Celebrating 100 Years
What is your fondest
MEMORY
of your time as an active
member of NSSEA/EDmarket?
“One of my oldest memories
goes back to the rush to sign
up for tables at the banquet.
If you did not sign up early
you wound up in the middle
of the hall — not near the
head tables and not near the
stage. It took me a couple
of years to learn you needed
to sign up early! At the time
I thought the procession of
officers under the spotlights
was a little over the top —
but as I worked through the
chairs I kind of wished that
we still had that as part of our celebration!”
— Terry Jenson, Playtime/Schooltime
The 1995 show in Dallas holds
a particularly funny memory for
me. Over the previous years it
had become a tradition with a
number of the young women
in our industry to do something different/fun as a group.
That year we decided to hire a
fortune teller….I believe it was
supposed to be for about 8 of
us. Well word got out and we
had a lot more. We
probably had 30 people that
had their fortunes told that night!
—Julie Ryno, Diversified Woodcrafts, Inc.
“At my 1st NSSEA in
Chicago I didn’t have a
clue what I was doing. A
customer walked into the
booth and started asking me
questions. I answered most
without problem. He then
asked me about our dating
policy. I thought he was
getting rather personal and
told him I had been seeing
the same woman for about a
year. This was 3 months into the job. He had a good laugh.”
— Kent Brings, Educational Insights
“During my first show in Dallas
in 2000, my business partner and
I were so overwhelmed and unprepared. We came with a $2,000
budget and were very careful not
to buy anything until we had seen
everything!! The last booth we
went to was Frank Schaffer. They
had a special that involved buying
multiple bundles from 5 choices.
As I ran the numbers through my
head, I began to get excited! We
made our selections just as the
show closed. I so clearly remember standing in the parking lot
of the hotel to leave, and my partner asked me which packages we ended up buying. I said it will be much easier for me
to tell you which one we didn’t get! Needless to say we blew
that budget at one stop — no regrets though!!!”
— Kindle Willis, The Neighborhood Tutor
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