EXHIBITOR Magazine’s First Hall-of-Fame Legend Invented Exhibition Industry Research

ROCHESTER, Minn. - March 31, 2014 - PRLog -- ROCHESTER, MN – March 31, 2014 – Exhibitor Media Group (http://www.exhibitoronline.com), the award-winning leader in trade show and corporate event marketing education, announced that exhibition research pioneer Richard “Dick” Swandby, who founded Exhibit Surveys, Inc. (http://www.exhibitsurveys.com)  in 1963, was named EXHIBITOR magazine’s inaugural Legends Hall-of-Fame Honoree at its inaugural 2014 Awards Night celebration during EXHIBITOR2014.

“I was one of the lucky ones who had the privilege to befriend Dick during his grueling journey toward industry acceptance of research and measurement,” said Lee Knight, founder and owner, Exhibitor Media Group, and chief instigator, GRAVITY FREE: Multidisciplinary Design Conference.  “His perseverance and significant contributions continue to benefit the industry to this day.”

“Exhibit performance standards didn’t exist until Dick Swandby invented the measurement criteria that event marketers still use today,” commented Randal Acker, president and COO, Exhibitor Media Group.  “He alone led the validation of the entire industry by developing metrics like Net Buying Influences, Audience Interest Factors, Traffic Density, Exhibit Efficiency, and Cost-Per-Visitor Reached.  Dick was the original thought-leader in our industry, and we are all profoundly grateful for his remarkable contributions.”

“Those first few years were a real struggle because many show managers didn’t want me around, nor did they want data about attendees,” commented Swandby.  “Of course, I’m very honored to receive this award, but if I’m a legend, it’s because of the small handful of show managers who took a risk and let me sample their registration cards to get the names and addresses needed so we could mail out questionnaires.”

An interview with Swandby will be featured in the April issue of EXHIBITOR magazine (http://EXHIBITOR%20magazine).  To view his acceptance speech, click http://vimeo.com/89572153



About Exhibitor Media Group
The leader in trade show and corporate event marketing education, Exhibitor Media Group publishes the award-winning EXHIBITOR magazine (http://www.exhibitoronline.com/exhibitormagazine) - best practices in trade show marketing, and produces EXHIBITOR (http://www.exhibitoronline.com/exhibitorshow/2014/index.asp)2015, the trade show and corporate event industry's top-rated educational conference; EXHIBITORFastTrak (http://www.exhibitoronline.com/fasttrak/) regional accelerated learning conferences; EXHIBITOR eTrak (http://www.exhibitoronline.com/etrak) live online educational sessions; and GRAVITY FREE (http://www.gravityfree.com/), the world's only multidisciplinary design conference. EXHIBITOR is the founder and sponsor of CTSM (http://www.exhibitoronline.com/ctsm) (Certified Trade Show Marketer), the industry's only university-affiliated professional certification program. www.ExhibitorOnline.com (http://www.exhibitoronline.com/adtrack.asp?page=www.ExhibitorOnline.com&sc=newsitem) is the trade show and event community's most comprehensive online resource.  Follow EXHIBITOR on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ExhibitorMediaGroup) and join EXHIBITOR’s LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=872507&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr) discussion group.

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