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100101001010100101010100101101011001010101000101099 Cost-Saving Tips and Tricks for Exhibit Managers 1

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS SERIES

99 Cost-Saving Tips and Tricks for Exhibit ManagersBy Candy Adams, CTSM, CEM, CMP, CMM

$24 MARCH 2016

299 Cost-Saving Tips and Tricks for Exhibit Managers

Watching Your Exhibit Program’s Bottom Line

Regardless of the state of the economy, exhibitor spending at business-to-business exhibitions (trade shows) is under continued scrutiny to produce positive results. Regardless of whether you are measuring return on investment (ROI, the amount of revenue gained based on sales-related activity for the financial investment), return on objective (ROO, the amount of benefit gained from meeting a trade show’s marketing objectives) or return on relationship (ROR, the value, both perceived and real, that is accrued by a person or brand due to nurturing a relationship that will accrue over time through loyalty, recommendations and sharing), exhibitors’ budgets are being constantly evaluated to make sure results are commensurate with spending.

According to the 2014 CEIR report How the Exhibit Dollar is Spent, there are 11 categories1 of spending for each exhibit dollar with the rental of booth space taking the lion’s share of budget, 39 percent. Surveyed exhibitors in this report noted spending increased in 2014 for exhibit space, exhibit design, shipping, show services and exhibit staff travel.

So how are exhibitors dealing with the increased costs of exhibiting? Savvy exhibitors look at their marketing programs’ overall value strategically before tackling cost-cutting on the tactical side.

Strategic exhibit spending is spending only what matters to reach your goals. This means looking at your company’s marketing strategy holistically and making each dollar count.

Top 10 Tips on Effective Strategic Spending

1. Choose your trade shows carefully. Assure events you participate in deliver your target market. Do your homework on which trade shows your current clients attend, poll your sales force for their recommendations, work with show management to understand their event’s attendee demographics and psychographics, and check out the events section of your competitors’ websites to see which trade shows they are participating in.

Compare the cost and benefit of participating in big, expensive horizontal industry trade shows vs. smaller, less expensive vertical or niche trade shows. Consider the disparity in the overall costs of exhibiting and your results from exhibiting at a trade show with 50,000 attendees where only 5,000 are your target market and a trade show of 5,000 where 2,500 are your target market. Know what you are spending, per person, to reach your target market.

2. Set your spending priorities based on why you are exhibiting. Priorities may be different for each trade show, depending on the target market you are focusing on at that particular event, so budget allocations should vary with priorities. Only spend discretionary dollars on things that help you reach your goals and objectives.

Whenever you are making a show-related expenditure, think of how it affects meeting the goals of your exhibit program. Small expenditures add up, but do not be “penny-wise and pound-foolish”.

3. Question EVERY expenditure. Only spend your discretionary budget dollars on things that help you to achieve your exhibiting goals and objectives.

Determine if the expenditure is an expense or investment. We all have to pay show bills that do nothing to improve our return on investment or return on objective, like material handling. But are you cutting in the wrong place and cutting your investment dollars that will pay off, like in exhibit staff training, enhanced attendee promotion or improved lead-follow-up?

4. Determine what is important to measure to claim success. Not all exhibitors need extensive, detailed statistical analysis to decide if they are participating in the right trade shows to achieve the results they want.

Determine what performance you need to track, and get management buy-in on your measurement criteria. Then measure outcomes, compare your results and make decisions proactively on future participation.

1The 11 expense categories include: exhibit space; travel and entertainment; show services; exhibit design, including graphics; shipping/transport of exhibit materials; on-site promotional materials; off show floor promotional expenses; on-site sponsorship/advertising; pre-show promotions; lead management and measurement; exhibit staff training.


5. Evaluate value first, cost second. Based on your exhibiting goals and objectives, determine what spending gives you the best return. One of my favorite quotes, “I knew a man once who knew the cost of everything, but the value of nothing” says it best. Costs do not matter if you cannot equate them to value – and ROI/ROO/ROR.

Think outside the box. Get creative and ask yourself about each budget line item: “How could I do this differently at a lower cost but higher value?”

6. Only make invisible budget cuts. Never cut your exhibit budget where a customer or prospect can see it or it detracts from your company image.

