Putting Together an Exhibit from Stray Pieces, Part IV: In the Home Stretch

The fabric enclosures arrived and we fit them to the wall and football shapes. They look like the concepts.

The concept is by the Taylor Group Dallas. The client wanted something to transform the basic Skyline Inliten truss. This accomplishes that.

FSD in Denver took the design and made it into the stretchy fabric pieces. The image design is by Zachry Associates in North Texas.

Working all these elements together takes patience and planning.

Next stop: New Orleans and the NACStech Show, booth 659. The next challenge is assembling this all in one day.

TTSG

Putting Together an Exhibit from Stray Pieces, Part II

This past week I spent an afternoon at my client's exhibit house with them and the exhibit house rep. We're making progress on our "portfolio" exhibit.

We lined up the parts and pieces and got out the tape measure and sketch pad. We paced off the 20x30 space and helped the client visualize the scale and scope of what they will see in New Orleans at the NACStech Show (www.nacsonline.com).

Voila! A plan and options emerged from the discussion. The parts and pieces are starting to look like an exhibit. It is a bit of a game of "loaves and fishes" but, if done carefully and with a strategy, it can work. Saving money is one thing, but looking the part is another. You need to do both.

We started with previously used Skyline Inliten components. The truss was assembled into "football" shapes to give the exhibit mass and workstation locations. The structures will be wrapped in graphic fabric "socks" not unlike a Moss-type hanging sign or other fabric-over-frame graphics.

Add in some previously used cabinets with new tops and there is surface for demos and lockable storage. In this configuration you could have two cabinets per side of the major structure, or as many as 4 per unit. We are choosing to use two "football" shapes, with one cabinet station per side. Monitors will hang above the cabinets using the stock Skyline monitor bracket, possibly modified to hold multiple monitors.

An Inliten "wall" becomes a surround for a conference area. This surface gives us both privacy and another "canvas" for messaging and brand. While it isn't completely private, it shields the meeting space from the aisle.

A rental carpet will be underfoot and a reskinned hanging sign frame with hang above the booth.

Next step: graphic design.

TTSG

Advising suppliers of awards

When it comes time to let your competing suppliers of a contract award, here is one request:

Call them. If you can't call them, send a polite e-mail. But, above all, don't just not contact them at all and make them hear about the "loss" from a third party. That's like hearing about a break up from someone other than the person breaking up with you.

Be polite. It's the only thing to do.

And, besides, if things don't go well, you might need to have a fall back plan with the rejected vendor.

TTSG

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

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.

Lights

They can be a troublesome thing, but they add so much to an exhibit: lights.

An exhibit actually looks drab without a wash of lights. But this short entry is about something we all need to have: basic repair skills.

When I got to the part of the AWMA booth assembly for Retalix that involved installing the lights, I found myself having to make sure they all worked. Some of the lights came out of the box and had to be assembled so that they worked.

Wires had to make contact. Contacts had to be in place. Lamps couldn't be broken. And the "twist-ons" had to twist on the contact bar so that they came on.

These seem like little things, but in my case, it meant the difference between having 6 lamps instead of 12.

TTSG

The Finishing Touches

The last day of set up is always a day of punch lists and tending to do the last-minute details. Before you can leave the booth that one last time before the show opens, did you:

• Put out the pen holders and other office supplies?
• Label the last crates as "Empty"?
• Cut the poly off the carpet?
• Put out the wastebaskets?
• Distribute keys?
• Lock up?
• Secure the last badges for the latecomers?
• Give the booth one last heavy wipedown?

There's more, but that comes with making lists with some thought.

Have a great show!

Lesson learned: remember the details and the big things don't become big problems.

TTSG

Carpet installation

Laying carpet and pad may seem like a simple thing, but executed accurately, it can save you time and money, make your staff comfortable and improve the appearance of your booth immensely.

At this show we did several things:

1. Notched the pad for the cables so that the carpet on top laid flat
2. Measured from one lead corner
3. Covered our finished work with visqueen

The guys started by taping off the lines of the 20x30 space with double-stick tape. This defines the edges of the booth and will eventually hold the carpet in place.

Next, the pad is rolled out. Usually, the pad is rolled in the opposite direction that the carpet is rolled. Since we have 4 rolls of 5 x 30-foot pad, we choose to roll the length of the booth to minimize seems. Once the pad is down, we notch it to accommodate the large electrical cords that will beneath the booth. Here in Chicago, the electrical power and internet/phone come from floor boxes, two of which are within the perimeter of the space. The large flat supply cords and round extensions are cut around and taped to the floor. The pad is taped together, but not to the floor, except in a few key places with gaff/duct tape to keep the edges from sliding.

Next comes the carpet. The two 10x30-foot rolls are started from the same end, lining up from the same corner as the pad to ensure uniformity. The guys are careful to match the nap and cut edges to make sure the seem that runs down the center match so that the line is unnoticeable. They kick the carpet until it matches and peel the top of the tape to afix it to the floor. Stories of floors too cold to allow tape to stick are traded.

Lastly, the visqueen is rolled over the top and taped in place at the far edges, outside the perimeter of the booth.

