Laying and labeling cable

At the recent NACStech show, my first task was laying cables for the in-booth network. While at first, this seems like an easy task, it can be complicated.

Trust me.

While I could just as easily had the cables lay down next to electrical cables, the CAT 5's were needed in specific places. Several rules are to be applied in this process:

• Have a clear map of where cables are to go.
• Label each cable on each end (1A, 2B, et al).
• Run redundant cables in case of failure.
• Tape the cable flat to the floor so that are flat under the pad.
• Lay the pad directly over the cables. Notch if they are too bulky.
• Be sure and pull all cables through the pad and carpet as it is cut.
• Be sure and pass all cable ends through cabinet access holes.

If you do all of this beforehand, you are less likely to have to "fish" a cable after the carpet is laid or have a cable fail during the show.

TTSG

Have you done this?

You go into the hall, head down, heading for the space, ready for set up.

Hmmm....can't find the booth number. Why is this booth a 20x20 and not the 20x30 I paid for? Let me find that floor manager and see why they eliminated my space!

Looking over the floor plan with the Freeman guy....what's the booth number? "I don't have any 20x30s!"

"Oh, what show are you looking for? NACStech? Next hall over."

Geezzz. Need to read the overhead signage, he said sheepishly.

TTSG

Cancelled or Postponed?

OK, which is it?

I recently posted that the the FMI-Marketechnics show scheduled for Dallas the first week of May 2009 had been cancelled. I was almost immediately corrected (and subsequently posted a correction) by someone that the show was postponed.

This week I read in Trade Show Week that the show has been cancelled.

OK, can someone out there tell me if the show is postponed (coming back at a rescheduled date) or cancelled (won't come around again until next year)?

Anybody?

TTSG

On with the show: NACStech in Texas

The word from NACS (the National Association of Convenience Stores) is that their event in Texas will proceed.

After contacting show management on behalf of our client, Retalix, I learned that NACStech, set for May 18 to 21 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas, will happen.

"At this time NACStech is moving forward as planned," said my contact at the association to me in an e-mail dated Friday, May 1. The FMI-Marketechnics Show, set to open this week in Dallas, was postponed by its organizers last week amid concerns for public health around large gatherings.

Given the NACStech show is much smaller in scale than the Marketechnics show, I am curious as to how these decisions were made.

Any comments out there?

TTSG

At this time NACStech is moving forward as planned.