What has emerged in the past decade in the exhibit world is a paradigm shift from emphasis on custom builds to now a more modular/custom designs. This has been brought about by a couple major factors.
• Logistics of owning custom exhibits
The more traditional custom builds from the 90’s and the first half of the last decade were very heavy and burdensome from a logistical standpoint. This meant to the consumer a very hefty price tag after the sale of your exhibit. Custom houses strategies and business plans were built on this platform. They made smaller margins on the sale of an exhibit, but made large margins on the logistics of the exhibit. Storage, transportation, refurbishment, travel, and installation and dismantle were major profit centers for custom houses.
• Green initiative
Because of the heavy and cumbersome custom exhibits they just are not very green friendly. From the materials used in the exhibit to the transportation and logistical issues these type of exhibits just do not meet the requirements of a green build.
• Economy
We have endured a very difficult decade. Small start up companies to major corporations have had to analyze all budgets within their organizations. And of course the marketing budget were slashed in many cases. Because of this a more light weight modular solution once not even considered has gained in popularity and has become a viable option for all ends of the business spectrum. Because the SMART companies understand that in down economic times the need to turn up the marketing message is critical! So by saving money on the back end of these exhibits your could stretch your marketing budget
• Durability
Custom exhibits based off the number of shows have a shelf life of typically 3 years. You are then faced with a large refurbishment bill or a brand new build. The modular/custom exhibits products last for well over 10 years and beyond. And because the exhibits are modular by nature you can use these in many different configurations
• Reconfigured exhibit
Once again since these are “modular” exhibits your 30×30 island can also become a 20×20, 10×20, and 10 foot exhibit. And with the shows getting smaller and more targeted by nature you are not forced into a large exhibit space by the dimensions of your exhibit.
There is no question that the lighter weight modular solutions are here to stay and will continue to dominate in the future. The question to the consumer now is how do I take a pre-engineered system and stand out. The best comparison would be found from the housing industry. Custom builds allow you the full spectrum of options. Where pre-fabricated houses in a planned community may offer 4 different designs to choose from with various finishing options.
So the challenge in today’s exhibit designs is how to put those finishing options on those prefabricated pieces that this industry offers. So understanding your options under these new criteria becomes your biggest challenge.
The following are a few suggestions on how to look different in a prefabricated world of exhibit design.
• Look for exhibit houses that consistently upgrade and develop new prefabricated product lines. Skyline for example has released 3 major new product lines in the last year alone. By allowing you different modular product lines to choose from you can stand out architecturally by taking advantage of new systems. These products typically take 4-5 years to penetrate the marketplace so by getting them while they are new you can stand out. Click here to view the three new product lines that Skyline offers.
• Look at rental options. Great way to change your appearance year to year. And if you specifically ask to have your graphics designed to work for 2 or 3 different options you can keep your costs down in upcoming events.
• If you want to bring in a more sophisticate custom look you can design your work stations in the more traditional custom approach. There will be added weight but since 90% of your exhibit will still be modular this added cost may be acceptable.
• Bring more lighting options into your design. This can bring a visual element to give you that more custom look.
• Make your visual/audio presentations areas more creative. Many times this is an afterthought in design. Make it a requirement.
Most exhibit houses have accepted this paradigm shift and now call themselves “Custom/ Modular” exhibit houses. In reality a more apt description would be “Modular/Custom” exhibit house. It’s just does not sound as sexy. But bottom line the bulk of designs being done right not are 90% modular and 10% custom. Embrace that philosophy and make sure that you use all of the advantages of a lightweight “Modular/Custom” design in your next exhibit.
Chuck Boyle
CEO, Skyline Northern California
Filed under: Chuck Boyle, Custom Modular, Show Tips, trade show booth designs, Trade show convention, trade show marketing | No Comments »
The scene with Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty in the rain on his knees challenging god to throw everything he’s got at him after a series of life challenging events took him to the brink came to mind this morning after a series of events had me wondering if I should offer the same challenge. I rolled my ankle, my truck wouldn’t start, my so called smart phone stopped receiving email, my iPod froze and wouldn’t turn off, the commute was worse than usual after my already late start, my shoelace broke and because of the previously mentioned mishaps I skipped my morning coffee.
