Freeman and AVW-TELAV Recovery Efforts

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NEWS UPDATE

RE: FREEMAN AND AVW-TELAV NEW ORLEANS RECOVERY EFFORTS

September 12, 2005

Dallas, TX…Freeman and AVW-TELAV have now accounted for all 250-plus full-time and regular part-time New Orleans employees. They are all safe, and have made short-term housing arrangements, many with family, friends and fellow employees. Many have lost their homes and belongings, and many do not yet know what may be left.

Initial reports on Freeman and AVW-TELAV’s three main warehouses, which total over 260,000 sq. ft., indicate that, while not under flood water, they did sustain some initial damage from the hurricane winds and rain. The company’s key operations staff was able to make initial inspections, secure the facilities, and will return as soon as allowed to make further assessments and remove as much exhibitor material and company-owned equipment as possible. They also still have equipment remaining at the New Orleans Convention Center, since they expedited move-out of exhibitor materials on the EMS Expo show before the storm, leaving their own equipment behind.

According to Don Freeman, chairman and CEO, the company’s current priorities are as follows:

“We have established a central job placement operation for our New Orleans displaced employees, and are in the process of relocating them to various Freeman and AVW-TELAV offices around the country as soon as they are able. This effort will give them the ability to return to some stability for their families, enabling their children to enroll in school, and providing them with stable income, since it appears many may not be able to return to the New Orleans area in the near future.

We have contacted all the event management and exhibiting clients who were impacted by the New Orleans disaster, working closely with them as they make decisions on the rescheduling of events, as well as the status of their exhibit materials. We also have provided assistance to the main evacuation centers in Texas locations, and are in contact with those show managers who may have to move events due to the temporary use of convention facilities as evacuation sites.

Many of our employees in other cities want to donate money to help Freeman and AVW-TELAV New Orleans employees replace immediate and more long-term necessities. Accordingly, we have established a non-profit emergency fund to assist our New Orleans staff, administered by the Communities Foundation of Texas. Even though the fund is set up for fellow employee donations, many friends have asked how they can also contribute, and this fund would be the best course.

I remain constantly amazed at the spirit of our entire employee family, both those who have been faced with a total personal disruption to their lives, and also those who are passionate about helping to ease their burdens. I am also overwhelmed at the great outpouring of personal concern from many of our industry clients, suppliers, competitors, and other friends who have worked with many of our long-term New Orleans employees, and consider them part of their family as well.”

The company has made an initial contribution to the fund, and will also cover the costs of administration, so that 100% of the donations will go directly to their displaced employees. Complete information on the Communities Foundation of Texas Freeman/AVW-TELAV Disaster Relief Fund can be found on the company’s web sites at www.freemanco.com and www.avwtelav.com.

FREEMAN’S DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN WORKED WELL

The company established an extensive internal disaster recovery plan in 1999, after a fire in one of their Houston facilities. The plan was enhanced in 2001 after 9/11, and it served the company well in the first several days after the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast. Through a dedicated emergency hotline, employees knew to call in as soon as they were able, to provide their status and their temporary contact information. In addition, the emergency hotline provides outbound communication with regularly updated information, so employees know the status of their facility, the company, and where to go for assistance. Thanks to the hotline, almost all employees were accounted for within two or three days, with the last call coming in seven days after flooding began, after the employee was rescued from a rooftop in downtown New Orleans. Use of this hotline also enabled the company to get immediate paychecks to the displaced employees, who had scattered to many locations to wait out the storm.

In addition, all the company’s data and client records are backed up centrally in the company’s headquarters in Dallas, as well as at a remote location. This total backup system requires major effort and expense, but when needed, it enabled their staff to retrieve show management and exhibitor information and begin to contact their customers within 24 hours of the storm’s passing. “We hope we never have to use a disaster recovery plan. In this case, however, it was invaluable,” commented Ellis Moseley, Executive VP and CFO for Freeman. “Our employees knew what to do, and it also helped put our clients at ease, since it gave us critical support and information much sooner than many of those affected by this disaster.”

FREEMAN’S TEXAS OFFICES PROVIDE ASSISTANCE

When news came late in the week after the storm that the majority of evacuees were headed to several cities in Texas, the Freeman offices in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio also came to aid. They provided thousands of feet of drape, thousands of yards of carpet, hundreds of tables, modular system equipment to build temporary medical centers and first aid areas, and quantities of signs to direct the thousands of evacuees coming in on busses every day. In addition, the Dallas Freeman office provided the setup and equipment for a special job fair created for the evacuees hosted in the Dallas Convention Center. Shows in the Houston and Austin facilities have been cancelled through September, but as evacuees find more permanent shelter elsewhere, hopes are that the centers will no longer be needed for emergency use.

