TEAM PRAIRIE

Twenty years is a long time, but when you are busy doing whatever it is you do, it can pass in the blink of an eye.

Hard to believe it was just 20 years ago (1994) when O.J. Simpson fled from Los Angeles police in the now iconic, low-speed chase in his white Ford Bronco. Major League Baseball could not finish their season because of a strike and the Dow Jones hit a record high of 3,978.36. The first national conference to discuss the growing Information Superhighway was presided over by Vice President, Al Gore.

President Bill Clinton called for major Health Care Reform in his first State of the Union Address and Harry Styles, member of One Direction, was born. Yikes!

Oh, and Prairie Display/Chicago, opened their doors. With a couple of phones and computers, freshly crowned as a Chicago area distributor for the Nomadic Display product line, we never really knew what to expect.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Prairie’s employee family, valued vendor/partners and, of course, customers, Prairie still unlocks their doors every business day. We have weathered at least three economic downturns, experienced the advent and evolution of digital graphic preparation and worked our way through the massive shift in the way everyone communicates.

Making it 20 years has really been a team effort! Thanks again to all who worked toward this accomplishment.

My wife and I spent a few days in New Orleans the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. While it was not Mardi Gras, the entire French Quarter and surrounding areas were alive with massive amounts of people and high energy. Not only were the Saints playing football at the Superdome on Sunday, but Oklahoma and Alabama were playing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl just four days later.

It was amazing to see the transformation. There were media crews setting up everywhere. Signs and banners were being put in place and you could see buses loaded with athletes riding around town with police escorts.

These events didn’t happen without countless hours of coordination between every party. Think about it - you have hotels, transportation, participating schools and teams, sponsors, media and the venues all involved. The organizers truly needed to take the team approach to the highest degree. Without everyone working on the same page with the same goal in mind, these events would not come off as the well-planned, orchestrated and executed spectacles they were.

Prairie has always tried to take the team approach when helping our customers. The customer’s goal is a successful trade show or other marketing event. How they define success (orders, leads, impressions, etc.) can be different, but there’s always a goal in mind. As part of the team, we have your success in mind too. After all, we want the customer to have a positive experience and keep coming back!

The last night we were in New Orleans was the day after the Saints game and two days before the Sugar Bowl. While standing in line at a restaurant, the hostess came out the door and yelled, “We’s out of oysters! Ain’t just us! Whole town...out of oysters!”

New Orleans out of oysters? Really? I guess they forgot to include the “oyster guy” on the advance team.


Steve Moskal