Illuminated Shades with your branding and message offer a soft and subtle eye catching element to any trade show exhibit booth.  With a variety of shapes and size, up to 48′ tall, you can incorporate the Graphic Tube Lighting into Kiosks, Island Exhibits and Inline Exhibits.

With an attractive custom look, you will draw attention to your products and your trade show exhibit booth, customize the shades with quality graphics or with standard colors.

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Keeping Them Coming Back Is the Name of the Attendee Game

Show managers are trying new tricks to keep attendees coming to their shows.

As part of the Society of Independent Show Organizers’ Travel Costs Survey, show managers listed different steps they are taking to combat the high cost of travel, including increased marketing to international attendees, discounts to exhibitors to continue their participation, emphasizing the value of regional shows and some travel incentives for early registration.

With the price of a tank of gas rising year over year for most of the past decade, Jo Ann Macek said she recognized two years ago that her show, the Specialty Advertising Assn. of California Show, which will be held Aug. 6-7 at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention Center, needed to offer an incentive to out-of-state attendees who might be scared off by California’s notoriously high gas prices.

“It was all preemptive,” she added. “We were just being proactive.”

It was such a good idea, she even added a few twists.

Those attendees whose zip codes indicate they live somewhere besides Southern California receive an e-mail telling them a $50 gas gift card is waiting for them when they get to the show, Macek said. All attendees have to do is take a printout of the e-mail to the event and show their driver’s license.

“We don’t do anything more than that,” she added.

However, she also was worried that those who live closer, in the Los Angeles or San Diego areas, might decide to attend the show just one day instead of two to conserve gas. Those attendees are asked to fill out a card on the first day with their name, company and e-mail address.

“You bring that card back on day two, and you get your $50 gift card,” Macek said. The local attendees also receive free parking the second day.

While Macek admitted, “A $50 gas card is not the tank of gas it was last year,” she said she’s hopeful that it will keep the show’s attendance numbers steady.

So far, according to the pre-registration rate for this year’s show, it’s working.

“Our registration numbers so far are corresponding to the same period last year,” Macek said.

Macek isn’t the only show manager with the idea of giving away gift cards for gasoline.

The Columbus Jewelry Show, scheduled Aug. 23-24 at the Greater Columbus (Ohio) Convention Center, gives away a $25 gift card to every retail store attending the show, said Adriana Sfalcin, executive director of the Ohio Jewelers Assn., which owns the show.

She said the show draws retail attendees from as far away as Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and upstate New York, which means a lot of them are traveling quite a few miles to get there.

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Trade shows have shown strong growth since 2002. The trade show and event industry has enjoyed positive growth, driven by strong corporate profits, convention center expansion, low airfares, healthy corporate travel budgets, the need for training and education, historically low interest rates, and the continued embrace of event marketing to reach buyers (Tradeshow Week Executive Outlook 2007).

However, 2007 ended with relatively flat growth (+1.6%), and 2008 has become a year of uncertainty and questioning of what will happen next.

Exhibiting Facing Current Uncertainty

Many of us in the exhibiting industry are faced with no growth budgets, but, even worse, marketing & Tradeshow Budgets have been either cut or reduced in order to protect the corporate bottom line or for other seemingly more effective marketing communications. marketing managers and owners are concerned with the economic impact of the fall presidential election: Will a change in administration mean a change in the business climate? But, the biggest issue for us as exhibit professionals is what to say or do when your management says, Lets get out of trade shows or Lets reduce our budgets or Lets reduce our participation in trade events.

The Enduring Value of Trade Shows

Your reply is and should be that trade shows are alive and well and we need to continue our participation. Although the growth statistics are falling off, trade shows and events still fill a need. Exhibitors want the medium, and quality attendees are coming to the shows. The total number of attendees may be declining, but high quality audiences are still available to exhibitors. Trade shows and events are the only way you can get face-to-face with prospects and customers other than a direct sales call. You can accomplish more in a day visiting with show attendees than you can in a month of calls in the field.

Exhibiting Works!

