Displays+Banners

The Weighting Game

2008-05-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

It seems everyone is concerned about their weight these days. Diets, exercise gurus, pills, potions, you name it! Well one place you can lose weight is your trade show booth. Now, this weight loss won't make you any more attractive, except of course to your boss who will love you for saving those precious shipping dollars.

Here's just a few tips of cutting the fat:

1) Ship only the graphics you need. Get a large lamp box from a local moving company and store your unused graphics at your office instead of shipping them show to show just to keep them protected in your graphics case.

2) Invest in new exhibit properties. Many new pop-up units and retractable stands are made with lighter weight materials than in the past. Just be certain to buy quality hardware. There are a lot of light units that are poorly made, and in the end, they will cost more to replace than the save in shipping.

3) Use smaller graphic units to form one large graphic instead of one huge panel. Longer units may be subject to dimensional weight standards instead of actual weight. Check with your shipping company before assuming cost based on weight. Dimensional weight can be quite expensive.

4) Take less literature. Investigate the anticipated traffic at the show and assume you will only provide a small percentage, say 10%, with literature. Brochures and flyers are quite heavy to ship. Besides, if you run out it gives you another reason to make contact with an interested visitor.

5) Rent from the show. Although the thought of spending money on something you will never own makes my skin crawl, shipping on chairs, tables, projectors and video screens can be very costly. Besides, if something happens to rented equipment on the show floor, it's not your insurance premium that goes up!

That's just a few tips to save shipping costs. Keep checking back to learn more tips on improving your trade show experiences.

Litter-ature

2007-07-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Coming from a company that designs and produces brochures and literature, this may seem a bit counter productive for us. But for you, the trade show exhibitor, it's good advice that can save you real dollars throughout the course of your trade show season.

You see a lot of exhibitors at shows with the misconception that they should put all their literature on the table for people to take at will. And they will have every catalog, every sales sheet on every product, business cards, you name it, within reach of the patron. A much better approach is to have one or two simple, inexpensive pieces out for the taking. A simple line card or a sheet introducing the company. By engaging the patron, asking questions and determining their interest level, YOU can decide who gets to take your catalog which may cost your company several dollars each to produce. And don't spread them out all over your table. Keep them organized in a literature holder. This makes it easier for you to patrol and keeps your booth space looking neat and organized.

The same holds true for your promotional items, which we will discuss later in this forum. Leave a few on the table. Guard them to some extent. Make someone engage you to get them. It should be worth a couple minutes of their time to score one of those fancy blinking pens with 7 colors of ink that your giving away, don't you think?

Sadly, most literature from trade shows becomes litter (hence the title of this entry). Don't believe me, walk around the immediate area surrounding your booth. See a few flyers on the floor? A couple of your sell sheets laying on the table in the next booth? Your beautiful catalog resting on top of a half eaten hot pretzel in the trash can at the end of the isle? Frankly, I believe most attendees collect literature to prove that they actually went to the show rather than sitting at the hotel bar all day. So be selective. You'll save money on your literature and you'll likely know that those who left with some are at least moderately interested in your company.

Welcome the Displays+Banners Blog

2007-07-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Whether you are an exhibitor, a trade show attendee, or the marketing person in your company, we hope to consistently provide great tips, techniques and advice for getting the most out of your trade show and conference experiences. From choosing a great booth space to the appearance of your staff, choosing promotional items to providing literature and take-aways that work, we hope you will visit often and share this resource with your colleagues and friends.