Marshall Yard:

Finally, STYLE is just what it sounds like; “what the exhibit looks like.” If the exhibit should look like a ski lodge, a sailboat, a doctor’s office, etc… then we make it so.  This is style.  Style is the last thing we look at before we design.  We can apply almost any style to any design.

Strategy Event Goals (From Client) - Determine Elements - Determine Priority - Determine Grammar - Determine Style = Exhibit Design

Between each and every process of the chain of events the best practice is review each process.

Interactive Video and User Created Content are two phrases that are very vanguard in growing infatuation of what is called social media. Social Media chronicles opinions, content, insight and perspectives of individuals and business through online technologies and practices -

This weeks Carnival of the Capitalists is hosted by The Virtual Handshake - The first article posted was written by Charles H. Green and is titled The Cancer of Short Term Thinking, some of the points made in this article coincide with my rant on Customer Service.   A great closing statement - You can’t fake trust; trust is a paradox; motives matter. The act of justifying trust by its economic value destroys not only trust, but its economic value. The best economic results come as byproducts, not goals.

I really enjoyed Scatterbox by Steven Silvers his take on SEO, scattered, no pun intended all over the internet are forums on SEO, Google, Yahoo, and all other search engines.  Trying to keep up with this part of marketing is maddening.  I have researched and still can not figure out why it is that even though the time, effort and “white hat” is applied, we see website fluctuations with our SERP’s, but the guys on top, stay on top, number one.  What really does go on behind the scenes of the search engine algorithms? 

The Strategic Marketing site has some great tips on ways to improve your organic rankings, again stressing, time & patience and there is no one magic trick. 

Marketing Deviant shares how to market your business through the use of screen savers.  What a simple idea, that could make a powerful statement in the right niches.

October is fire safety month, with several different trade shows that are held through-out the year with the latest in fire security, fire rescue and life safety.  Fire Rescue & Conference Expo will be taking place November 7-10th, 2007 in Las Vegas, with sessions covering Fire Simulators, Forcible Entry and Rescue Tech Tips to name just a few. 

Firehouse World Expo - San Diego February 3-7th, 2008

Firehouse Expo - July 22nd-27th, 2008 in Baltiore Maryland has over 450 exhibitors and is attended by more than 16,000 industry professionals.

AFSE -  Fire & Security Expo - July 29 - 31st, 2008 - Miami Beach Convention Center

I would like to move on to some Fire Safety Information provided by one of our employee’s at Catalyst Exhibits, having first hand experience with the loss of her home due to a fire. Imagine coming around the corner from dropping off your child from school and seeing your home up in flames.  There are no words she can use without the sickening feeling coming back, so she shares with you her tips to help prevent and help put the pieces back together if this devastion ever enters your life.

FIRE – Before / During / After

Accidents Happen - While fires are accidents (unless your cousin is Vinny) you actually CAN prepare for this type of accident.A house fire can be devastating, and  one of the most emotional, exhaustive & draining experiences one will ever have. The aftermath can consume all of  your time for months, you can end up on a sort of autopilot.  The funniest thing I remember, while I was watching the firemen put out the flames of my house, my insurance company actually called about changing car insurance policies.  I had to tell her, “sorry, I really can’t talk about that right now, my house is on fire… by the way, could you pull up that policy for me?” 

BEFORE A FIRE / FLOOD – or anything else you can imagine….Insurance Insurance Insurance Insurance is not limited to homeowners.  You can obtain renters insurance as well for your stuff!·       Take an inventory of all your personal property.·       Take pictures, videos, keep lists etc…. ·       Make sure you are not UNDER INSURED for your content or building/structure.    

