Trade Show TalesBlog

You Can’t Fix Stupid — Material Handling

August 20th, 2014 1 COMMENT
Special Handling Charges? Really!

Special Handling Charges? Really!

Rising Drayage and Material Handling Costs

If you are a fan of the comedian Ron White, you know his signature line, “You Can’t Fix Stupid.” I was reminded of this line three weeks ago while attending a material handling session by Amanda Helgemoe from NuVista and Sue Huff from Medtronic at the Red Diamond Congress in Chicago. The presentation was based on a 2013 study endorsed by the Exhibit and Event Marketers Association (E2MA) Advocacy Committee.

In short, it’s disturbing.

The presentation consists of 50 informative slides, mostly case studies between 1996 and 2007, and an analysis of rising, comparative costs. I won’t summarize the full presentation because:  a) the summary would be longer than the study, and b) You’re not stupid. You can read it and draw your own conclusions. That said . . . I strongly encourage you to devote 20-30 minutes to reviewing it. Secondly, you need to share your concerns, opinions, and solutions with industry associations and show management.

Finally, if you work directly with exhibitors regularly, you need to encourage them to speak to the associations sponsoring the trade shows. I believe, and I’m going to be a little naive here, that they don’t fully understand the ramifications of their no-cost contracts with the General Show Contractors or Show Management. Costs are rising, in particular drayage, at a rate that’s unsustainable to our industry. Whatever your political bent, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the foundational middle is crumbling in the trade show industry. This tainted concentration of power is doing what power always does – corrupts.

Advocacy_2

Some Highlights:

  1. Exhibitors are downsizing or cancelling programs, not because face-to-face marketing is ineffective, but because rising costs are squeezing their exhibit budgets.
  2. Exhibitors DO NOT KNOW 30% of their final costs headed into a show. No other marketing medium has the same cost uncertainty/surprises.
  3. Don’t blame labor. I&D costs have increased, but those costs pale in comparison to exclusive services such as material handling.
  4. At one show material handling increased 307% between 1997 and 2009. And there were two recessions during this time.
  5. Show Organizers are not doing their homework. There is often a wide variance in costs between similar shows in the same city within 6 months.
  6. Here’s how crazy it’s gotten (example): Drayage: $116.70/cwt, One crate = 1100 lbs., Drayage cost = $1,283.70, Associated GSC labor cost = 37 hours ($35.00/hour), NOW HOLD YOUR BREATH – That equals 1 person, working 4 ½ days for one crate.
  7. From 2009-2013, the Consumer Price Index increased 8.2%. General Contractor Labor Costs increased 12.56%. Drayage increased 121%.
  8. Material Handling has (purposely) gotten more opaque. In some situations, there are 24 material handling categories. Opacity makes it much harder for exhibitors to challenge drayage charges or make fiscally sound decisions when scheduling freight. This is not an accident.
  9. General Service Contractors are shifting costs to exhibitors who do not use them for non-exclusive services, resulting in uneven application of exclusive service charges. All too often, exhibitors are paying the drayage for the exhibitor right next to them when the GSC shifts expenses.
  10. Growing use of bundling by GSCs by offering discounts/rebates to win the entire corporate program, such as waiving material handling if client rents from the GSC. The EDPA and E2MA have gone on record as stating this practice (bundling) is unethical and anti-competitive.


The study proposes solutions beginning on slide 44, which I strongly encourage you to review. Those include Best Practices on slide 49. On a personal note, I cannot emphasize enough how much your voice matters to trade show industry associations, such as E2MA and EDPA. Let them hear from you. In addition, if you are an exhibitor, please voice your concerns directly with the association sponsoring the show and show management. I believe that associations do not understand how existing contracts undermine their ability to grow the shows they sponsor. Show management, however, does understand the impact of rising material handling costs, but (many) have not felt enough financial pain to recommend changes.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you share my passion and concern for our industry. Collectively, I believe we can fix stupid. We have no other choice.

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–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com

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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions. Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100 or www.classicexhibits.com.

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Dealing with Conflict. Are You an Elephant?: Word on the Street — August 11th thru August 15th

August 15th, 2014 2 COMMENTS
Kevin Carty, VP Classic Exhibits

Kevin Carty, VP Classic Exhibits

Is there an elephant in your office? If you don’t see one, it might be YOU!

An observation was recently shared with me. The context was leadership and dealing with conflict, and how leaders handle or don’t handle conflict in the workplace. The speaker said,  “Show me the leader that doesn’t confront conflict, and I’ll show you the biggest elephant in the room.”

And I have to admit, it made me think about my leadership skills and the leadership skills of those I admire. Handling conflict is a skill that I am still learning.

I am reminded of a situation that I knew was going to be ugly, because (sadly) it had gone unaddressed for a while. At the time, a friend said to me, “Your unwillingness to address this issue has not only allowed the issue to continue and negatively affect other employees Kevin, but it has cast a negative light on your leadership in the eyes of your employees.”

What I was not seeing was that other employees were looking at the same issue from a totally different perspective. They viewed me as a leader in the company, but as a leader who did nothing to curb/address/stop an issue that was impacting their daily work lives. Therefore, I clearly was not much of a leader.

It smacked me right it the face once I got out from behind my own insecurities.

