CEMA invites you to come relax in the CEMA @ CES Lounge in the South Hall of the LVCC, Booth #36176, in the CES Meeting Place area. Enjoy refreshments, internet access, and printer availability. It's a place you can escape to and network with your CEMA community. The CEMA @ CES Lounge will be open from Wednesday, January 4th - Saturday, January 7th, 11:00am – 3:00pm daily. It is for CEMA Members and their guests, and made possible by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Please take a moment to introduce potential members to Erika Brunke or Olga Rosenbrook who will be available to answer any membership questions.

The holidays are such a busy and stressful time, yet many of us would love to contribute to our communities and those who are less fortunate. Here are a couple of low-cost, low-effort ideas that could really make a difference in someone’s life:

1. Clear out all of those outdated spiffs and giveaways! Donate them to homeless shelters, women and children’s centers, local churches or charities. If you’re concerned about outdated logos floating around locally, donate these items to charities that send their items to third-world countries, etc. Virtually ANYTHING you have in your warehouse would be appreciated by these organizations.
2. What can you do with all of those hotel amenities? Collect them in your travels throughout the year and then donate them to the homeless or women’s and children’s shelters! They are the perfect size to create portable hygiene kits.

If you have a community relations department within your company, enlist their help with these activities and “spread the joy!”

CEMA Board Member, Susan Littleton has been recognized by IAEM for Outstanding Achievement by Show Managers or Teams in Marketing & Sales activities including, total event revenue/profit, attendance, exhibit space sales, advertising revenue, and sponsorship revenue.

Susan Littleton is the vice president of marketing for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with 18 years of high-tech and trade show marketing experience. Susan and her team made several significant contributions to the success of the show including: helping to achieve a record-breaking 1.5 million net square feet of exhibit space, and drawing 145,868 industry attendees to the show, exceeding her goal by 11 percent. For more, go to www.iaem.org.

CEMA is inviting its members to join a task force dedicated to respond to the current industry issue of escalating fees charged by show registration contractors for lead collection solutions. CEMA’s Appeal to Show Organizers: Influence “Freedom Of Choice” & Cost Control task force will consist of both Event Managers and Industry Associates.

Industry Issue: Many trade show exhibitors, especially those concerned with measuring results of their programs, are using third party lead collection products in favor of those offered by show registration contractors. These exhibitors prefer third party products for their consistent methodology and predictable file formats from show-to-show. A consistent, standard approach eliminates the need to constantly re-format data post-show, and enables cross-show measurement comparisons.

Clearly, registration companies make a significant investment in creating the show database and deserve compensation from any company wishing to use that data. However, some registration companies are charging excessive fees to exhibitors for the use of hardware/software necessary for third party lead management solutions to operate.

You may join the CEMA Task Force if you are impacted by this issue, and wish to present an industry appeal to show organizers. Glenda Brungardt, Hewlett Packard Event Manager and Erika Brunke, CEMA Executive Director, will be co-chairing the task force. Please send an email to Erika Brunke, ebrunke@cemaonline.com if you are interested in participating.

The theme for CEMA Summit 2006 is “Marketing on the Edge”. We will begin accepting Call For Papers submissions from active CEMA members beginning the first week of January through February 1st. Start thinking of great sessions that are relevant to our Event Manager and Industry Associate membership community. Please submit a proposed title, session abstract and recommended speakers to Erika Brunke, erika@cemaonline.com not later than February 1st.

Another benefit of your CEMA membership is access to the CEMA Job Postings bank. Three new positions have recently been offered: Exhibit/Event Designer, Account Executive, and Senior Account Executive. Simply log on to the CEMAonline.com website and enter your user ID and password. From the Home page, select Member Community, then select Job Bank for complete listings.