displays

It is that time of year again.  The Exhibitor Show is ready to roll.  As much a time to look for prospective clients as it is to network within the industry and see what and who is on the cutting edge.  Last year had spectacular booths and great opportunities for everyone that was there.  The Vegas weather didn't hurt either.  But considering what has happened in the last six months, what will this year bring?  Could a weak showing at the exhibitor be the canary in the coal mine for our whole industry?  Or is it time for us to show how it is done?

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Exhibitslist was on the trade show floor of the Detroit Auto Show in January and ran into Steve Drouillard.  Rumor has it that Steve is a legendary installer in the area.  We thought interviewing Steve would be a great way to spark off some discussion of what it takes to make a great installer.

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In twenty years in the industry I've had a chance to work all over the world setting up exhibits, and boy, have things have changed when it comes to doing installs on the road.  I'm sure you all have some great war stories about flying blind on the road, long before Al Gore invented the internet.  Today, your project manager and logistics people collect a lot of useful information about the venue where you will be working before you've even packed your duffel bag.

It also seems to me that not only has I&D progressed, but companies in general have become a lot more savvy in dealing with work on the exhibit floor....

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This is the first of a series of contributions by Billy Raygun - www.billyraygun.com

Controlling cost is becoming a business imperative more now than ever before. Exhibit managers are stretched to the max with rising costs and a lack of new ideas. Under the current industry business model as we know it, it doesn’t surprise me prices increase and quality and ideas suffer.  We’re at a time where new ideas are the most critical success factor a business can have. As Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that created it”. If you really want to reduce or control costs, you need to change the way you’re currently doing business. 

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Exhibitslist was on the floor of the Toronto International Auto Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre tonight.  It was good to see that many of the automotive companies have not stopped exhibiting, but it seems like they have toned down their booths a notch.  Maybe some of that bail-out money next year can go to some exhibit marketing. :p

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Unlike the trade show floor, Exhibitslist is always open for business.  What are ways that you can get the most out of it?  Here are a few:

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In our first article we looked at the issue of eco-sensitive products in the trade show/exhibit industry.  For our next series of articles we will look at individual materials and what you should consider when discussing them with your clients and your team members.

First off we will start off with the issue of wood that is used in custom exhibits.  What makes it a green product?

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Exhibitslist is Proud to welcome Mitch Gilbert as a contributor to our community.  Mitch is a designer with interesting insights into Modern Exhibit Design.  We will be looking forward to his Articles and he is looking forward to your feedback through comments on his articles.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to design an exhibit for myself such as the one shown, but until then clients are a necessity. As a freelance designer I have two clients:  the exhibit builder and the exhibitor. Both organizations usually include groups of people that have a say in how my design will eventually take shape. The exhibit builders have salespeople, estimators, installers and production supervisors that each may have their imprint on the design. Exhibitors usually have marketing, advertising, sales, accounting, and the CEO  all weighing in on the results. With all manner of personalities tugging the design in one direction or another it’s amazing that I can even recognize the finished booth at the show.

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With the recent announcement that Apple is not exhibiting or participating in the Macworld Trade show, chills have been felt through the industry.  Shortly after that the Paris Macworld show was cancelled outright.  Is this an industry trend?  A recent Tradeshow Week article featured the thought that show size was down, but new media marketing was up.  A survey by trade show week showed that the average size of exhibitions had gone from 250,024 sq. feet to 231,451 sq. feet.  That is an interesting figure.... however, anecdotally I can say that this may be a trend towards smaller square footage in booths and not necessarily a turning away from event marketing.

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