Sign professionals from across the Mid-South region poured into Memphis, Tennessee July 17-20 for MSSA SignConnexion 2024. Spanning three days, the annual trade show and meeting marked the organization’s 50th anniversary.
I arrived on Wednesday evening and headed to a networking event at a local bar, where attendees enjoyed a buffet, drinks and a few games of cornhole. While there, I connected with Scott Cutcher, Brand Representative at Kōr Visual Group, who was attending the show with his daughter.
Cutcher explained that the LED signage market is in a pivotal state, with wholesalers across the U.S. gathering materials and building networks with sign shops as LED installs continue to rise. Cutcher, who’s based out of Franklin, Tennessee, also mentioned the meteoric rise of the Nashville commercial real estate market and entertainment industry as reasons for his bullishness in the LED sector. These factors have resulted in a busy first half of the year for Cutcher and many of his colleagues.
Thursday morning kicked off with a Make It Happen Signage Academy bootcamp, which started at 9 a.m. in a conference room of the Sheraton Downtown Memphis hotel. The first half of the six-hour session focused on sign-selling tactics while the second half concentrated on illuminated signage capabilities.
Mike Lev, VP of Industry Relations and Innovation at Harbinger Sign in Jacksonville, Florida, led the session. Lev, who is a partner at Make it Happen Signage Academy, combined his decades of industry experience with practical and effective sales advice to deliver a substantial amount of useful information in a short timeframe. Attendees—ranging from a graphic designer with a few years under his belt to business owners with decades of experience selling and installing signs—bounced ideas and field stories off one another with Lev leading the conversations.
Lev made the drive from Jacksonville to Memphis to ensure all his illuminated sign examples made it to the session, given the recent struggles with domestic flights in the country. Tips like “aluminum is ideal for hiding wires in illuminated signage” to “the thicker your acrylic, the more expensive and complicated your sign is to light” had attendees jotting down notes constantly. Participants were also able to get up close and personal with some of the latest LED signage technology.
Lev’s goals to simplify the sales cycle and broaden LED signage offerings for his attendees were evident, and everyone left the training session with a smile on their face. A networking cocktail hour hosted by MSSA followed the day’s classes.
On Friday morning, attendees had the option of golfing in the Elvis Davis Golf Classic at Mirimichi Golf Course or participating in the Veteran’s Volunteer project at Alpha Omega Veterans Services, a shelter and living community for displaced U.S. military veterans.
At the Alpha Omega headquarters, the staff and their guests maintain a working farm that produces many of the vegetables and eggs for the cafeteria. The sprawling green space covers what was once a giant parking lot.
SignConnexion volunteers toured the farm and then began sanding and staining a large number of picnic tables, where shelter guests can enjoy meals outdoors with one another. The event was a positive display of how sign makers can come together to help improve the lives of some people who served their country.
Following the group charity effort, attendees took a trip to Central BBQ in downtown Memphis and later that night MSSA hosted its 50th Anniversary Awards dinner at the convention center across from the hotel. The event was a celebration of a half-century’s worth of work in the signage industry and honored MSSA’s most prolific members.
The trade show took place on the final day of the conference, showcasing three double-sided rows of tabletops and booths. Wholesalers of LED, paints and coatings, vinyl, acrylic, and other products in the industry joined sign shops on the floor. Based on the composition of exhibitors and energy from attendees, it’s safe to say the LED signage market is strong and poised to grow even more over the next few years.
Vinyl wallpaper application suppliers, channel letter support providers, signage SaaS developers, printer manufacturers and equipment rental companies mixed it up with attendees as the trade show floor buzzed. When the event wrapped up, MSSA’s 50-Year Anniversary cocktail event kicked off, including an auction offering items from pallets of equipment to a fishing trip to raise money for charity.
All in all, MSSA SignConnexion 2024 proved to be an immersive and informative industry event that brings a strong sense of community and business development to the Mid-South signage market.
