If you’re a typical exhibitor you need the basics to be organized and have a good show: booth space, display, collateral and show services. Most exhibitors understand the first three well and are bewildered by the last one. Show services are important considerations, depending on the type of exhibit you have – the costs for services can be the single largest line item in your budget. Careful management and understanding of what you need can save you money and anxiety. Design your display for success when it comes to services and you’ll get better bang for your buck.

Most trade shows are managed under contract with a show organizer. The organizer in turn decides who gets to do what under the roof of the venue or trade show hall. Services are broadly segmented into labor and everything but labor. Labor services can be performed by the General Contractor (“GC”) or an Exhibitor Appointed Contractor (“EAC”). Each of these entities complies with local labor and union rules in performing services at the show.

It’s important to work closely with the supervisor or union steward at the show – they can make your experience go much more smoothly. In particular, you need to be aware of what you, as an exhibitor, can and can’t do by yourself. If you have a pop up and banner stand, you’re safe – you can set these up yourself. Some 10 x 10 modular displays (ie, tool-less) can be set up by the exhibitor without using GC or EAC labor. Larger displays will generally require GC or EAC labor (referred to as I&D). You can often supervise your booth assembly (if you know how), or the GC or EAC can provide a supervisor. Make sure you’ve booked your I&D to take advantage of “straight time” under the labor rules and can avoid the overtime/double-time charges. And make sure the display is really ready to be set up when you book the I&D – nothing worse than labor standing around and getting paid while you try to find your display.

A trickier task is managing the show services, and this is where you can spend a lot of money. Everything from power, video and internet access to carrying your display (called drayage) and collateral to your booth is charged for. Hanging a sign? Make sure you budget for it. Second-story? Plan for fork lift charges. Renting flooring or furniture? A guy wire for some lights? You guessed it.

None of which is unfair, of course. Some displays are construction projects and have budgets that reflect this. But as you plan your booth, think about ways to reduce unnecessary costs and avoid surprises. If you can build your display from lightweight materials (aluminum over steel or wood, for example), you’ll save a lot of money. Ditto if you can avoid a hanging sign by increasing the size and visibility of a tower mounted sign. Think long and hard about that second story. We’ve built them – and they’re really cool. But they can run the meter on costs. And get your carpet, furniture, monitors, A/V, etc offsite rather than at the show. You’ll need all of these things but if you wait until your booth is set up you will pay top dollar.

All of which is a simple way of advocating a thoughtful approach to design. There’s more than one way to solve the trade show marketing equation. With advance planning and a careful approach, you won’t spend more than you have to and you’ll get a great return.

Impact Displays offers a full range of trade show and face to face marketing solutions for sale and for rental. More information is available at www.impact-displays.com.

Many people are surprised to learn that a lot of displays have graphics that are printed on fabric, since they usually see graphics printed on an inkjet printer and laminated. We’ve seen a big increase in the demand for fabric graphics and tension fabric structures in the past five years. And it’s easy to see why: fabric graphics can shape conform more effectively to create complex 3D shapes and they produce a rich, deep color palette.

Depending on the type of messaging and imagery you use, fabric graphics can be very effective. They can deliver vivid graphical and landscape imagery and create more “atmosphere” for the audience. They have a softer appearance and depending on the other graphics images they can be bring traffic to your display. Fabric won’t usually present close up photography, especially of people, where gradient realism is at a premium.

You can display fabric graphics in several ways – they will fit on fabric pop ups and banner stands to form basic portable backwalls. They also form backwalls when used in modular displays like our Pro Series. And you can create an amazing array of 3D shapes using tension fabric structures – essentially a light aluminum frame tightly wrapped by a fabric graphic. You can usually mix fabric and laminated graphics on the same display (on a truss, for example) as long as you endure that the sheen of the printed material and the color tones can be matched by your printer or graphics supplier.

We’re actually borrowing a page from the textile industry on fabric graphics – they’ve been printing fabric for clothing and furniture for decades. The real change has been the development of low cost, high resolution fabric printers that allow beautiful images at price points that rival inkjet laminated prints. This has allowed us to offer fabric solutions as attractive alternatives to other types of graphic.

Impact Displays carries a full line of fabric displays. More information can be found at www.impact-displays.com

Our recent post about renting and buying generated some reader questions and comments. Some said we missed the most useful buy/rent decision framework. In essence, they said “It isn’t whether you should buy or you should rent, it’s which components you should decide to buy and which you should decide to rent.” Point taken.

Sometimes we get stuck in an either/or debate, even when we’re emphasizing the usefulness of each solution available. And some of our smartest customers, when asked if they want to rent their displays or to buy their displays, have said “Yes” and they do both. They buy the core elements of their displays, giving them control and management autonomy. And they rent the more peripheral elements – expansion hardwalls, conference rooms, podium, monitors, etc. Since they know what they need in a majority of shows (booth size, format, etc), they feel comfortable owning the core elements, like the the backwall – either pop up or modular, the counters, etc. But since they may not know how often they’ll need the peripheral elements, they mitigate the ownership risk (maintenance, usage, etc) by renting these.

This is a very good plan if your company is large enough to employ a hybrid purchase/rental strategy. It can optimize your capital budgeting and trade show expense management – and it can focus your trade show programs for best results.

Impact Displays offers a range of purchase and rental solutions for trade shows and exhibits.

We get a lot of requests for custom displays. Funny thing is, most of these requests don’t involve true custom display builds. To clarify some of these issues, we thought it would be useful to identify the main differences between custom and custom modular displays. As a buyer, you need to make sure you’re asking for the right design concept. Not only are lead times very different, but pricing, flexibility and re-use are very different between these similar sounding design ideas.

Companies decide to go custom because they don’t want to look like other exhibitors and because their marketing and messaging requires unique display characteristics. There are many great things to say about the workhorse portables, Pop Ups. But uniqueness isn’t one of them. Moving from a stock portable to a custom modular gives you gives you more control over its look and features. Many buyers assume that means a custom display. But most customers really want a custom modular solution, which is different. Part of the confusion is the variety of terms the industry uses: hybrid display, modular display, custom modular are all terms that describe a display with elements of customization.

So what is a custom modular display? It’s a display built from a system of components that can be reconfigured. It’s modular, so you can add or remove components like walls, counters or conference rooms. It’s constructed from a system of interchangeable components, usually aluminum or steel. So you can build a wall, a counter or a conference room from common, standard components. Traditional custom displays are built entirely from scratch, usually from wood and they are “purpose built.” So a conference room is only ever a conference room, and removing it usually renders the display un-usable. Custom displays are usually built with a monolithic design philosophy: all of the components are necessary to deliver the display and it can’t be easily modified.

Custom modular displays were developed in reaction to the inflexibility of traditional custom builds. Using interchangeable components in a modular design allows exhibitors to re-configure a display, changing the size or configuration cost effectively. This protects the display investment and allows exhibitors to continuously upgrade their display assets, rather than discard and re-design. Custom modular displays can usually be built in 2-3 weeks at a cost of $40-$60 per square foot, whereas a traditional custom display usually takes 3-4 months and costs $75-$100 per square foot. Custom builds continue to fill an important (although shrinking) portion of the display market. But for most companies, a custom modular display is a more economical, flexible and greener solution than a traditional custom display.

Impact Displays designs and sells a broad range of custom modular solutions. You can find more information about these solutions at www.impact-displays.com.

We get a lot of questions about buying versus renting displays, especially in the larger properties where the investment is significant. Of course, every situation is unique in its details, but we’ve been doing this long enough to make a few solid generalizations.

There are several important factors to account for when you are considering renting vs buying. Typically, the analysis goes something like this: “If I buy it and it lasts 3 years and I exhibit at 2 shows per year, the cost is $X/show. But if I rent it, the cost is $Y per show. And since $X is less than $Y, I should buy.”

Amortized or out of pocket cost per show is important, but it’s not the only factor you should consider. You also should consider these factors:

• Intensity: do I plan to exhibit a lot or not that often?
• Flexibility: do I always exhibit in the same size booth or does it vary? Do I want a different look at different shows even if the booth size doesn’t change?
• Maintenance: do I have a process and/or people who can manage and maintain my booth?
• Ancillary uses: can I use the display for other marketing purposes between trade shows?
• Upgrades: will my booth design needs change over time?

Regardless of cost, how you answer these questions may indicate whether you are a better candidate for a rental or a purchase. If your needs change often and you have a light schedule, you may be a better candidate to rent, for example. But if you always use the same size booth and you exhibit a lot and can maintain your display, buying may be a better option.

It’s impossible to ignore costs, of course. But we’ve found that for the majority of customers, cost is not the most important factor (this surprised us, too). So give good consideration to the factors above and others that might be important to your display strategy – it will ensure that you’re happy in the long run.

Impact Displays has a broad selection of displays to rent and to buy. More information is available at www.impact-displays.com.

A few years ago we noticed a big increase in the number of exhibitors including video in displays. Video seemed to be the next big thing – compelling, contemporary and engaging. And if you look at the history of media, the stats bear out the power of the moving image as a communications medium: more ad dollars are spent on the various forms of video (broadcast, cable, etc) than any other format. So we were surprised to see a big pullback from video in the last year – and we went out to talk to exhibitors about it.

To be sure, video still has impact and appeal. But many one-time supporters have gone cold on it because the video format sometimes isn’t right for their exhibit. When we did some research, it turns out that video was being used indiscriminately. Exhibitors were assuming that any video – all video – would add to their display.