It works because of the value of being able to meet face-to-face. It provides us an opportunity to accelerate the selling cycle by matching attendee needs with your ability to fill their needs. It works because adults are visual learners and exhibiting is a visual medium. The exhibit, your products, the graphics, collateral materials and promotional products are visual. Lastly, buyers are experiential. You can provide them an experience through the dynamics of the exhibiting process interactive visual aids, challenges, and hands-on demonstrations.

Below are 16 tactics that will drive a successful exhibiting strategy. Each tactical element is discussed in detail in the Successful Exhibiting Strategies in Uncertain Times White Paper along with suggestions on how to make it work in your world.

• Don’t Stop Going to Shows, Go Smarter
• Make Trade Shows a Part of Your Integrated Marketing Communications Plan
• Exhibit for the Right Reasons
• Proactively Evaluate the Shows in Which You Participate
• Evaluate the Space You Occupy Versus Your Objectives
• Focus on the Objective: Reducing Your Cost of Ownership
• Invest in Graphics
• Its the Quality of the Audience, Not the Quantity
• Focus on Your Targeted Audience
• Don’t Rely on Traditional Selling Techniques
• Invest in a Motivated Staff
• Recruit Management as Part of Your Exhibiting Team
• Exhibiting is Not Just Collecting Names or Swiping Badges
• Create a Follow-up TEAM
• What is Your Measure of Success? Measure the Results
• Plan to Work the Show Every Moment the Show is Open
• Think Bigger Think Beyond the Trade Show Floor

How to survive this cyclical downturn is not to avoid exhibiting altogether, but instead to exhibit smarter. Smarter exhibiting includes using integrated marketing communications, choosing to exhibit at shows that meet important, measurable objectives and picking exhibits and spaces that are sized right for your opportunities. You will see greater results when you target high-quality audiences, bring a motivated staff, gain top-level involvement, follow up on your leads, measure your results, and work the trade show beyond the trade show floor.

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Renting a variety of the Fabric Exhibit Structures II gives you several options for each and every part of your exhibit package, conference rooms, walls or hanging structures.

These structures pack flat and in sections saving you money on your shipping and drayage costs, yet giving you exposure from one end of the exhibit hall to the other.

With a line up of exhibit accessories, you can enhance and integrate with other Skyline Systems.

• Universal Connection System
• Cable Mounted Graphics
• Stylish Product Shelving
• Literature Racks & Holders
• Stabilizing Feet
• Protective Nylon Case

Stand apart from the rest of the exhibitors and draw attention to your booth with a Fabric Structure II

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The Ceramic Metal Halide - CMH lighting fixture designed exclusively for Skyline the CMH 70w light is almost twice as bright as your standard halogen 200w bulbs.

Requiring only 1/5 of the power that a halogen bulb does and containing no mercury as the compact fluorescent bulbs, these fixtures and bulbs are environmentally friendly.

Fully approved in all of Las Vegas trade show venue’s, unlike the halogen bulb. Why risk using halogens bulbs at other venue’s such as McCormick Place in Chicago when you can use a single CMH Skyline fixture that will light a 10 foot display, giving you a great cost savings and ease of use.

• Easily attached to the Skyline Slotted Tube & Tube Ultra Modular Systems
• Save Hundreds on Show Electric
• Touch-Safe Bulb Installation

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7 Time-Saving Ideas

We get started with two contributions that revolve around the notion of reducing the time and confusion around setting up the exhibit. The first one deals with communication between setup groups.

Many times one person or group packs for the show, while another person or group is on-site. Prepare a content listing for each crate/case. Give one copy to those on-site, and tuck another copy just inside the crate/case. This helps if the on-site staff is searching for one particular item.

– Christine Stamm, Wisconsin Department of Commerce

The second idea concerns those times when you are doing most of the work by yourself. (more…)

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Not all audiences at Trade Shows & Conventions are the same, we have a solution to help showcase your marketing message across several platforms.

The Shapes Collection - A unique banner stand

Whether you are using The Shapes Collection alone or to enhance your current exhibit booth, this unique banner stand will give you visual impact and more dimensional depth.

