Pipe and Drape Sales and Rentals

Your trade show booth only has a few moments to attract the attention of attendees through the noise and activity of the exhibit floor. If it doesn’t attract the attention needed, the time, effort, and money spent getting ready for the event is wasted. It is even worse if your booth attracts attention, but fails when it comes to delivering the right message. This causes attendees to lose confidence in your company’s ability to produce the solutions they seek. The use of trade show displays can either hurt or help you generate leads during a trade show. The following paragraphs cover the first steps to planning for a trade show event and how to make sure your trade show display provides maximum impact.

Identify Your Limitations

Each trade show is different and the space reserved is not always well suited for certain kinds of displays. Before deciding on the trade show display you want to use at the show, call the event organizers. Inquire about the size of your event table and booth. In addition, find out if you will have electricity and access to additional electrical outlets near your booth space. Many trade shows have limits on the acceptable height of displays. Find out all of the booth limitations, if any, so you can adequately prepare for the trade show.

Plan Your Display Before The Show

Base the type of displays you use at your booth on your budget and objectives for the trade show. Are you trying to put forth a certain image of your company? If so, design a display that supports this vision and is consistent with the branding of your company. Will you promote a new product recently launched by your company? If so, design your display featuring the new product while making sure it is consistent with your company branding.

Design For The Purpose

It is critical to use creative, attention grabbing design at trade shows. Attendees may only pass your booth once during a show due to a trade show’s massive size. Don’t limit the attention you attract. Make sure your display not only attracts attention, but also serves its purpose by yielding contact information from qualified attendees. Your trade show display should draw people to your booth and inspire attendees to speak with your staff and request further information.

Make A Fast First Impression

Many trade shows feature hundreds of booths decorated with bright, colorful displays and banners, all working to grab the attention of attendees. It is challenging to stand out from the crowd. Some exhibitors go so crazy trying to attract attention that they sacrifice their marketing message in the process. Your trade show display must attract attendees, but it should also make a lasting impression that drives them to seek additional information, take literature, and speak with your staff. If your display doesn’t make this impression fast, you will have wasted money and a valuable opportunity.

Locating A Trade Show Display Company

Whether you select Chicago trade show displays, or displays from a company in another city, it is vital the company delivers your trade show displays fast and on budget. The company should have plenty of experience working with businesses in the market of your business. This gives them the expertise to suggest themes, special elements, and visual designs that will communicate your company’s message and attract the attention from attendees you need.

Your trade show display ultimately supports your marketing strategy for the entire event. Your success in attracting the attention of attendees who become customers down the road depends on a trade show display that provides maximum impact.

Whether you plan to exhibit once a year or every week, you may be using all sorts of trade show displays. You may own display stands of all shapes and sizes or you may opt to rent the display stands you require as the need arises. If you are brand new at exhibiting at trade shows or other events, you may be curious about all the different options that are available to you.

When deciding what type of trade show displays to use, there are many things to consider. Some of the factors to think about include:
- What is your goal for the outcome of the trade show?
- How will your exhibit or booth help achieve this objective?
- What type of space will you reserve at the show?
- What size events will you participate and what will the participants (audience) be like?
- How many events do you anticipate participating in on a regular basis?
- How will your exhibition materials be transported to and from trade shows?
- How much money are you actually willing to spend?

If your answers to these questions bring you to the conclusion that you need an inexpensive, easy to transport option that will fit into limited spaces, one of the smaller, more cost effective options for displays is the table top trade show display.

Basic Description

A table top trade show display is basically a display that stands on a table. Table top trade show displays typically have three panels to which you can attach images, graphics or headlines and text by using Velcro. Using Velcro to attach these allows you to change and update the graphics or text you use on an ‘as needed’ basis. There are many advantages to using table top displays for presentation at trade shows or other events. There are also some disadvantages, such as not having enough space to exhibit actual product (or a wide enough variety of product to demonstrate the breadth of your line).

More Inexpensive

If you are just getting started in your business or in trade show marketing in general, you may be looking for some ways to cut your costs. Table top trade show displays, whether they are purchased or rented from a trade show supply service, may meet your needs in this regard. Table top trade show displays tend to be more inexpensive than standing displays or modular displays.
Table top trade show displays tend to be much smaller than all-out booths and thus use less material. Because of this, it is cheaper to produce and acquire a table top display than it is to produce and/or acquire a more elaborate setup. In addition to this, a table top trade show display is more inexpensive in that it requires less space, which means you PAY for less space. Table top trade show displays are also more inexpensive to transport.

