Shop to Showfloor
by Emily Olson
Husband and wife Ricky and Ana Staley are members of IATSE Local 835 in Orlando, and they recently agreed to sit down with Exhibit City News to talk about what it’s like when business and relationships are wed.
Ricky began working in the tradeshow industry in 1995 after watching his roommate’s experience with Local 631 in Orlando. “Setting up conventions and the conversations he had about the convention business sounded to me like every day was different and was an exciting adventure to experience,” he says. His wife Ana had a similar impression of the industry and started her tradeshow career in January 2005.
ECN: What’s it like working together?
Ricky and Ana: Working with each other is awesome. We work in a warehouse for a convention decorating company and have been working together since September 2005. We love spending time together and with the same schedule, we get to enjoy our weekends together having breakfast, going to craft fairs, farmers markets, taking bike rides and going to the casino.
ECN: Do you leave work at work, or does shop talk make its way to the dinner table?
Ricky and Ana: We normally spend a few minutes discussing the events that accrued that day, and what we would like to accomplish at work tomorrow as we sit down and start to enjoy our dinner.
ECN: What has your experience with the pandemic been like?
Ricky and Ana: Our work came to a screeching halt in March 2020. At first we were told by our supervisor that the layoff would probably last about a month or so. Ana and I never thought it would take 14 months to get back to doing what we love to do for a living. Local 835 in Orlando was one of the first unions in the country to have conventions return in early summer 2021, thanks to the COVID-19 safety procedures at the Orange County Convention Center and local hotels.
As we waited for the industry to start up again, we tried to learn new languages, exercise more than ever, we each started an online business and we even worked a part-time job together during the summer of 2020.
ECN: What are your hopes for the future of the tradeshow industry?
Ricky and Ana: We hope associations are so ready to get back on the show floor and meet their clients in person that the convention industry grows so huge and quickly across the country that we can continue to work together, and that everyone can get back to work and be able to look forward to the future!
An excerpt of this story originally appeared in the Nov./Dec. 2021 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 42. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_nov-dec_2021