The unique pop up banner stand can bring a focal point to an existing exhibit or be used for a retail display or trade fair.  The Dual Layered banner stand graphics can be easily changed for your exhibiting needs, and the front graphic panel can be cut in a variety of shapes.

With a quick and easy set up and the soft-sided case, this banner stand provides you with a unique display that is easily transported and weighs only 15 pounds.

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The web represents a wealth of information for finding events and a number of sites provide extensive trade show databases with targeted search capability. These web-based resources offer industry events calendars, trade show listings, and directories that can be searched alphabetically or based on industry category, state, city, country, or by months and years. The following sites provide event locater tools for sourcing shows, trade fairs and other related events for exhibitors:

• TradeShowWeek.com
• TSNN.com
• EventsEye.com
• ExpoCentral.com
• JupiterEvents.com
• ExpoFairs.com
• GlobalSources.com
• AllConferences.com
• ExpoDatabase.com
• MyTradeFairs.com
• Tradeshow.alibaba.com
• TradeShowPlaza.com
• BizTradeShows.com
• TheTradeshowCalendar.com

Find Trade Shows Online

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1.  Do:             

Research a show carefully before you decide to exhibit.  Does this show attract a large number of people from your target audience? Tradeshow participation takes a lot of time, energy and resources.  You don’t want to spend them on folks who are unlikely ever to do business with you.

2.  Don’t:

Be afraid to ask questions.  Show organizers have all kinds of information that new exhibitors would benefit from knowing.  Ask about attendee demographics, exhibitor’s requirements, and what assistance you can expect from the show’s staff.

3.  Do:

Start planning early.  Regular tradeshow exhibitors routinely start planning their appearances twelve to eighteen months in advance.

4.  Don’t:         

Pass up the chance to visit other industry events before you exhibit for the first time.  Make note of what exhibitors worked for you and what turned you off.  What did you find to be effective?  Can you incorporate those items into your own exhibit?

5.  Do:

Make a list of goals and objectives for the show.  This list should be very specific.  Do you want to generate $X in new sales, start a certain number of new business relationships, or spread the word about a new service offering you’re introducing to the market?

6.  Don’t: 

Get sidetracked by what everyone else is doing - or by what people tell you you ‘have’ to do at a tradeshow.  You’re at the show to reinforce your expert identity and achieve your goals and objectives.  Anything else is off-target.

7.  Do:

Be open to creative and new ways of presenting your services. Tradeshow attendees see hundreds of exhibits in the course of one day.  You need to be unique and engaging for your display to be memorable.

8.  Don’t:         

Be afraid to be enthusiastic about your services.  If you’re genuinely jazzed up about what you do, attendees will sense that.  Enthusiasm is contagious — and more importantly, it sells!

9.  Do:

Learn the 80/20 rule and take it to heart.  The best exhibitors are those who listen 80% of the time and talk 20%.  Focusing on attendees’ wants and needs is a surefire route to success.

10. Don’t:

“Throw Up” on attendees.  This very common practice occurs when nervous exhibitors can’t stop talking, and keep up a constant barrage of facts, figures, and sales spiel.  Attendees are quickly turned off by this, and your chance to form a profitable new business relationship walks away.

11. Do:

Remember you’re on display.  What you’re selling at a tradeshow is, primarily, first impressions. Be professional, well-dressed, and mannerly at all times.  You never know who’s watching.

12. Don’t:

Eat, drink, or chat on your cell phone on the show floor. When you need refreshment or a break, leave your exhibit booth.  Remember, the eyes of the public are on you at all times, so you’ll want to conduct yourself well.

13. Do:

Be realistic.  Tradeshows are long events.  You’re on the floor for anywhere from ten to twelve hours at a go, often several days in a row.  This is a lot for any one person to do on their own, and most Nichepreneuers are solo operations.  Ask for help.  Recruit friends to work the show with you.  If nothing else, they can spell you while you grab a quick bite to eat.

14. Don’t:

Forget!  If you have friends help you at the tradeshow, it behooves you to provide them with some training.  Make sure they understand what your services are, how you’re different from your peers, and what the marketing message is.  Also, have a plan in place to cover what they should do when they run into a question they don’t know the answer to.

