Trade Show Tips

Trade show properties going to two or more locations:

In a situation where part of your booth properties are going on to one show, perhaps part onto another show, and the remainder back to the warehouse, we have a few suggestions to avoid the risk of pieces ending up in the wrong locations.

First, ask your exhibit carrier for color-coded labels.  Many exhibit carriers offer labels in a variety of colors for this very reason.  Thus all the pieces shipping to Show A can have green labels, all those shipping to Show B can have red labels, and all the pieces shipping to the warehouse can have orange labels.  The color-coded labels will also help by identifying pieces that should be loaded/unloaded first.  For example, if the entire shipment is going to one destination and you label the pieces with different color labels, you can label the ones, which must come off the truck first with one color label.  Then use a different color label for the next pieces that are required and so on. 

The second step, which you can take to help ensure that everything goes onto the right destination is to simply group the shipments by destination at the booth site.  Put all items destined for one spot together in one corner and items destined for a different destination in another corner.  This likewise, is where the color-coded labels will help to readily identify the split shipment.   

Skid boxes, equipment, or exhibit properties:

We recommend that the skids are no more than 48" wide and 58" high.  This is particularly true if you are shipping more than four skids.  Using this size or smaller will allow for maximum utilization of van space, as well as making it easier for drayage contractor to handle. 

Scheduling Labor:

Scheduling labor for 10:00 a.m. when you have a targeted move in time of 8:00 a.m. is generally not a good idea.  You may get lucky and have your exhibit properties at your booth site by 10:00 a.m. but chances are that you won't.  It is our recommendation to schedule labor no earlier than 1:00 p.m. in this case.  If it is an extremely large show, and you have time flexibility, you may want to actually schedule labor for 8:00 a.m. the next morning.  This will ensure that you don't have workers on the clock standing around waiting for things to deliver to the booth.  This will help save you from wasting valuable dollars.