I just wanted to remind everyone that January 31 is the last day that inventors can knock $200 off of the price of an INPEX® 2011 booth!

We encourage everyone to take advantage of this savings and not miss out on this special, as it will be our best offer until INPEX® 2011 kicks off in June. We have many exciting events planned for INPEX® this year that you won’t want to miss, so please make sure to get in touch with us to talk about a booth today!

Keep checking our website for the most updated information about INPEX® 2011, America’s largest invention trade show, held June 14-17 in Pittsburgh. Call 1-888-54-INPEX to speak to one of our account representatives to book your booth today!

You might remember me talking about Chris Schutte, and his invention, The Steamie, in an earlier blog post, after he was crowned “Inventor of the Year” at the 2010 ERA D2C Conference in Las Vegas this past September. However, Chris has something even more exciting going on lately. While exhibiting at the 2010 INPEX® show, he met a contact from Lenfest Media Group, and has signed a licensing agreement with them! Below is Chris’ journey on taking his product from concept to a licensing agreement:

INPEX® 2010 exhibitor Chris Schutte believes that all hot dog lovers have the right to one thing: a well-steamed hot dog bun. After being laid off from his high paying sales management job in 2007, Chris decided this was his opportunity to pursue an idea that he had been kicking around since childhood. “I figured there had to be a way to get a freshly steamed bun just like the hot dogs my mom used to make me as a kid,” he said.

The Suwanee, Georgia inventor spent a lot of time perfecting his invention, The Hot Dog Bun Steamer. In 2008, he exhibited his invention in the InventHelp-INPEX® Inventor’s Corner at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago. Chris says this experience is what helped him get his product on QVC. “As an exhibitor in the InventHelp-INPEX® Inventor’s Corner, I had the opportunity to present my product to numerous people in the housewares and direct response television industry. That experience helped launch my product onto QVC, where I’ve now made three appearances.” Another piece of invaluable feedback that came from the Housewares Show was that Chris should consider making a larger unit that would not only steam hot dog buns, but other food items as well. And at that moment, “The Steamie” was born. The Steamie converts an ordinary pot into a multi-level rack and basket steamer for vegetables, tortillas and lobster.

Chris was less than camera shy. After securing his patent for The Hot Dog Bun Steamer through LegalZoom, an online legal document service, he decided to enter the company’s contest that would award one client a cash prize and a chance to appear on a nationally televised LegalZoom ad campaign. “After 47 takes in my kitchen to get it just right, I finally sent in my entry video and began to wait,” said Chris. “After waiting week after week, I finally heard from LegalZoom. I had won. I was about to be featured in a national ad campaign with my product!”

Even after being featured on commercials in front of a national audience, Chris was not about to slow down. He knew he wanted to forge ahead and find someone to license his product. Chris decided to exhibit at INPEX® 2010, June 16-18 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was at INPEX® where he met Andy McKinley, a partner and Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for Lenfest Media Group. After a few months of negotiations, Chris signed a licensing agreement with Lenfest in September of 2010. The company is currently conducting preliminary market testing for the The Steamie. Andy is glad he made the decision to look for new products at America’s largest invention trade show, “I feel very gratified that I went to INPEX® this year as it gave me the opportunity to meet Chris Schutte and his Steamie Genie invention. I was very impressed with his product demonstration and am excited that Lenfest Media Group is going to partner with Chris to potentially bring his product to market.”

The licensing agreement that Chris signed with Lenfest is specifically for The Steamie. This agreement enables him to pursue other opportunities for his original brainchild, The Hot Dog Bun Steamer. “I am fortunate to have the ability to pursue a dual path to market. While The Steamie will hopefully be sold on TV, The Hot Dog Bun Steamer is being tested in 50 to 100 grocery stores nationwide,” said Chris.

“The feedback that I have received at trade shows in the past few years has been invaluable. One key element to the launch of my product has been my relationship with INPEX®. I would not have met my licensing company, if I hadn’t decided to fly to Pittsburgh and take part in America’s largest invention show.”

While the above exhibitor’s experience is not typical of what most INPEX® exhibitors can expect from attending the trade show, the events reported are a result of what can happen from attending INPEX® – The Invention Show.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to exhibit your invention at INPEX® 2011, held June 14-17, at the Monroeville Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. Call 1-888-54-INPEX to speak to one of our account representatives and reserve your booth today!

INPEX® hopes that everyone’s holidays were safe and happy, and that everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

We decided to extend the holiday cheer to our inventors with an exciting booth special for the month of January! For this month only, we are offering anyone that purchases a booth to take $200 off the purchase price!

That’s right, inventors! Isn’t that exciting? We encourage you to take advantage of this savings, as it will be our best offer until INPEX® 2011. We have many exciting events planned for INPEX® 2011 that you won’t want to miss, so make sure to contact us to talk about a booth today!

Keep checking our website for the most updated information about INPEX® 2011, America’s largest invention trade show, held June 14-17 in Pittsburgh. Call 1-888-54-INPEX to speak to one of our account representatives to help reserve your booth!

Thinking about buying a booth at INPEX, America’s Largest Invention Trade Show

We now have our INPEX® 2011 preview video available on YouTube for you to check out!

The video contains information about all of the different things that INPEX® has to offer an inventor, including info about our 2011 keynote speaker, Debbi Fields, to private product searches and our INPEX® Inventor’s University™ seminars and sessions.

It also shows footage from our last show, held in June 2010, at the Monroeville Convention Center just outside of Pittsburgh. We’re excited about all of the upcoming events that we have planned for the 2011 show, and we hope you’ll check out the video to get a sneak peek!

Keep checking back to our website for the most updated information about INPEX® 2011, held June 14-17, 2011, in Pittsburgh. Call 1-888-54-INPEX to speak to one of our account representatives for more information and to reserve a booth!

I wanted to take some time in this blog to tell you a little bit about the Inventors University™. Even though INPEX® is about exhibiting your invention, we also offer a number of opportunities for inventors other than just providing you a space to present your idea.

One of those resources that INPEX® offers is what we call the INPEX® Inventors University™. The Inventors University™ is a program of seminars, presentations and panel discussions to provide information inventors may find useful in pursuing their inventions or new product ideas.

Planned for our 26th Invention Show are presentations by inventors from the corporate world, case studies on successful entrepreneurship and business development, discussions by professionals in new product marketing and specialists in television advertising and infomercials, presentations on funding opportunities, tips on exhibiting at invention shows, and other inventor-related topics. INPEX® exhibitors who take part in the seminars will also receive a certificate from the INPEX® Inventors University™ and InventHelp®.

This coming year, we encourage inventors to arrive early Tuesday to set up their booth, as our University seminars will be held Tuesday afternoon and evening, and Wednesday morning, before the opening of the show floor. Our University classes will finish this year with keynote speaker Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies on Wednesday morning from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m.

We are still busy finalizing our seminar schedule for 2011’s Inventors University™, but keep checking back to this blog for updates, such as class times and speaker and seminar profiles!

To attend the INPEX® Inventor’s University™, as well as take advantage of all of the other opportunities INPEX® 2011 has to offer, book your booth today by calling 1-888-54-INPEX to speak with one of our account executives.