Oct. 3, 2004 – Exhibits at the 2004 Business Expo at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center on St. Thomas included everything from designer shoes, to pets, to the latest in banking and finance. The Expo is hosted each year by the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, and this year more than 40 businesses displayed the best they had to offer, many with special bonuses. At the Crowley booth, for example, shooting a small basketball into a hoop was rewarded with a choice of a number of prizes.
"You gotta get the ball in the hoop," account executive Kishma Vincent said. "I had a little old lady, 80 years old, who made it into the hoop."
Crowley, a shipping company that’s been in business for 100 years, made a first-time appearance at the Expo.
"We wanted more visibility," said Vincent, who wanted to take advantage of the marketing opportunity the Expo had to offer. "There's a great flow of traffic here. A lot of people in the Virgin Islands like to come to trade shows. It's an opportunity to see what other businesses have to offer. These businesses are scattered all over the island, but when you come to an Expo everybody is in the same place."
Another Expo favorite was the Nikken booth, with products on display to bring the body back into balance. If you had five minutes to spare, you could be treated to a free massage. "It's a Japanese massage, which means 'hands off, clothes on.' People love it," Lucy Neilan Gunther said.
Neilan Gunther said she was at the Expo five years ago with a different company, but decided to return this year to promote her multi-level marketing business with Nikken: "Our exposure here is limited because there are so few of us in the Virgin Islands. I'm really glad to be back here this year. It’s good to get our products out there." She said the only problem was there were so many people stopping for information, she didn’t have time to visit the other exhibits.
Indeed, while businesses spent a lot of time catering to the visitors who came in off the street, they all saw networking opportunities with other businesses around the room. "My background is in marketing," Vincent said. "I call them over. If the other businesses don't make it over here, I make it over to them."
This, according to Joe Aubain, executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, is what this event, in its 20th year, is all about. "The Expo has really grown over the years," Aubain said. "Businesses have an unmatched opportunity to mingle with customers from a fresh perspective. Over the years, some businesses have used the Expo to showcase exciting new products that they represent, reach a new audience and conduct polls on their services."
Another feature of the 2004 Business Expo included several free professional enhancement courses offered by members of the Chamber of Commerce. Participants learned about all aspects of businesses, from options for telephone systems to fundraising for non-profit groups.
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