The Signs of Business

A time of remembrance and memorial to those persons who survived and perished in the Titanic disaster on April 15, 1912.

Where: Zoar United Church of Christ – 4600 Church Road, Evansville, IN 47720
When: Sunday, April 15, 2012 at 10:15 am

This special day will include an original dramatic narrative based on Titanic historical figures. Also included will be a memorial to those 1500 persons who died 100 years ago.

A Titanic meal, reminiscent of Titanic dining experiences with food from actual Titanic recipes, will be offered. This will include a three course meal with food items from first, second and third class menus. Meal will start at 1:00 pm with seating beginning at 12:30 pm. A special captain’s table will offer additional food items and amenities.

Cost of the meal is $25.00 and $35.00 for the captain’s table. There is limited seating available for the meal. Reservations are required with payment in advance.

Beginning Thursday, April 19, Zoar will host a Bible Study based on the book Titanic Warning by Casey Sabella. This will continue each Thursday evening at 7pm for 9 weeks. Books will be available for $10 each. This unique and informative Bible Study is open to persons of all faiths and backgrounds.
For more information about the program, to order a Titanic Warning book or to make reservations for the meal, please call the church office at 963-3749 or email zoarucc@gmail.com.

Happy Birthday, Evansville! Walter attended the Evansville Bicentennial Birthday Party at the Old Post Office where he caught up with a couple local celebrities. Former Evansville Mayor Frank McDonald II (left) served from 1987-2000. Newly minted Mayor Lloyd Winnecke (right) took office earlier this year.

Both of these mayors have had experience in banking before their life of politics. Mayor McDonald was with National City Bank and then People’s Savings Bank while Mayor Winnecke was a Senior Vice President and Marketing Director for Fifth Third Bank.

If you’d like to see more about the Bicentennial Birthday and all the events celebrating the 200 years of Evansville please visit evansville200.org

Not to be outdone, Fake Walter had to pose with Fake Winnecke…

About Where’s Walter

The Where’s Walter series highlights the mysterious activities of the owner of AmeriStamp Sign-A-Rama in Evansville Indiana. See all of the Where’s Walter posts.

Today at the office we celebrated four birthdays. In descending order of age: Evansville (not pictured), Dustin Ross, Matt Effinger and Jeff Groeninger were all honored today with pineapple upside-down cake.

Last week was Matt’s and Dustin’s birthdays but they were conveniently on vacation. Since it’s considered bad form to celebrate someone’s birthday in absentia (and eat their cake), we decided to officially celebrate their birthdays today. Jeff’s birthday is tomorrow and he’ll be joining the ‘quarter club’! Happy quarter century, Jeff!

Speaking of centuries, Evansville, Indiana began two centuries ago when Hugh McGary purchased 200 acres of land on March 27, 1812. To celebrate that clever real estate deal, starting at 4:30 this afternoon is a free bicentennial birthday bash at the Old Post Office in Downtown Evansville. Evansville Mayor Winnecke will be speaking at 5:30. Come on out and celebrate with us!

Other notable events of 1812

• Two massive earthquakes on the Madrid fault just west of Evansville.
• On June 18, 1812, the young United States still struggling to be completely independent declared war on Britain.
• December 2nd, President James Madison was re-elected to a second term. Following the lead of his predecessors, he too would decide two terms were enough. Not until 1951, would a limit of two terms as President be written into law.
• September 14th, Napoleon occupies Moscow.
• October 19th, Napoleon begins retreating from Moscow. After 90% of the homes and 1000 churches were destroyed in a few short weeks, Napoleon succumbs to hubris (and the harsh Russian winter). By mid December, the French invasion of Russia is over.

Happy Birthday, Matt Effinger!

Matt’s been with us since August 2010. It has been a delight having him in the office. Matt has a wonderful sense of humor, a refreshing commitment to friends, coworkers and clients, and a willingness to work hard that is appreciated by everyone around him.

One thing you may not know about Matt: He’s in the Evansville Ballet

Want to contact Matt? Here’s his contact info.

All American Tile has some new vehicle graphics on their truck! This job consisted of simple vehicle lettering for the logo and contact information highlighted by stars and stripes at the bottom. The American Flag on the truck tailgate completes the patriotic design.

Located in Evansville, Wayne Cardwell, owner of All American Tile has been working with tile and flooring for over 15 years. Wayne is a veteran so next time you see him around town, thank him for his service to our country.

Check out more vehicle graphics from Sign-A-Rama Evansville.

We have been named the Associate Member Company of the Year by the Apartment Association of Southern Indiana! Thank you to the AASI board for this wonderful honor.

In a strange twist, we even made the award plaque! Both Nicole, our engraver, and Sherri, our AASI representative, were sneaky enough to keep it a secret until the plaque was presented at the event Thursday night. Sherri announced the award this morning at our weekly company-wide meeting. Thanks for keeping secrets… I think.

