IDEA History
by Paul Shubin
The Acronym IDEA
The IDEA acronym was conceived by Paul Darst of the Houston Sports
Association in February, 1985 on the bus returning from the SAFE HOUSE
Tavern in Milwaukee to the 3rd Annual Conference venue in Racine,
Wisconsin. The acronym came first. Then, we had to figure out
words for the letters: thus, Information Display and Entertainment
Association.
The Former Newsletter Name, MATRIX
The former newsletter name, MATRIX, was suggested by Galen
Armstrong, Seattle Kingdome, because it would relate to scoreboard
displays and means a cavity in which things are formed or cast. The
first MATRIX: Volume 2, No. 3, was published in November/December 1986.
The first, unnamed, newsletter was published October 31, 1985.
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The IDEA Light Bulb Logo
The IDEA light bulb logo was designed by Cam Steele, Winnipeg
Enterprises (NHL Jets) and was first reproduced in Volume 2, No. 3 of
the MATRIX. The acronym IDEA graphically reproduced in dots was first
published in Volume 2, Number 1, September 1986, MATRIX, though I can't
find any documentation on who designed it.
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The Golden Matrix Awards
The Golden Matrix Awards were first proposed during the 6th Annual
Conference (New Orleans: February, 1988) by John Cunningham of
Mitsubishi. In the November, 1988 issue of MATRIX, (Volume 3, No. 6),
it was announced that Sony had joined as co-sponsor and the first
awards would be held at the 1989 Anaheim Conference.
The first competition resulted with awards in four categories: Best
Music Video (Seattle Kingdome), Best Matrix Board Display (The Ohio
State University), Best Use of Existing Equipment (The Ohio State
University) and Best Overall Video Display (Oakland Athletics).
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