Focus on minimizing the expenses that are invisible to trade show attendees for maximum cost savings.

7. Partner with your vendors to spend smarter. Tap into your vendor partners’ expertise to control your budget without sacrificing quality.

Work with your vendors to form win-win partnerships. Let them know what you need and rely on their expertise to help you meet your objectives. But do not be afraid to change vendors if your current ones are not providing you with the products, expertise or level of service/support you require. Do not be afraid to ask for the discount!

8. D-I-Y. Time is money. When you are buried in work, outsourcing part of your logistics management sounds like a good idea. But understand the mark-ups you are paying for such as “turn-key” trade show services (i.e. exhibit houses ordering services on your behalf), providing supervisory installation and dismantling services (I & D) services or placing your shipping orders. These markups can range from 25-35 percent of the cost of the service they are purchasing on your behalf.

Ask your vendors’ what their turn-key percentage of mark-up is for each of their services. Consider contracting this service on an hourly, rather than percentage, basis to control costs. Know if your vendors are truly negotiating on your behalf and passing through the savings they are achieving through rebates from these vendors or volume discounts to bring you maximum value.

9. The easiest way to increase your return at a trade show is to train your exhibit staff. Make sure your staff understands your company’s objectives in participating in trade shows and that they have bought into their personal role in reaching your exhibiting goals.

Your exhibit staff also needs to be comfortable with in-booth sales techniques (such as having a succinct elevator speech and a set of qualifying questions, performing demonstrations, and recording prospect lead information) and booth etiquette to increase their efficiency in qualifying your visitors. If your staff is both more effective and efficient, you may be able to send fewer staff to the event, saving travel costs.

10. Audit ALL invoices for errors. There will be honest mistakes on your invoices and a few that may be not-so honest. But remember, we all make mistakes. If you do not understand every line item charge on your invoices, ask the vendor for an explanation! You cannot control what you do not understand.


Tips and Tricks to Save on Tactical Exhibit Expenses

I have compiled a checklist of my top tips (and some tricks) to help you save in the various trade show spending categories. See how many of them you already have in place and consider implementing the others to squeeze more out of your budget.

BOOTH SPACE

Skip it. You save most if you do not participate in trade shows that are not giving you a positive return (either on investment, objective, or relationship). And if you are not comparing the value of the trade shows you participate in, you will just keep wasting this money.

Rent only the booth space you need. Rent only the amount of space you need to show products of interest to your target audience and then staff that space accordingly based on your exhibiting goals.

Will anyone even notice? Do not worry about people noticing your reduced booth space size, unless it is a dramatic change. Will an attendee or customer really notice the difference between a 20’ x 20’ vs. a 20’ x 30’? Probably not!

Quality vs. quantity. What you put in your booth space – the effective use of that space to showcase your product or service and the professionalism of your exhibit staff – matters more than the size of your footprint.

$AVING ON EXHIBITS

Exhibit Design Considerations

Consider ALL ongoing costs of ownership. If you are building a new exhibit, it is not just the cost of the exhibit you need to consider. It is the ongoing cost of upkeep, storage, shipping, material handling, installation and dismantle, rigging and staffing. Your capital budget to purchase a new exhibit will pale in comparison to the ongoing direct exhibiting costs over the three- to five-year life of your exhibit.

Lighten up! Put your exhibit properties on a diet and you can save big bucks on shipping and material handling costs. Instead of heavy wood hardwalls, think lightweight panels, aluminum frames and fabric for maximum cost savings.

Portable and modular exhibits make cents (and dollars, too)! Purchase a portable or modular exhibit or a custom system exhibit for maximum cost savings in storage, shipping, material handling, installation and dismantle labor, and flexibility in booth space size.

What services does your exhibit house offer, and at what cost? Understand the plethora of ongoing services that your exhibit house will need to provide to support your exhibit, i.e. inventory maintenance, storage, graphics updates, make-ready set-ups, loading, shipping, refurbishment (repairs), etc. and the associated costs of these services. Most exhibit houses also offer “turn-key” services at an additional 25-35 percent mark-up or project management at an hourly fee.

