Displayit.com - Trade Show Displays, Booths & Exhibits Blog

Like Hair, Trade Shows Take Planning & Patience

It is Friday and I feel like having a little fun today.  Some of the guys around the office have had a lot of trouble with their hair lately. If you look at the picture below moving left to right, I will go over some of the issues we have had at Displayit.  Scott rushed to trim his hair and used the wrong setting on his clippers.  Mark got his hands on his wife's hair color kit, and Andrew tried to trim his beard and ended up with a fu manchu.  What does all this have to do with trade show planning?  Each one of our Displayit team members failed to plan ahead and execute their plan with patience.  These are lessons that we can apply to our trade show marketing programs.

I've said it in this blog many times: If you want to have a successful trade show event, you need to start planning well in advance of your show. Sounds simple, but few exhibitors do it.  Proper planning will allow you the time you need to create the right display and graphics and also allow you to execute a theme and pre-show marketing campaign that will allow you to maximize your investment.  Anyway, I know this was a silly post today but hopefully it will get you thinking about the plans for your fall show schedule.  As always, the trade show display experts at displayit.com are ready to help.

Lower Your Trade Show Handling Costs

We are preparing to attend the TS2 Show in Philadelphia, PA.  The show is TS2 or TS squared, which is the trade show about trade shows.  As I made my final show preparations I got to thinking about managing show costs such as drayage.  As many of you know, drayage is the cost of moving your trade show materials from the dock door/advance warehouse to your booth space and back onto the truck after the show.  Your drayage costs are based on the weight and size of your shipment, but one mistake that many exhibitors make is when they ship multiple pieces on different days to the advance warehouse or show site, each shipment received at the advance warehouse carries a minimum charge.  If you ship a variety of small pieces into the advance warehouse from multiple vendors, you could be looking at hundreds of dollars in extra costs.  Just something to think about for future events.

Start Fall Show Planning Now!

One of the biggest mistakes that small business trade show marketers make is waiting too late to start planning for a trade show.  I would recommend to begin planning at least 3 months prior to your event.  Here is a partial checklist.

1. Evaluate your Display - What kind of display do you need for this event?  Are you using a new exhibit, or perhaps you need new graphics?  Now is the time to get moving.
2. Prepare your Graphics - If you're going to produce a new display or graphics, make sure you prepare your booth graphics as soon as possible.  This way you can tie all of your other marketing messages to your backwall.  One trick we've used in the last couple of years at our shows is putting a picture of our booth into our pre-show mailers.  This makes it easy for prospects to spot us at the show.
3. Develop a killer show theme - If you wait until the last minute to plan your trade show marketing plan, you simply will not come up with a good theme.  Spend time brainstorming and bounce ideas off of your co-workers.  The right theme can make a 10' x 10' the star of the show.
4. Fill out your show forms - Make sure you get all your show forms in early so you take advantage of the early bird discounts.
5. Ship to the advance warehouse - get your exhibit done early and ship to advance warehouse.  You won't waste any energy worrying about your shipment and your booth will be in your space ready to setup when you arrive at the show.

Who are We and Why are We Here?

Good Monday morning to everyone.  I want to take some time this morning to think about how we, as small business marketers, prepare for the trade shows we attend.  As I began to think about this subject, I was reminded of Ross Perot's running mate in 1992, the late Admiral James Stockdale, who opened a debate in '92 with the famous words, "Who am I and why am I here?"  When we look at planning for the trade shows we attend, we have to make sure we are asking ourselves that question.