A marriage made in San Francisco
expands to San Diego
When Vaneese Johnson, president of temporary staffing firm On the Move, met Lee Nold-Lewis, president of ProShow, they appeared to be competitors. But Lee was planning to change ProShow’s business model, and she was looking for a partner to help
her do it.
“Until that time – about six years ago — ProShow had been an event staffing firm. But Lee saw a new opportunity,” Vaneese explains. “Lee wanted to mold ProShow into an event staff management company. She needed a partner to handle the staff recruitment and qualification as her team migrated into the training and management of staff on-site at events.”
Vaneese agreed to partner with ProShow in the San Francisco area, filling orders from ProShow’s clients. Lee worked with Vaneese and her team to help them develop processes and techniques to evaluate and recruit event staffers. Vaneese says that over the years, that process has been refined to a science.
As a result, On the Move became an extension of ProShow’s team, working seamlessly with ProShow from event to event. “When we started, we were a full service temp agency,” says Vaneese. “But event staffing is demanding! Now it’s all we do. We fill orders for ProShow’s large event clients, and place staff ourselves at the smaller shows.”
Being a specialist has helped
On the Move carve out a strong niche for itself in the San Francisco events market. But the changes didn’t stop there. As ProShow moved to a virtual office model, taking advantage of technology to operate a nationwide business, Vaneese shifted On the Move to a virtual model as well. “It saves a ton of money,” she says, “and that helps us to be even more competitive.”
ProShow and On the Move have worked together over the years as though they were part of the same organization. The partnership has been so successful that in 2006, ProShow and On the Move are teaming together to expand into the San Diego events marketplace. The American Academy of Periodontology, which used their combined services in San Francisco, found the quality and client service so exemplary that
the AAP asked ProShow to duplicate the experience in San Diego at the 2006 annual convention. Another client, the American Society for Cell Biology, will use the ProShow/On the Move team for its annual meeting in
San Diego as well.
“San Diego is a new venue for us,” Vaneese remarks. “But we work so well with ProShow that I have no doubt at all about the repeatability of our quality and management process. We both know what we’re doing and we do it very, very well.”