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©2004 Convention Industry Council
Contact the CIC

NEWS UPDATE

RE: FREEMAN AND AVW-TELAV NEW ORLEANS RECOVERY EFFORTS

September 12, 2005

Dallas, TX…Freeman and AVW-TELAV have now accounted for all 250-plus full-time and regular part-time New Orleans employees. They are all safe, and have made short-term housing arrangements, many with family, friends and fellow employees. Many have lost their homes and belongings, and many do not yet know what may be left.

Initial reports on Freeman and AVW-TELAV’s three main warehouses, which total over 260,000 sq. ft., indicate that, while not under flood water, they did sustain some initial damage from the hurricane winds and rain. The company’s key operations staff was able to make initial inspections, secure the facilities, and will return as soon as allowed to make further assessments and remove as much exhibitor material and company-owned equipment as possible. They also still have equipment remaining at the New Orleans Convention Center, since they expedited move-out of exhibitor materials on the EMS Expo show before the storm, leaving their own equipment behind.

According to Don Freeman, chairman and CEO, the company’s current priorities are as follows:

“We have established a central job placement operation for our New Orleans displaced employees, and are in the process of relocating them to various Freeman and AVW-TELAV offices around the country as soon as they are able. This effort will give them the ability to return to some stability for their families, enabling their children to enroll in school, and providing them with stable income, since it appears many may not be able to return to the New Orleans area in the near future.

We have contacted all the event management and exhibiting clients who were impacted by the New Orleans disaster, working closely with them as they make decisions on the rescheduling of events, as well as the status of their exhibit materials. We also have provided assistance to the main evacuation centers in Texas locations, and are in contact with those show managers who may have to move events due to the temporary use of convention facilities as evacuation sites.

Many of our employees in other cities want to donate money to help Freeman and AVW-TELAV New Orleans employees replace immediate and more long-term necessities. Accordingly, we have established a non-profit emergency fund to assist our New Orleans staff, administered by the Communities Foundation of Texas. Even though the fund is set up for fellow employee donations, many friends have asked how they can also contribute, and this fund would be the best course.

I remain constantly amazed at the spirit of our entire employee family, both those who have been faced with a total personal disruption to their lives, and also those who are passionate about helping to ease their burdens. I am also overwhelmed at the great outpouring of personal concern from many of our industry clients, suppliers, competitors, and other friends who have worked with many of our long-term New Orleans employees, and consider them part of their family as well.”

The company has made an initial contribution to the fund, and will also cover the costs of administration, so that 100% of the donations will go directly to their displaced employees. Complete information on the Communities Foundation of Texas Freeman/AVW-TELAV Disaster Relief Fund can be found on the company’s web sites at www.freemanco.com and www.avwtelav.com.

FREEMAN’S DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN WORKED WELL

The company established an extensive internal disaster recovery plan in 1999, after a fire in one of their Houston facilities. The plan was enhanced in 2001 after 9/11, and it served the company well in the first several days after the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast. Through a dedicated emergency hotline, employees knew to call in as soon as they were able, to provide their status and their temporary contact information. In addition, the emergency hotline provides outbound communication with regularly updated information, so employees know the status of their facility, the company, and where to go for assistance. Thanks to the hotline, almost all employees were accounted for within two or three days, with the last call coming in seven days after flooding began, after the employee was rescued from a rooftop in downtown New Orleans. Use of this hotline also enabled the company to get immediate paychecks to the displaced employees, who had scattered to many locations to wait out the storm.

In addition, all the company’s data and client records are backed up centrally in the company’s headquarters in Dallas, as well as at a remote location. This total backup system requires major effort and expense, but when needed, it enabled their staff to retrieve show management and exhibitor information and begin to contact their customers within 24 hours of the storm’s passing. “We hope we never have to use a disaster recovery plan. In this case, however, it was invaluable,” commented Ellis Moseley, Executive VP and CFO for Freeman. “Our employees knew what to do, and it also helped put our clients at ease, since it gave us critical support and information much sooner than many of those affected by this disaster.”

FREEMAN’S TEXAS OFFICES PROVIDE ASSISTANCE

When news came late in the week after the storm that the majority of evacuees were headed to several cities in Texas, the Freeman offices in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio also came to aid. They provided thousands of feet of drape, thousands of yards of carpet, hundreds of tables, modular system equipment to build temporary medical centers and first aid areas, and quantities of signs to direct the thousands of evacuees coming in on busses every day. In addition, the Dallas Freeman office provided the setup and equipment for a special job fair created for the evacuees hosted in the Dallas Convention Center. Shows in the Houston and Austin facilities have been cancelled through September, but as evacuees find more permanent shelter elsewhere, hopes are that the centers will no longer be needed for emergency use.

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