Used Exhibits

Big savings in used exhibits. Consider buying and refurbishing a used exhibit rather than building new. You can save up to 75 percent, even after modifications. Do an Internet search of “used exhibits” for options; there are a number of industry vendors who can help you find a pre-owned exhibit that still has some life in it!

Exhibit Rentals

Rent vs. buy. If you do not exhibit often, or have varying requirements for booth space size, consider renting entire exhibits or just supplementing your existing exhibit properties with rentals. There are many more options now for multi-use agreements, custom/rental hybrids, and more exhibit houses with large rental inventories. Rentals average one-third of price of purchase plus graphics. CEIR research found one of 10 exhibitors planned to contract to rent in 2015.2

2How the Exhibit Dollar is Spent, CEIR, 2014


EXHIBIT GRAPHICS

Don’t waste money on ineffective graphics. Evaluate your graphics for effectiveness. Do they tell attendees: (1) what is new; (2) what makes your product or service superior or sets it apart from your competition; and (3) the benefits, not just features, of working with you/your product/service? If not, head back to the drawing board. Then look at the color, font and number of words for readability. Limit your content to no more than seven words per graphic or more than seven words per bullet point on a sign.

Plan ahead. The biggest exhibiting budget-buster is from last-minute graphics changes that throw everyone into high gear (design, production, shipping and on-site I & D). Know the cut-off dates for the best value on your graphics production.

Sturdier graphics. If you need sturdy graphics that are less prone to damage, have graphics mounted on Sintra (hard plastic) rather than foam core (paper-backed foam) and have the front laminated for protection against scratches and fingerprints. For added longevity before the corners look worn, have the corners of your graphics rounded.

Do not scrimp on graphics cases. Graphics need good protection when shipping, so invest in protective cases and lots of bubble wrap, foam and corner protectors.

Stock your own graphics supplies. Bring with you Velcro (i.e. Hook and Loop), or have your exhibit house stock your gang (supply) box to avoid purchasing it on-site and paying high mark-ups.

INVENTORY AND STORAGE

Post-show inspection and inventory. Work with your exhibit house to make sure they perform an inventory and repair check when your properties return from a trade show. Even if you did not note any specific damage at the event, damage could have occurred during return shipping, so have your exhibit house do an inbound check of exhibit condition so they can start repairs and avoid last minute refurbishment rush charges before your next trade show.

Negotiate your storage rate. Storage rates are negotiable, so include storage rate discussions in your annual program review with your exhibit house. Keep track of your exhibit property inventory and understand the method of how your storage costs are calculated: square feet, cubic feet, per crate, by piece or by hundredweight (CWT), measured to the middle of the aisle, with dimensions rounded up, etc. Storage costs can vary based on the proximity of the storage facility to a metropolitan area. Ask about the storage facility’s security, insurance coverage, ease of access to the stored materials, climate control, etc.

Check your inventory for accuracy. Audit your storage bills for accuracy when you receive your quarterly or annual invoice to make sure there are not any exhibit properties listed that have been disposed of.

Do not pay to store what you do not need. Have at least an annual clean-out of your exhibit properties, disposing of outdated literature, battered graphics or defunct equipment. Not doing so will increase the cost you are paying to store things you will never use again.


MATERIAL HANDLING

Rates. Material handling rates vary based on the carrier type and the amount of labor and equipment required for unloading and reloading. The type of transportation carrier you are using will affect your material handling (drayage) rates, with specialized carriers (van lines and small package carriers) being more expensive than common carriers. The basic three freight types that affect material handling costs are crated or palletized shipments, blanket-wrapped shipments, and mixed loads of some crated and some blanket-wrapped exhibit materials. You may also be charged additional surcharges if extra time or labor is required to unload, such as unstacking stacked freight or unloading another exhibitor’s freight to get to yours. Work with whomever is packing your freight to maximize savings.

Know your exhibit weights. Know what your various exhibit properties weigh to be able to verify your material handling cost. Most exhibit houses have a scale (even if it is not certified) and can give you the approximate weight of each exhibit crate or pallet before it ships. Make sure that you can identify all the different line items on your material handling invoice and verify that they are correct. You can check all your inbound bills of lading and your certified weight slip at the Official Service Contractor’s service desk a day or so after your freight arrives.