Conversation with God
Now I know in the grand scheme of things these are all pretty petty and insignificant things to complain about in comparison to the plight of others who aren’t as fortunate as I am but it’s only for the sake of this blog that I whine like a baby to prove a point. That point being, no matter how much you prepare yourself for your day, things inevitably crop up that challenge you on a daily basis. Some worse than others but they all challenge you to either avoid the problem or hit the problem head on. Life is dynamic and challenging as is exhibiting. No matter how detail orientated you are or how much due diligence you put into making sure your trade show experience is a smooth one there are inevitably challenges that are going to confront you. So it is in your best interest to prepare for those unforeseen challenges because ultimately the way you are going to be measured is not how you make excuses for what happened but how you rise up and circumnavigate those challenges. If any exhibit house is telling you there won’t be any problems they are not being honest with you. An exhibit house should be measured not only by their design or breadth of products but by their ability to respond to challenges and provide the most seamless trade show experience possible for you. Ask your exhibit house how they plan to deal with an issue that comes up at a show in Orlando Florida when their office is 3000 miles away. It’s a conversation worth having.
As for me, I made it to work, my ankle is elevated, my shoe is untied, I’m going to change my fuel filter in my truck at lunch after I get some coffee and writing this blog was both therapeutic for me and hopefully informative for you! Anybody know how to unfreeze an iPod?
Todd Anderson
Exhibit Consultant
Skyline Northern California
Skyline Displays Bay Area, Inc.
Filed under: Show Tips, Todd Anderson, Todd's Blog, trade show booth designs, trade show marketing | No Comments »
We are all familiar with tradeshow’s original lead retrieval system, “the fishbowl.” Now in 2011 the fishbowl has evolved in different shapes, sizes, and even married with giveaways to lure “fish” in. It still does the same thing all these years and mans itself while waiting for business cards to be dropped in.
What is the end result of this saavy device? A stack of business cards from who knows who and majority of them not your target.
The end result can be fine tuned vs. completely eliminating it as there still are benefits. It virtually requires no cost, does not need a substancial amount of square footage in your space, and can sometimes stimulate conversation. It is your silent sales person, but what is inside is all chance.
So how can you enhance your fishbowl?
Focus on a giveaway that is different from the rest and is more of an interest to your target
Make sure you giveaway rule states “does not require to be present to redeem’”
If you opt for no giveaway, try multiple fishbowls or lead retrieval boxes
75% of the time electronic lead retrieval systems are used, however some exhibitors miss the pre planning opportunity to customize the questionnaire on the machine. Majority of the time this is a free service offered from the vendor
Create an “interactive experience” to gain leads, time and budget will required to make this successful
All in all, please keep the fishbowls around! Your next big client may be in there.
For ideas on lead retrieval feel free to email me at jlorias@skybay.com
Jessica Lynn Orias | Exhibit Consultant | 44111 Fremont Blvd. Fremont, CA 94538 | ph. 510.933.2212 | jlorias@skybay.com |fx. 510.490.9949 | www.skybay.com
Filed under: Experiential Marketing, Jessica's Blog, Show Tips | No Comments »
One of these days try out this little exercise. When you get to work quiz your self on how many billboard graphics you remember seeing on your commute to work. Then try to remember the company name and what they do, what they were selling or what they’re message was. Companies spend thousands if not millions of dollars every year marketing on billboards yet I couldn’t recall a single billboard graphic on my way to work this morning in stop-and-go traffic. I take the same forty five minute route to work every morning and I’m positive I glance at just about every billboard, yet I can’t recall the content from a single graphic. Billboards typically have a limited amount of time to catch a commuter’s attention and communicate their message. How effective does that sound to you?
Now think about your trade show exhibit and graphics along those same lines. Companies spend thousands of dollars for a two to three day show yet I can walk an entire trade show floor and only recall a few exhibits that grabbed my attention. You have a limited amount of time, let’s say an unscientific five to ten seconds, to grab a prospects attention and make an impression among a sea of inline and island exhibits. Your graphics play a vital role in achieving those goals yet it appears a majority of exhibitors spend most of their time scrutinizing the exhibit components, booth configuration and requirements while treating the graphics as a second tier component. Very few people will remember how your exhibit was built but they will remember a uniquely designed, carefully targeted and creative graphic.
Bring the graphics into the equation and make it an integral part of your exhibit design. Think about what your goal is at the show, whether it’s to create a brand presence, promote your product and or service, attract prospects or all of the above, and design your graphics around that. Introduce vivid color schemes, catchy slogans and or large high definition graphics that will catch a prospects eye an isle or two away. The whole purpose of your graphics is to grab your prospective target audience’s attention. If you are exhibiting at a more non-specific industry show then focus on the message of who you are and what you do. If you’re exhibiting at an industry specific show then tailor your message around what it is that distinguishes you from your competitors and why they should take a look at you instead of your neighbors. Keep your messaging and text to a minimum as people tend to shy away from busy looking booths and gravitate towards simple, clean and inviting looking booths – again the goal is to real them in, and then provide them with the details via verbal presentations, product demonstrations or brochures. Here are some billboard images for your inspiration.
Miele
I-Phone and I-Tunes
Absolut Ritual
DHL
2D Graphics being tied to the 3D Sorroundings
Coop's Paint
Oliver Khann
Todd Anderson
Exhibit Consultant
Skyline Northern California
Skyline Displays Bay Area, Inc.
Filed under: Graphics: Tips and Tricks, Intelligent Design, Show Tips, Todd Anderson, Todd's Blog | No Comments »
In December 2010, a tax bill was approved for business capital tax deduction. If an asset is acquired and placed in service between September 9th and December 31, 2011, this asset can be fully expensed at the end of the year. This will create a tremendous cash flow advantage since the tax benefit can be recognized immediately instead of an installment each year over the lifetime of the asset. Please note that this only applies to new properties and there is no limit to the purchase amount.
In 2012, the bonus depreciation will be reduced to 50%.
For used assets, section 179 is still available. For 2011, the current law will allow a limit of $500,000 . This will be reduced to $25,000 in 2012.
Again, it’s important to remember that good must be delivered by 12/31/2011 in order to be qualified for the 2011 benefit.
Read More
Filed under: Show Tips, trade show booth designs, trade show marketing | No Comments »
If a picture tells a thousand words, then with 30 frames a second, a 1-minute YouTube video can tell 108,000 words! No wonder marketers have harnessed the power of video to entice people to visit their trade show booths.
Let’s look at 10 examples of good pre-show, at-show, and post-show promotions posted on YouTube. We’ll see what they include in their videos to drive more booth traffic, and finish with some suggestions on other ways you can drive more viewers to your trade show promotional videos.
Filed under: Creative Marketing, Pre-Show and At Show Marketing, Sarmistha Tarafder, Show Tips | No Comments »
Ask and ye shall receive! One of the more frequent requests we get as Exhibit Consultants is for a portable solution that combines graphics with audio visual capabilities. Until now your best solution was typically a standalone monitor mount that has that “add-on” look. The Mirage Monitor Mount is a great way to seamlessly add digital video impact to your Mirage Graphic display. Add the flexibility and movement of a digital monitor while maintaining the clean look Mirage is known for. The monitor mount easily hooks onto the Mirage channel bars and ships inside the transporter case. Depending on your frame you could add one, two, three or up to four monitors! And for those of you that just basically accept there is a chance your own personal monitors might be damaged in transit Skyline is now offering a sturdy Monitor Case for your monitor and audio visual equipment. Skyline innovation and creativity has once again taken another mundane exhibit solution and made it compelling and unique again!
Watch the movie and let us know what you think.
Pop-up Digital Display
Todd Anderson
Exhibit Consultant
Skyline Northern California
Filed under: Creative Marketing, Graphics: Tips and Tricks, Intelligent Design, New Products, News, Show Tips, Technology, Todd Anderson, Todd's Blog, trade show booth designs | No Comments »
Dfine Inc. headquartered out of San Jose, CA has recently unveiled their new branding at the North American Spine Society tradeshow in Orlando, FL. Dfine is a medical device company that helps patients with back pain due to spine fractures and other sources of bone pain.