Now we're ready to start setting structure on top.

Lesson learned: roll each carpet roll in the same direction and try to roll pad the opposite direction. Notch for cables to have a flat appearance.

TTSG

In praise of rental booths

I admit it, I'm a convert. I always thought you had to own a custom booth to be a big player. But with the pressures of financial performance a daily reality, having a quality image on the show floor has to be rethought. Enter the rental custom booth.

There are three reasons I like this concept:
1. I can just pack my stuff and walk away at the end of the show.
2. The pricing is predictable in that I&D, drayage, and rentals (structure, carpet, pad, funishings, cleaning) are combined in a single contract (that is, if you use the general contractor as I did at this most recent show).
3. It can be repeated and works well for programs of four shows or fewer.

While it ain't the latest in design, for a tech company or a company with a conflict or reduced budget, this can work very well. While it is a compromise in some areas, it is workable and delivers the messages that are critical for the client: those related to product and about how serious they are about cost containment.

Lesson Learned: judicious choice of vendor and display can result in immense cost savings and improved ROI.

TTSG

(thanks to Freeman Decorating and Retalix)

NACStech, the first set up day

I'm at the National Association of Convenience Stores Technical Show (otherwise known as NACStech) this week. The show runs Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.

The show participation is down this year (about 100 exhibitors as compared to 125 last year in Nashville) according to the organizer. The show floor is about the same size, but the bigger players (Gilbarco, Pinnacle) have downsized to 20x20s.

Participation is probably down due to FMI (Food Marketing Institute) being held on the same days. Many of the companies at this show also exhibit at FMI, causing some to forsake NCStech for FMI.

Retalix has a 20x30 which is prominent on the floor. The rental booth looks great and focuses more on product and less on the exhibit.

The exhibiting companies at this show cover many categories: pay systems (Abierto Networks), POS software (Retalix, Pinnacle, Veriphone), POS and dispensing hardware (Radiant, Gilbarco, Dresser, Tidal Engineering), kiosks, displays, check recovery to name a few.

More as the days of the show wear on.

TTSG

Facing the initial set up at a show

It is always a good thing to show up early to the show floor. You can see if your frieght has arrived, among other things, but basically get the "lay of the land."

Once you get past the usually who-ha of wrist bands and where things are, you get to the booth space to see what awaits you. For example, when I arrived at the space at NACStech at the Gaylord in Grapevine, Texas, I was greeted with a few surprises. Not what I wanted, but not insurmountable.

I specifically had asked when I could arrive to lay down CAT 5 cables for our network BEFORE the carpet was to go down. When arrived at the agreed-upon time, the carpet and pad were already down. No mater, the contractor guys were there and rolled things back. The engineer and I made quick work of getting cables down and labeled. A short conversation with the IT guys and the internet line was installed.

The rented workstations weren't exactly configured the way we wanted them. However, we were able to shuffle graphics and we were back in business. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Lesson learned: always, always bring your orders to show site and advise your vendors of changes/exceptions as you go.

TTSG

Choosing space, Part II

Here's an additional note on choosing space: today the organizer called us in to choose our space for next year's show. Our time to meet the sales person was set on our seniority in the show (a combination of how many years we had consecutively exhibited at the show, sizes we had purchased, position on the board, how much advertising space we had purchased in the association magazines). At the meeting, we were shown a floor plan with the spaces that already been sold in front of us marked out. We reviewed the plan and chose a space that maximized our place on the floor, took into consideration where we were in relation to competitors and partners and the size we could afford. We'll get an invoice and pay 50% within 90 days.

This is a civilized way of choosing space. Some organizers put all of the exhibitors in the same room at the same time and call you in order, ala the NBA Draft. You wait your turn and watch as the prime spaces are picked off by the highest seniority exhibitors.

I have no preference as to how to choose, but you need to be prepared with your choices in order and with your plan of where you want to be.

From the AWMA Show, Las Vegas

"The Real Deal Expo" is a buying show aimed at putting distributors, retailers, brokers and suppliers together. AWMA (American Wholesale Manufacturer's Association) hosted this expo and conference annually in rotating cities.

With a show floor comprised of over 180 exhibitors selling candy, tobacco, health and beauty aids, general merchandise, technology and equipment, the main target appears to be convenience operators. Booth sizes range from 10x10 (the largest proportion) to 20x40 with a few 30x30s and 20x20s scattered in the mix. The largest exhibitors include Hershey, Cadbury Adams, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco, Altadis and Commonwealth Brands. Several technology companies are also included in the mix, including our client, Retalix, a provider of point-of-sale products and back office systems. Retalix has a 10x20 exhibit at this show.

Freeman is the general contractor and the event is being held in the largest ballroom/exhibit hall at the Las Vegas Hilton.

From the show guide and the organized activity going on pre-show, this appears to be a well-run and managed show. The show floor is sold out and has a waiting list for new exhibitors. Selling is done on the floor and prize giveaways are encouraged. Security from the hotel is good and freight moves well. Electrical service is well staffed and seems to be running on time for installation.

Today is the second set up day and the show opens tomorrow. Details on attendance and floor activity in a later report.

TTSG