Contact: Mary Beth Rebedeau                                                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone: (708) 361-0900
E-mail: mbr@siso.org
www.siso.org  

 SISO moves to Raise Tradeshow Visibility in Academia

The Exhibit Industry Foundation (EIF) agrees to co-fund important industry programs

Chicago Ridge, IL [August 6, 2007] – The Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) has announced that its board of directors has approved some innovative new projects that work to integrate trade shows into university marketing class curricula, an area that has previously gotten little mention in most marketing textbooks.The Exhibit Industry Foundation (EIF) agreed to jointly fund with SISO two important industry programs:
  1. The Business School Case Study . This study focuses on companies that have multiple choices as far as where to spend their marketing dollars. The case study will demonstrate that trade shows are the best medium.

  2. Development of the Exhibition Industry Power Point Presentation. The presentation is to be used by SISO members and professors who need to make a presentation about the event industry to college and university business classes, chamber of commerce groups, etc.
The Business School Case Study approach was conceived by Cherif Moujabber, founder of Creative Expos and Conferences. who co-chairs of SISO’s Education Committee with Nancy Hasselback, President and CEO of Diversified Business Communications.  “Both programs have one overriding goal, which is to raise the profile of our industry in academia,” says Moujabber. “We found that there was no case study at all that related to our industry, and in business books very little was said about tradeshows and exhibitions in general.”

The Education Committee is also working to develop a web-based Introduction to the Trade Show Industry course for new employees.  To read more about these exciting projects, contact the co-chairs of the Education Committee:
Cherif Moujabber, cfm@creative-expos.com
Nancy Hasselback, NHasselback@divcom.com

About SISO: SISO (www.siso.org) is an association designed to meet the common needs of CEOs and senior management of for-profit show producers to maximize their profit and potential by providing a place where the Presidents, Owners, and CEOs of for-profit show producer companies exchange ideas, share experiences, launch industry wide projects, and learn from each other.SISO members produce over 3,000 events worldwide.  Trade and consumer shows, focused conferences, and other face-to-face events are represented. Members run their own shows, as well as manage shows for others.  The membership is a combination of large corporations and small entrepreneurial companies. 

Press Contact: For more information, contact Mary Beth Rebedeau at 708-361-0900 or e-mail mbr@siso.org