This past week, a group of Keyframe folks attended the IDEA (Information Display and Entertainment Association) conference in Chicago. IDEA is the group of people that run the “show” at sporting events, etc. The attendees are a close-knit group of people, and, unlike typical conferences, this one truly is a great time.

We normally stay on the outskirts of the host city, but this year was the 25th anniversary of the group - so we did up right and stayed right in the city, at the Hilton Chicago. Because of that, there were lots of places to be, lots of things to do, and little sleep to be had.

As a group (we’re talking 350+), we attended a game at Wrigley. How the organizers were able to secure that many tickets is beyond me. We were also given behind the scenes tours of the United Center (Bulls and Blackhawks), Soldier Field (Bears), and US Cellular Field (White Sox) - all with insane open bars. I think the US Cellular Field groundskeeper had the night off because we were actually allowed to roam around the bases and infield grass (see above) and were also able to sit in the dugouts.

On the final evening, the Golden Matrix Awards dinner (the group’s version of the Academy Awards except without the gift bags…or Jack Nicholson) was held overlooking US Cellular Field, and Daktronics/Keyframe was honored with the “Allied Member Achievement Award”, which is essentially the only award vendors can win. Since 1993, we’ve won it 8 times, so we’ve got that going for us, which is…you know…nice.

Now it’s time for me to start jockeying for a spot on the attendees list for the next conference. I think I can handle Phoenix in January.

(Post by Ryan Pederson)