Marshall Yard:

Sorry for the awkward humor, but I’m heading to the second game of the White Sox’ double header today (weather permitting). The main pitch [sorry] of today’s trade show blog post hits at the three distinct business models present in our industry. First, there are design agencies, who design home run exhibits, and must broker out the manufacturing of the exhibit to various other vendors. Next, there are exhibit companies, who also create championship booth designs, but who possess the internal capabilities to create the displays that have been rendered for clients. Lastly, there are companies who are neither of the above: They contract with design firms - who then design exhibits for the exhibit company’s clientelle, later to be built by the exhibit firm. What are the advantages or disadvantages of these three business models?

Let’s consider the cost of designing: The agency will likely bill the exhibitor for design time. The exhibit company with in-house designers will [sometimes] consider design part of the exhibit overhead. Buried in the price of your exhibit is the time spent on your custom design, but based on a very rough estimate of how many hours any project of a certain scope would take to create. Other companies with in-house capabilities will still charge hourly for design time, so this second group is actually varied with how they handle design time. The third group - who contract their designs through a third party vendor - is similarly varied. Some may handle the design cost in the price of the exhibit - likely marked up to account for the risk therein. Others may charge up-front for design. When it comes to how designing is charged to exhibitors, it would be a smart idea to get clarification of this detail up front (like on the FIRST conversation with an exhibitor). In some occasions I would even try to get this information in writing. With a sour trade show economy, there are floundering firms whose behavior leaves something to be desired. What do you think the best business model is for your needs? Up front design charges, overhead treatment of designing, or direct billing, after the fact? More importantly, how do these business models affect execution or implementation of your exhibit design to a working, walking, talking exhibit booth?

Ok, so your exhibit doesn’t walk or talk - hopefully that’s OK, but how do these three models affect how your exhibition comes alive on the date of your trade show opening? The design firm, our first option, has the least level of accountability or connection to production means. A recent example involves a firm that designed for a Fortune 500 client of ours.

A design company, who was brought into the fold by a new employee involved in the trade show & events team staff. When a bigger-than-life exhibit was dreamt up by the design company, all hell broke loose: some in the team liked the design, and wanted us to build to their specs. When they realized that the design included 80 foot high towers, and nifty technology that was going to cost millions to have union convention hall staff set up (services… aggghhh!!), the mood shifted. Our team showed them what we could design, based on their ideas, and it was something that a. Could actually be built as an exhibit (imagine if they let exhibitors build 80 foot exhibit structures!!!); and b. Could actually fit their budget (already a million-dollar budget - we didn’t push the price upwards of 3 million as the design firm had!). Did the design company introduce new ideas to the mix? Yes. Did the design firm create a really ingenious design? Yes. Did they charge for an exhibit that could not be built, could not be afforded, and did they charge by the hour to do so? You bet they did.

An in-house exhibit design team has the greatest accountability to a prospective client. The designers have experience working on projects together with the engineering/detailing team at the exhibit house, and they are able to see how their creations are actually implemented on a daily basis. Furthermore, they are familiar with the pricing structure and construction realities of the exhibit components. Most importantly, perhaps, is the “agency interest” of the exhibit house: If a design is not quite right, the designer’s time is seen as part of getting the sale, and not an oppressive cost to be avoided. Getting responsive revisions to your design is quite feasible, and often done without hesitation. This contrasts with contracted, third party design department exhibit companies.

The last option - wherein an exhibit house contracts with a third party design vendor - has some tricky implications. The risks associated with a design agency, namely unbuildable booths with “cost irrelevance,” are somewhat improved upon, though they still exist. Hopefully an exhibit company has a strong enough relationship with a design firm that the designers are familiar with the construction capabilities of the exhibit house (though they can’t be hoped to have the same familiarity of in-house designers). Further, the exhibit company is ultimately responsible for pricing such designs when selling them! The trickiness comes into play when it comes to design revisions, and overall “care” when it comes to the design process. Since design is a hefty item on the exhibit house’s expense report, they will CRINGE whenever they develop expectations for how long a prospective client’s design will take to create. Design time is actually an item of negotiation at every step of the process with these firms. The loser is the exhibitor, as their design has corners cut at every step of the way.

These are all straightforward, but essential aspects of the exhibit production process - and they probably deserve attention from exhibitors dealing with a new trade show booth vendor. Anyone have any comments that would be valuable to the discussion? We’d love to hear them - let us know what you think!

Tags: booth fabrication, exhibit construction, exhibit design, exhibit pricing, exhibit sense, exhibit structure, trade show blog, trade show exhibit coordinator, trade show services, union labor

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 8:24 am and is filed under Booths, Exhibit Booth, Exhibit Display, Exhibits, Marketing, Service, Trade Show Display, Tradeshow, exhibit, exhibit design, exhibit designer, exhibit house, trade show strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.