When I heard that Jaime Escalante passed away this week it reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Stand and Deliver. It told the story of his accomplishments as a mathematics teacher at Garfield High School. For 20 years, he taught calculus and advanced math at Garfield High School in one of East Los Angeles’ most notorious barrios, a place where poor, hardened street kids were not supposed to master mathematics, and certainly not algebra, trigonometry, calculus.
But Escalante believed that a teacher should never, ever let a student give up. “You have to love the subject you teach and you have to love the kids and make them see that they have a chance, an opportunity in this country to become whatever they want to.”
While some had dismissed the students as “unteachable,” Escalante strove to reach his students and to get them to live up to their potential. He started an advanced mathematics program with a handful of students. In 1982 his largest class of students took and passed an advanced placement test in Calculus. Some of the students’ test scores were invalidated by the testing company because it believed that the students had cheated. Escalante protested, saying that the students had been disqualified because they were Hispanic and from a poor school. A few months later many of the students retook the test and passed, proving that they knew the material and that the company was wrong.
Steve Robles, a former pupil and Vice-President, La Curacao, acknowledged the profound impact that his former teacher had upon him. “Today, I continue to enjoy successes which I can attribute to one powerful lesson I learned from Mr. Escalante: ‘You can do anything you want to, it is easy. The hardest part is that you have to believe you can do it, the rest is a piece of cake.’”
I believe his story has a terrific message for anyone who chooses to do what other’s see as “impossible”.
It’s Time for the Trade Show Industry to Stand and Deliver
The trade show industry could use a few good teachers like Jaime Escalante.
His ‘never say die’ philosophy is exactly what we need as we seek to re-invent ourselves. While many acknowledge that “the current trade show model is broken,” there are far fewer who understand the problem and take the further step to offer practical suggestions on how it can be fixed.
Fortunately, there are some intrepid trade show professionals who are willing to push the envelope and develop new ideas and methods for delivering greater value to trade show exhibitors. The Exhibit Industry Council, as part of its Best Practices campaign, will dedicate itself to chronicle these efforts, past, present and future, as Case Studies for our industry.
The lessons these practical solutions will provide are no less impactful than those provided by Jaime Escalante. As noted by Edward James Olmos (the actor who portrayed Escalante in Stand and Deliver), Jaime didn’t just teach math. Like all great teachers, he changed lives. Gang members became aerospace engineers. Kids who had spent their youth convinced their lives didn’t matter discovered that they were leaders. Olmos said: “Jaime exposed one of the most dangerous myths of our time — that inner city students can’t be expected to perform at the highest levels. Because of him, that destructive idea has been shattered forever.”
The trade show industry has its own self-limiting myths.
We believe its time that we get past the broken models, and worn out approaches to producing exhibit and events. It is time to enable active discussions on Best Practice Case Studies that will ultimately guide the industry in making the adjustments that will guarantee our industry’s financial future and continued place in the marketing mix.
What Do You Say?
Do you have a Case Study that you can site where an event organizer, supplier or exhibitor overcame the limitations of our current trade show model and developed a creative solution that is both successful and sustainable?
Your input is vital. For there is no question that for those of us that make our living in the trade show industry by providing goods and services to exhibitors, it’s time for us to Stand and Deliver.
