The 2009 Queens Chamber Business Expo was a homerun as more than 1,000 visitors came out to the brand new Citi Field and vendors raved about the turnout and the new venue.
“The venue is terrific; you can’t beat it,” said Drew Manger, who is the Director of Economic Development for Con Ed – one of the gold sponsors for the expo – and Chair of the Chamber’s Business Development Committee. “It’s probably the best expo we have ever had.”
Throughout the day on Thursday, May 21, visitors walked around the Caesar’s Club of the brand new Citi Field interacting with vendors who displayed information about their businesses.
“The enthusiasm of all the businesses and professional people here is amazing,” said Queens Chamber of Commerce President Al Pennisi.
Pennisi said that the vendor tables were drawing significant traffic during the day, but he also noticed another positive trend developing.
“The business people at the tables were doing business with each other,” Pennisi said.
The businesses with display tables were there for different reasons, but the predominant one was to promote their business and make new contacts.
“We are trying to get tighter with the community in key areas and emerging markets especially in Queens,” said Sudip Kapadia, a Regional Sales Consultant for Orcale, who was the diamond sponsor of the business expo. “We are trying to get our name out to what we see as the emerging markets.”
Eduardo Giraldo, who is the President of the insurance company Abetex, praised the Chamber for putting on a terrific event that brought many different businesses together for the opportunity to network and drum up potential new business.
“I always say when you go to a business expo if you get one or two new clients than it’s definitely worth it,” Giraldo said. “Even just making new contacts is great.”
In addition to providing a venue for new business relationships, the Chamber was also very proud to help the Mets show off some of their new space at Citi Field. In turn, the Mets were happy to welcome the Chamber to their new home.
“We are proud to host the Queens Business Expo at Citi Field and support the Queens Chamber of Commerce’s ongoing efforts to drive business in Queens,’’ said Dave Howard, Executive Vice President, Business Operations, New York Mets. “With more than 6,000 jobs in the construction of the largest privately financed construction project in the history of our borough, and 1,000 new positions in operating our new ballpark, we hope that Citi Field can continue serve as a catalyst in the economic recovery of our city.”
