Marshall Yard:

My favorite conversations in the exhibit industry revolve around ancient, nay, prehistoric exhibits: The story of a recent booth, constructed in Toronto, that dated from the 1960’s. An exhibitor who purchased a booth 3 years ago and lamented that they already needed a new booth (but their acquisitions have always been depreciated over 10 year periods!). A 5 year old exhibit - laminate-panelled, extraordinarily heavy and costly to store - had chips, cracks or scratches, on every single panel. Corporate would not refurbish or repair the booth. They needed to wait for it to fully depreciate.

These stories litter the exhibit industry, and become readily apparent when you visit a show. This is oftentimes a delicate prospect to contact - there is a great deal of pain in their exhibiting experience. BUT there is also an obvious inflexibility to change at either the coordinator’s level, or from on-high. The concept of rental ought to be a refreshing concept to these trade show coordinators. Instead, “business as usual” reigns supreme, though it might continue to waste valuable company dollars.

Trade shows are quite expensive to exhibit at - sans exhibit costs (the real estate, employee travel and accommodations - quite an investment). It should be painfully obvious that a display which exudes a negative image to prospective and existing clients, is costing more money in the form of opportunity costs.

I like to think of Opportunity Costs as pesky little expenses which become apparant only after the game has already been lost. If it weren’t for them, I’d stick with that 1960’s exhibit. She’s got a few more years of marketing excellence left in ‘er, right?

Marketing departments spend a good bulk of their budget on trade shows. Few other line items demand such a great investment. While the logistical concerns in the course of organizing a successful exhibit program are immense, there’s an oft-ignored “elephant in the room” of every trade show coordinator, or marketing manager.

The marketing department is primarily concerned with trade show logistics, instead of MARKETING IMPACT (the aforementioned elephant).

Suppose your company were investing heavily in a direct mail campaign. Would you obsess with how the direct mail vendor planned to print the postcards? Perhaps you would ruminate incessantly about how the addresses were collated?

Ok, so of course you wouldn’t worry about those things. You’d probably focus on the message of the mail itself, how your company is perceived by the recipients, and the call to action. Marketing strategy’s the name of the game, correct?

WHY ISN’T THAT HAPPENING FOR YOUR TRADE SHOW EXHIBIT?

For being the largest expenditure in the marketing budget, it seems that the only strategy involved in planning trade shows is:

1.       Pick a booth design that you like,

and

2.       Figure out how the logistics and expenses will mesh with reality [your marketing budget and exhibition schedule]

Marketing strategy should drive every “booth decision,” period. It shouldn’t just be a piecemeal graphics change, but rather an honest evaluation of what your booth communicates about your company, your product, and your positioning amidst your competitors. Your display should be fine tuned based on an expo’s attendees and competing exhibitors. So let’s just take a little vacation from logistics while we straighten this all out…

Ever had your unique product stolen? Technology, even with the aid of patent attorneys and copyright law by your side, is, at best, fleeting in today’s hyper-competitive economy. How long do you expect your offering will remain unique? How long before someone steals your idea, or worse, IMPROVES IT!

At our tradeshow exhibit house, we see this at play every day. Not only has our construction method, 6”x6” aluminum “innerspace” beams utilizing fabric graphics, been stolen by our fiercest competitors, but we face the threat of “design theft” in nearly every competitive situation. If a client likes our product, but wants to see if someone else can do it for less money, they trot our design to other vendors until someone says ”yes, we can do that, and we can rent it for a tad less $$$!”

Loyalty is well nigh gone, right? And imagine how frustrating it is for our designers who see their custom booths at an expo, often butchered by producers lacking know-how with certain challenging architectural features.

Most of our clients respect the innovations our designers craft for their unique situation, and they hate to perpetuate a reality that they face as well. One such client told me about his horrendous experiences in his industry: Copycats have stolen a technology that his grandfather created more than 80 years ago - and he constantly strives to stay one step ahead of their grasp.

Like that client, we (our design team members, really) constantly forge onwards-innovating at every turn. Collecting ideas from an array of inspirational avenues, they work feverishly to stay at the edge of display marketing and trade show exhibit designs. With an assortment of new developments rolling-out into custom designs for this FY09Q2, I’m constantly amazed with how they adapt and evolve to fit our client’s needs.

I often ask clients (or potential clients), “why do you exhibit at this trade show?” You’d be surprised how many respond with, “because if we’re not there, people will wonder why.”

Why spend several - if not hundreds of several - thousand dollars on an obligatory trade show with little hope for profit? Particularly in this fragile economic climate, try to exhibit only at trade shows that meet your marketing objectives and present a clear means of returning on your invesment. Focus your efforts on trade shows which cater to:

• Your targeted audience
• Decison-makers (managers & directors, not their assistants)
• Vertical markets (specific products or services)

…are held in:

• Substantial venues (ie. OCCC, McCormick Place, LVCC)

…and allow for:

Customized rental exhibits

Some smaller shows, usually commencing in hotels, on fair grounds, etc., only allow exhibitors to utilize pop up exhibits: it’s hard to stand out when everyone is advertising on a black, 8ft. backdrop.