DURING A FIRE - BEWARE  #1 rule -  Sign Nothing, Sign Nothing, and SIGN NOTHING !  While you are standing there in disbelief, waiting for the fire departments to put out the flames, you will be bombarded with ambulance chasers rushing to you and handing you their business cards because they want to “Help you” rebuild or “get the most out of your insurance company for your personal belongings”.  This is completely unwanted; however you may want to hang on to some of those cards.  Most of them are EXTREMELY SLEEZY OPPORTUNISTS sitting listening to scanners waiting to pounce, banking on the fact you are too shocked and devastated and will be thankful they are offering to “help”. They won’t all look like a Surprano wanna be, with gold bling & a Cadillac (and some DO);  Some may truly be worthy & just happened to drive by.     

 SIGN NOTHING ·       GET YOUR HOUSE BORDED UP immediately. Make it secure. Your stuff is still in there. (The company that boards your house up for you does not have to be the company that rebuilds for you.)·       LET NO ONE TAKE ANYTHING OUT OF YOUR HOUSE (until you catalog everything & get what you want out.).AGAIN – SIGN NOTHING. Even if the insurance company asks you to.  You are devastated and not thinking clearly at this point, and I saw nothing in any contract that states you can get out of it because you under incredible distress.  Just don’t sign it.  You will have time to think about it later! 

THE DAYS AFTER - SAVE AS MUCH MONEY AS YOU CAN !!  ·       DO IT YOURSELF (You’ve been paying towards this and  IT IS YOUR MONEY AFTER ALL!)·       Ask for & CALL REFERENCES of the Contractor·       GO SEE A HOUSE THEY ARE WORKING ON OR ARE COMPLETEING.  (I didn’t trust references alone.  Glad I went and saw for myself! Some work was very poor. I chose the one that was rebuilding a two million dollar home with incredible detailed work.  Over kill? No. I knew they would do a better job then Vinney with all his gold rings and old Cadilac)      

TAX DEDUCTIONS ON TAX RETURN·       SAVE ON PROPERTY TAX - PROPERTY VALUE DOES CHANGE 

RECORD & RESEARCH - DO IT YOURSELF If you let a company catalog everything for you, you are not guaranteed they will get it all, AND they get a healthy percentage of your insurance payment!  While a lot of work, doing it myself, saved us $90,000.00 on a 900 sq. ft. house!  Imagine what you could save on a bigger house with more stuff.

YOU WILL NEED:     Cruddy Shoes & Clothes·       Tape recorder·       Filtered Respirator (The smoke smell will be horrible & imbedded in everything.  Mold may begin from the water that put out your fire.  (certain molds are very dangerous to your health)  Menards has them. Go through the house & RECORD EVERYTING you can that was even only semi destroyed, or slightly damaged.  Smoke damage and possible water damage from the fire department.  Make that list complete.  Down to the last pencil & paper clip.   

RESEARCH the cost of replacement for EVERYTHING.  The fastest way is on line stores – including Ebay for the hard to find items. While you can’t claim Sentimental Value, NOT EVERYTHING IS WORTH THE SAME AMOUNT:  I had 200+ CD’s on my list, however some were special order imports, I looked them up on line and one was $175 to replace!.  That CD is WORTH $175 !  Not the Standard $9.99. You should record it that way! 

How it broke down:Content was insured for - $90,000.00 Depreciation averaged 50% (it can range from 10%-90%)Going well over and beyond our limit, gave us our MAX benefit without having to report every item we bought  to get that other 50% depreciation back.

Our Max benefit for content was $90,000.00  - We claimed $192,000.00

50% of $192,000  = $96,000 (over max – received full claim)          

 -  90,000     

Unpaid loss $102,000 = Claimed on that year’s TAX RETURN 

CALL CONTRACTOR’s REFERENCES  most important, GO SEE THE CONTRACTORS WORK they have already done, or are working on!  This will give you a great idea of the kind of work they will do for you. You can be your own contractor.  Or ask your contractor to hire people you trust to do certain work, such as electrical, plumbing, finishing… we found our contractor via a family insurance acquaintance that used to be an adjustor. He had a list of contractors he felt were on the up & up.  Your adjustor may or may not be able to give you this information. 

