Recap of the 24th Annual INPEX® Invention Show
INPEX® 2008, America's Largest Invention Trade Show, was held June 11-14 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the world's largest green facility. Held annually in Pittsburgh, INPEX 2008 was one of our largest shows to date, featuring over 300 inventors and over 1,400 attendees. In all, this year's show had 1,500 inventions from 17 countries.
The INPEX Inventors University™ proved to be a learning tool again this year for exhibitors. For the first time, the Inventors University featured opening and closing keynote speakers. On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, "Famous" Wally Amos, regarded as the father of the gourmet cookie industry, opened the show with an inspiring and motivational speech. Wally has had many successes and a downfall in his life, and with faith and perseverance, has triumphed.
Diane Ranger, the founder of Bare Escentuals mineral makeup, closed the show on Saturday, June 14, 2008. Diane spoke about her downfall at Bare Escentuals and how she made a comeback with her new company, Colorescience. As one exhibitor said, "Diane is a very moving and inspirational speaker. She is a crowd pleaser."
Also speaking at the Inventors University was Wendi Cooper, President and CEO of C Spot Run Productions. She shared her wealth of knowledge of the direct response industry with exhibitors. After attending one of Wendi's seminars, pre-selected inventors had the opportunity to present their product to the Direct Response Panel, made up of various direct response industry professionals, including Wendi Cooper, Thomas Haire, the Editor-in-Chief of Response Magazine, Karen Hyman President of Live Link TV Inc., and Greg Sarnow CEO of the Direct Response Academy.
Also attending the show and conducting private product reviews at INPEX 2008 were Everlast®, The Robert Bosch Tool Corporation, Hasbro, Irwin Industrial Tools, Full Life Products®, and Tupperware®. At these product reviews, inventors were able to receive feedback on their inventions and possibly see if a company was interested in moving further with the invention.
INPEX 2008 was not just all work and no play. On Wednesday evening, inventors received an opportunity to attend a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game to network and enjoy a good time with their fellow inventors.
For the third year in a row, INPEX, was proud to present the Everlast Black and Gold Invitational Boxing Match, which was held right on the INPEX show floor. Fight after fight, Olympic hopefuls gave their all and duked it out to the excited cheering from the crowd.
On Saturday evening, June 14, 2008, the annual INPEX International Awards Dinner was held at the Westin Hotel. An International Jury judged the inventions earlier in the week and at the show awarded over 200 jury, merit and special awards to excited inventors. The inventions were judged in many different categories and on overall basis as well.
This year's Grand Prix cash Award of $7,500 was given to Fred Cona, the inventor of the Portable Carpentry Workshop, which is an all in one carpentry workshop. The second place award of $3,000 went to Chua Kek Heng, Malaysia, inventor of the DiagnoCARD, and third place award of $2,000 was received by Mitch Marcovici, inventor of the Screwmaster™.
Inventors seemed pleased with INPEX 2008, celebrating its first year at its new home, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Exhausted yet energized, many inventors went home with new contacts, ideas and maybe even friends. Andrew Martin, inventor of the Martin Grill Gadget, had this to say about his experience at INPEX 2008, "I do about 30 shows a year and I'm on cloud nine at INPEX. This is the place to come if you've got a new product."
