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Sir Winston Churchill |
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Is Everyone a Contractor? At a typical tradeshow there are allot of people with the word "Contractor" included on their badge. Let's take a quick review ...
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General Contractor - This is the contractor hired by show management to set up the show. This might be GES, Freeman, Champion – or any large company that handles drayage, signs, laying the hall carpet, decorating, labor at the show, and cleanup. Other services are also presented and brochures from these companies are offered in the exhibitor manual.
Official Contracor – any of a select group of contracted companies selected by show management that is responsible for exhibit installation and dismantle as well as maintenance. This may also be the General Contractor.
Exclusive Contractor – this is the contractor that is appointed by either show or building management as the sole provider of specific services such as electrical, plumbing, and telecommunications.
Exhibitor Appointed Contractor – these are the outside companies, independent contractors, that work for the exhibitor and need access to an exhibit during installation, dismantle, and during the show. These contractors have paperwork filed with the General Contractor by the exhibitor one to two months before the show.
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A Stretch for Attention
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Adding energy to your small exhibit space can be as simple as adding an aquarium, a glass case with live butter- flies, or if you are real gutsy – a couple of puppies, or even a small pig or two to your booth space. Of course it helps if you can hook the animal to the product offered. There’s the stretch! This is the time to call in the troops for a think tank session. All we can report is that live animals, unless you are at the pet show where there are animals everywhere, catch attention and stop people in their tracks.
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Dark Days at the Show
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 Pull out your exhibitor manual or go to the show website – this is a very important subject for many exhibitors. Especially when your show falls near a holiday. All bets are off – Advance Warehouse dates are generally earlier and then there are the “Dark Days.” These are the days – usually a holiday or a weekend day preceding a holiday when no one is allowed on the show floor. As an example CES setup in Las Vegas began at the end of December and then the hall was closed for a day and a half right in the middle of setup for New Year’s Eve and Day. So remember to research first or spend some extra time in your hotel room – this can be costly – for your company and yourself! |
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We start this New Year’s issue with a problem that plagues all of us on both sides of the contract, invoice, or agreement – completing the paperwork, before show deadlines. In truth, in order not to need an attorney present at every signing – we all must be very aware of what we sign and in many ways more importantly – that every piece of paperwork is signed and accounted for before the show.
Here is our latest example that cost our company over $3,000. A client neglected to sign the orientation page of our agreement. This is the paper that tells our I&D team how to set the exhibit in the booth space. Unfortunately this was not a 10’x10’ space, or even a 20’x20’ – no it was 30’x50’ with a double deck exhibit. You
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guessed it – last week we had to turn around the entire exhibit in the space. Ultimately it was our responsibility to make the client sign “just one last piece of paper” – however we missed it. Although, it was sent from three different departments to the client.
Now – what did this really cost? Beyond the overtime money to eight installers, and paying the three people at our office that had been on the paper chase for three weeks repeatedly making phone calls, leaving messages, and sending emails. This is just another example of why costs increase to the consumer. Exhibit companies, like everyone else in the country are working on tighter margins every year – so why do prices grow? Of course cost of living raises, rising expenses for materials, freight shipping, insurance – but the unseen costs like having three people chase a client for three weeks are less obvious.
Let’s start the New Year with an easy resolution that everyone can follow: Finish the Paperwork. This will save everyone time and money - simple, easy!
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 How to Disengage
One of the hardest aspects of the tradeshow environment is moving clients and prospects on so that everyone gets a fair share of your boothstaffers attention. Ending a conversation is never easy. However, in the trade show setting, you cannot take the risk of leaving a bad aftertaste, particularly not for your prospects. No matter who you are talking to a bad disengage makes people remember your company name -- for all the wrong reasons. Work with your staff to disengage properly. Ask for their business card or run their badge through the card scanner – then turn to them, if you have someone waiting, and thank them for stopping at your booth space and wish them a good show, a nice day, or a promise to call and keep smiling!
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