| “When a thing has been said, and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.”
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Anatole France |
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Paperwork,
Paperwork ...
when will it end?
Paperwork, paperwork, when will it end? After the show if you are lucky. You have two options do your paperwork, with information provided by your exhibit house or let your exhibit house do it at higher costs to you. Why? when you complete your own paperwork, sign everything, and pay with your credit card you are in control. Sending a duplicate copy of all of your paperwork to your exhibit house assures that they have all of your information on the show floor as in most cases they are installing long before you get to the show.
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The other option of having your exhibit house pay for everything means additional charges for their time and for using their money. Your direct participation assures your ability to refute overcharges immediately at the show. When using your exhibition house those charges will not come back to their office for several days after the show and are much more difficult to resolve.
Most reputable exhibit companies are happy to assist you with your forms. However, you must sign forms, add your credit information, and be responsible for getting them to the show. We all have the same goals a smooth, successful, profitable show working together we can all be successful.
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Renting Your Exhibit ...
who are you really
working with?
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You have made a big decision you are going to rent your exhibit at your next trade show. No more fixing up the old exhibit, shipping it to the show, contracting labor to get it built that is all behind you. So who will you turn to, to design, build, and install your exhibit at the show? There are many, many display companies large and small that are very capable of delivering a great product at a great price. However, there are pitfalls.
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First and foremost are you renting directly from the exhibit builder or are you being brokered? Not every exhibit house in America actually builds your rental exhibit. If you are going through a broker how does that affect your bottom line? If you are paying, in essence, two vendors, that is one too many. It is the brokers job to be certain you are not paying additional expenses beyond retail. How are you going to negotiate your final price with a middleman?
Secondly is the exhibit builder a full-service exhibit rental house? Once again, if the exhibit builder is hiring an installation and dismantle company and then brokering those charges to you there are too many costs involved. To test the waters you might ask for a contact name and number on the show floor and ask if they are an employee of the people that you have hired. This is not to say your exhibit will not get built on the floor it just makes sense that you want a hands-on company with direct communication to simplify your experience. Remember the show floor can be a very lonely place without direct contact.
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 There are many, many differences in exhibiting at a trade show in Europe and the USA. Beyond the obvious example of our unions the entire methodology of a trade show setup in Germany, France, Italy, the UK, etcetera, and etcetera is structured completely differently. Most very large European shows are biennial and last seven to ten days. In many cases the shows cover all of Europe rather than a hardware show in each country the major international show takes place in Germany. However the real difference is the environments supplied by the exhibitors.
An attendee spends far more time with each exhibitor and is literally entertained within their exhibit space. Most exhibits include a functioning kitchen area this is why European exhibits or stands are most often on a raised floor for plumbing and electrical to run underneath the booth. Our European clients along with those from around the world are shocked by our lack of amenities in the US. However, our largest shows run a maximum of four days with three or four days to install and two days to dismantle. Then the next show begins, while in Europe move-in is a minimum of one to two weeks.
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Neither of these concepts is right or wrong just very different. When US exhibitors want to serve food or drinks they must purchase from the onsite catering department not so anywhere else. However, think about it, if every 20x 20 exhibit and larger space at a US show brought in their own food and crew everyday bedlam would reign on the show floor. Along with major power outages! On the other hand we have many European clients that insist on kitchen facilities and their exhibits stay busy the entire duration of the US show. Money that they feel is well spent.
We suggest taking a little time to analyze how your clients and potential clients visit your space would your business increase with a little European-style bistro area? Would that garner you that extra few minutes to make a deal, set up a program, re-energize your client? This could be money well spent. Our client, Bottero Flat Glass, had a 40 x 60 space at the GlassBuild America Show just last month in Las Vegas. Normally they bring huge machinery for glass cutting weighing thousands of pounds each and increasing their drayage costs immensely. This year they had tables and chairs, rather than equipment and a full bar, snacks and lunch. They literally never had a quiet moment in their booth space and the food service bill was far less than last years drayage bill. All in all, a very smart move. Thank you to Carey Brayer for sharing his story with us.
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Pictured Above - Recent Rental Renderings
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