Media representatives from the Catholic News Service were on hand covering the event, and took notice to the smiling crowd surrounding the boulder. RockCraft’s Ken Crozier was asked to share his insights from the expo.
Read his response:
One hit with youngsters at the show, including a group of Bible-era "Elijah dancers" from one Orlando school, was a rock climbing experience provided by Rock Craft, a Canada-based maker of fabricated climbing boulders for preschoolers to teens and for adults.
"We normally don't come to these types of shows and part of the reason we came is that we felt it is so important to have a hands-on experience," said the company founder, Ken Crozier, who notes that his company is based in the rock climbing capital of Canada and that the product designers are themselves climbers.
"You have to be able to design the boulders so that whatever age category or body type has sufficient types of holds for feet and hands," added Crozier, who said the company has some Catholic schools as clients. "We were very pleased that kids who were performing at the conference enjoyed the boulder; one particular young fellow was on the boulder for an hour and a half nonstop."
See the fun for yourself!
{gallery}NCEA Expo:::1:{/gallery}
Read the full article by the Catholic News Service below:
NCEA exhibition hall offers a universe of goodies, product demos
By Catholic News Service
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- Between the professional workshops and keynote presentations, attendees at the National Catholic Educational Association's annual convention cooled their heels at the NCEA Expo, a sea of vendor booths, food stalls, technology displays, along with local student performances, dancers and a high school marching band.
The exhibition space at NCEA's April 7-9 conference brought 5,000 conference-goers in contact with some 302 exhibiting companies and vendors at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
The vendors comprised a wide range of book and textbook and curriculum publishers, technology companions, school uniform makers, computer software sellers -- even a longtime chocolatier exhibitor and the Walt Disney Co. were pitching something.
There were villages within the village: a first-time exhibitors pavilion; a technology pavilion; new products showcase pavilion with seven new vendors; a new Power Up charging station for mobile devices; a live stage for performances; and vendor-sponsored educational sessions apart from the NCEA lineup of workshops. Corporate partners and convention sponsors help offset the overall costs of the Expo.
"We were just recognized by Trade Show News Network for being the 235th largest convention in the United States in 2014 for the size of our show based on number of exhibitors, attendees and booth personnel," said Amy Durkin. A certified exhibitions manager, she is NCEA's director of association events and has the overall responsibility for its annual meeting.
"People like to go and have the connection with the exhibitors, to see the products that they are using, to ask questions and have the ability to provide feedback for those products," Durkin told Catholic News Service.
She noted that the largest exhibitor at the convention was the NCEA Center, a central place for showcasing NCEA membership, NCEA social media activities and professional development offerings, along with their publications store.
One first-time exhibitor was the Tempe, Arizona-based Sanford Harmony, which promotes programming fostering improved student friendships, positive peer interactions and enhanced classroom communities.
"This is our first year rollout and we are very excited to work with Catholic schools," said Margaret Johnson, a California-based "ambassador" for Sanford Harmony.
"We have been at several conferences this year in Texas and California, and everyone here is so welcoming and more organized than what I am used to -- from the moment I arrived, there are updates every day and (staff) checking in on us.
"We were slammed this morning with people interested in the program and (we're) meeting a group that is interested in our program tonight for dinner," she added.
A lot of the contact-making at the expo moved to private dinners and networking affairs after hours: Longtime vendor Sean Patrick Flynn and his Flynn & O'Hara Uniforms Inc. was busy inviting customers to a Cuban-style dinner on behalf of his Philadelphia-based student clothing company.
"We have 29 retail locations and we work in 30 different states," explained Flynn, who said his father had attended the NCEA convention for 43 years, but with a different company at the time.
"This is a great way for us to see customers, to physically reach out and say hello to our Catholic education customers, and to have a little party to entertain them," Flynn said, waving over a religious sister from New Jersey who was identified as a client. "The weather here is a whole lot better than Philadelphia."
Sam Rosen, executive vice president of Los Angeles-based Three W International, said he has been coming to the NCEA Expo for 45 years on behalf of various companies. Three W is a student management company that works mainly with Catholic schools to place students from China, Vietnam and Brazil in the United States on F-1 visas for four years.
"We help schools increase their enrollment and give them additional financial stability because these students pay full (tuition) with the balance paid before they reach the United States. We also provide the housing through a subsidiary and we do home stays as well," Rosen said about the company.
The NCEA expo is the most vibrant, most prestigious and best experience of its kind, Rosen said, adding, "It is the best experience that we can have from all of these that we attend, and I can tell you that personally having attended them all over the country."
One hit with youngsters at the show, including a group of Bible-era "Elijah dancers" from one Orlando school, was a rock climbing experience provided by Rock Craft, a Canada-based maker of fabricated climbing boulders for preschoolers to teens and for adults.
"We normally don't come to these types of shows and part of the reason we came is that we felt it is so important to have a hands-on experience," said the company founder, Ken Crozier, who notes that his company is based in the rock climbing capital of Canada and that the product designers are themselves climbers.
"You have to be able to design the boulders so that whatever age category or body type has sufficient types of holds for feet and hands," added Crozier, who said the company has some Catholic schools as clients. "We were very pleased that kids who were performing at the conference enjoyed the boulder; one particular young fellow was on the boulder for an hour and a half nonstop."
Article by: 2015 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
About RockCraft:RockCraft Design is the leading manufacturer of hand-sculpted concrete climbing boulders for parks and playgrounds. Their boulders offer fun and adventure for children and a full-body workout for all. Learn more about their exciting products by visiting the RockCraft website at www.rockcraft.net. Click on the logo below to go directly to the site.