Minimum weights. Material handling minimums add up to big bucks and may even exceed the cost of shipping. Plan to consolidate your shipments to avoid paying multiple minimum 200-300 pound material handling fees. Unless there is one official bill of lading that states a total number of pieces shipped, you could be charged for each individual piece of freight as it is checked in at the dock at the 200-300 pound minimum. Consolidate small shipments so that they will exceed the material handling minimums of 200-300 pounds. Avoid using small package carriers, i.e. UPS, FedEx, Airborne, DHL, etc. that do not consolidate your packages onto one bill of lading; each piece will be handled separately and charged the material handling minimum fee.

Financial penalties add up. You will incur penalties if you miss the freight deadlines. Do not miss either the cut-off date for deliveries to the advance warehouse or the targeted deadlines for direct-to-show-site shipments. Missing either of these can add hefty penalties to your material handling bill. You can also be charged overtime for unloading or loading if your freight is unloaded before 8:00 a.m. or after 4:30 p.m. on weekdays or anytime on weekends; if freight is moved between the advance warehouse and show site on overtime due to scheduled move-in; or if your truck checks in after the time designated in the Exhibitor Services Manual, usually ~3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Schedule wisely. Compare your I & D schedule with your inbound shipping and figure out if you will realistically be able to install your exhibit on straight-time based on the hours between when you anticipate your exhibit properties will arrive at your booth and when you will finish set-up. Exhibit materials shipped to the advance warehouse arrive on the show floor right after the OSC’s (Official Service Contractor) and Show Manager’s freight, but before exhibitor freight shipped direct to show site. You may gain set-up hours by shipping to the advance warehouse which could reduce your overtime labor bill. Another option is requesting a variance to your inbound targeted freight arrival time.

Weight slips. Be sure your freight carrier’s driver has a current, certified weight slip showing the total weight of the truck/trailer/freight and the weight of just the truck/trailer. This certified weight slip is the basis for determining your material handling bill by CWT. Without a current weight slip, your driver may be sent away to get one, and then find himself at the end of the line to unload while you are waiting for your freight to start installation. Some trade shows have portable scales on-site, but do not count on it!

Smaller is cheaper. Shipping cost is calculated on both the weight and size of the shipment and distance to its destination. Having your freight tightly packed in containers or crates stacked in a truck can save you a bundle when calculations are made based on your freight’s dimensions.

Local storage may make sense. Consider shipping directly from trade show to trade show when you have back-to-back exhibitions at the same end of the country. It is more economical to directly ship an extra crate you do not need at one trade show than ship all six crates back and forth to your company or exhibit house cross-country. Check the storage dates when you can store for 30 days at the next trade show’s advance warehouse or check with your carrier on their local storage options. Some exhibitors even have an exhibit house on each coast to avoid unnecessary shipping costs.

What mode of shipment? Determine the lowest level of acceptable service: common carrier (bus), van line (taxi) or air freight (airline). What kind of freight are you shipping and what is your timeframe between shipment and delivery? Pad it by a day to avoid delays caused by weather, mechanical failure or just plain human error.

Use carriers with a dedicated trade show division. Use a carrier with such a division whose drivers understand trade shows and have a stake in getting your shipment to you on time and in good condition. This can eliminate worry about the nuances of our business, i.e. certified weight slips, marshalling yards, wait time and targeted deliveries.

Find out what add-on charges to expect. What extra “accessorial” charges will the carrier surprise you with? Special pick-up or delivery? Equipment? Wait time at your exhibit house or marshalling yard? Fuel or other surcharges? Are there minimum dimensional weight charges? You won’t know until you ask and these can sometimes add another 50 percent to your shipping bill!


D-I-Y GANG BOX SUPPLIES

Bring your own supplies to shows. Supply your own Visqueen, Velcro, carpet tape, strapping, stretch wrap, packing tape, cleaning supplies, waste baskets, etc. and save big bucks over what you will be charged on the show floor by either the Official Service Contractor or Exhibitor Appointed Contractor.

Pack repair materials. If your exhibit is constructed with a custom laminate, have your exhibit house ship spare sheets in your crates to the trade show, just in case you need on-site repairs. Touch-up paint and matching felt markers are also helpful repair supplies to stock in your gang box.