PROPERTY VALUE & TAX·       Call your Assessor’s Office. Tell them you had a fire & your property value then goes down until you can move back into your home.  You Pay Less Property Tax during that time!·       Don’t forget to claim the loss on your tax return that was unpaid by insurance. 

THIS IS HOW  YOU CAN LOSE YOUR MONEY – again BEWAREInsurance sent a check for $9,000. (prior to my lists) which was an absolute insult.What some of these ambulance chasers would have done was taken the $9,000 and the $35,000, for the house, taken their 20%  and performed sloppy/shotty work fixing the house, because there would have only been $35,200 left to rebuild, leaving us with NO money for replacing items.  A good contractor will fight for as much as they can get.  In our case, they were awarded $78,000.  Which enabled us to knock down, rebuild, and keep the max content for ourselves.  

By: Susie Kleiner 

Global Marketing Strategy is colossal in the planning and execution of upcoming trade shows.  Starting out on the right foot and getting yourself properly organized should be a basic practice whether you are exhibiting or attending an upcoming trade show event.

Al Simon at TAG-Technology Association of Georgia wrote 10 tips in January, one of my favorites is number four - arrive early and stay late, I agree that with this strategy you can get more of a foot hold on your competition as well as make contact with others that are arriving early and arriving with more of a clean slated mind.  

I worked for several years in the Manufacturer Represtative business as an office manager, this is when I attended the ISSA Show when it came to Chicago,  planning the strategy way in advance for what exhibit booths where going to manned and the time frames for each sales rep was thought out and executed seemlessly.  Having a sales force of 3 at the time, and figuring out whose personality worked best with what manufacturer turned out to be quite successful.   If your business has an array of representatives find those award winning personalities a spot in your exhibit booth.

Setting up meetings with current customers as well as prospective customers and keeping the information simple and focused with your exhibit booth number, appointment times and perhaps a topic of interest to be covered can help keep not only yourself organized but your clients and prospects as well. 

Often times when you are exhibiting at trade shows your marketing goals can change from year to year, planning your marketing strategy  and maximizing your marketing messages for each show and each audience will help you accomplish the goals you have set.   Minimizing your trade show workload. 

Plan early, two simple words.  If you have never exhibited at a specific show, make sure you map out the best place for your booth.   Two things to keep in the back of your mind, everyone has to eat, and everyone has to use the washroom.   A great location for your exhibit booth is near either of those facilities.  Drawing in a lot of traffic, accomplished trade show exhibitors are well aware of this fact.  Research the shows and the show maps to best lay-out your strategy for exhibit location.

Focusing on follow up can show considerable results as well, make sure any prospect that you talk with during your trade show get either a follow up call or a personal note from you.  This is the “human touch” factor.  I think Rick Springfield said it best in the opening lyrics of his song Human Touch - “Everybody talking to computers, they’re all dancing to drum machines.” 

I can attribute the last three jobs that I have held to follow up,  the act of following up can be even more important than your initial meeting.  Trade Show Chaos could have taken over your potential client by the time they hit your exhibit booth, taking the time to personally follow up and ask questions can create many business opportunities. 

I ran across the Ten Trade Show Exhibit Best Practices on About.com - I agree with the many of the points that Darrell Zahorksy points out in this line-up. Stressing in a few of the articles I have written I firmly belive that the “create a buzz” that he speaks of is one that should be at the top of this list. By spending time informing potential clients of your appearance at an upcoming trade show helps them plan accordingly.

Also pointed out in the article is training your trade show team, trade show floors can be like downtown Chicago on Christmas Eve at Macy’s..yes, Macy’s, no more Marshall Fields. The aisles of the convention center are often times packed with prospective clients, not only with buying power but alot of heavy hitters and decision makers. If you don’t educate your booth team and give them the proper mental equipment for proper boothmanship the outcome can be detrimental in a final decision for a prospective client.

