The Exhibitor Advocate recently published a 2022 Material Handling and Labor Rate Survey. The survey is an important benchmarking tool that provides industry stakeholders with cost comparisons of average labor and material handling rates across 16 major US cities. The survey was previously conducted by Trade Show Week and then EDPA through 2017. The key data findings in the survey show that exhibitor costs continue to rise. Installation and dismantle labor, electrical labor and material handling are outpacing inflation some by more than 30%.
To most of the industry, this isn’t surprising. We’ve been
feeling these increases for a while. It just happens to be that now we have the
data to confirm our suspicions. Every year, exhibitors have seen prices go up,
and we get more and more creative on how to manage our costs. We work with our exhibit
partners to try to figure out how to stretch every dollar. We compromise on our
booth size, the products we choose to bring, and the way we promote or showcase
our brand. I’ve sometimes heard stakeholders say, if exhibitors don’t want to
pay the increasing fees, they should walk away from the show. But it’s not that
easy. Trade shows are important to our business. There are interactions that
happen here that are unparalleled. We support our associations, and we want to
be part of the community that naturally occurs at these events.
Download the Survey (FREE)
There is more and more scrutiny on these events and the
budgets that go along with them. Are we getting a ROI? Can we return from the
show and explain the value of being there even if it was the intangibles that
made it successful? Rising costs are an important part of the equation, not the
whole equation. We must focus on the overall value. As costs go up, so too must
value. Lately, we’ve seen rising costs outpace inflation and value. It’s why
The Exhibitor Advocate exists. We started this non-profit trade association to
amplify the voice of exhibitors. We’re not here to tell any stakeholder what
they should charge. We are here to share pain points and data in an attempt to
improve this important marketing channel. Labor and material handling rates are
one of those areas. As an industry, we must look at these challenges and work
together to find solutions to the value equation.
Having information available to the industry, like the Material
Handling and Labor Rate Survey, is just the first step. As we all know,
data is power. With this information, exhibitors can more accurately budget for
upcoming shows and plan their participation accordingly. Show Managers can
evaluate and compare their exhibitor rates to city averages. Facilities can
utilize competitive exhibitor rates to attract shows to their destination. And
so much more! Having the data is one step. Taking action is the next. This only
works when we come together to address these issues and balance the value
equation. Share this data with your network and support exhibitors in speaking
up on what they need to be successful. If the exhibitor is successful, so too
is the industry.
Download your copy of the 2022 Material Handling and Labor
Rate Survey at www.ExhibitorAdvocacy.com.
Every group has its own rules and etiquette. Trade shows are no different whether you are an exhibitor, attendee, or an industry insider. While many behaviors might seem normal to you as a member of the trade show community, others are downright bizarre to those who rarely set foot in a trade show hall.
Here are 40Things You Do @ Trade Shows You Would Never Do Anywhere Else. It was originally much longer, but this is a PG-rated blog.
Drinking doesn’t count. We know you drink. You just don’t always start at lunch. And for the sake of discretion (and possible litigation), we’ve ignored trade shows where other forms of “relaxation” are legal.
Feel free to contribute in the comments. And enjoy!
Wear Matching Unisex Clothing
Throw trash in the aisle and expect others to clean it up
Spend $8.50 for a 12 oz. bottle of Aquafina
Bribe someone to look the other direction. Brag about it later
Have Accounting panic because you just max-out your credit card on one transaction (drayage perhaps?)
Wear matching unisex clothing
Take anything that appears to have a value of less than $10 (candy, hats, pens, mugs…)
Share “steamy” industry gossip with competitors
Chat with 500 strangers in 72 hours
Gush about the double-padded carpet in booth #1108
Buy a gaudy new belt in the casino shop for $165 (after forgetting to pack one)
Spend $350 to Vacuum Your Carpet
Party until 3 am with Steve in Accounting, Larry in HR, Melissa in Engineering, and Rebecca in Quality Control
Bum breath mints from strangers
Arrive at work at 11 am. Leave at 3:30 pm
Get agitated when someone walks across the corner of your booth space
Take a Lyft to Lowe’s or Best Buy at 9 am
Pretend you don’t smell that awful face-melting smell
Debate the existential meaning of portable, modular, and custom
Act interested in (insert topic)
Complain about how much it costs to vacuum 400 sq. ft. of carpet. Vow to do something about it
Allow strangers to take your stuff without a receipt for three days and not know where it is, how it’s getting stored (or if it will be returned undamaged), and that you have zero ability to get it back early.
Steam Your Clothing in the Shower
Let someone point a scanning device or smartphone camera in the general vicinity of your chest and crotch. Repeatedly.
Be convinced a 15-minute conversation will lead to $500,000 in new business
Assemble a 3D structure that costs somewhere between a new car and a McMansion, only to disassemble it three days later
Spend 20% of your entire annual marketing budget over five days. Never calculate the ROI
Compare the work ethic in Philadelphia, Boston, NYC, Chicago, Orlando, Anaheim, San Francisco, and Las Vegas to the work ethic in your hometown. Vow to do something about it.
Hang your clothing in the bathroom with the shower running for 30 minutes to steam out the wrinkles
Explain, once again, to your family and friends that it’s a “business trip” and not a vacation
Get visibly excited about the phrase “traffic congestion”
Guard your giveaways like a momma bear (Day #1). Beg show labor to take them in bulk (Day #3)
Sneak off to the bathroom just to find a quiet place to work
Hide in a Storage Closet
Hide in a storage closet to scarf down a Starbuck’s scone, while dusting your co-workers coats, purses, and briefcases with gooey crumbs
Judge people based solely on their trade show name badge
Convince your boss that the 300 fishbowl leads are new clients clamoring for your product (and not the iPad giveaway)
Pretend the President’s son is not still drunk. Allow him to talk to potential clients and competitors (I know I said I wouldn’t include drinking but this one was too good to exclude)
Spend 3 days with 100 of your best friends and not speak or see them again for 362 days
Fly from the Midwest in January to Las Vegas, Orlando, or New Orleans and NEVER leave the hotel/convention center complex
Reintroduce yourself to the same person three times. Act embarrassed
Toss the sales literature you carefully collected over three days so there’s more room for tschotskes. Pretend it’s for your children
Be REALLY, REALLY EXCITED to leave Las Vegas or Orlando!
Finally… Wonder (after scanning the room and mumbling quietly to yourself) why the Federal Government hasn’t filed RICO charges against certain segments of the trade show industry. Vow to do something about it.
That’s it. Please share your “Trade Show Things” below. And thanks for playing along.
Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, hybrid, and custom exhibit solutions, including SuperNova LED Lightboxes. 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.
Recently I attended a charity
event with a social mixer. Several introductions later,I was conversing with a CEO about trade shows.
He grumbled about drayage, shipping, and labor. I sympathized. Then he shifted to ROI.His company’s trade show ROI was terrible. Not surprisingly, his company didn’t have clear trade show objectives or a pre-show or post-show strategy.
It Got Me Thinking
Are we asking our clients the wrong questions?
Perhaps we shouldn’t be asking exhibitors about their trade show goals or objectives. Instead, we should encourage them to share everything they don’t want to happen. In other words, ask them to describe their trade show hell. We know the list will be LONG and DETAILED, and include topics like terrible booth traffic, the wrong prospects, worthless lead management. Or disengaged staff, ugly graphics, insufficient storage, or simply a boring booth.
Suddenly, your boring 5–10-minute conversation about goals becomes an intense (and entertaining) 30-minute session about their trade show nightmares. Guess what… They’ve told you what they don’t want. Nowguide them toward the solutions they need. I suspect they’ll be more receptive. And the conversation will be a lot more fun!
I challenge you to test this technique. What do you have to lose? You just might turn a disengaged trade show marketer into a dynamic trade show marketing cheerleader. Sans the pom poms.
