No Directions In This Box!
You arrive at the show, you are proud, you are after all an Exhibitor, says so right on the badge! You get in before anyone else! Or you are running like mad trying to get to your booth for set-up?
One tiny little issue, the so-called straight-forward pop-up crate is missing wheels, latches, and it looks different from the last time. OH C>>P! where are the instructions? Wait…how hard can this be, right?
As you begin to empty the contents you find a variety of obscure pieces that you have never seen in a booth crate, there is also a larger issue; how does the web part work? After spinning the spider web in each direction, and having said every expletive in the book from pinching your fingers trying to get the ding dang thing open in the first place, your patience is dwindling. Now the jerks (competition) next door have finished their booth and are walking by watching you as they leave for the day/evening; this is getting ugly! You have so many pieces that are supposed to connect, how? That’s it you are calling!!!
I had many a late night or early morning call asking me to go through the step-by-step process of how to set-up the booth with an upset sales staff member that received the booth with no DIRECTIONS! in the crate.
After calming them down a bit and reminding them the booth came from another show and I would help them track down that so and so that lost the directions, we would talk through it! Knowing the booths like the back of my hand I would walk them through easily.
With set up done and another reassurance that the offender would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of trade show gypsy law, it was time for the after-booth-set-up-strut as there were still a few others struggling with their booths!
One team building game that I always thought would
be a good way to educate staff who were going to be setting-up or working shows was a booth building game. This would not only expose staff as to how to put a booth together but maybe throw in a few challenges in the booth like missing pieces and or different style of booth pieces to see how creative they would be. Also, how well they would work together.
With Mobile Devices out in the field; having booth set-up/pack-up directions for your show booth online would save many a frustration by having them sent to all the staff who attend shows. Some staff can set up a booth in their sleep but others are new or have not worked with a certain brand etc. So getting that little tidbit done would be a plus on any goals/objectives list to show how wise you are at supporting staff, or aka Exceeded staff support by…
Oh yeah, most booths, the lights are always an after-thought, so make sure to take them out and test them before putting them up, and as long as you are illegally teetering on a show rental chair or show crate get those suckers up there before you hang your graphics!
Booths have come a long way and can have custom designs and
a good exhibit house is worth their weight in gold! Links coming soon…Ping me if you need a recommendation right away!
NOTE: Do unto others as you would have done to you! (Especially when packing up at the frantic and frightening moments of tear-down at the end of a show)! If you are a manager or exhibit-booth-keeper, know the equipment or have a binder on hand with all the information, and take one home with you! You will be called!
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