I’m writing to you as I pack my bags for lucky Las Vegas and the Electronic Retailing Association’s (ERA) annual convention!

Held September 13-15, the ERA D2C Show is the only trade show dedicated to direct response retail sales and product development on TV, radio and online.

I’m proud to report that the InventHelp’s INPEX® New Product Showcase is once again sold out, with 37 inventors getting the chance to present their new products to companies in the direct response television industry! Because this show is typically closed to the average inventor, this is a really exciting and unique opportunity for our clients.

During the three day show, the inventors will attend educational seminars and present their product to a panel of direct marketers and retailers for a chance to be crowned, “Inventor of the Year.”

Also, for the third year in a row, the top five scoring inventors will have the chance to see their product pitched on stage by professional pitchmen & women in front of a live audience.

I’m so excited to go to Las Vegas and meet everyone, and I can’t wait to see who wins “Inventor of the Year!”

Check back in two weeks to see who the big winners were and for a recap of the 2011 ERA D2C Show!

If you have a product that you think you might be able to sell on television, the InventHelp-INPEX New Product Showcase at Electronic Retailing Association’s (ERA) annual convention will be held September 13-15, 2011, at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. This showcase will give inventors the opportunity to present their new products to companies in the direct response television industry.

The ERA D2C Show is the only trade show dedicated to direct response retail sales and product development on TV, radio and online! During the three day show, inventors who have booked booth space will attend educational seminars and present their product to a panel of direct marketers and retailers for a chance to be crowned, “Inventor of the Year.”

Also, the top five scoring inventors will have the chance to see their product pitched on stage by professional pitchmen & women in front of a live audience. Inventions are chosen based on DRTV pitchability and DRTV potential.

At INPEX® 2011, twenty inventors were selected by an ERA panel from for an invitation to participate in the New Product Showcase. Along with these inventors, we’re also inviting any inventor who thinks they have an appropriate product to book booth space. Space is first come, first serve, and inventors will need to fill out a vetting form about their invention so that experts from the DRTV industry can pre-qualify them to exhibit at the show.

To see if your invention or new product qualifies to participate in the InventHelp-INPEX New Product Showcase contact me, Nicole Hait, at (412) 288-2136 x4159 or email nhait@inpex.com

If you won an award or just want to relive the exciting moments from the 2011 INPEX® International Awards Dinner and Ceremony, the DVD’s are now available to pre-order.

Captured from two different camera angles, you’ll be able to watch the ceremony from start to finish, and see each inventor claim their certificate and medal or trophy.

They are $25 for each copy, and we can ship them directly to your home or business.

If you’re interested, please contact us at 1-888-54-INPEX, x4120 to pre-order your copy today.

Ahhhh….that’s the sound of a relaxed INPEX® Director – I recently returned home from a wonderful vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina. After such an exciting show in June, it was much-needed!

Of course, wherever I go, I’m always thinking about inventions and innovation, and I am always curious as to how the things surrounding us came to be. While I was soaking up the sun in Hilton Head this past week, I watched the children on the beach building majestic sandcastles. They’d fill their plastic buckets with sand, pack it together with water, and sometime later, a giant masterpiece was created. It got me wondering who built the first sandcastle, and how they came to be such a popular part of family vacations.

According to some theories, the ancient Egyptians built sand models of the pyramids. An Indian legend dating back to the 14th century also makes reference to the poet Balaram Das, who built devotional sculptures from sand, but the first documented sand sculpture wouldn’t appear until more than 500 years later.

It is commonly believed that the first artists to profit from their sandcastle building surfaced in Atlantic City, New Jersey, late in the 19th century. Some credit Philip McCord with creating the first true sand sculpture in 1897, which featured a drowned mother and her baby. But, by the early 1900s, word had spread that money could be made from building these giant sandcastles, so “artists” came from near and far to carve out their little patch of sand. They started to overwhelm the Atlantic City beaches, which irritated the town officials. Sometime in 1944, a strong hurricane ripped through Atlantic City, destroying the boardwalk and demolishing the sand dunes. The local government saw this as a blessing in disguise, rebuilding the boardwalk, but banning any sandcastle building along the entire stretch of boardwalk, a law that is still in place today.

In Europe, Professor Eugen Bormel created giant sand sculptures on the German coast at the North Sea summer resort town of Nordeney. His preferred models were mermaids and renditions of the Sphinx, which are still some of the favorite subjects for modern-day sand sculptors.

After World War II ended, and the modern American family started taking beach vacations, family sandcastle contests started popping up all along the east coast. Modern day sand sculpture as we know it really started in California in the early 1970′s, with the teaming up of Gerry Kirk and Todd Vander Pluym, collectively known as Sand Sculptors International (SSI). This team set the standard by organizing teams of sculptors to create incredibly huge and detailed replicas of famous castles and architecture.

Today most children have plastic buckets resembling sandcastle molds and most beaches host at least one sand castle contest each summer. Every year, Western Europe features hundreds of sand sculptors trying to outdo each other in size and special effects.

As always, inventors, enjoy your summer with your friends and family, and keep checking back to my blog and the INPEX® website for updated information regarding our 2012 show!

Last week, I blogged about the winners of our 2011 Prestigious Awards, but I’m happy to report that we now have all of the 2011 INPEX® Award winners posted on our website.

Just click on the link on the right side of our homepage to view all of the gold medal winners in over 40 categories ranging from Agriculture to Toys & Games. You can also see the merit award winners as well.

Congratulations to all of our 2011 award winners, and best of luck to all of our inventors as they continue to follow up with the companies that they met at this year’s show!

Keep checking back to get information about our 2012 show. As soon as we have the details finalized, I’ll be bringing them to you! Stay tuned!