The Exhibit and Event Marketers Association (E2MA) Red Diamond Congress is an event for the entire community of exhibit and event industry professionals specifically designed to build bridges of connection and opportunity through education and networking.
Held July 28-31 at Oak Brook Hills Resort in Oak Brook, Ill., Exhibit Designers + Producers Association (EDPA) hosted two sessions for those who wanted to learn more about the EDPA RFP Certification Program and the value that it would bring to their companies.
Launched earlier this year, the EDPA RFP Certification Program was instituted in response to an industry survey of corporate tradeshow exhibitors revealed a desire for more transparency and consistency during the RFP process.
Assisted by Exhibit Surveys, the leading provider of research, measurement and consulting services exclusively for the exhibition and event industry, research proved corporate exhibitors shared “unanimous enthusiasm for the concept of an EDPA ‘Good Housekeeping Seal’.” Such a certification would prescreen exhibit house vendors on the basis of business integrity, capabilities and operational practices, and would even be a consideration in RFP and RFQ processes.
During the session, the amount of effort that went into the creation of the program was shared along with the statistics gathered over the two-year process. At the end of the session, corporate exhibitors committed to seeking and utilizing EDPA RFP Certified companies joined the ‘Take the Pledge’ Campaign.
Participants, including corporate exhibitors, exhibit house companies and other industry suppliers, shared what the program would mean for their role and/or companies as part of the industry.
“Excellent opportunity to backup industry claims factually,” commented industry supplier Dave Flory, director of national accounts & exhibit house sales, CORT Tradeshow & Event Furnishings.
“[The certification] provides prospects and clients a level of comfort about our services especially if we can request the data like a transcript to be sent for their review,” said Julia Poroshkova, marketing manager, Nimlok Chicago, an exhibit house.
ExpoDisplays of Birmingham, Ala.; Hamilton Exhibits of Indianapolis; Exhibit Concepts, headquartered in Vandalia, Ohio; GraphiColor of Livonia, Mich.; and ProExhibits, headquartered in San Jose, Calif., have completed the process and received EDPA RFP Certification as of July 2014. Mirror Show Management was the first exhibit design and production company in the industry to be certified on this new business practices standard in June 2014.
Jeff Provost, executive director, EDPA, added, “We congratulate each of these companies on their achievement and hope that this will encourage others in the exhibit design and production industry to pursue certification.”
The following candidate companies are participating in the inaugural process:
- Acer Exhibits
- Group Delphi
- Hadley Exhibits
- MG Design
- Bowman Design
- Moose Exhibits
- Reveal Exhibits
For more information, contact Gwen Hill, VP of Education, EDPA, at gwen.hill@exhibitforce.com or 713-331-3325.