Susan Ward says to plan your exhibit in terms of your audience, another statement that I highly agree with in terms of amazing trade show displays and results there from. In order to draw in your potential clients, you must understand what it is they are looking for, and why it is they are attending.

Steve Woodruff from Small Business Branding wrote: Above all differentiate, you are competing for limited time and memory. That simple statement of eleven words gives you a base to build upon when you are entering the ever growing industry of trade show marketing.

I continue the series with the third step in exhibit display design and the complete process of which it takes to make your exhibit experience a success.

Elements, Priority and now onto Grammar.  Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language.  “Grammar”is one of the words our designer’s use to describe the language of exhibits.  For example,  a “radial” design, a “rectilinear” design, an “organic” design, an “open or closed” design, etc.  It has to do with the natural, pleasing and/or effective object design for a given objective. 

You will notice this is quite far along in the process.  A “grammar” is applied to prioritized elements.

PMA  ‘08 hits Las Vegas Convention Center on January 31st, 2008 and continues to February 2nd, 2008.  This is an ensemble cast of “memory makers,” from photographers, retailers and even those in the scrapbooking industries.  Gathering together over 20,000 industry professionals and 200 sessions at this convention, there is an abundance of information to be had.

From local merchants to large mutlinational business, you will find sports and event photography, wireless imaging, this is a broad spectrum trade show, housing exhibitors from with an array of products associated with the photography industries.  Attracting top level management teams who are continually trying to stay ahead of the digital imaging industry, and seeking the latest in technology.  Over 95% of the attendees have the buying influence, and are key decision makers. 

Exhibiting in the world our digital era can create your ”memory” on your products and services.  Think of the amount of time we spend in the digital world, emailing photo’s, scanning documents, sending wireless pictures via text messages.  A report from PMA’ 07 states that the average person spends 36 hours a week in the digital world we have created. 

As in any world, what is it we are looking for? Sharp, Better Quality, Ease of Use.  When you are expanding your business in the tradeshow market, these are qualities that your exhibit’s should convey.  

I love the game, I love the Bears, followed them for many years. I actually saw Rex in training camp his first year with the Bears, I thought to myself, wow..what an arm.

The guy can throw..but let’s get some consistancy. One of our in house exhibit account executive’s is a football die hard, only having one word..which you see left!

I would have to say, it may be time to move him into a position where he can learn some consistancy. Would we keep a vendor who continually crushes our product? Would we continue to ship exhibits with a company who constantly lost a shipment?

The Bears won - that’s great, but where is the constant? Why are they marketing Rex like he is the next great quarterback in line for the hall of fame. He’s got flaw’s as do all of us. I will give it to him that they made it to the superbowl - rock on there.. even won a football pool, made it bittersweet, but I won! I don’t understand the in-accuracy of it all.

Why at the end of the game wouldn’t they allow Griese to come in and throw some passes? We have played quarter back yo-yo’s for many years, remember Quinn… he was like a tree just standing there loosing leaves, and didn’t deliver, how long did we mess around with that?

I don’t claim to know the in’s and out’s of the game or strategy, but heck, what is team effort? It would be nice if someone was behind the ball that when they threw it, you DIDN’t cringe each time it left his hands!

The Catalyst debate continues..some say boot him - some say he’s cute, keep him..

Our own in-house die hard has this to say…

Here are my thoughts…He is like a “deer in headlights” on the field. I am so sick and tired of hearing it is only his second full season, or that “Hey Brett Favre didn’t do well in his first couple of seasons”This guy will never have that “Stud” factor!!!

Another Exhibit House Employee has this to say… BOOOOOT. Him…Now!, a little undertones of Brion James - the cajun trapper in the 1981 Movie Southern Comfort..when he screams at Powers Booth’s character after almost being drowned by another reservist… 

Moving onto and into the depths of exhibit display & design, we find that after the Elements of the display and design are set - we like to move onto Priority:

Whether you are planning on one trade show or several for the upcoming year, begin by focusing on the first trade show you are planning on exhibiting at.

Which products/messages are more important at this show?

Which messages are more and less important?

Which element is more or less important?

What is the “order” in which the story should be told? (It is important to see this before they see all of that.)

Flow

Priority is very, very important.  Without this, we are just guessing.

Each and every step in the begining process of trade show marketing is a vital one.  Without concentration on your products or messages, your exhibit booth is just a booth.  Companies begin trade show marketing because:

They want,  a ROI from the Trade Show.

They want,  best exhibit booth.

They want, different and exciting ways to set up a new product launch.

They want, to visually enhance current product lines.

Whether you are exhibiting at trade shows worldwide or locally, starting with the basics seems to be the best approach - Elements, Priority… next up is “Grammar”

Yesterday I took you through Marketing/Communications Strategy & Exhibit Display &  Design - touching on four key terms that are a great breakdown, I am going to break down the first section today, which is Elements, gathering the trade show event goals from a client starts the process of determining Elements.

Is the exhibit display for telling a complicated story to many people at once? (Element=Theatre)

Is the exhibit display for showcasing actual products? (Element=case goods/integrated display cases/walls)

Is media an important part of the exhibit display experience? (Element = integrate A/V and begin media concepts)

Is the exhibit display for promoting a product or brand identification/name? (Element = ID panels/kisoks, monoliths, banners)

Is the exhibit displayfor having meetings, closing deals, signing contracts, etc? (Element = Meeting Rooms/Double Deck/Etc. 

Starting with this breakdown can give the client as well as the exhibit designers & engineers a better foundation to start the exhibit display process. 

Next we will touch on the Priority…..

Wow..this is right up old Kevin’s alley, by accident we stumbled upon the Underwater Intervention 2008 website and the amazement in this technology really intriqued our little mississippi map.  Taking place in New Orleans, January 29-31st, at the Morial Convention Center. 

I honestly have to say, I never even realized there was such a convention.  Kevin got a bit of an education in welding when he investigated the FABTech trade show coming to McCormick Place later this year.  Can you imagine welding structures underwater?   This is the job of what they call a commercial diver, getting paid to work underwater.  (No Kevin - we are not increasing your exhibit house salary)

ROV’s = Remotely Operated Vehicles, are used for various tasks for diving contractors as well as some various programs that have gone on in the past.  EPA funded project for the environmental education, what a great opportunity for those wishing to be in this field. 

The conference will cover many topics, concrete rehabilitation, marine construction, workshops and discussions.  Commercial divers have to work in a variety of conditions, not only in water that is drinkable, but wastewater as well. 

There was a time when exhibits were designed to “look cool” and any product or message would be pasted on it.  The process started with “style.” Customers picked a style they liked and then made it work somehow.  We believe that good exhibit design ought to begin with some sort of strategy. 

What is it that your clients want to do or say? An exhibit design should strat with a very solid understnading of the event-specific mission.  Take the steps further, break it down into elements, priority, “grammar” and style..in that order.

In the simplest terms, the process goes like this.  Look at the space, for every particular show.  What is the space? In-Line or Island? How big is it? Where is it? Determine Approach Type - Do you want the exhibit to be:

Marketing Type-being all about the product or brand ID?

Architectural Type-all about the structure?

Experience Type - all about what happens in the structure?

After making these educated decisions, then you can go onto the design phase.

By: Susie Kleiner 

I must share a “customer service” at its best with all of you readers, but first you will need a little background on what lead up to it.  Over a year back, I purchased a piece of software to help us with our imports and database management, to work hand in hand with ACT 2007.  Upon my transfer from one position to another and a different computer -  I needed to un-register this software.  Understandable, really, truly it is – as my position grew, I needed to un-register this software once again and re-install it on another’s machine.  Understandable, really it is! Then yet again, another’s position grew and moved on, and I need to un-register it, guess what? Now the sellers of the software want a fee for this, it wouldn’t re-register, I ran out of re-registers? What the heck is that? What is this all about, I do not understand this concept, we bought the software, we bought a license, clearly they have control and know when it is trying to be registered, not an issue. 

