“The Shark” Lights Up the Stage at ASI New York
New York, NY (PRWEB) April 04, 2014 -- "Shark Tank" judge Daymond John wowed a captive audience of more than 500 Friday at the ASI Show™ New York, dishing out surefire tips on supercharging personal and professional brands and boosting social media profiles to the max.
“Daymond lit the stage on fire,” said Albert Galimidi, of Allegra Print & Imaging. “He shared so many important points and inspirational stories. The best advice he gave was ‘just keep swimming. Times get hard for all of us, but if you keep swimming you’ll get there.’ ”
As a judge on the ABC hit reality show, Shark Tank, John fields business pitches from everyday people hoping to launch their company or product to new heights and then invests his own money into the best projects. His keynote was the highlight of the two-day trade show hosted by the Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI; http://www.asicentral.com) at the Javits Convention Center, Thursday, April 3 and Friday, April 4. The convention featured 2014’s newest items from throughout the $20.5 billion promotional products industry.
“ASI New York has been great,” said Cynthia Weaver, of Polished with Etiquette. “The products I found are going to not only grow my current business but allow me to break into new markets.”
The high-energy event attracted over 1,900 distributors from as far as Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago, and 220 suppliers.
“We gathered many great leads and have been able to spend valuable time with our existing clients,” said Louis Massaro, of Cooler Graphics. Pete Nutty, of Showdown Displays, said: “ASI New York has been fantastic. Everyone should be at this show.”
The show attracted a ton of media attention, including MSNBC’s Your Business program and Fox 5 News. Friday, ASI’s products expert, Joe “The Joe Show” Haley, demonstrated some of the coolest new products during an appearance on Fox TV’s Good Day New York morning show alongside anchors Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly.
“ASI’s New York show was terrific,” said Timothy M. Andrews, ASI president and CEO. “There was excitement from start to finish, a rock star keynote and plenty of quality suppliers. Daymond John was a huge hit and we had so many people come to his presentation they spilled out into the hallway.”
Throughout the show, ASI also hosted free education classes on social media, relationship building, demographics, sales and the secrets of successful entrepreneurs. All classes qualified for points toward the ASI Certification Program. To date, over 29,000 industry professionals have registered for classes necessary to obtain the industry certification through ASI’s free Online Learning Center.
ASI kicked off events Tuesday and Wednesday at the Javits Center with its invitation-only hosted buyer event, fASIlitate, featuring productive, one-on-one meetings between leading distributors and some of the industry’s most sought-after suppliers. “fASIlitate has been great for us,” said Owen Zibrak, of Ecocentric Brands. “We met some great people and made valuable business connections. Each of the individual meetings we had today were a success. We will definitely be doing future fASIlitates!”
The networking continued Thursday night at the annual Counselor® Hot 25 party at an exclusive rooftop downtown club at the Gansevoort Meatpacking hotel featuring a DJ along with stunning views of New York City landmarks. Click here for Counselor magazine’s list of the industry’s hottest, most innovative game-changers.
For more coverage of ASI New York, visit http://www.asicentral.com and the ASI Show Facebook page. The next upcoming 2014 ASI Show is Chicago (July 15-17).
About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) is the largest media, marketing and education organization serving the promotional products industry, with a network of over 25,000 distributors and suppliers throughout North America.
Dawn Marie, Advertising Specialty Institute, http://www.asicentral.com, +1 201-757-5503, [email protected]
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