Classic Exhibits has been designing and building solutions since 1993. We’ve been honored as an Exhibitor Magazine Find-It Top 40 Exhibit Producers and an Event Marketer Fab 50 Exhibit Builders multiple times. Along with numerous Portable Modular Awards.
With over 200 Distributor Partners throughout North America, there’s a Classic representative close by to assist with any rental project. Contact us today whether you need an inline rental display, a double-deck island exhibit, or a contemporary kiosk rental. At Classic, we’re not just different. We’re better.
Most marketing professionals will hint at it. Others will whine and grumble about trade shows. Then there are those who are honest. They don’t understand trade show marketing. That’s not surprising. It’s rarely taught in college on either the undergraduate or graduate level. At best, it’s mentioned in passing in a textbook. I know. After earning an MBA, I went to work for an exhibit builder. On Day 1, I was clueless. Many years later, I’m still learning.
I’d love to say that trade show marketing is marketing but that’s not entirely true. It’s different in the same way that event marketing is different. Face-to-face engagements are less structured, more unpredictable, and frankly, messier than other forms of marketing. And, depending on the company and their goals, it can be difficult to measure the results.
3D Structures vs. 2D Screens
Marketing has traditionally been 2D: print and television, brochures, websites, etc. It’s also been static and somewhat controllable. Trade show marketing or face-to-face marketing is as much about human interaction as the message or the branding. It’s about creating conversations before, during, and after the show.
Then there’s the booth design. It’s outside most marketers’ comfort zone, especially the first two, three, or four times. The dollars involved make it even scarier. It’s easy to panic when the costs exceed six digits for even a modest island exhibit. Fortunately, great exhibit houses have amazing exhibit designers who have years of experience asking the right questions and guiding marketers to the best possible solution to meet their trade show objectives.
Variable Measurements
Unlike print, television, or web ads, there are no standards or no reliable sources for subscriptions, ratings, or clicks at trade shows. Counting leads works, but it’s a crude measurement. More experienced exhibitors track pre-show promotions, leads, and sales through the entire sales channel, but they are the exception.
That doesn’t mean there are no quantitative measurements. Lead tracking software has become very sophisticated as a tool during and after the show, which makes gathering data, exporting it, and tracking leads much easier. But like all measurements, it’s easy to set goals. The hard part is being disciplined about entering the data and then reviewing it during and after the show. For example, here’s a typical conversation one week after a trade show.
Sales Manager: “I see from the show leads that you chatted with Bill Burrows from XYZ company. That’s GREAT! We’ve been trying to get their business for years. What did you discuss?”
Salesperson: “Does the lead indicate the day and time I spoke to Bill? XYZ? Do they make sprockets? I think we talked about supply chain challenges for them and opportunities for vendors but I don’t recall the details.”
Competitors
Trade shows are truly a competitive sport when it comes to marketing. It’s the one time you and your competitors are all in the same room, all vying for the attention of the same audience. You see what they’re doing… and vice versa.
It pays to be alert throughout the show. What products or services are your competitors promoting? What’s the traffic like in their booth? Do you have any shared customers? If so, what can they tell you about your competitors. And it’s not just during show hours. You would be surprised how “relaxed” some competitors become during social events and mixers. The best information at a trade show often comes from conversations off the show floor.
Uncontrollable Variables
No one likes unpredictability when it comes to their marketing campaign and implementation. Yet, despite one’s best efforts, trade shows can be chaotic. Freight doesn’t arrive on time. Items are broken. Flights are cancelled. An exhibitor on the far side of the exhibit hall is giving away beer and sandwiches. The exhibitor nearest you has their music so loud you can’t talk to potential clients without shouting.
It should go without saying that you can minimize surprises with advanced planning. Staging the booth to check for damage or missing parts. Leaving a day early or staggering flights. Shipping the booth to the advanced warehouse. But most importantly, communicating with potential clients at the show WELL in ADVANCE.
