Although our company has been around for more than a decade, Cheetah Stand attending the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International Expo (aka WPPI) at the Mirage in Las Vegas seemed like such a far off goal for the company. Well that time has changed and we knew that if we wanted to be a part of this blossoming and amazing community, the WPPI Expo 2023 was going to be attended by us.
Looking back now as we were making plans in late 2022, what an incredible journey we've been on to make WPPI! One primary goal we had for Cheetah Stand was to connect with the incredible creators and educators that were going to be doing photo walks at WPPI so we began emailing everyone of them to see what we could do help assist. As photographers ourselves, we know how much of a pain it can be to bring our own gear to a shooting location, never mind having to also worry about the planning of the photo walks and the speaking engagements these superstars were going to be asked of them.
One pain-point became absolutely obvious with all of them - they needed light-stands and soft-boxes. Lucky for Cheetah Stand, that was one of our specialities ;) We got a lot of requests for Quick Series Soft Boxes, Automatic Light Stands and a few of our Booms packed up our bags and set off for the Mirage in Las Vegas!
Of course as always, Mother Nature had other plans for us...driving from Dallas to Las Vegas, we were hit with a wintery mix which shut down the highway. So we hung out on Route 66 for an extra day before heading on. Finally getting into Vegas, we were full of excitement and thrill - ready to meet the creative wedding and portrait community at one of the largest conferences around!
When we got there we prepped our space, met with our awesome Cheetah Coalition members including Scott Robert Lim, Jason Vinson, Jesse and Moira, Amber Henry, Kiamarie Lambert and made new friends as well Lindsey Adler, Dauss Miller, Sean Lara, Kenny Kim, Jesse Rinka, Andre Brown, Francisco Joel Hernandez, Isaac Alvarez, Hernan Rodriguez, Ning Wong, Shawn Lee who helped spread the little big secret that is Cheetah Stand is! We can't thank all of them enough for the support in their photo walks and classes as well as the good vibes they brought along with them.
Further more, we also empowered our educators to give away a free Cheetah Stand C8s and this turned out to be quite the popular move as photo walk attendees played games w/ the WPPI educators to win their light stand! So don't miss out on our conferences, you might win a Cheetah Stand ;)
But really the best part of the weekend? THE ENERGY of the WPPI Expo 2023 attendees! My goodness, we had no idea how excited the crowd was going to be - photographers, videographers from near and far in every industry from weddings, family, maternity, portariture, commercial, marketing...it was so fun to meet everyone that came by our booth asking excitedly not only about our Light Stands and Soft-Boxes but how to integrate our Cheetah Gear into their work flow. Needless to say, we came to make an impact by helping our community through our educators or answering questions directly on the showroom floor. We definitely accomplished that mission! Check out what Charles had to say in the WPPI Podcast
But don't worry if you've missed out - we think this video made by Master Creative, Keith Betters captured the vibe quite well, just don't miss the next one ;)
Cheetah Stand isn't stopping here though, we'll be going around the country to support and promote the larger creative community to help introduce them to the secret that is Cheetah Stand and our next stop will be at the ClickCon Conference from August 1st to August 4th at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. Just like WPPI Expo 2023, there will be classes and photo walks for everyone to learn from!
Please join us in August as Cheetah Stand makes another road trip to Chicago. And if you sign up now, it'll be $40 off your entry fee! 
