Flying High After MHEDA

As we have talked about in this blog for the last few weeks, UNEX and Graviton flew to Orlando last week for the MHEDA Convention. This is an event that we are very excited for every year, but especially this year after our rebrand.

We were not only excited to show MHEDA the “new” UNEX, but we also had a lot of fun with the “Superhero Leadership” theme and our introduction of Graviton. As I said here last week, we consider MODEX (and ProMat) our prospecting shows where we can meet potential new clients and show off our case studies in a huge mini-museum type of booth, and MHEDA as the networking and education show.

To really facilitate that networking, we brought a caricaturist to our booth at the Exhibitors’ Showcase and it was a smashing success. As you can see in this picture, we took those who stopped by the UNEX booth and made them into superheroes.

People in the show loved it and there was not a single break in the traffic during the entire or show or the networking happy hour in the evening. Often, people were waiting in line for their caricature.

Although we didn’t go to MHEDA with the intention of prospecting, we actually did make several contacts with distributors we’ve never dealt with before. I’m really proud of our team for masterminding this promotion. It was a fantastic idea and it was executed flawlessly.

Beyond the Exhibitors’ Showcase, there were several interesting insightful educational sessions that we attended. I was so inspired during the keynote presentation by the only living Medal of Honor recipient Sal Giunta. His heroic story gave me chills, and it was the perfect culmination of the Superhero Leadership theme that MHEDA had this year.

I also really enjoyed the presentations by Alan Beaulieu and Richard Hadden. Alan is an economist who I have seen speak several times and each time he does, I learn something new. Though he discusses a topic that could potentially be dull, he does so in a fun and engaging way, and I know first hand that if you follow the advice that he gives, you will be much better off for it.

Richard spoke about employee engagement and “rebooting leadership.” I walked out of his presentation with some ideas that I can’t wait to bring back to UNEX and implement with our team here. Employee engagement is important, and I think it’s something we’re implementing in our company.

All in all, this was one of our best MHEDA Conventions yet. I can’t wait to get back to work armed with these new ideas this year, and I am already looking forward to next year’s Convention in San Antonio.