Unfamiliarity/Knowledge
Most medium-sized companies participate in two to five trade shows per year. Some as few as one. That makes it challenging to become an expert quickly. Plus, each show may not only have a different audience, but also different rules, layout, and resources. Too often, when the internal “expert” understands how to maximize the company’s trade show efforts, that person is assigned to other responsibilities. Then someone new has to start fresh.
Sales and Marketing
Before, during, and after a trade show, sales and marketing must be dance partners. You’re a team. Face-to-face marketing requires sales skills and marketing expertise perfectly choreographed.
No matter how much sales and marketing claim to play nice, there’s always a wall at most companies. It’s that wall that dooms most exhibitors from fully benefiting from their trade show program. Successful exhibitors do two things well. They include everyone in the planning and they set clear, specific, and achievable goals. There should be no surprises and no excuses at every stage, especially once the show closes and everyone heads home.
Trade show marketing almost never leads to sales before the show. At the show, it creates opportunities. After the show is when the rubber meets the road and sales are closed.
How to Become a Trade Show Marketing Expert
Go to trade shows as often as possible as an attendee. Ask questions and listen to what works and what doesn’t. Plus, be willing to take classes at industry events about trade show marketing, even if your goal isn’t to become a trade show certified manager.
Rely on your local trade show professional. If they only know how to sell you a display, but not how to succeed at trade show marketing, then find someone else.
Tap into industry consultants. These folks know how to avoid the potholes and the meandering paths so often taken by trade show exhibitors. You can find them in LinkedIn, Google, or by simply asking your local vendor.
Plan to succeed. Create a comprehensive plan that targets pre-show, show, and post-show marketing and put specific goals in place for each one.
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.
Trade Show Marketing isn’t complicated. It can be reduced to three simple rules. Everything else is a business decision. Here’s the difference: Buying a 10 ft. portable vs. 20 ft. custom island — that’s a business decision. Staying at the Hilton vs. the Quality Inn — that’s a business decision. Getting a professional presenter for the booth — that’s a marketing decision.
Confused? Here’s ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about trade show marketing to be successful.
Rule #1. Problem and Solution.
Your message must state a problem and a solution, either explicitly or implicitly. Attendees are there to find solutions. They may not know they have a problem until you provide the solution. When Chrysler introduced the minivan back in the 80’s, their marketing focused on showing families that their vehicle was either too big or too small. In an attempt to be clever or creative, we forget we’re selling something. Selling is all about identifying needs and pains… and then providing the right solution.
Rule #2. Get Noticed.
It’s called a “show” for a reason. You spent money to be seen at the show. BE SEEN! Does that mean dressing in a clown suit and standing in a booth made of balloons? No, unless that’s your culture (or you are selling balloons). Most companies approach trade show exhibits and graphics like they’re buying a mid-priced sedan: “I’d like a Honda Accord in silver.” Take a chance. You want to be different. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be practical and contain everything you need to showcase your product or service. Even Melba Toast doesn’t have to be Melba Toast at a trade show.
Does your product lend itself to a professional presenter? That’s one way to get noticed.
Pre-show marketing. There’s no better way of getting seen than by developing a pre-show campaign that drives attendees to your booth. In today’s Internet-driven, social media-focused market, getting someone’s attention before the show is as important, if not more important, than being seen at the show.
Rule #3. The Right People.
If you bring ten people to the show, at least six are the wrong ones. Why?
They don’t know the products and services
They don’t have charismatic people skills
They are not personally invested in the show results
They did not participte in the pre- or post-show planning.
Two out of four doesn’t cut it. A trade show isn’t a vacation. It’s a strategic investment.
You’ll often hear that 80% of trade show leads are wasted. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that bringing the right employees to the show solves that problem. The right employees won’t let a lead sit on someone’s desk or be forgotten on a jump drive. They’re relentless about post-show follow-up because they understand how much time, effort, and money went into planning and participating in the trade show.
Want to be a trades how star? Focus on these three rules. Everything else, while important to your bottom line, your ego, or your HR Department, is just a business decision.
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
