor.   The little trooper looked a little bit roughed up but it did not stop her from joining in.

There are several things to be cautioned about during the colder months as alot of these wild coyotes are in search of food and as our towns develop and grow, pushing them out of their natural habitats and right into ours.  Please take precautions and don’t say it won’t happen to me.

It is fascinating to watch the dog’s interact with one another and yet there are the shy one’s, such as Bodie, who last year waited by the front door until his mom returned from an errand.  This year, he followed her everywhere.

Carl - I have to mention Carl, he was with my cube mate, and I have never seen a more adorable little face.  He sat nicely and visited me each hour. 

We as consumers rely on the independant representatives from the Pet Industry to supply us with the fun gadgets, intereseting pet products and educational information to keep our animals safe:

Remember: Cold Weather Hazards such as Antifreeze, Liquid Potpourri, Ice Melting Products and Rat and Mouse Bait.

February 14th, 2008 - Global Pet Expo  will be hosted at the San Diego Convention Center - as previously posted there are several items to avoid feeding your animals during the holidays.  There are several other items that are around our house during the holidays and winter seasons that can cause issues for our pets as well.

Holiday Hazards:

Christmas Tree Water (may contain fertilizers and bacteria)

Electric Cords

Ribbons & Tinsel

Batteries

Glass Ornaments

There are several area veterinary facilities in the Crystal Lake area, if you run into an emergency during off hours, you can contact them.

Kevin came back early from his weekend home because he was “DEPRESSED” as Lauren put it…she brought him back to the hustle and bustle of the exhibit house chaos, but seriously, as we sit here this evening watching Crossroads, I think it is all about the music…mind you Lauren, he is from Mississippi and likes to hear the blues and not rap music.  You all know my feelings about  Stevie, well, Kevin feels that way about Ry Cooder’s blues.  

That swampy sound of the slide guitar has Kevin in a twist, down with those snakes and alligators, he feels right at home! Can a turtle get depressed, I actually have to agree with Lauren, yes, I think they can.  Let me tell you, I have brought Kevin home now for several weekends, and his little trade show exhibit mascot spirit seems to be taking a beating. Initially I thought that it would be good for the little fellow, but he just seems to sink himself deep in the water and not even the meanest of blues tunes brings him out to feed in front of his weekend collegues.

I thought I was doing Kevin a favor bringing him home on weekends, for the heat lamp and the feeding, but heck, if it is going to get this boy singing the blues, I ’spose it is best to leave him be. I noticed the fact as well as Lauren that he sat himself in the deep blue sea of the aquarium that I bought him that he is not quite as active in his weekend environment.  I can truly hear Kevin quoting Crossroads characters, “if you are going to be a janitor..mop my room.” 

Well, we get back to the Janitor..and I have visions of walking around the ISSA trade show, and thinking oh my gosh, how many more exhibits with bathrooms and toilets, and toilet paper, or fuffy smelly good stuff can I see, the answer to that, unless you are in the exhibit house business, or in the janitorial supply rep business, you can never imagine…and let me tell you, urinal cakes, make and extremely funny gag gift.

Oh yet again,. Kevin pooped in the cooler, remind me, not to load that one up with Corona’s anytime soon.  The ride home was an adventure.  If I get in an accident, whats going to happen when Kevin flys out of the cooler? I thought of that while driving and paying more attention to him trying to escape the mini six packer’r that he is packed in for his venture to my house. 

Who would ever look in for a turtle being transported? Not me? Any paramedics out there that would? Hmmm….a cooler that looks like it was pooped in? I doubt the first thought would be what was in there other than some food.  A sloppy cooler carrier?

Turtles can carry salmonela, so it is a good habit to get in to always wash your hands after you touch them, or handle anything.. such as the disgusting cooler! I got him home, and chose a few more rocks from the garden, which mind you, I got eaten by mosquito’s while trying to pick the right ones for his weekend visit to my house, its like a volleyball team of mosquito’s out there, and we the humans are their ball!

Kevin-loveD the spinach that I fed him, his mommy told me I could..and that made him a bit more active on his weekend hiatus!

Kevin dug out some pictures of Catalyst Exhibits, Inc. annual Dog Day from a few years back and wanted to share a few tid bids on Pet Care and the Global Pet Expo Trade Show 2008. This year the trade show will be taking place on February 14th-16th, 2008 at the San Diego Convention Center.   In 2007 there were over 760 Exhibitors that attended and took up over 230,000 square feet of exhibit space. 

If you are attending the expo as an exhibitor, keep in mind that this is over a 41 billion dollar business.  With pet’s becoming part of our families, and being subjected to many more environmental issues, you will want your exhibit to make an impact, you’ll want your exhibit to be what you want your products to be.  Build a better trade show image with a great marketing program, attending trade shows can be time consuming, finding an inspired exhibit company can help make that process a bit more simple.  Allowing you more time to focus on the your prospects, and making them feel comfortable with your knowledge of the products & services you are exhibiting. A innovative exhibit company helps you intertwine the details of your product, services & knowledge blending them together for you in an eye catching, creatively cool trade show display.

