August 25/26, 2005
“Your in the AHRMA Now”
Career Consultants Staffing Services of Austin contacted the club around mid-May to see about using a club vehicle in a display booth for the AHRMA annual conference to be held in the Palmer Events Center late August. Scott S. stepped forward and offered his vehicle and display items for their 10’x10′ booth. After several conversations with Jennifer, Julie, Amy and Chris of CCSS regarding what they wanted, Scott assembled some gear and provided a prototype booth display. Some slight modifications were made and everything was finalized for the big show.
Arriving at Palmer mid-morning Thursday, Scott set-up the display booth. He knew going in that the 1/4 ton M38A1 was 11′ long and had to fit in a 10′ spot, but the convention organizers had left an empty spot next to the booth space. So in fine form, Scott seized the space until someone said he couldn’t. The display consisted of his 1953 M38A1 jeep, camo-net on the backdrops, sandbags, field table, Bowman the mannequin, the club donation bomb for business cards, and a variety of ‘fuzzy dice’ to compliment the vehicle.
About 1pm, the CCSS crew arrived and assisted with the final touches of the booth. Some rearranging took place and by 3:00pm, everything was set for the social party later that evening. CCSS staff left and Scott headed home to clean up and returned in a period correct ’50’s uniform. The evening festivities were fun with the majority of the other vendors having the opportunity to view their competition for the “best booth display”, and reconnecting from last years event. Included during the evening were an Elvis impersonator as well as a Marilyn Monroe look-alike.
The next morning included a keynote speaker and break-out sessions for the attendees. An excellent buffet was also provided. During the day, the attendees stopped by and had their picture taken in the jeep. CCSS apparently has a reputation for doing ‘crazy’ booth displays, and this years was no exception. They passed out dog-tags embossed with their website, and asked people to place business cards in the bomb.
Tear-down came fast and the CCSS crew really helped Scott out moving about 50 sandbags to the truck. Once the jeep was loaded and everything secured, the final raffle drawings took place and the award of the “Best Overall Booth”. JB Goodwin was probably 2nd place, and Career Consultants kicked A$$ with the grand prize/1st place. What an event!
