Here may be one thing show managers and magazine editors have in common: Relentless deadlines.

For all of you, the countdown to next year’s show begins sometime several months before THIS year’s show with much of the advance work for the next show coming during the current one (like selling space 12 months ahead of time, for instance). From that point, you usually feel like you’re on a yearlong dead run to get everything taken care of.

And as for editors…there were brief moments in my career when I had the illusion I was getting some relief from the deadline phenomenon: The day I moved from the daily newspaper world to a weekly magazine and had what seemed like six extra days to prepare an issue. And moving to a monthly seemed like I got a vacation 12 times a year.

But it was all an illusion, of course, because no magazine editor JUST edits a magazine anymore. We all have web sites, blogs, newsletters, webinars, conferences and a dozen other things with deadlines attached to them.

You know the feeling. And yet here I go reminding you of a couple of approaching deadlines that I hope you won’t miss.

The first is for our E.X.C.I.T.E. Awards. In this second annual program, there are a couple of dozen categories designed to recognize any number of types of excellence in the world of tradeshows and events. I have a feeling you’d be hard-pressed to find a category that you have not excelled in. And you should be willing to share that achievement with the rest of the tradeshow community.

The deadline for the E.X.C.I.T.E. Awards is this Friday, Feb. 15. For more detailed information, look elsewhere on this website.

The second deadline to keep in mind is March 8. That is the last day submissions for Expo Magazine’s list of the 25 fastest-growing shows will be accepted. 2012 was a very good year for many of you, with a lot of shows experiencing their first solid spurts of growth in a while—and you need to share that good news with everybody.

To submit your show simply click here and fill out the entry form. A fair amount of information is required—and submission forms do need to be complete—so do not hesitate too long.

And remember, when all else fails and you need a little help figuring out the process, don’t hesitate to contact me at mhart@red7media.com.

Michael Hart is executive editor of Expo Magazine. He can be reached at mhart@red7media.com.

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