2017 is crawling up your ankles and will grab you by the neck before you have a chance to realize it's happening! Are you ready for a new year?

Yes, I realize it's just another day, just another month, just another year. But when we switch a calendar date from one year to the next, we tend to make a big deal out of it. We reassess. We change our minds, we refocus. We make decisions.

Starting in January, I'm going to make a change. It's something I've been thinking about for a few months ago. It was late fall when I ran across a couple of business folks who were doing what I thought was an interesting thing: they did a weekly video blog (vlog) and spent just a few minutes discussing what they were up to in their business. So I thought - hey, I can copy and adapt that idea. I'm already using a great webinar platform, and it would be easy to schedule a brief live webinar or vlog using that platform. 

So after much thought - mainly to see if I think I can do it on a regular basis and make it worthwhile and engaging (or at least interesting to me!), I'm going to give it a try. I'm in the office every Monday morning with few exceptions, so at 9 am PT I'm going to open up the portal, turn on the camera and microphone and spew forth with things that are on my mind - and hopefully I'll find some interesting things. There'll be some industry and tradeshow related things, some personal things, and a look at how I run the business and so on and so forth. I'll also have industry guests, much like I do on many of the ongoing longer-form webinars, and I"ll look to book people on the vlog as I see fit. I figure I'll give it three or four months and if the experiment fails, I'll pull the plug. 

If you're on my TradeshowGuy Webinars list, you'll get notifications. If not, you're welcome to sign up at TradeshowGuyWebinars.com. And of course, the videos will get posted on the blog.

Speaking of webinars, last week I posted this article: 3 Tradeshow Webinars That Are Worth Your Time. Good stuff here.

Like to take photos of your tradeshow booth? Then check out Who Wants to Take Better Tradeshow Exhibit Photos? which lays down a few tips to improve your photo-grabbing.

Our next monthly webinar is tomorrow, December 14. We'll be chatting with Dave Brown of Optima Graphics to find out more about the state of graphics in tradeshow exhibits. Optima Graphics is a leading-edge company that offers the best available technology and quality when it comes to fabric graphics. If you haven't signed up yet for our monthly webinar series, you can do so at TradeshowGuyWebinars.com.

Two years ago I published "Tradeshow Marketing Analysis: Where to Start." It ended up being about a 14-part series, which lead to me writing the Tradeshow Success book. You can start with the series with this post.

When you purchase a new exhibit, you want it to last! So what does it to keep it in tiptop shape? Check out "Exhibit Care for the Long Haul."