William J Nicholas, III CMP, CME
William J Nicholas, III CMP, CME is a Certified Professional Global Exhibits and Events Manager and is currently the Operations and Account Director for WJN Exhibits and Events LLC in Basking Ridge, NJ. Will is also currently an Adjunct Professor of Event Management at Middlesex County College in New Jersey. For the past 18 years, Will has held management positions in both marketing communication and events, producing international sales kick-off meetings, sales reward events, certification training modules, educational seminars, corporate tradeshows, and road shows.
Will started his career as a computer technical specialist at Bell Laboratories 32 years ago. Will’s passion for tradeshows began when he would go to shows as a technical marketing specialist, laying down the LAN and Email network before the shows. Will realized that the company would pay someone to put carpet down after he laid out the network, a job he could have done himself. From there, Will became more and more involved with shows, “one thing lead to another so I started doing all of the services and displays myself and the rest is my passion for the industry.”
Will’s career in corporate marketing led him to AT&T and then continued on with Will becoming part of the event management team at Lucent Technologies. He later played a key role at Avaya, Inc. in the launch of their VIBE (Very Impactful Branding Experience) concept, which was launched in both the US and Asia.
Avaya's launch at Networld+Interop in Japan spring 2000
Will not only brought VIBE to four of the largest communication shows in Asia, he also helped promote Avaya’s sponsorship at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. As Rick Rinderle. CME, CMP, TSEA's CME Advisory Board Member, recalls from their time together at Avaya, “Will stepped up to responsibilities as one of our international exhibit managers…Will exceeded expectations as we had a great event.”
The next step was National Starch and Chemical Company (NSC) where Will focused on trade shows and marketing communications for the organization. Will excelled in his positions where he managed show budgets for 18 business units and approximately 100 tradeshows and events per year. Will won the BMA Focus Award for IFT Exhibit Greater than 200 sq. ft. twice.
NCC Exhibit at IFT 2006 in Anaheim, CA
Will is an active member of many different professional associations including the TSEA Membership and Chapter Committee, working as part of a team to update the bylaws for chapters. He is also a member of the Somerset County Business Partnership (Chamber of Commerce) where Will helped establish their first annual tradeshow - SmallBusiness Connect- last year. He is an active member of the Professional Meeting Planners Network (PMPN) through which he manages several medical meetings and trade shows.
Will knows that the key to his success was his willingness to be involved in each organization he worked with and taking key roles in each. Now as a professor and mentor, he is excited to be involved with the TSEA mentorship program. Will knows that TSEA can be an asset to both seasoned members and people new to the organization, “TSEA is a reservoir of knowledgeable, talented, and experienced people that would help you with any issues you might have. All you have to do is ask. We are there for each other.”
Samantha Adler is an Education Intern
Trade Show Exhibitors Association