GEAPS Exchange 2014 BIG Success (3/4/2014)

The Cleveland Vibrator Co. traveled to Omaha, Nebraska last week to participate in this year’s annual GEAPS Exchange held in the heart of the city at CenturyLink Center. Though it had a rocky start, the crew had a great time during the expo.

Three of the five crew members arrived Saturday to find our booth materials had yet to be delivered to the expo center and would remain missing until Monday morning. Katy Murray, Jeff Hochadel, and Mike Stratis were attendees at the GEAPS’  Get Acquainted Party where they featured 5 different foods stations (i.e. An American, Asian, Mexican, Italian,and Dessert). We also enjoyed live magic and sounds of a Jamaican Beach with steel drums. Really quite a great time networking and of course free drinks always are a plus.

Opening day Sunday, 4 people manned a 10’x20’ that only had a 1.5’x3’ table in it (insert mental picture & chuckle here). Though empty,people did pass in curiosity and would later return on Monday to see the missing materials and get a good chuckle out of it. We believe we may have started a new trend for next year.

The city of Omaha is a hidden gem of the West. It is so clean and beautiful, kind of reminiscent of a small town feel… just with more stoplights. The brick laid streets and Market District was quite a site. Let’s also add that the cuisine was delicious and truly something to write home about! Omaha steaks certainly live up to their high expectations – we also enjoyed the local brewery and night life scene and our time with some great people from AirLanco at M’s Pub for dinner – once again FANTASTIC FOOD!

Monday morning rolled around and our crew finally all present and accounted for, arrived at 7 a.m. to have our booth premiere ready by 9:45 a.m. – thankfully our materials had finally arrived. The expo itself was fairly large with 400-500 exhibitors and a record breaking 3,370 attendees.The staff had an awesome time chatting it up with passer-byes and we had some pretty fantastic exhibiting neighbors, overall we were in great company! Let’s also add that top tier sponsors were generous enough to treat all attending to lunch inside the expo (Thanks!).

Tuesday was the final day of the show and we were lucky enough to have students from major Universities stop by our booth for educational tips and a little insight into the industry. Overall we had a pretty great time and are genuinely looking forward to next year’s event in St.Louis, Missouri! 

Want to see some pictures from this year's event? Click here!