For their debut, Dfine increased their booth size from a 10×20 inline up to a 20×20 island. The new design is open and inviting considering 360 degree exhibit accessibility. Their color schemes also shifted from very deep hues and rich colors to a simplistic white background accentuated with blue stroke lines. They followed Skyline’s number one rule for island designs, maximize height. Their vision was realized by using three large vertical billboard style towers. A hint of backlighting was also incorporated in the exhibit design with graphic light boxes on the exterior of the all white closet, and Skyline lit tapered tables. The finishing touch to complete the Dfine experience was their choice of an ivory carpet which was encompassed within their space.
Inital greyscale concept – Front View
Final design- front
Initial greyscale concept – Back View
Final design- back
“Thanks for the excellent support during the tradeshow. The booth looked really good. Everyone commented about this. And I believe it helped us get 3X more leads than we had at NASS last year!” -Ernest Lopez, Product Manager
“CNS wrapped up without issue yesterday and we did receive several compliments regarding the booth design, branding and layout from other exhibitors.” -Ben Murdock, V.P. of Marketing
For re-branding questions feel free to contact me at jlorias@skybay.com
Jessica Lynn Orias | Exhibit Consultant | 44111 Fremont Blvd. Fremont, CA 94538 | ph. 510.933.2212 | jlorias@skybay.com |fx. 510.490.9949 | www.skybay.com
Filed under: Brand loyalty, Island Design, Jessica's Blog, Success Stories | No Comments »
3 Reasons why you should think of renting
1. Recurring Cost
The recurring costs associated with a purchased booth include costs of warehousing the booth, its refurbishment from time to time and labor and material costs to set it up. Before committing to undertaking these costs, it is important to be sure that you are really going to use the same booth again. If you rent a booth, you need not worry about your big one time investment or associated costs as many rental packages offer booth setup, dismantle, and shipping service along with the rented booth.
2. Customization and Flexibility
Trade show booth rentals offer you the advantage of customizing the trade show booth every time you participate in a trade show. Moreover, if you are renting a booth, you can even go ahead and rent an elborate one for an important trade show that will deliver the needed impact for that trade show.
Sometimes different trade shows also have varying requirements in terms of booth size, height and structure, in which case again you will need the flexibility of being able to choose a booth as per required specifications.
3. Scalability and Portability
Renting booths also allow you scalability, when you would like participate in two trade shows at the same time. In addition, you save on the transportation cost of the booth, which can especially be exorbitant if your trade show location is overseas or very far away from your office location.
Renting a booth for a trade show is a win-win for the company under most circumstances – it lowers the cost, it gives you the advantages to customize for different market segments and best of all there is no cost of ownership.
Filed under: Banner Stands, Exhibit Rentals, Island Design, News, Show Tips, Success Stories | No Comments »
The summer months are approaching and a lot of tradeshow teams can take a breather from the big shows. How do you rate your post show work? Here are some tips that help for when everyone is back.
LEADS – Now this is the ultimate reason exhibitors attend shows, for the leads and prospects. This group of people should be nurtured in a special way. Remember they have an advantage that you can leverage for a very long time, face to face interaction. Keep them and do not forget them, remember what they wore, what city they are from, and what freebie they took. They may not turn into a ROI figure immediately, but the constant contact after the show and referring to the show will just grow a relationship. This is where your sales team needs to shine and take the lead.
BILLS- This is the fun part and always needs a fine tooth comb. Expensing, reconciling, balances due, costing budgets are all dealt within a variable window after the show. You can close out your event immediately or up to 6 months if there are any post show issues. Most of the time show management invoices are hard to read, but do go through each line (yes that roll of carpet tape) and if any are questionable, most show managements have online chat services which make it very easy to get answers (IE. www.ges.com/chat)
Here’s a spreadsheet that may help organize budgets: http://www.skyline.com/files/xls/tst_budget.xls
UNPACKING- All the excess has come back, you were really hoping nothing would, but they did and in six months we will forget how much is left, what and where they are. Remember to always mark boxes once they come back of what show it can be used at next. This will help avoid the double work in the future.
For more tips, you can contact me directly at Skyline Exhibits – jlorias@skybay.com
Jessica Lynn Orias | Exhibit Consultant | 44111 Fremont Blvd. Fremont, CA 94538 | ph. 510.933.2212 | jlorias@skybay.com | fx. 510.490.9949 | www.skybay.com
Filed under: Jessica's Blog, Show Tips | No Comments »