15. Do:

Ask qualifying questions.  You want to know who you’re talking to, who they work for, and in what capacity.  This will help you determine if the attendee is a prospective customer or not.

16. Don’t:         

Be afraid to encourage people to move along if they’re not interested in your services.  Some of the people who attend tradeshows are ‘tire-kickers’ — they like to discuss everything, but buy nothing.  You don’t want to waste your time with them.

17. Do:

Take notes.  Take time before the show to create a lead-card system, in which you’ll record pertinent information to facilitate post-show follow-up. 

18. Don’t:

Depend on your memory — no matter how good you are, a few words scrawled on the back of a business card won’t be enough after the show’s over and you’ve met with literally hundreds of people.

19. Do:

Be polite and nice to everyone.  The junior executive today can be a senior executive tomorrow.

20. Don’t:

Forget to read the Exhibitor’s Service manual.  This is the thick packet of materials you received when you registered for the show.  Inside, you’ll find everything you need to know about exhibiting at that particular show — and discover important deadlines for ordering services.  Don’t miss those deadlines or you’ll pay more for everything!

21. Do: 

Reach out to the media.  Have a press kit available in the media room. Be open to interviews — reporters and freelancers often walk the floor looking for stories. If you have something truly newsworthy to announce, schedule a press conference at the show.

22. Don’t:

Forget to advertise your tradeshow participation.  Make sure your target audience knows they can see you at the show, where you’ll be, and what they can expect when they visit you.

23. Do:                           

Follow Up!  The most important part of any tradeshow takes place after you leave the building.  You see that big pile of leads you’ve gathered? Send them all thank you notes for coming to see you — and follow up with them the most promising prospects quickly.  You’ll be glad you did.

24. Don’t:

Hesitate to include hands-on, interactive demonstrations into your exhibit whenever possible.  People love to participate.  They love to try new things.  Most of all, they love to have fun.  If you can integrate fun into your exhibit, you’ll have more attendees than you know what to do with.

25. Do:                           

Use giveaway items that enhance your expert identity.  You want items that your attendees will use regularly and reinforce their impression of you as the expert.

26. Don’t:

Get caught up in trendy giveaway items pushed by promotional salespeople.  You want to stand out from the crowd, not merge with it.

27.  Do:

Give your tradeshow participation a fair chance to work.  Results may not be immediate.  Rome wasn’t built in a day.  But the business relationships you start at tradeshows today can steadily blossom into profitable partnerships tomorrow.

Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and tradeshow training.  For a free copy of  “10 Common Mistakes Exhibitors Make”, e-mail: article4@thetradeshowcoach.com; website: www.thetradeshowcoach.com

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Nine reasons for renting a trade show display instead of purchasing one.

1.Rental Exhibits provides the flexibility to bend with the prevailing marketing winds without abandoning long-term goals.

2. Trade show rentals allow exhibitors to change their look from show to show or to reinvestment their brands as their product focus shifts.

3. Good rental display inventory help maintain a cutting-edge appearance in the short term without making huge capital investments that could haunt a company down the road.

4. A trade show rental display costs 25-35 percent of a similar built-to-own booth. Graphics cost about 20 to 40 percent of a typical rental price. Since clients usually buy and reuse graphics, those renting for multiple shows can often cut those costs considerably. Given those figures, three or four rental exhibits cost roughly the same as buying a comparable exhibit.

5. Rentals allow exhibitors to be a little braver. You can take a risk and do something different.

6. Combination rental displays and custom options provide flexibility. More and more people are seeing rental as a cost-effective way to enhance a booth property they already have.

7. As companies attend more shows, it’s almost inevitable that two shows will run back-to-back or at the same time. It doesn’t make sense to buy a new exhibit.

8. A company may attend numerous shows with its own booth but once a year wants to do something dramatic at the industry’s premier event.

9. Exhibit rentals can open the door to new exhibitors. The prospect of buying a booth can discourage first time exhibitors. A rental can help make their first outing both affordable and productive.

Tradetec Skyline

Chicago’s Best Exhibit Rental Source

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