Mike Schenker, MAS, (right) introduces Michele Jennrich, MAS, to (from left) Rob Pettet, district director for Rep. Scott Garrett, and Dinesh Suryawanshi, a projects specialist for Sen. Cory Booker, on the SAAGNY Fall Showcase show floor.
The Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York’s (SAAGNY) Fall Showcase in Teaneck, New Jersey, on September 20 drew exhibitors and attendees from across the industry and the region. Also attending were representatives from the offices of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Scott Garrett.
Mike Schenker, MAS, principal at Newton, New Jersey’s Mike Schenker Consulting (UPIC: SCHENKER), hosted Dinesh Suryawanshi, a projects specialist for Sen. Booker, and Rob Pettet, a district director for Rep. Garrett, and escorted them around the show. Schenker says, “We, the association, have been visiting their associates at the main offices in D.C. as part of L.E.A.D., and told the Washington people that we’d love to have someone from the legislators’ offices see us in action at our Fall Show.”
Schenker introduced Suryawanshi and Pettet to a number of the exhibitors and attendees at the show to learn about their respective businesses. The conversations also focused on the importance of strong connections with legislators, so that the industry’s small businesses aren’t damaged by legislation such as what happened with PHRMA back in 2010.
“In each case, our guests ‘got it,’” says Schenker. “They certainly understood promotional products in the most general sense, but never imagined an industry of $22 billion. At the risk of putting words in their mouths, I believe they left with a better understanding about our industry as a whole and, more importantly, the people behind it.”
