Marshall Yard:

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…..

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: 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. 

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

The SEMA Trade Show is hitting Las Vegas October 30th, 2007 - November 2nd, 2007! The event will be taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the showcase of exhibitors spans over two million square feet.    Las Vegas alone has over 9.5 million square feet of meeting and exhibit space city wide.

SEMA 2006 drew in over 50,000 Domestic and International buyers. 

The demand for performance automotive products has taken on an entire new attitude since the Fast & Furious craze began.  Performance products will not be alone on the trade show floor, among exhibitors are automotive accessories, restoration products and motorsports.  The exhibitors this year will fall into eleven different categories.

Finding educational programs to further enhance your automotive needs will also be part of the SEMA Show, with demonstrations and seminars for any enthusiast, as well as many other opportunities for networking with automotive industrial leaders.

“How to Win & Keep Customers” is among one of the events that will be taking place at the beginning of the show.   Learning to communicate with your potential customers is part of exhibit etiquette and boothmanship.  When you decide exhibiting is the market strategy that is best suited for you;  an exhibit house that helps you portray your company and helps the launch of new products in a dazzling and creative way, will allow you to focus more on the potential client.

Catalyst Exhibits, Inc. - Our core business is divided into two interrelated segments - custom rental solutions and what we refer to as a “program.”  This distinction however is purely internal to our exhibit house, we work with all clients in the same way. 

We aren’t simply looking for more clients; we are looking for clients with whom we can build relationships that foster mutual trade show success.  If you are simply shopping for the cheapest frieght options, we may not be the best choice.  If you are looking for a partner to help you grow your business, we are a better fit.

Our mission is to conceive, create, deliver and manage experiences on and around the exhibit space and the trade show floor, not just within it. 

What does this mean? Depending upon your needs, you might call it an exhibit, an exhibit program, a custom installation in a consumer environment or a VIP experience.  You might need to reach an audience outside of the traditional exhibit venue.  You might want to create an experience elsewhere that drives traffic into the trade show environment.  You might want to get your team fired up. Or you might want to launch a product.

We live where design meets message to most effectively foster success. 

We certainly consider our deliverables solutions to our clients’ challenges-why else would we be in business? Our solutions, though, extend far beyond exhibit design, exhibit engineering, craftmanship and logistics-to experiential trade show marketing, unconventional financial solutions and innovative environments, including custom rentals.  We’d love to learn about your challenges.  By giving us some idea of your marketing strategies and your upcoming trade shows, we can help you develop a plan for success!

Kevin is at it again, the little Mississippi Map Mascot, while researching Orange Groves last week, stumbled upon the Performance Raching Trade Show.  Kevin recruited our “Only One Man” Patrick - our portable exhibit guy into a road trip! The Performance racing Trade Show will be taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida - December 6th-8th, 2008.  Last year, there were over 1400 companies that exhibited and with over 1,000,000 square feet of exhibit space.   Kevin read that the requests for larger aisles at this trade show did not fall on deaf ears. 

Patrick and Kevin decided to hunt down an old tour bus from the 1970’s for their wheels this past week. They thought it best to do a trial run, so that they are sure the bus will make it to Florida through our blustery northern winter weather.   The tour bus is a MCI Coach Bus, well belive me you, Patrick and Kevin stocked it full of the amenities, they made sure the turtle food was in stock and that there was plenty of cold one’s in the portable fridge!

MCI stands for Motor Coach Industries, which is located in Illinois, and was started in 1933.  I asked Patrick if he had any background information on the wheels he borrowed for a friend, and he said he was not sure, but rumor has it that a famous singer from the 1970’s may have used it to travel across the country before they were well known.   I belive it over $350,000 for a brand new MCI Bus these days, so the economical solution for Patrick and Kevin was to borrow this one. Since Kevin may be maxing out someone’s credit card, I don’t think they would take to kindly to that sort of charge.

Being that Kevin was a turtle, he didn’t think he could handle the excitement of a performance racing car and decided on the bus.  He heard through the grapevine that Patrick may end up in a ditch if the power under his foot was too much!

IBIE - International Baking Industry Expo Trade Show will be held in Orlando, Florida this year, Kevin - heard about it and immediately sought out a bakers hat, and decided he needed to do a little research.   He booked his ticket through cheap tickets, we are yet to know, who’s credit card he used, so that he can attended the event. 

The IBIE International Baking Expo will take place October 7 th , 2008, he is excited, he is looking forward to visiting the orange groves down there? It made me, wonder, as well are there any left with all the construction? When he google’d Florida Orange Groves, he found a winery.  Well, I think I know where Kevin will be hanging out, he does tip one back from time to time in the wee-hours of the night. Deb caught him and joined in, and boy..the both of them sure had hangovers the next day.  

Back to the IBIE Trade Show - this is one spicy event.  With over 20,000 in attendance, the amount of exhibit space is really impressive at 1,000,000.  With new technology in the forefront of every profession it is a showcase for the latest and greatest in the baking industry, from baking equipment right down to the ingredients that are used in common recipes.

This event has not been held in Florida in the past, this will be the first time.  The Orange County Convention Center is right in the tourism district, and at the moment of this writing, my own son is down there for a National Youth Gathering, which will house some 30,000 kids from the Lutheran Churches across the Nation. 