We all seek leaders, professionally and personally, in one aspect or another of our lives. Be it our parents, our bosses, our government, our teachers, even celebrities. Each of us have people who look to us in the same way. You don’t have to be a boss or a manager at work. As parents, our kids look to us for direction and watch (very carefully) how we handle conflict. How we address conflict/issues shapes the way they act or react. It can either build trust . . . or erode it.

I don’t know about you, but I am pretty sure I am not in the minority when I say, “I hate conflict.” We all do. But it’s part of life. How quickly we respond to, and how specifically we address conflict in the workplace, is critical to how you and I will be perceived as a leader within our organizations. Conflict doesn’t have to be angry and confrontational. That’s a mistake too many people make.

Business Foundations are no different from Family Foundations. To be solid, they must be built upon leaders who have their employees and/or families trust in every aspect. We get confused and misguided when we think that a leader is someone everyone likes. It’s not. It’s gaining their trust through your actions, often in the toughest situations, that gains their admiration.

I know many great leaders in this industry, and I am fortunate to call many of them mentors and friends. I am thankful for those times when they have “smacked me in the face.”

Hope you all have a great weekend with you families.

Be well.

–Kevin
http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

p.s. Not only do elephants eat a lot, but they also … a lot (and everywhere).

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How Your Eyes Move on a Website [Cool Inforgraphic]

August 13th, 2014 COMMENTS

Single Grain designed this excellent infographic that explains:

  1. How our eyes move on a website or blog,
  2. How web design influences eye movement and interaction, and
  3. Proposes tips for creating an effective website design.

I thought this might be helpful to Classic Distributors redesigning their website. It’s a topic I hear almost every day since so many distributors have branded versions of Exhibit Design Search.

Enjoy!

how-your-eyes-move-on-a-website-infographic-internet-marketing-with-blog-optimization

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com

**********************************************

Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions. Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100 or www.classicexhibits.com.

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Hot Hot Hot!: Word on the Street — August 4th thru August 8th

August 9th, 2014 COMMENTS
Kevin Carty, VP Classic Exhibits

Kevin Carty, VP Classic Exhibits

Summer Business

There is a heat wave in the Pacific NW. I mean HOT . . . at least for us. Mid-80’s to mid-90’s kinda HOT. Which if you have ever lived or visited here, you know we don’t get that very often.

Now for the cheesy segue. All this HOT weather has me thinking we are living in the Islands, and wouldn’t you know it, we are building and quoting A LOT of islands right now.

We usually have a nice mix of inline vs island orders, but the increase in island builds and quotes this summer has been noticeable. Exhibitors, namely your clients, are stepping back into island footprints after some trepidation during the recession. With the advent of more islands, there comes a clear sense that tradeshow programs have taken a step forward in many marketing plans.

I mention programs because with all the island work and quoting, it’s not like 10 x 10, 10 x 20, and 10 x 30 displays have slipped. Quite the opposite actually. They too are on the increase this summer. So it appears that clients, while still a little cautious, are planning more program additions to their tradeshow marketing this fall. A great sign!

It's Bigger This Summer

It’s Bigger This Summer

One clear indication is the workload. This is the first summer in 6-7 years that our entire shop crew worked full-time in June and July. And that really says something, considering we have two shifts. It’s a great feeling and nice indicator of where we are headed as an industry.

In past years, I have written in early August blogs about how it’s hard to get back into the full swing after the slow summer months. This year, there are no cobwebs, since we haven’t had the traditional summer lull. As a matter of fact, July was our second largest booked sales month this year. That is a sentence I NEVER EVER expected to write.

How has the summer been for you? I can predict many of the answers based on our conversations, but I am curious nonetheless. PLEASE SHARE what your summer business has been like and your outlook on business this fall.

Hope you had a great summer weekend with your family.

Be well.

–Kevin
http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

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Vibrant Color and Stunning Contrast Gallery

August 6th, 2014 COMMENTS
Glenna Martin, Graphic Design Manager

Glenna Martin, Graphic Design Manager

Graphic Inspiration Galleries

Several months ago, Glenna Martin, our Graphic Design Manager, created the first Graphic Inspiration GalleryGraphics that Complement the Display. Glenna pulled 38 Past 5 Days photos to show effective examples of structure and graphics. If you haven’t read her notes, I urge you to review them. You may want to consider directing graphic designers to the galleries if they are unfamiliar with trade show graphics.

Glenna has created another gallery, Vibrant Color and Stunning Contrast. This gallery discusses color strategy and image placement. As you click-through the photos and read the text, Glenna identifies how colors serve to create a cohesive image and guide your eye to the important images and text. It makes so much sense to a non-graphic designer once you read her notes, but it takes a talented graphic designer to build it. See all 30 photos in the Graphic Inspiration Gallery in the Resource menu. Here are a few examples to entice you.

Gorgeous example of how wonderful backlighting can showcase rich color.

Great combination of white space and high color saturation in the photo. The white space allows the logo to stand out while the bright green wings frame the entire design nicely.

The wide gamut of bright colors give this iPad stand WOW factor in a small amount of space.

Black and white photo with color photos set forward really showcases the product in this display’s graphics.

We welcome your comments.

–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com

**********************************************

Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions. Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100 or www.classicexhibits.com.

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