We needed it, and are willing to comply, with the one machine rule.  Willing to comply with we have you over a barrel now, pay us more. Not a chance, its principal.

Well, this is where true customer service comes in, after the conversation I had with this company, I decided to look elsewhere.  I found a company called ACTMate Corporation and decided to download the trial version.  It seemed to do what I needed but I couldn’t clearly see the end results being a trial version and it seemed to be missing something.  

With emails back and forth to the owner of the company, Mitch Stephens, he told me he would check into this.   He did, Mitch took the time to contact me and said it would be much easier to delve into the issue I had live.  Mitch spent quite a bit of time on the phone with me on the initial conversation and had to do some tweak’s to the program to help me out.  He did just that!   

When Mitch called me back after he “tweaked” the program, ON FAITH, he gave me an access code to get the full results of this program.  I say ON FAITH, because, this man knew me not from Adam or Eve, and was willing to put himself and his program to the test for someone who found him online.   Thank you Mitch, customer service at its best!

Have you seen my blog? What are you blogging about? Should I blog? Who else is blogging?  This is a venture that I am truly a novice at, in reality, the blog-umbilical is still attached.  I am in the infancy stages of this social media craze.

I have found that blogging is fun for sure,  I am not a copywriter, nor claim to be one.  This is truly a novice perspective, but welcome to the neighborhood! In researching different social media sites, you truly can learn alot, forums are a great place to pick up tips as well.  RSS-could stand for really stupid stuff, but it means Really Simple Syndication.  I ran across a great site that lists several places you can submit RSS feeds into.  

Okay, so the original question, Blogging? What is it all about?  I feel it is about “relationships”, its an added source to anything you are presently doing in your life.  Whether your blog is personal or business related. 

I recently ran across one of our clients blog, Indium Corporation-Rick Short, and sent off an email since I did not know Rick Short and wanted to introduce myself.  In my position, I do not have communication with our clients so this was really a great thing for me.  Even though its a business blog, its great to form relationships of a more personal nature. 

Getting to know the “true” personalities of people, and the lighter side of folks is actually fun and puts a bit of the old “human” touch back in things.  How funny is that statement, well at least you don’t have to press “1″ for english or “0″ for the operator, you can just read away!

P.S - September 19th, 2008 - We recently had a discussion about two weeks ago regarding the new computers that were coming into our facility all having Office 2007 on them.  Well, low and behold if you are using outdated versions of Office you can not open the files unless someone saves them in a different format.  When our IT contacted Dell to inquire on purchasing these, it is about 300.00 a machine.  Well, this in the back of my mind - I was reading Rick Short’s blog and bouncing from link to link.  I found a conversion program patch for this particular situation, that is available through Microsoft. 

The power of the blog!

By: Sue Kleiner

Satisfied customers as well as a quality product - is the bottom line to any business, when you are researching exhibiting at trade shows, you should be partnering with an exhibit house that handles every aspect of the production of your exhibit- from conception, to the return of the exhibit properties for storage until your next trade show. Product market strategy is an essential part of the entire exhibiting experience.

You do not get a second chance to make a first impression. It only takes that few seconds get the attention of a potential client as they walk past the parade of exhibits on the trade show floor. You want your exhibit to be a visual display of what your company is all about and bring attention to your services and products.

Trade Shows have become a highly competitive market place and the exhibit experience is all about the “wow factor”. Giving an exhibit curb appeal is one of the ways to get your company noticed. With striking graphics, you increase the chance of drawing in visitors to your booth. This is where the “wow factor” comes in. These trade show attendees will saunter by many, many exhibits; you want them to walk past those and enter your exhibit.

