Industry Icon Larry Cooper Announces Retirement After 50 Years

Farewell to The Experience Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas 2023

The Meetings and Events Team, (Larry and Tryna Cooper, Jennifer Wilkinson and Jillian Olson) have announced that The Experience Convention and Trade Show being held in Las Vegas in September 2023 will be their final show with the Experience Events. As many are aware, late in 2022 The Experience Events were acquired by BNP Media. Larry Cooper and his team (Tryna, Jennifer, Jillian) have been involved in this event in conjunction with BNP and will be on hand at The Experience Convention and Trade Show next week in Las Vegas. Larry Cooper has announced his retirement from The Experience and after 50 years in the industry he will be involved in other areas of industry education including Restoration and Cleaning Journeys.

Larry said, “It has been a complete joy to work with my family for the last 23 years in bringing The Experience to the Industry. Jillian, Jennifer, and Tryna have made the show what it is today. We have worked with and collaborated with the BEST of the BEST in our industry and for that I am so thankful. We also have had the great opportunity to work with incredible exhibitors who really made the show the success it is today.

I want to offer my congratulations to R&R magazine and BNP Media for taking the ball and moving forward with The Experience and wish them only the best for the shows. I thank so many friends in our industry for your support, friendship and love as I move to the next stage of my life.”

The Cooper’s have produced 45 conventions and trade shows for the Cleaning, Restoration and Remediation Industries including Connections Events and The Experience Events. The shows started smaller in size and grew to the largest independent events for the industry. Some key trademarks of the show include building a flood house in the trade show hall and then flooding it, spending the next 3 days using best practices drying and restoring the house with convention attendees and experts from the industry. The Experience show is based primarily on hands on learning. The Experience has more hands on classes and experiences in the trade show hall than any other show in the industry.

Watch for more advanced educational programs with worldwide travel in the future for Meetings and Events. We know the science of the industry keeps developing and improving, and the information has be shared and we will work to feature the industry’s Best Practices. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you in the future.