COLUMN As the Saws Turn
Crossing Paths
press to announce the event and show the new logo. I’ve done a little bit of writing, so I was elected to write it. While creating this release, I am hink back to some of the reading every page of The Randy people you have met over website (www.rsmgc.org) to the course of your lifetime. remind myself of why this event And think for a moment about is so important to our industry. how you met them. Was it purely I really wanted to get my head a matter of circumstance that you By Jim Obermeyer into it. And I’m reading the story were actually in the same place at of how this thing all got started. the same time and then met that person? The first event was held at Hidden Or was it completely orchestrated by Hills Country Club in Stone Mountain, someone else? Ga., in August 1995. The first two years We meet a lot of people over the the event focused solely on providing course of our lives. Some are just passing support for the family of Randy Smith, through and disappear from the radar a project manager for an Atlanta-based quickly. Some become acquaintances. exhibit house. He died tragically in an Sometimes they become good friends, automobile accident on his way home and sometimes a spouse. I met my wife after working long hours at the Sportin college. And it was a totally random ing Goods Super Show in January of circumstance, or so it would appear. A 1995. Randy left behind a wife and two few seconds earlier or later and our paths small children. would never have crossed. I have read this before. And if you’d I have been fortunate to be involved have asked me, I could have told you this with the Randy Smith Memorial Golf story. But this time I literally stopped Classic for the last few years. I accepted mid-sentence, “Sporting Goods Super the dare of an industry friend and went Show in January of 1995.” Wait a minute. to my first event, just to check it out. I am I went to the Super Show one time, and it not a golfer, so I hung out with a couple was sometime in the 1990s. of the board members during the day In those days, it was one of the biggest and learned a lot of what this event is all shows in the country and had some of the about. And then I attended the evening biggest exhibits ever done. Companies banquet. I will never forget it. And I will like Nike and Adidas pulled out all the do my best to never miss another one. stops for this one. If you were a tradeSo, a few weeks ago, I am on a confershow guy, you had to go check out this ence call with all of the board members, show at least once. and we were starting the planning for I dug into my old files, I went to my old this year’s 25th anniversary event. As records of travel and of shows attended. part of the process, we decided we needI searched my memory bank for details. ed to do a news release to our industry And then I found it: I was at the Sporting
T
Goods Super Show in January of 1995. The more I thought about that, the more it really freaked me out. Did I meet Randy on the show floor? Did we work side by side during the long hours of setup? Did our paths cross? I have no idea. But I thought about that a lot in the next few days. What if he had left the hall just a few minutes earlier? What if he’d taken a different path home? Would it have changed his fate that day? And here we are 25 years later, still remembering the fate of one man that, because of the caring hearts of so many others in our business, has launched a movement in our industry to help families who have suffered severe tragedies or face insurmountable medical expenses. The Randy and its officially sanctioned ancillary events have assisted more than 170 industry families with financial and emotional support, raising nearly $2 million in the process. Think about that for a moment. One man’s path has crossed with more than 170 others who have benefited from the generosity of this industry, and countless others who have attended this event and have been touched by what they experience. Now think about this: Be there this year. October 4 at Chateau Elan Golf Club in Braselton, Georgia. I dare you. See you on the show floor—and see you at The Randy. Jim Obermeyer has been in the tradeshow industry 37 years, both as a corporate tradeshow manager and exhibit house owner. He is currently a vice president at Hamilton Exhibits and can be reached at jobermeyer@hamilton-exhibits.com.
12 September/October 2019 Exhibit City News
012_Col_ATST_0919.indd 1
8/21/19 9:56 AM