Kevin wanted me to share with you his excitement from the other day.. WORMS! He loves eating worms, trust me, we have no shortage of rain so the pickings in the parking lot are great.  The more plump the better in his book.  He asked that I share with you some things not to feed your pets;

Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pet
- Alcoholic beverages (Stanley my cat would be very upset at this one - he finds open beer delightful)
- Avocado
- Chocolate (all forms)
- Coffee (all forms)
- Fatty foods
- Macadamia nuts
- Moldy or spoiled foods
- Onions, onion powder
- Raisins and grapes
- Salt
- Yeast dough
- Garlic
- Products sweetened with xylitol

Well, can you imagine, Kevin was reading about the RSNA - Radiology Society of North America Trade Show, and he just had to run off to see what in the world it was all about. 

The RSNA - Radiology Society of North America - the home office is located in Oakbrook Illinois.  The RSNA Trade Show will be held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois and will take place on November 25th - 30th, 2008. 

Kevin has put in request to Rich here to sit down and get some interesting facts about Trade Show Display Setup at RSNA.  Rich was busy catching up this morning, so stay tuned for an update on some inside stories.

RSNA Trade Show has some information on their website for Tours & Events that will be happening in Chicago during that time of year.  Bundle up though, Chicago is known as the windy city, yet was given the name because of the long winded politicians it had in place. 

Kevin would like everyone to know about the exhibit display that is at the Shedd Aquarium - Lizards & Komodo King.  He thinks it may be worth your while to take a gander at some of these unusual animals.  I doubt their tanks get as messy though Kevin!

Kevin went home today a little before lunch, my 15 year old son drove me to work and I held a very active Kevin in his little tiny cooler.    Boy, I must say..Kevin is a pig! I changed his water each day he was here, being its a hiatis, I didnt do the entire filter thing, and he made a mess of the tank!

I think his next stop will be with Mark Lynch..and they can throw back some Irish brew, or whatever those shanty Irish are drinking these days., I’d ask mom, she comes from the wrong side of the Irish tracks, but she gave up drinking, since her kidneys went out several years ago!
P.S….deb..sorry you thought he was a dead mascot..he was just on a little over nighter!

I brought little Kevin home yesterday, Lauren kindly packed his bags and we decided instead of being alone on the weekend with only JR to keep him company that we would do a satellite station here at my house.  Giving Kevin a break from the exhibit house and any trade show talk, he is sitting quietly in his weekend home. 

It appears he is a little confused about his new surroundings, but he has eaten and he has been sun bathing on his new rock.  I am not sure what he is truly thinking other than, what are those funny furry things that are staring at me from the floor.   My two cats….Stanley (who loves to drink beer) and Carly who is called the itty bitty little kitty, weighing no more than 3 pounds..she was the runt!

Kevin is at it again, the little Mississippi Map Mascot, while researching Orange Groves last week, stumbled upon the Performance Raching Trade Show.  Kevin recruited our “Only One Man” Patrick - our portable exhibit guy into a road trip! The Performance racing Trade Show will be taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida - December 6th-8th, 2008.  Last year, there were over 1400 companies that exhibited and with over 1,000,000 square feet of exhibit space.   Kevin read that the requests for larger aisles at this trade show did not fall on deaf ears. 

Patrick and Kevin decided to hunt down an old tour bus from the 1970’s for their wheels this past week. They thought it best to do a trial run, so that they are sure the bus will make it to Florida through our blustery northern winter weather.   The tour bus is a MCI Coach Bus, well belive me you, Patrick and Kevin stocked it full of the amenities, they made sure the turtle food was in stock and that there was plenty of cold one’s in the portable fridge!

MCI stands for Motor Coach Industries, which is located in Illinois, and was started in 1933.  I asked Patrick if he had any background information on the wheels he borrowed for a friend, and he said he was not sure, but rumor has it that a famous singer from the 1970’s may have used it to travel across the country before they were well known.   I belive it over $350,000 for a brand new MCI Bus these days, so the economical solution for Patrick and Kevin was to borrow this one. Since Kevin may be maxing out someone’s credit card, I don’t think they would take to kindly to that sort of charge.

Being that Kevin was a turtle, he didn’t think he could handle the excitement of a performance racing car and decided on the bus.  He heard through the grapevine that Patrick may end up in a ditch if the power under his foot was too much!

IBIE - International Baking Industry Expo Trade Show will be held in Orlando, Florida this year, Kevin - heard about it and immediately sought out a bakers hat, and decided he needed to do a little research.   He booked his ticket through cheap tickets, we are yet to know, who’s credit card he used, so that he can attended the event. 