From the Apartment Association of Southern Indiana website:

The purpose of our organization is to promote, advise, and protect the general interest in construction, ownership and management of multi-family housing by uniting those engaged in this industry. To uphold the dignity of the property management profession and to acquire and disseminate useful business information among its members; to educate its members in the performance of high standards of practice and business ethics.

You can also follow AASI on Facebook for updates, tips and advice.

What is the most important element of any Trade Show exhibit? Without question, hands-down, you are. I bet you thought I was going to say something sign-related like ‘your backdrop’ or ‘having as many banner stands as possible.’ No, as much as I would love to believe that your trade show presence lives and dies by the displays, the people in the booth make the greatest impact. Of course, when a horrible display and the wrong people combine, you get Season 4 Episode 13 of The Office- Dunder Mifflin’s display consisted of one sheet of paper (yes, one) and Michael Scott was in the booth.

Your people are the ones that will make the connections at your trade show. Your people are the ones who will make the follow up appointments. Your people schmooze and connect. Signs rarely schmooze and they are pathetic connecters. Signs, however, are great for branding and setting the tone of your exhibit. And when your crew is busy schmoozing and connecting, signs are a splendid backup for informing and communicating the basics your message. Trade show exhibit backdrops and signs done well can complete the atmosphere you want to create. Done poorly, they can conflict with your message and identity.

How do you create an effective Trade Show backdrop?

We’d like to invite you to the Centre in Downtown Evansville this Thursday (3/8) for the 7th annual Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana Business Expo. Admission is free. The exhibit hall is open from noon to 5:30pm.

The Business Expo is always one of our favorite events of the year. While it’s true that we like seeing other local businesses committed to making this community awesome. And it’s true that we like mingling with all the visitors. And it’s definitely true that we like the free food provided by local restaurants. More than anything though, we just like showing off.

I can think of no better public event for a sign company to showcase what they’re best at than a local business expo. In the past, we’ve demonstrated our trade show creativity by having stacked, spinning boxes. We’ve demonstrated cool new digital sign technology. We’ve demonstrated our vehicle wrap capabilities by having our wrapped Smart Car in our booth. And last year our 3M preferred graphics installer, Billy Collins, demonstrated his wrapping skills by wrapping a car door in our booth.

Every year, we try to do something a little different and think outside the box of what a traditional trade show exhibit should be. This year, Evansville’s bicentennial celebration, is going to be extra special. Marcia Yockey, Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, Dennis Gage and other local celebrities are all taking part in our celebration of Evansville’s 200th birthday! Special thanks to the Mayor’s office for letting us use him and 14WFIE’s Jeff Lyons for access to the Marcia Yockey print.

Come for the networking. Come for the free food. Come for Marcia Yockey, you know you want to!

Looking for something a little more traditional for your trade show booth? No problem, we do that too:

• Banner Stands
• Table Covers
• Popup Backdrops
• Everything else you could need for your exhibit

I love the sense of humor our customers display time and time again. Notre Dame fans are well aware of the “Play Like A Champion Today” sign. For those of you not aware, the “Play Like A Champion Today” sign is touched by the players as they exit the locker room. It has been a motivational tradition for the Fighting Irish since the days of Lou Holz.

One particular Notre Dame fan recently requested a slight alteration to this sign. This ‘Poop Like A Champion Today’ sign will proudly adorn the walls of his baby’s newly decorated nursery. We couldn’t resist getting a picture of it above the outhouse-wrapped door of our men’s bathroom before the customer picked it up.

This is one of the reasons I love this job. Our customers are always asking for fun, creative and interesting signs.

We’ve had a suspended cable system in our showroom for quite a while now. But I’ve gotten kind of bored with it (see the pic at the end of this article). It was five panels that we used as a portfolio presentation showcasing some of the signs and projects we had recently worked on. It was okay, but no longer thrilled me. One of my goals, er, New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 is to continually improve our in-house marketing pieces. As an opening project for the Great Redesign of 2012, we wrapped our fridge.

We have a fantastic showroom space and there are a slew of ideas we’ve played with to make this space a creativity-inducing experience for visiting customers and other dignitaries. Expect to see more and more changes coming in 2012. I’m sure we’re like many small businesses who are focused on continual improvement in our staff, our equipment, and our facility. This is just one of the ways a 55 year-old company stays relevant and forward-thinking.

Any time you’re in our showroom on Evansville’s East Side, ask for a tour. We love showing people our in-house capabilities.

Other options for the suspended cabling system include:

• LED edgelit panels
• LED spot and floodlights
• Shelving spaces
• Slide-in Poster panels for easy graphic changes