Try to secure an island or peninsula configuration. You’ll pay more upfront but these allow for higher identification, visibility from several aisles and clear division of space (conferencing, demonstrations, reception, etc.).

Rent an exhibit design that makes the most of your space and marketing objectives. Steer clear of “pulled from a shelf” designs or those created using modular components. Go for something clean, innovative and seamlessly functional.

You’re expecting an excruciating analysis of why you should rent or buy your next custom exhibit booth, aren’t you?

Well, you’re not going to find it in this trade show blog post.

In fact, I constantly hear from exhibitors who tell me they want to rent or buy an exhibit, and it needs to do X, Y, and Z. I’m willing to sell them, or rent them, an exhibit that meets those needs. No problem, you’re the boss, I might say. But like Columbo walking away from a pleasant discussion with a suspect, I might just remember one more question…

Have you ever thought about doing both? Rental AND Purchase?

We call it “Hybrid,” which combines the two options. It’s quite frequently the absolute best choice for exhibitors who want some custom components, and who plan to do a similar display at subsequent shows. These folks are keenly aware that doing the same booth at every tradeshow just doesn’t make much marketing sense.

Purchase decisions are often driven by the mythology that one can only get an exceptional custom booth by purchasing. Still others buy their exhibit because they seem to apply home or car ownership v. leasing arguments to the trade show world. Who knew that the marketing department would submit to an argument rooted in a static product message and costly “cost of ownership” costs. Sound costly?

So open your eyes to hybrid. If the concept is new to you, then maybe it ought to become more familiar. Just renting or purchasing could be a mistake!

If you’re anything like me, you find the recent rumblings about executive bonuses, Gulfstream jets, and lavish corporate retreats quite unsettling. In fact, I sometimes find myself getting worked into a “torches and pitchforks” proletariat lather. But then I start to think…

While I can’t really comment upon executive bonuses, I would like to opine about corporate travel, and some of the corporate perks we’re so resentful of.

Companies have begun to restrict the travel of their executives and are curtailing corporate training, seminars, and expos (read: Trade Shows) that might be perceived as excessive or indulgent. As such, the travel and tourism industry’s woes have been doubled in the already recessionary business environment.

What is wrong with ensuring a face-to-face meeting with an important client - even if it will entail a significant investment? Or viewing a trade show exhibit display prior to purchasing a product costing hundreds of thousands? What is wrong with investing in the expertise of your workforce by sending valued employees to seminars, symposiums, or corporate training, even if it’s 1,000 miles away? While most of these employees long ago lost their zeal for traveling on business, their trips cost significant corporate dollars. Those costs are paid to hard working individuals in the tourism and travel industry - everyday these people vye for opportunities to make those trips as comfortable and productive as possible for their customers. The interdependence of trade shows, travel, and tourism industries is great. There are a myriad of talents required for a single custom exhibition booth -from it’s design, to its construction, to its installation on the convention hall floor (and all of the tasks in-between). This represents an underrecognized, and underappreciated engine of employment.

Is there anything wrong with that? Are the torches and pitchforks really needed? Unless we wish to chastize the hard working service providers in these industries, we ought to support corporate travel, perks, and even a healthy dose of “excess!”

Trade shows have been around since people ate mutton stew and married their daughters off at age 13. Then, they were called impedimenta carnivals…the first ever was held in 1752 in Boston, Massachussetts.

Just kidding.

The trade show is a practice that has prevailed around the globe throughout history. In fact, this fundamental cog in a well-oiled marketing machine traces its roots back to medieval European fairs and ancient Middle Eastern bazaars: folks touted their wares, negotiating and bartering until an agreement was reached. As commercials were a thing of the future, this was likely the only way vendors could effectively market to the masses. 

Needless to say, trade shows have evolved by leaps & bounds. More than 2500 trade shows are held in the United States each year - ranging from the macabre (Funeral Directors Show, Miniature Dollhouse Show) to the spectacular (Consumer Electronics Show, International Robots & Vision) and catering to businesses, not-for-profits and consumers alike.

The Health Information Management Systems Society annual conference and expo comes rolling into Chicago this week. What does that mean around here? A healthy dose of hecticness, a lot of talk about when so-and-so is flying in, and a touch of minor problem solving around those issues that occasionally pop-up during install of our clients’ booths. In all actuality, though, it’s pretty calm compared with last week’s commotion!

One of the challenges to creating rental exhibits that are custom-designed is that every exhibition displayis essentially a brand new product. Oh, sure, the “building blocks” utilized don’t change (inner-space extruded aluminum beam structure, plexiglas and laminate panels of varying sizes and shapes, etc.), but I can scarcely remember when we’ve “cloned” an exhibit design from one client to another.

Add in the element of new graphic panels, and it becomes highly important to pre-build every exhibit in advance of each tradeshow. When thorny, unforeseen problems emerge, we can tackle them in-house, before the union-clock of the I&D contractor begins (and keeps going, and going, and going…).

So HIMSS’s arrival to town is actually a relief for many of us. Busy, sure, but it’s more-so about finally “showing off” a finished product to an excited client, and coordinating some deserved hospitality for jet-lagged and exhausted folks who we’ve built enduring relationships with.