There is alot of information pertaining to the Orange County Convention Center procedures if you will be attending a trade show there or if you are going to have an trade show exhibit at the show.  It is twelve miles from the airport, and belive it or not there are events book at the OCCC up until 2028, good god, how old will we all be.

Kevin was insulted when one of his on-lookers suggested he practice up on his cooking, since he looked so adorable in his chef’s hat, they suggested Turtle Soup. Turtle Soup is a delicacy in Louisiana, and it does seem to be somewhat of a process to prepare, and not forgetting it could contain one of Kev’s Cousin’s from neighboring Mississippi  Oh the nerve, I would imagine it came from the design group, if I had to guess.

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!  I have recently been reading about trade show give-aways, and just wanted to mouth off, since my back is killing me and I can’t do much more than sit straight up.  I thought I would get on a soap box about my most favorite chachkie,  chocolate. 

I went to the ISSA Trade Show for Janitorial Supplies down at McCormick Place in Chicago, and forgot, I am not 18 anymore and wore heels. BIG mistake on my part, yet, soothing chocolate seemed to get me through the day or was it the envy of the 18 year olds in the really high heels, I dont know, so give me more chocolate.   After trudging through the aisles of toilet paper, vacuums, floor machines, I had to focus - sending my husband back down the aisles of air freshener and window squeegees, he brought me more chocolate coins.

So, my point,  is when you are in doubt, remember people do love to snack, and sometimes, these trade shows can be a bit on the dull side, bring in the chocolate.  Its a winner and its got sugar!

A great blog to read about Chocolate! Some entertaining facts!

Update: By the way, after I moved on from a previous employer, who brought me to the ISSA Trade show, I couldn’t believe the cost of toilet paper, those were some good samples to have around.

There are actually several companies that offer excellent ideas for trade show giveaways and promotional items!

Catalyst Spring Ball: May 12th, 2007 by: Susie Kleiner
A week before the event I spoke with two Catalyst employee’s and got words of anticipation: “I hope Cassie makes it until midnight.” “Tim will never sit down, he wants everyone to have a great time.” “It’s an event you will never forget.” “Take some aspirin before you go to bed.” “Good food, good booze, good music.” “I feel very lucky to work for Tim & Paul.” I am not sure about Cassie making it until midnight, because I did not, the other statements, I think are pretty accurate.

At the inception of our company newsletter, I sat down with Tim to discuss various topics for the entire year, it was right after the Catalyst Christmas party, and we started talking about teamwork. Innovation, Quality, Efficiency & Growth we have all heard those words. The innovation that goes into this event is spectacular, starting with the band, and the constant sound of familiar music, the Catalyst logo on all the stands, down to the napkins in the washrooms. The quality, I couldn’t find anything that did not fall into this category, from the people, to the food, to the drinks, to the wild dancing crowd. I hear, but am not certain, if any of you are familiar with Dirty Dancing and “THE LIFT” I understand that Elke has that down pat, was that the red bull and vodka? Or do we have our own female Patrick Swayze in house? Efficiency, did any one have to wait long for a drink or for a clean ashtray? Growth, well, I think my waist line grew, from what I understand the entire event has grown leaps and bounds.

Laughter helps people communicate in social situations, and provides and emotional level to conversation. Laughter helps signify individuals as a part of group, it signals acceptance and positive interactions.

I have read that laughing helps the heart, how, I found studies are not quite sure, but they explain as follows: “Mental stress impairs the endothelium, which is the protective barrier lining a person’s blood vessels. Once the endothelium is impaired, it can cause a series of inflammatory reactions that lead to cholesterol build up in a person’s coronary arteries, which can ultimately cause a heart attack.” Psychologist Steve Sultanoff, Ph. D., who is the president of the American Association for Therapeutic Humor, gave this explanation: “With deep, heartfelt laughter, it appears that serum cortisol, which is a hormone that is secreted when we’re under stress, is decreased. So when you’re having a stress reaction, if you laugh, apparently the cortisol that has been released during the stress reaction is reduced.

Not only is the Catalyst Spring Ball time to show our clients our appreciation, it allows our clients to see us as a whole and get an understanding how we work together, not only in the office, but to see the camaraderie we have with one another on a personal level. It also allows our Catalyst team time to mingle with each other, giving them a chance to get to know fellow employees that they may not have day to day dealings with.Appreciation of employees and thanking them for things that are done right & done well. This is the first time I have attended a Catalyst Spring Ball, standing back and watching Tim & Paul, knowing the names and faces of all the employees, and having genuine concern that everyone was enjoying themselves. Catalyst is a place where you don’t spend 5 days a week just waiting for the weekend.

Some of the comments from attendees:

“Dan and I had an absolute blast!! Thank you so much for the invitation — I really needed a mini break. Dan is still talking about you (once he emerged from his coma Sunday morning). We both slept like logs on the plane!” Stacy Hollowell—Siemens 1

“Thank you again, for a wonderful party and your generous hospitality.  Dave and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and were privileged to share a table with Richard from Catalyst and his wife Martha.  Both were very fun and it was nice to meet another member of the Catalyst team.  Everything was spectacular - the food, the band, the venue - all perfect as usual.  We look forward to this event every year we can’t wait until next year!  The Union League Club renovation was fantastic - what a great bed!!!  I didn’t want to leave :).” Kris Reid—Stiles Machinery

A final closing remark from a Catalyst employee: “I did not know they were Paul’s sisters.”