Gang box (tool box) inventory. Keep an inventory of the common things you need at events and pack from that list to avoid last-minute runs to the store.

ELECTRICAL

Own your own electrical cords and cables. Stockpile your own electrical supplies like surge-protecting power strips and flat extension cords. Make sure all cables are at least 14-gauge wire (that will carry 20A power) with the 3rd prong for grounding and that they are Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approved. Tip: 16-gauge wire is SMALLER than 14; 12-gauge wire is heavier than 14-gauge; the smaller the gauge, the heavier the wire.

Do not miss the discount electrical deadline. The cost of your power can double if you do not submit your order form and payment by the electrical contractor’s deadline date. Note whether or not this deadline is listed as a specific date or if it is “30 days before show opening”, which often counts only business days (Monday through Friday) compared to a specific calendar date.

More is le$$. Order one larger drop (i.e. 1000 Watts) rather than two small ones (two @ 500 Watts) in the same exhibit location for cost savings.

Install a PDU. If your exhibit takes a lot of power (hundreds of Amps), consider having your exhibit house put in a power distribution unit (PDU) to manage and break down cheaper 220 Amp 3-phase power into 120 Volt single-phase power for cost savings. Your electrical labor cost may be higher, but your cost of the actual power will drop drastically.

Do not order more power than you really need. Segment your exhibit into areas within your booth space that will get power from a common outlet. Add up what you will be plugging into each area (i.e. lighting, AV, computers or demonstration equipment) and total the required number of Watts for lighting or Amps for equipment. When in doubt about your calculations, call and talk with the electrical contractor for the trade show and review your requirements with the house electrician. They are glad to help, and the sooner the better! Formula: Amp x Volts = Watts

Do you really need 24-hour power? In most convention centers, having your power available 24 hours a day will double your power invoice. Look at what outlets really require 24-hour power and only order it for those items.

“Please lay electrical on straight-time.” Always let the electricians know when you plan on beginning installation of your exhibit so they can have your under-carpet wiring in place before that time. I generally plead my case on my electrical power order form: “Please lay electrical on straight-time if possible. Thanks!”

Ask Show Management and the OSC, “What CAN I do?” More often than not, the Exhibitor Services Manual will tell exhibitors what they CANNOT do, not what they can. Depending on the city and the union jurisdiction, there are limits on what exhibitors and installation and dismantle labor can do, such as hanging lights or plugging in equipment. Make sure you understand what you CAN do, and do not be intimidated by an electrician or union steward who tells you otherwise until you can verify it with the floor manager or official service contractor.


INSTALLATION & DISMANTLE (I & D) LABOR

Maximize ST hours. Put together an I & D plan that maximizes your straight-time (ST) hours. If there are not enough straight-time hours to complete your exhibit build, consider requesting a variance to your targeted inbound. This date/time is negotiable! Based on the local union contract, know what hours are considered straight-time, overtime, double time, holidays, etc. and if there are “minis” – a minimum number of hours for which each laborer must be paid.

What can I do? If it is not spelled out in the Exhibitor Services Manual what you, as the exhibitor, can do to set-up and dismantle your company’s exhibit under the current labor agreement, ask Show Management’s operations manager or the OSC’s labor supervisor who will be on-site. In some right-to-work states, exhibitor’s full-time employees have the right to set up, or assist in setting up, their own company’s exhibits.

Plan both I & D simultaneously. Plan your installation and dismantle at the same time, estimating that it will take twice as long to set-up the exhibit as to tear it back down. If you do not know how many hours it will take, estimate 1 hour total I & D for every 8 square feet of floor space for larger island/peninsula exhibits and 1 hour per 10 linear feet of a portable in-line exhibit. (Modular and custom in-line exhibits may take longer.)

Supervise your own labor crew. This helps save the mark-up for supervisory labor. If you can, supervise your own I & D labor crew and ask them what, if anything, you can do to help them.

Request labor who knows your system exhibit brand. There are specialists in any field, and some I & D laborers know certain brands of system exhibits better than others. Request laborers who specialize in the brand of exhibit you own.

