Coming Together in Columbus for the Midwest Expo

The Ohio Rental Dealers held their 2016 Annual Meeting, more commonly known as the Midwest Expo, this week in Columbus, Ohio. Rent-to-Own professionals from all across Ohio and surrounding areas came together on September 13^th and 14^th to meet with vendors on the tradeshow floor and discuss product features, try their luck at casino night and most importantly, get some of the best training from distinguished vendors in the industry. The Expo opened with a compelling welcoming from Ohio’s State Treasurer, Josh Mandel. He strives to create an environment where he is honored to raise his children, with the values that he knows America to be. He believes in the safety and support for all law enforcement, religious freedom and liberty and the notion that the government should serve the people.

Mandel introduced his economic transparency initiative, Ohiocheckbook.com, that empowers taxpayers to follow their money and hold public officials accountable. It is a website that shares all of Ohio’s state spending with various capabilities such as search, social media and downloading along with full details for each expenditure that sets a new national transparency standard. Mandel says that no other state has this level of detail or accessibility. He also believes that everyone deserves a higher quality of life and with that in mind he created STABLE accounts. The nation’s first savings plan that allows individuals with disabilities the ability to save and invest. Mandel has taken the state of Ohio from an $8-billion-dollar debt to an $8-billion-dollar surplus. He wants the country to know that Ohio embraces free enterprise and it is open for business. He closed with passing out his business card along with announcing his personal cell phone number encouraging anyone to contact him directly with any questions or assistance in cutting through the red tape.

Attendees then shuffled into the vendor filled expo where they found all of the latest products on display. Dealers took their time visiting and learning about products within each booth before grabbing a bite and heading to the Midwest Expo’s Casino Night.

Dealers and vendors were greeted with a cup of poker chips and a room full of casino games such as Craps, Poker, BlackJack, Slots, Roulette and many more. People gathered around their favorite game and later turned in their winning chips for raffle tickets. Fifteen lucky players won $100 in cash at the end of the night. The last day of the 2016 Midwest Expo gave dealers one more opportunity to meet with vendors on the tradeshow floor. After lunch, dealers attended 4 of 5 sessions of their choice from presentation vendors including: O’Rourke Sales Company, Symbol Mattress, Ashley Furniture, D&H Distributing Company and the Whirlpool Corporation. The Ohio Rental Dealers would like to extend a huge thank you to all of their sponsors and vendor partners for their support as well as everyone who donated to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank drive. Click here to see more photos of the 2016 Midwest Expo.