Designing exhibits can be thought of as a partnership of objects – combining the key elements within your exhibit space, making sure the striking graphics are properly lit and in a position where they will draw the most attention. It’s about making sure that the lighting is positioned so as to enhance products or services and making sure that the podium or counter of choice is aligned for the best possible traffic flow.

The fluidity of your trade show exhibit space should make it easy for attendees to browse through the new product launches or the improved products display. Whether you are using podiums or counters in your exhibit, they should form a marriage with all the other furniture within your booth space. Do not plan on giving them too much to focus on - this is actually ocular chaos for most people and it can the end of the conversation, but if the exhibit has a pleasant visual display the potential client will feel more comfortable’ entering and staying longer.

Keep conversation simple and informative once you have a potential client in front of you give them reasons why it would best serve them to do business with you. Explain to them about any new product launch and make sure you have a success story to back this up.

Kevin - The Mississippi Map Turtle Mascot, was not real happy I shared his post about being depressed yesterday, so I got him online and we wanted to share some information the  MDM - Medical Design & Manufacturing Trade Show.  Coming to Aneheim California on January 29th-31st, 2008 at the Aneheim Convention Center.  Whether your business is designing of equipment for cardiac care, respitory, or surgery, this is the place that new product previews and launches are anticipated. 

Two great conferences will be taking place for any VP or Director level medical manufacturing executive.  If you are attending the MDM Expo, you are also invited to the industry related trade shows: Electronics West, Pacific Design & Manufacturing, WestPack, Plastec West and Automation Technology Expo.  With an increasingly competative healthcare market place these trade shows are informative and continue on with great advancements in our medical needs. 

While you are  thinking of your exhibit strategy for MDM West Trade Show, keep in mind the comfort of your exhibit for your prospective clients that will be reviewing the product launches all around you.  Promotional pre-show strategy can also give you an added advantage over your competition. 

So many medical advances have taken place over the years, it is quite amazing, while reading about some of the technology that is present at these shows, I thought of a process called plasmapheresis - a word that I had never heard of until my mother was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. It is the removal, treatment and the return of blood plasma from the circulatory system.  The medical device that is used for this is called a cell seperator, it is quite amazing, it’s a process that literally washes the blood of the impurities that your system can not eliminate on its own. 

I was astounded at all the new medical devices and instruments that will be present at the MDM Expo, from Sterilization Equipment to computer aided devices. 

Kevin came back early from his weekend home because he was “DEPRESSED” as Lauren put it…she brought him back to the hustle and bustle of the exhibit house chaos, but seriously, as we sit here this evening watching Crossroads, I think it is all about the music…mind you Lauren, he is from Mississippi and likes to hear the blues and not rap music.  You all know my feelings about  Stevie, well, Kevin feels that way about Ry Cooder’s blues.  

That swampy sound of the slide guitar has Kevin in a twist, down with those snakes and alligators, he feels right at home! Can a turtle get depressed, I actually have to agree with Lauren, yes, I think they can.  Let me tell you, I have brought Kevin home now for several weekends, and his little trade show exhibit mascot spirit seems to be taking a beating. Initially I thought that it would be good for the little fellow, but he just seems to sink himself deep in the water and not even the meanest of blues tunes brings him out to feed in front of his weekend collegues.

I thought I was doing Kevin a favor bringing him home on weekends, for the heat lamp and the feeding, but heck, if it is going to get this boy singing the blues, I ’spose it is best to leave him be. I noticed the fact as well as Lauren that he sat himself in the deep blue sea of the aquarium that I bought him that he is not quite as active in his weekend environment.  I can truly hear Kevin quoting Crossroads characters, “if you are going to be a janitor..mop my room.” 