Heads-up on supplies and tools. Provide your I & D contractor with prints before the trade show and information on what supplies (i.e. cleaning supplies or ladders), or tools (i.e. drills, electric screwdrivers or a banding machine) they will need to bring with them, rather than trying to find them after they are on your “clock”.

Complete, accurate drawings help. Get a complete set of full-size set-up drawings from your exhibit house with step-by-step instructions to help your crew put up your exhibit as quickly as possible. Always have a spare set of these drawings in case they somehow disappear on the show floor.

Create an exhibit property cheat sheet. Cross-match your exhibit shipping inventory sheet with your exhibit pieces on your set-up drawings by crate or case number. This can save time finding the right piece during set-up and also help when putting away your exhibit properties in the right crate/case during dismantle.

Show your crew photos and renderings. A picture is very helpful tor I & D crews so they can visualize what they are building and can do it more quickly and accurately – and cheaply!

Know your set-up plans to stay one step ahead of your crew. Regardless of the union jurisdiction or right-to-work status, no one says you cannot point out the next piece that needs to be pulled out of the crate/case and installed.

OSC’s provide “labor”; EAC’s provide a “service”. Know the difference in what you are buying when you hire your I & D labor from the Official Services Contractor vs. an EAC (Exhibitor-Appointed Contractor). Will you be paying a similar “city rate” per hour? How many leads, journeymen, apprentices and day laborers will you have on your crew (since each of them is paid a different labor rate but you pay the same for all)? Ask what, if anything, is negotiable, like supervisory fees.

HANGING SIGN RIGGING

Request Straight Time (ST). Always request on your rigging order that hanging sign(s) be hung and dropped on straight time if possible.

Ship and label it. Make sure your hanging sign is shipped to the OSC’s advance warehouse using the label provided in the Exhibitor Services Manual by the deadline so it is there when they need to move it to the exhibit hall to assemble and hang it on straight time.

Do not forget the drawings. If you ask riggers what the number one most costly error exhibitors make is, they will say that exhibitors do not include complete assembly drawings with their sign which delays them in putting the sign together before hanging.

Do not sweat the small stuff: rigging material costs. Add about 15 percent to your rigging budget for the recurring cost of rigging materials at each trade show – the shackles, wire, slings, harnesses, etc. – that will automatically appear on your bill. Based on each convention center’s safety rules, riggers will only use their own materials to suspend your sign.


OTHER SPECIALTY SHOW SERVICES: AV, INTERNET AND CLEANING

Audio-visual (AV)

Rent or buy? Depending on the usage, it may be cheaper to purchase some audio-visual equipment than to rent it. Questions to ask are: how fragile is it, will you purchase protective shipping cases, how many times will you use it, will you insure it, who will set it up, what is your “Plan B” if you get to the trade show and it does not work?

Long-term contracts. If you do not want to invest in owning your own AV equipment for your exhibit, consider negotiating a year-long contract with your AV contractor or the OSC contractor’s in-house AV department who services the majority of your trade shows.

Internet

Avoid trade show Internet if you can. Consider the less costly alternatives to renting the facility’s Internet: setting up your own Wi-Fi hotspot, investing in EVDO cards that connect you to satellite-based broadband, hiring a third-party Internet equipment provider, or running your demos from CDs or flash drives.

Own your own. Again, owning your own equipment, such as CAT5/CAT6 cable, routers or switches, can save you big bucks. Always ask if you can bring your own, and be specific in the specifications to interface with the exclusive Internet contractor’s equipment. Find out if a union (i.e. electricians) has the jurisdiction and must lay your Ethernet/CAT5 or CAT6 cables.

When in doubt, ask. Ask the person who needs the Internet service what they really need. There are many variances in the Internet services offered and their costs. A conference call with your internal client/technical staff and the facility’s on-site Internet service provider can usually clear up any confusion regarding the application, equipment, required bandwidth, speeds, etc.

Cleaning

D-I-Y: Own your own vacuum cleaner. Depending on the city and the jurisdiction, you may be able to save thousands of dollars by having your exhibit staff vacuum or mop your own exhibit floor. Check the jurisdictions on the union information page of your Exhibitor Services Manual or ask Show Management or the General Services Contractor. Regardless, having a small “Dust-buster”-type of vacuum cleaner or wide lint roller with a long handle is handy for cleaning up small messes.

