The Las Vegas chapter of the Experiential Designers and Producers Association (EDPA) held its family night Sept. 9 at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League’s Aviators, with about 60 members, guests, and family taking in the game against the Sacramento River Cats from the party deck on a comfortably warm desert evening.
The networking event, launched when the ballpark opened in 2019, brings the tradeshow industry together in a relaxed atmosphere where people can share notes, tell stories, and have a good time, says Mike Sunseri, West Coast sales manager for DS&L and past president of the Experiential Designers and Producers Association chapter.
For nine-year-old Brooklyn Cardinal, it was a chance to meet people who work with her mother, Hollie Cardinal, at Aluvision.
“I get to watch the baseball game, even though I haven’t watched it before,” Brooklyn says. “It’s really exciting meeting a lot of people, but I’m socially awkward.” Certainly not in her conversation.
Liza Golikova, consultant with ET Global and 20-year veteran of the Las Vegas tradeshow industry, showed up to help the EDPA board with whatever needed to be done, offering to set up tables.
“I’m really here to support our members and have them feel like they’re included and part of the tradeshow industry,” she says.
In conjunction with the local event, the EDPA Foundation announced Katie Smith of Boston as its 2026 scholarship recipient. She plans to attend the University of Colorado.
Angie Johnson, president of the Las Vegas EDPA chapter, notified one of her associates at Freeman about the scholarship,
Smith is looking to make a video for EDPA, and that’s great, Johnson says, because audiovisual is an emerging field in the tradeshow industry. “Whether she wants to pursue it or not, I don’t know.”
Johnson says she loves bringing the tradeshow community together to enjoy baseball with their families.
“Just with live events, this is the cusp of the busy season,” she comments. “We’re going into winter, the kids are back in school, this is the perfect window before we have to buckle down. We’re trending in the right direction.”
For the record, Bryan Lavastida homered in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Aviators a 1-0 victory in a classic pitchers’ duel, a rarity at the minor league level.
Las Vegas EDPA’s Family Night at the Ballpark, including hot dogs, hamburgers, and soft drinks, was sponsored by beUniquE Exhibits, Olympus Group, and TrussWorks.
EDPA is committed to driving strong growth within the experiential, exhibit, and event industry. Its pillars are advocacy, networking, education, and good works.