The IBIE International Baking Expo will take place October 7 th , 2008, he is excited, he is looking forward to visiting the orange groves down there? It made me, wonder, as well are there any left with all the construction? When he google’d Florida Orange Groves, he found a winery.  Well, I think I know where Kevin will be hanging out, he does tip one back from time to time in the wee-hours of the night. Deb caught him and joined in, and boy..the both of them sure had hangovers the next day.  

Back to the IBIE Trade Show - this is one spicy event.  With over 20,000 in attendance, the amount of exhibit space is really impressive at 1,000,000.  With new technology in the forefront of every profession it is a showcase for the latest and greatest in the baking industry, from baking equipment right down to the ingredients that are used in common recipes.

This event has not been held in Florida in the past, this will be the first time.  The Orange County Convention Center is right in the tourism district, and at the moment of this writing, my own son is down there for a National Youth Gathering, which will house some 30,000 kids from the Lutheran Churches across the Nation. 

There is alot of information pertaining to the Orange County Convention Center procedures if you will be attending a trade show there or if you are going to have an trade show exhibit at the show.  It is twelve miles from the airport, and belive it or not there are events book at the OCCC up until 2028, good god, how old will we all be.

Kevin was insulted when one of his on-lookers suggested he practice up on his cooking, since he looked so adorable in his chef’s hat, they suggested Turtle Soup. Turtle Soup is a delicacy in Louisiana, and it does seem to be somewhat of a process to prepare, and not forgetting it could contain one of Kev’s Cousin’s from neighboring Mississippi  Oh the nerve, I would imagine it came from the design group, if I had to guess.

Fabtech International is coming November 11th - 14th to our back yard in Chicago. Being that Fabtech is going to be in Chicago, Kevin decided he was going to find out just what this welding industry was all about.  He visited McCormick place, but was more enthralled with the new Soldiers Field, news is he didn’t have a field pass, and was out there trying to kick a field goal. 

He went out on the streets, and the little fella forgot his googles, boy, you can lead a turtle to water, but you can’t make him swim! Anyhow, he went to interview some of the welders, and they did tell him safety first!  Being as loveable as a turtle can be though, they opted to talk with him. 

Fabtech has an attendance of over 25,000 and over 900 exhibitors already signed up.  The industry professionals look forward to the array of products that are displayed in varies size exhibit booths.   Kevin thought the most interesting sounding event of the entire trade show would be the Job Fair, he is currently not real sure he likes just hanging out in the sales department, because its to quiet, since Nancy has been on the trade show circuit for some time now,  Deb has behaved herself. 

Therefore he opted to go downtown, the train ride was a bit rough, but he parked his ride at the Barrington Train Station where there was a kind public works gentleman waiting to help him with the fairboxes.  He couldn’t stretch his legs far enough to insert the dollar bill.

He found himself talking with some of the professionals in the industry, metal forming, fabricating, and welders.  He most liked the metal forming, he was interested in the possiblilities of bending and shaping such material in almost any way you can think.  If he could walk on metal with more ease, he would be heading home to design a new structure for his tank for when he grows, FROM THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF FOOD he is consuming.  Which brings him to his lunch, he suggests if you get a chance to check out some of the local restaurants downtown, one in particular, he loved was Ron of Japan’s, he sat around a large table and ate ton’s and ton’s of egg sauce. 

Kevin suggested if you can afford it to stay at the Loews Blue’s Hotel, its an electic place, and spins I Dream of Jeannie with the Morrocan theme. If you don’t have the money at least stop in the bar and visit the little room that truly reminded him of I Dream of Jeannie.

Our Mississippi Map Turtle dwells in the sales department, which he rules with an iron fist, and is constantly following up on all the exhibitors and making sure they are happy with their final trade show product.  Kevin has been a part of Catalyst for over a  year.  He lives with his friend JR. who will hang around Kevin’s rock waiting for him to come out and play. 

The Mississippi Map Turtle can best be identified by the crescent shaped light spot behind the eye that prevents the neck stripes from reaching the eye. The skin of the turtle is olive to brown and is marked with many narrow yellow stripes along the legs, tail, chin and neck. 

Curiosity on whether or not Kevin is a male or female, well, there is turtle genitalia on the website, figure it out for yourselves it was pretty disgusting, and we are pretty sure he is actually a she.  

Kevin likes very clean water and gets depressed when its not, he enjoys his quiet surroundings and gets a bit nervous when he hears all the potty mouth coming out of Nancy & Deb’s office.  But given the quiet and soothing voice of his care taker, Lauren, he calms down fairly quickly.  Kevin seems to be enjoying the recent addition to his diet, lettuce, as he waits patiently for feeding time, which these days, is pretty often.I sat with Kevin for a spell at his ranch, and he speaks very highly of the entire Catalyst Staff, when I asked what his dreams where, he said, he truly would like a partner, someone he can lounge with and swim under his waterfall when the lights go out at closing time.