Own your own (again). Take your own trash cans/waste baskets with liners to the show. Renting trash cans is a waste of money when you can buy and ship them much cheaper (and they do a great job of holding other cleaning supplies).

Bring your own wipe-down materials. What does it take to make your exhibit look good on the trade show floor? Do you use a standard cleaner like Fantastic or 409? Windex or SprayWay Glass Cleaner for non-streak cleaning? A polish like Novus for acrylics, Plexiglas and laminates? Do you need a wet or dry Swiffer with a long handle to reach high on your header tower without a ladder? Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover for carpet spots and cleaning fabric furnishings? Whatever it is, buy it yourself and pack it, along with some soft white rags and lots of paper towels.

For cost comparison, a four dollar bottle of Fantastic and a one dollar roll of paper towels is considered a “cleaning kit” by I & D providers and worth at least thirty dollars at show-floor rates! Let your labor crew know you have it so they do not go get it from their gang box and charge you.

Wipe down after aisle carpet is laid. If you wipe down your exhibit before the aisle carpet is laid, a lot of dust will be raised and you are back where you started with a dusty exhibit. Wait until after the aisle carpet-laying is complete before doing the final wipe down or you may have to pay to have it done twice.

NEGOTIATED DISCOUNTS

Ask. Never be afraid to ask a vendor for a discount. Discounts are there for the asking and the worst they can say is “no”.

Leverage relationships when negotiating. For example, explore shipping with the van line carrier who handles your company’s employee relocations or ships your products or create volume discounts by contracting for a year’s exhibiting schedule with an AV contractor.

Extend the discount deadline. If your company is a late sign-up for a trade show, make your signing-up contingent on the Show Manager having the show contractors and subcontractors extend their “early-bird” discount period so you can still save on show services.


GIVEAWAYS

Your goals should drive your giveaway selection. Know what your exhibiting goals are and what you are trying to achieve with giveaways before deciding what items to give away.

Keep them generic. Do not add trade show names or logos that can only be used once and are wasted if they are not all distributed at that particular event.

Buy bulk. Purchase promotional giveaways in bulk quantities that can be used for multiple trade shows to get preferred volume pricing.

Use tiered giveaways if you want to give something to everyone. Give away a low-priced key ring or pen to thank all for their time, but have higher-perceived value items for those who are current customers or high-quality prospects. Remember that top of desk = top of mind. Decide if gifting your top 25 potential customers with a coveted $50 gift is going to be more effective toward meeting your goals than giving everyone who walks by your booth a $2.50 trinket.

PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE

How much is enough? Be strategic on what and how much paper collateral to bring. Some attendees still want paper literature, including young professionals3. Though other CEIR research also finds many attendees like access to product literature via email4. This evolving demand for product literature via digital methods can help you reduce your paper and shipping costs.

Go “e”. Place .pdfs of your most popular marketing brochures, product specs or white papers on your website where they can be downloaded, making your exhibit program greener.

Go iPad. Consider using an iPad as a literature distribution center, letting attendees email themselves the literature they would like to read without carrying it around the show.

Print hardcopies locally. If you have to have literature at a trade show, have it printed locally to avoid the cost of shipping and material handling; local printers may even bring it to you at the convention center. Or ship a small color printer with a ream of quality paper and print on demand for prospects who still want paper sales and marketing literature.

AUDITING INVOICES

Audit ALL show invoices for errors. Watch your show expenses by auditing your show invoices. Mistakes happen. No vendors’ invoices are above having errors, so check them all.

Most common errors. When auditing invoices, keep an eye out for math errors, missed early-bird discounts, incorrect multipliers (such as the rate per hour, per hundredweight/CWT, per Watt or Amp of electrical power, straight time vs. overtime rates for labor, or number of square feet being vacuumed),“miscellaneous” items or undisclosed “ancillary fees”, credit card “handling fees” (which are illegal in some states), agency fees, flat fees with no back-up documentation, quotes or orders rather than final invoices being used as billing back-up, per-day rates rather than per-event rates, or flat percentages charged by I & D providers for supplies you may have brought yourself or that were not used at all.