This just isn’t the case. First, keep in mind your audience and your ability to get their attention. Most experts will tell you that you have 3-10 seconds to capture the audience’s attention as they encounter your display. Then you have 30-60 seconds in the periphery – they’re either in the booth or immediately outside of it – to deliver a relevant message. And if they stay engaged, you have 3-5 minutes to tell a story, qualify your offering and develop a relationship. In this complicated dance you can’t simply put monitors running looped (continuous) content and expect results. Video must be strategically integrated where it will interact with the audience. And it doesn’t matter if the booth is small or large - the same engagement points exist in all selling environments.

The bottom line is that video almost never works in engagement point one or two. The run time is difficult to get right, and there’s the start/stop nature of video that can be off putting. And, you’re asking the audience to commit to video of an unknown duration before they’ve qualified your solution. The best place to use video is in engagement point 3 – informative but light.

Video is incredibly powerful when it’s used right, but a waste of money or worse – an audience deterrent – when it’s used wrong. Use it for medium run time product information at a place in your booth where you have qualified and engaged prospects.

Impact Displays offers a range of integrated and stand-alone video solutions for face to face marketing events, expos and trade shows. More information can be found at www.impact-displays.com.

Do you want to showcase the latest products of your company in a truly grand manner? Then you need to present at the most relevant trade show for your company. Trade shows provide the perfect platform to educate customers about your latest products and services. But trade show success requires creative thinking to attract the customers to your booth. A hanging display will help you to create a buzz in the trade show and get the maximum attention from prospective clients.

Hanging displays are specifically designed to meet the customer from a distance. These displays inform the customers about your presence and carry messaging about your company. The striking appearance of these displays will lend a special appearance to your stall.

Trade show displays offer a very economical way of reaching out to the customers. Exhibit displays and the expo displays can be set up at the minimum cost and also occupy the least amount of space. Attractive pop up displays and exhibits will benefit your company with increased customers, sales and profits.

Impact Displays offers exhibit display. The website www.impact-displays.com provides complete information about the company.

Do you want to create lasting impression in the biggest trade show in the country? Well for an event with such a grand scale your preparation also has to be really grand! Portable display booths can provide a professional look to your booth and ensure that it gets the maximum attention from visitors. Trade show displays have evolved to include significant technical advances.

Display booths are available in various designs and you can choose one according to your budget and space considerations. You may choose a large “island” display if you are a veteran of the trade shows or you can choose a moderately priced, attractive pop up display banner if you are venturing to your first show. Choose a display with good design and the latest technology makes to really stand out.

At trade shows, every company is vying for the customer’s attention. Exhibit booths and display booths provide a very economical way of achieving this goal. Display booths can also be fitted with LCD TV’s to deliver the message effectively. Get a good display – your get your customer’s attention and generate a lot of booth traffic.

Impact Displays offer trade show display booths. The website www.impact-displays.com provides complete information about the company.

As you prepare for your next trade show, make sure to consider a truss display, one of the most popular modular displays available. Truss displays provide you with tremendous capabilities for displaying messaging and product and have a unique, architectural appeal. Truss will make your booth truly stand out.

Truss trade show displays are modular exhibits which are manufactured from light weight materials like aluminum, steel and composites, which makes them very portable. The flat side panels are perfect for displaying large graphic murals while the use of magnets makes it easier to stick the murals together.

Truss trade show displays give your booth a very attractive look and will get the attention of your customers (and your competitors’ customers). They can be set up quickly and come in various shapes and sizes and can be customized according to your requirements.

Impact Displays offers Truss trade show displays and various other trade show exhibits. The company also provides useful trade show tips. The website www.impact-dispalys.com provides complete information about the company.

As you may know, Impact Displays is an SGIA (Specialty Graphics Industry Association) member (www.sgia.org). The SGIA has a number of great programs and they make a very effective industry organizer. They have been supporters broadly of environmentally friendly printing practices and most recently they have given great support to a movement within the commercial printing industry that promotes sustainable printing practices - the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGPP).

Sustainable business practices are near and dear issues at Impact Displays - we’ve offered environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional media for several years, and we adopted low VOC as our printing format more than five years ago.The SGPP (www.sgppartnership.org) ups the ante significantly by enforcing programming, audits and compliance within a framework of sustainability, workplace safety and minimal environmental impact.

Impact Displays has been provisionally accepted into the SGPP while we complete our compliance audits. We’re excited because we believe this will become a very broadly based movement driven by smart corporate sourcing decisions. We expect that within five years, every credible US and European printer of any scale will be SGPP certified. So while SGPP certification may be a differentiator today, we hope (for all the right reasons) it’s table stakes in the printing game in the future.

So the next time you have a choice of printers - whether Impact or another company - choose an SGPP certified printer. Good for the planet, good for you and good for your kids (and mine!).