Well, we get back to the Janitor..and I have visions of walking around the ISSA trade show, and thinking oh my gosh, how many more exhibits with bathrooms and toilets, and toilet paper, or fuffy smelly good stuff can I see, the answer to that, unless you are in the exhibit house business, or in the janitorial supply rep business, you can never imagine…and let me tell you, urinal cakes, make and extremely funny gag gift.

Carnival of the Capitalist September 4th Edition is online and live hosted by Welcome to Help.  Among the highlights are some interesting articles:

Edith Yeung gives some great advice on how your words and attitude can help you be succesful.  This advice and information is so plainly simple, but yet we as a whole have a tendancy to find ourself using such phrases that she has included in her article.   When it comes down to planning your marketing strategy, some of these phrases that Edith Yeung has highlighted, are clear as the nose on your face, take a moment to be aware, and be concious of what it is you are trying to convey and why.

Another great piece that follows again stems on words;  Instigator Blog has 10 Questions that Venture Capitalists and Angels Investors Will Ask.  I found this interesting as well it can pertain to questions you can ask yourself about the exhibiting experience.   What is your business all about? How far does your money get you? What’s your marketing strategy? Those are some questions that we, as an exhibit house, always try to find out up front when we are dealing with a potential client.  Knowing the client, or investor in the case  of Instigator’s article will help you be prepared.

This week’s CotC has some great other articles and links for building business, and marketing strategies.   The Tongue always outpaces Understanding shows the importance of knowing what you are talking about, getting down to brass tacks for leadership skills,  it is my opinion that a great leader does need to be a great listener.  If we are going to lead you into the tradeshow arena, you need to feel confident with our skills of communication, the preparation of exhibiting is similar to the old party line’s - its a mass communication.

I read a book awhile back by: Masaru Emoto on Hado - pronounced hadou to rhyme with shadow, broken down means to move and wave.  “Hado creates words - Words are the vibrations of nature Therefore beautiful words create beautiful nature Ugly words create ugly nature This is the root of the universe.”  Masaru Emoto  This was  a book studying the power of words on water and the formation of ice crystals.  Because words are sound and contain vibration, it shows the effects that the negative words we use on a daily basis can change the structure of water crystals, as well as the effect of the positive words.  Considering the human body is comprised of more than 1/2 water, think about what impact the negativity can have not only on yourself but the person in front of you.

When we are faced with tough decisions, deadlines or  bump’s that are in every road of business, we can let words fly around as if they are on a 747 and coming in for a landing.  Constant, and honest communication, no matter the circumstances can help you, help your clients and give them a feeling of security when it comes to doing business with you.  Knowing they can count on your communication, will keep them coming back.

Design process for trade show booths should be an integral part of everything an exhibit house does.  One of the founders of Catalyst Exhibits, Inc. is a designer.  A substaintail percentage of our team are designers.  Design is important when it comes to trade show booths.

It boils down to each trade show is different.  There may be a different audience, different messages, different products and even different intentions (trade show strategies and trade show priorities).  The focus should be on adding impact to each particular exhibit floor…and not just make items fit.   This is where a great trade show booth design team comes into play.

Creative teams.  Marketing teams.  Design Teams.  And yes, engineering teams.  An trade show booth design should pass through this process for every show.  If your trade show booth design needs to be different, it will be.  If your trade show booth design needs to showcase different products or function in different ways, it will be. 

Developing strategies to support different messages in the most cost effective ways, will continue to enchance your exhibiting experience.  If you do not like what you are seeing, the trade show booth design team should be involved to modify it or start over. 

Trade Show Booth Design does not end with fabrication.  In a way, event design begins there.  The point here is that trade show booth design is part of the entire exhibit process. 

It is important to make a distinction between “art” and “design.”  Trade Show Booth Design exists to solve business problems.  There can be no effective trade show booth design without an understanding of the challenges your business faces.

This post was highlighted in September 10th Edition of Carnival of the Capitalists hosted at About.com: Entrepreneurs