I am pleased to announce that the Quarter 4 2025 issue for Exhibit City News is officially live. You can access the edition by the link on our homepage or here. For those of you who will receive our physical print, look forward to it in the coming weeks.
EDPA, ESCA, EIC, EACA, IAEE, IFES, UFI, AIPC, HCEA, ASAE, PCMA, CEIR, SISO, WIE, TEDA, CES, NAB, NRA, SEMA, LVCVA, MBCC, NOENMCC, LVCC, LACC, ECN.
Those are just some of my favorites: acronyms I toss out at the drop of a hat, daily. When I began many of them were unknown to me, and I had to build up my repertoire slowly but surely. Yet, despite the number that I know, there are many I do not know.
Ray Smith, longtime Exhibit City News (ECN) writer, calls it alphabet soup—and it’s often as messy as it sounds.
At ECN, we’re debating a style guide update. Some acronyms, like EDPA, are so common no one says Experiential Designers and Producers Association—it’s just “the EDPA.” Same with CES: everyone knows it’s the Consumer Electronics Show, but it’s simply CES.
According to the Associated Press (AP) Style Guide, acronyms should be spelled out on first reference, unless they’re widely recognized (like UFO, MPG, AARP). They caution against alphabet soup but say abbreviations are fine if readers recognize them. Sounds simple, but we only know what we know, and there is always someone who does not. EDPA is familiar to most in our industry, yet some companies have never heard of it, as ECN Editorial Advisor Lisa Abrams recently discovered. So, what do we do? We adapt.
Our Quarter 4 issue for 2025 is all about diversification, adaptation, and different ways we can expand businesses in the tradeshow industry. Sometimes, change is about consolidation. Sometimes, it’s about turning the status quo on its head. Most of the time it’s about finding a solution to a problem in a creative way.
Whether that means branching out into different industries (pg 16) or integrating artists as a way to maximize sponsor engagement (pg 26), diversifying convention centers (pg 36) or housing staff in homes-away-from home (38), the industry is constantly striving to answer the question: what if? From Charities (pg 42) to tradeshow consultants (pg. 34), labor (pg 66) to warehousing (pg 52), the ways that we grow and change are immeasurable.
And, what did Exhibit City News decide to do? We decided to lead instead of follow. The changing tradeshow demographic is new and fresh with bright ideas that we have yet to see. Not everyone is coming into tradeshows with the same knowledge or experience. As a community we take those stories and uplift them, give them the knowledge (and acronyms) they may need to succeed and think outside the box.