32014 Young Professional Attendee Needs and Preferences Study 42016 Digital Toolkit to Enhance the Attendee Experience – Exhibitor Offerings


EXHIBIT STAFFING

Do not overstaff; do not understaff. The industry rule-of-thumb is that you will need one staff person for every 50 feet of open space in your exhibit. To compute this, subtract the “footprint” of your exhibit, pedestals, demo area, storage, etc. from the total square feet in your booth space. Divide this number by 50 to determine the number of necessary face-to-face staff covering open space. This does not include those staff tied to a reception desk, demo area, presentations, or for breaks or lunches.

Hold training. Invest in exhibit staff training to make your exhibit staff more efficient and effective rather than continually increasing the number of staff working in your booth. It is an investment in all future shows you will do, since well-trained exhibit staff increase attendees’ memorability of your exhibit and message. Training should cover greeting/engaging, qualifying, conducting product demonstrations, recording lead information, cross-selling and dismissing.

Staff by skills required. Staff your exhibit by job title and skill set (i.e. sales, demo staff, marketing, press liaisons, etc.) for the most well-rounded team. Have upper-management select those who will attend. Attitude is everything when it comes to exhibit staff.

Local talent is cheaper. Consider using local dealers, distributors, or hire local “talent” from industry agencies who specialize in staffing trade show exhibits and you will not have to pay airfare, hotel and per diem. However, when doing this, choose wisely. Make sure at least one booth staffer has expertise, product knowledge, and an ability to answer specific questions attendees are likely to ask. CEIR research finds that the number one characteristic attendees expect and look to encounter when talking to a booth staffer is product knowledge5. Make sure your booth staff can deliver.

TRAVEL

Plan ahead. As soon as you know the trade show dates and your targets, and have picked your exhibit staff, communicate with them as to when you will need them on-site so they can book airline tickets at lower, advance rates. Keep informed of the best days to travel and the best times to book airfare, this can save you money. These trends continually change so monitor best practices. As of January, 2016, for example, Fanfare.com notes the best time to book air travel in the U.S. is on a Tuesday afternoon.6

Hit the web. If you need additional rooms after the Show Manager’s housing block is full, check on last-minute websites for discounted rooms (i.e. Hotwire and Priceline) for bargains.

Control overall travel costs. Work with your corporate travel department to establish per diem limits on food and ground transportation-related travel based on Business Travel News’ annual Corporate Travel Index survey of average costs for a business stay in exhibition or trade show cities. Publish this policy as part of your communication with your exhibit staff.

Negotiate ground travel for your staff. Consider negotiating a contract with local limousine or shuttle service to minimize ground transportation costs of exhibiting staff. At minimum, controlling the cost to travel from an airport can result in substantial savings. Or where it makes sense, car rental may offer a better deal.

BUDGETING

Guideline or mandate? Know what your company’s policy is on budgeting – is it a “guideline” or “mandate” on spending? If you do not use your entire budget, do you lose it on a per-show basis, or can you carry it over to other trade shows?

Track your spending. Know your spending habits and track your ongoing spending in all categories and for each trade show, and compile the data over the course of your fiscal year to determine how your exhibit budget is being spent. Then decide if the money you are spending is helping you to reach your goals and objectives.

Maintain a 10 Percent Contingency Fund. Always budget an extra 10 percent “contingency” fund for unknowns and opportunities, especially if you are compiling your budget before the Exhibitor Services Manual is available to give you line-item costs. This fund may be used for costs that you cannot control such as overtime material handling, last minute shipping or reduced-price sponsorship opportunities.

5CEIR Exhibition Staff Practice Summaries, 2012; CEIR Young Professional Attendee Needs and Preferences Study, 2014. 6 Source: http://www.farecompare.com/travel-advice/tips-from-air-travel-insiders/#/


12700 Park Central Drive Suite 308 Dallas, TX 75251 USA

[email protected] www.ceir.org

©Center for Exhibition Industry Research, 2016.

CEIR publications are registered with the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2016

Candy Adams, CTSM, CEM, CMP, CMM, “The Booth Mom®,” www.boothmom, is a leading trade show consultant delivering a full array of exhibit management services. Her experience in the industry spans over 20 years and 400 trade shows.

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