To start out the New Year, we gave thanks for the people we love, the things we enjoy and made the obligatory resolutions for the New Year.

Now, lets get practical and give thanks to the people who make our industry function, make us look good and help us make money.

1. We thank the Show Sponsor who has the marketing vision and takes the financial risk to put on the event. Without both the will and the way, there would be fewer successful shows.

2. We thank the Show Organizer who, with the Sponsors vision and financial support, puts all the pieces together, draws the contracts, supervises the nitty-gritty and gets us all through the door for the show and out again.

3. We thank the Exhibitors who invest time, money and manpower to present their products to the world in this unique environment. Its how we find out whos who, whats what and become attuned to whats going to happen in our industry.

4. We thank the Attendees who also invest time, money and manpower to attend the trade show and who look, listen and learn about our firms. With the golden hope that Attendees beget Leads beget Clients, we give them much thanks.

5. We thank our Exhibit Managers who make it all go so smoothly. These detail wranglers handle minutia with a smile and professionalism unfathomable by most marketing types.

6. We thank the Exhibit Designers who take our many ..but I think... and I wanna... and turn them into dynamic, attention-grabbing and profitable conveyors of the right image at the right time.

7. We thank the Unions - yes, we do - for their dedication to their crafts, their ability to take boxes and cases and crates, and make them the magic we need for the show - and then pack it all up again.

8. We thank the Freight Folks, from the local courier to the big guys in trucks, trains and planes. We appreciate their understanding of time critical and fragile, and we especially thank them for customer service courtesy and online tracking. Bah Humbug to those who havent gotten the message yet.

9. We thank the Creatives, those promotion folks who run the gambit from defining the marketing experience for each show, selecting goodies to hand out, and pulling it all together so were successful on both sides of the aisle.

10. And, last but not least, we thank the Exhibit Staff. Theres no job description that says stand in the booth and hand out brochures, so staff is drawn from many disciplines throughout the company. Trade shows are hard work. They make you physically tired because of travel, long hours and a compact agenda. They drain you emotionally because you get more rejections than acceptances. And, they compound the amount of work you have to do because theres still your real job back at the office which youre still at the show.

Make this your New Years Resolution - a salute and a Thank You to all who make your trade shows successful.

Julia O'Connor

In one way or another, Julia has always been in sales. From the time her mortified mother found out that, as an enterprising 5-year-old, she was peddling homemade pot holders to the neighbors, to her current expertise in trade show marketing, she has been interested in results. And in order to get the results she wants, she will guide, train and teach.

Her careers range from public and professional education design, to freelance advertising-public relations, to real estate investment portfolio management.

Since 1982, Julia has been working with clients in trade show marketing. And, when she asked clients, "why are you going to that show?", she found most did not know. Time to teach.

After years of informal instruction, Trade Show Training was incorporated to provide structured training ranging from trade show basics to the ergonomics of exhibit design. She designed Camp Sho-M-Sel-M to improve sales staff performance in the trade show environment.

She holds degrees from The University of Georgia in Advertising, an MA in Mass Communications from The University of Iowa, and an Indiana University MBA in Marketing. She is a frequent speaker on marketing, networking, entrepreneurship and trade shows.