Making event deadlines work for tradeshow exhibits
Setting priorities is the key
By JIM BURKE
It happens all the time: a boss decides that the company needs to have a booth at a tradeshow or at an exhibition that wasn't planned for and is coming up soon.
It could be close to home, like the Bio International Convention one month from now in Boston; or, it could always be worse. "Barcelona, next week. Yes, in Spain."
Now what? There are plenty of good reasons for pulling together a major exhibit in less time than it deserves. Given a deadline between two weeks and two months, how well can it be done?
The ground rules
Focused market vision and a clearly defined message is something the organization will have to muster. But for booth design and graphics, even the smallest companies rely on exhibit design firms to create slick structures that herald corporate presence on a trade show floor.
First, understand what's possible. The best way to develop quick turnaround is by approaching design firms as business partners and working with them as an extension of your own marketing team.
For example, some clients are reluctant to reveal their budget because they may have two or three exhibit houses bidding on a project and they want to see what they can get for their money. People typically know their budget but they don't know what things cost. This leads to a lot of wasted time on a short deadline. If you bring several design firms in on a competitive bid, tell them your budget.
Dealing straight-up from the start will improve your own selection process.
The cues are simple: did the design firm actually listen to you and does the proposal follow your budget? Design firms should be willing to tell you that graphics and messaging will probably matter more than their booth design, but it does depend on the industry.
What tells the story
Real estate developers care more about the architecture, but generally it's the graphics that tell your story, and in fast-changing industries like bio-tech, the market evolves so rapidly that the messaging can change from one show to the next.
The booth is just an armature for your image. If you only have $20 to spend, put $15 of it into developing the logo and graphics.
If you already own exhibit property, it can be revamped with new graphics and the layout can usually be reconfigured or expanded in a short time frame.
If you don't already have a booth, no problem. There are excellent rental options available. These are not the dated extruded aluminum and cardboard contraptions that rental property usually brings to mind.
Not all exhibit design firms get involved with exhibit rentals, but some have an inventory of different property that started out as custom jobs. The rental could be a trade-in from clients building bigger booths, or fallout from mergers and acquisitions.
In the 1990s the exhibit design field ran with wide-open budgets, and anything was possible. Today's marketing budgets are pared down. The challenge is to develop something simple and fast, with the impact of a billboard, yet solid enough to support messaging changes that will turn up at any time. This is especially critical for short-term projects on a tight string.
Jim Burke is president and founder of Elevation Exhibits, a full-service exhibit design firm located in Shrewsbury, specializing in custom-design and custom-rental tradeshow booths. Jim can be reached at jburke@elevationexhibits.com or 508-842-1213.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments