with ASI President and Chief Executive Officer Timothy M. Andrews on the final exhibit day of ASI Show^® Orlando, hosted January 4-6 by the Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) at Florida’s Orange County Convention Center.

During his hour-long, on-stage interview, Andrews asked the blunt Secretary of State about recent events in the Middle East and what she might advise President Trump, who’s taken a hard line against Iran. “It’s very hard to walk back what just happened,” she said. “The president will be operating on the basis of a fear factor and we can’t operate like that. Diplomacy is the bread and butter of how countries talk to each other… We’re in a very dangerous place. The bottom line is there has to be some way to lower the temperature.”

Albright spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of over 400 small-business owners, sales reps, distributors and exhibitors from throughout the $24.7 billion promotional products industry gathered for the three-day trade show. ASI Orlando attracted exhibitors and distributors from 19 countries and 47 states, including 2,556 attendees from Florida. Plus, 15 distributor companies chose Orlando to host sales meetings, including many Counselor^® Top 40 companies.

When she was a refugee, Albright said, people would sympathize with her difficult situation but conclude by asking when she would be going back home. Americans, however, would ask when she would become a citizen. “That’s what made America different from every country in the world,” Albright said.

In many ways, Albright’s early life bouncing from country to country during a troubled political climate made her uniquely suited to understand America’s role. “It made me understand the fragility of the society we live in,” she said. “I grew up in an assessment of how foreign policy affected ordinary people. …When the U.S. is absent, terrible things happened.”

Attendees applauded throughout the keynote, punctuated by Albright’s warmth and humor. “I was just blown away by the keynote,” said Megan Beisser, from AIM Smarter (asi/522700). “I loved the part where she spoke about how it was a team effort for everything she did at the White House as Secretary of State and I am a big believer of that. For everything I do, it is all about who we have working for us and being proud of what we do.”

George Kleine, of Florida’s Hobe Sound Beach Shop, said he was so impressed with Albright’s quote about being a working mother, “Every woman’s middle name is guilt,” that he immediately called his shop to start printing it on T-shirts. “She was absolutely marvelous,” said Kleine, who attended with his sister, Barb McLaughlin. “It couldn’t have been better, from start to finish – her frankness, honesty and sense of humor.”

ASI’s Orlando show (#asiorlando), the first large industry event of the 2020 selling season, attracted over 4,500 distributor attendees with 515 exhibitors, 63 new to Orlando. ASI successfully responded to supplier requests to reduce the number of non-members and the resulting attendance numbers reflected those efforts.