I was privileged to attend this year’s Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) International Convention, which was hosted at the main convention center in Tampa, Florida.
Those who have attended past ASI conventions may remember 3ABN’s booth, which has remained virtually unchanged the previous eight conventions that have passed since I’ve been at 3ABN (and probably longer than that, but that is beyond my time). It was basically one and then later two traditional tradeshow displays, each with space for 3 or 4 backlit Plexiglas panels. The only difference year to year was the choice of panels used, and of course the handouts and the faces present at the booth.
For the past several years, some of us at 3ABN, such as Greg Morikone and myself, had been suggesting something different — something bigger, more immersive, and more professional. In fact, 3ABN already owned a larger and better looking tradeshow display, which we suggested could be used for parts in a new design. However, year after year our ideas had been turned down, mainly due to finances and not wanting to project an image of extravagence.
However, this year someone with more say-so than myself decided that 3ABN would be benefitted by a larger booth, and so this dream finally had a chance to move forward. It turned out to be a complicated process, since the idea for the booth included a space where on-location taping could be done. There were so many people involved in the planning, there was a lot of waiting; and because of that, there was a lot of last-minute rush to complete the project.
Ultimately the structure design fell on Jason Wilhelm, who works in our Program Development department. (Jason is a 3D whiz, which was certainly handy for this project.) The graphic design for the booth panels mostly fell on me.
Using SketchUp and Photoshop, we mocked up a number of designs. The final design that I created on a whim, taking cues from our 3ABN bag which is ubiqutous at such events, used large swatches of primary colors, reflecting the colors common on the flags of the world. Flags from many countries adorned the pillars on top. I was also inspired to decorate the pillars with words that would represent the “pillar” principles of 3ABN — although the actual choice of words would be decided at a later meeting.
The multicolored international theme turned out to be the overwhelming favorite. With our administration’s approval I finally got the go-ahead to finish the project. Unfortunately, at that stage we had about 2 or 3 weeks until the truck that would transport that booth would depart for Tampa. Not only that, but I also had my other projects such as a 3ABN World magazine to finish — a project that could eat up most of that time by itself.
The biggest frustration was that the Photoshop files we were working with were so large — up to multiple gigabytes in size — that just opening or saving the files took enough time for cookies and a nap (which I never got to do, unfortunately). It was also the first real project on our new wide-format printer (we produced everthing in-house). And at the outset we did not really have a clue how exactly we were going to mount these things on the trusses that made up the booth structure. Fortunately our truck crew helped solve many of the logistical problems. Needless to say, we finally finished it, and I must say it came together pretty well.
In Tampa, we had quite a crew working to assemble the thing, essentially for the first time. Between us and the “Church in a Day” exhibit adjacent to us, that part of the hall looked, smelled, and sounded like an assembly plant.
I’ve posted pictures from ASI on my Facebook page, including quite a few photos of the booth construction (most of which were taken by my friend and coworker Idalia Dinzey).
The globe in the center rotated, and we had three satellites orbitting it:
Another view from the front:
An astounding feature of this year’s ASI was the Sabbath donation by the several thousand people present: more than $8 million in gifts and pledges! This seemed to be largely in response to the new “Church in a Day” project that was pushed this year.
One of the most touching ministry reports was from a ministry reaching out to the poor, abused, and widowed/abandoned women of Peru. It was really amazing.
It was great to see many friends at ASI, and to meet some new ones. Although my brother and Heidi were not there this year, my mom was able to come; and she had a good time. Of course, the whole event passes too quickly.
PS: If you ever get the chance to eat at a Sweet Tomato restaurant, try it! It’s like the best all-you-can-eat salad bar ever!
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