25 Years of Corporate Event Production

This week marks the 25th year that I’ve been producing corporate events and meetings! While a lot has changed in the past 25 years and as you look at the major events of the past quarter century many things do stay the same (major disasters, tough economic times, the Cubs still not winning a world series), however my passion for what I do hasn’t! So, what exactly has happened to the world during the past 25 years:

• A major nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union ( 1986)
• I sold and produced my first major meeting for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. We used a 24 slide projector wide screen opening with a custom relyriced song. The meeting closed with a video of senior management doing a remake of the Blue Cross Shuffle ala the Super Bowl Champ Chicago Bears. (1986)
• Started working with my current client Nielsen (formerly AC Nielsen 1988)
• The largest oil spill in U.S. history occurs after the Exxon Valdez strikes Bligh Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.The Berlin Wall comes down, symbolically ending the Cold War. (1989)
• Started working with my current client Siemens, formerly MCC Powers. (1990)
• Dessert Storm (1991)
• First time working with a name entertainer – Crystal Gayle (1993)
• Started working with my current client Associated Equipment Distributors. (1994)
• Produced last slide show as we now began working with computer graphics. “Isn’t this fun.  Now we really can wait to the last second before we finish our speech.” (1995)
• In technology DVD’s are launched and the number of users on the Internet exceed 10 million This is also the year Ebay and Ask Jeeves is started. (1996)
• In 1997 the cost of a gallon of Gas was $1.22
• Seinfeld calls it quits (1998)
• The world braces for destruction at the hands of technology [i.e. the Y2K scare] (1999)
• Worked with clients based in Europe for an international press forum here in the US. Learned alot about merging European culture in an American based meeting. (2000)
• The World Trade Center towers collapse after being struck by a pair of airliners (2001)
• Got my first lead from the internet. (2002)
• Produced an international table tennis exhibition for over 5,000 people providing footage for ESPN. (2003)
• Provided speech coaching for Olympic Gold medalist wrestler, Rulon Gardner and Iraqi POW Jessica Lynch. (2004)
• I produced for the first time a blended wide screen video presentation. (2007)
• Illinois Senator Barack Obama is elected the first African-American President (2008)
• The economy must be back (or our team is as great as ever) as we produced 12 meetings in the final 6 months of this past year. (2010)
• Ron Springer celebrates his 25th year of corporate event production (2011)

Leave a comment and let me know what is your favorite memory from my timeline? Kudos to anyone that picks 25 years of Ron Springer!