Size Matters

If you plan to exhibit often and mostly locally, you will want a trade show display that you can easily transport yourself or at least ship inexpensively on a regional or national basis. If this is your case, then you will want to opt for a trade show or exhibit display that is not only small and easily manageable but also adaptable and lightweight. Table top trade show displays are among the lightest and easiest exhibit displays currently on the market. However, there are other lightweight options that may suit your needs as well. Some of these other lightweight options include:
- Pull-Up Display
- Pop-Up Display
- Panel Display

Whether you plan to exhibit once a year or every week, you may be using all sorts of trade show displays. You may own display stands of all shapes and sizes or you may opt to rent the display stands you require as the need arises. If you are brand new at exhibiting at trade shows

or other events, you may be curious about all the different options that are available to you.

When deciding what type of trade show displays to use, there are many things to consider. Some of the factors to think about include:
- What is your goal for the outcome of the trade show?
- How will your exhibit or booth help achieve this objective?
- What type of space will you reserve at the show?
- What size events will you participate and what will the participants (audience) be like?
- How many events do you anticipate participating in on a regular basis?
- How will your exhibition materials be transported to and from trade shows?
- How much money are you actually willing to spend?

If your answers to these questions bring you to the conclusion that you need an inexpensive, easy to transport option that will fit into limited spaces, one of the smaller, more cost effective options for displays is the table top trade show display.

Basic Description

A table top trade show display is basically a display that stands on a table. Table top trade show displays typically have three panels to which you can attach images, graphics or headlines and text by using Velcro. Using Velcro to attach these allows you to change and update the graphics or text you use on an ‘as needed’ basis. There are many advantages to using table top displays for presentation at trade shows or other events. There are also some disadvantages, such as not having enough space to exhibit actual product (or a wide enough variety of product to demonstrate the breadth of your line).

More Inexpensive

If you are just getting started in your business or in trade show marketing in general, you may be looking for some ways to cut your costs. Table top trade show displays, whether they are purchased or rented from a trade show supply service, may meet your needs in this regard. Table top trade show displays tend to be more inexpensive than standing displays or modular displays.
Table top trade show displays tend to be much smaller than all-out booths and thus use less material. Because of this, it is cheaper to produce and acquire a table top display than it is to produce and/or acquire a more elaborate setup. In addition to this, a table top trade show display is more inexpensive in that it requires less space, which means you PAY for less space. Table top trade show displays are also more inexpensive to transport.

Size Matters

If you plan to exhibit often and mostly locally, you will want a trade show display that you can easily transport yourself or at least ship inexpensively on a regional or national basis. If this is your case, then you will want to opt for a trade show or exhibit display that is not only small and easily manageable but also adaptable and lightweight. Table top trade show displays are among the lightest and easiest exhibit displays currently on the market. However, there are other lightweight options that may suit your needs as well. Some of these other lightweight options include:
- Pull-Up Display
- Pop-Up Display
- Panel Display

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Establishing a solid trade show presence is an important part of the marketing plan for many companies. Trade shows can provide a great arena to promote your products, both existing and new. Attending trade shows can also help you learn about new industry trends, increase your sales, and create new contacts with important industry players.

But before you attend your first trade show, you need to have a display. It is typical for most companies to allot almost a third of their marketing budge to creating their trade show presence, which includes renting or buy a trade show display. But how much does it cost to rent a display? Could it be a better plan for your business?

What Makes a Great Trade Show Exhibit?

The best trade show exhibits give potential customers a memorable and positive view of the company. In addition, they attract potential customers and make it easier to achieve sales, while still controlling traffic to your booth and presenting a positive view of your company. Additionally a great trade show exhibit needs to stay within your budget.

Cost to Buy a Display

Before evaluating the cost of trade show display rental, you need to know what it would cost to buy a display. Custom trade show displays can retail in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $20,000 and can take about six weeks to be created. Prices are lower for simpler displays, such as about $1,000 for a simple table-top version. This upfront investment is a hardship for many new business or smaller companies and can handicap the marketing efforts of the company.

Trade Show Exhibit Rental Costs

Renting a trade show display can be a great solution for small businesses, those who have not exhibited in the past, and those who attend only a few trade shows a year. Additionally, renting a trade show display is a smart move for businesses that have double bookings, since it is only possible to have your display at one trade show at a time.

The cost of renting a trade show exhibit is about 30-40 percent the cost of owning an exhibit. So for a very basic table-top display, you could pay as little as $300. This is a significant cost savings over purchasing a display.

Other Advantages of Rental

There are several other advantages to renting a trade show display, rather than making the large initial investment of purchasing one:

- Renting provides flexibility. Renting a trade show display gives you the option to change your mind about how you want to represent your company. Perhaps you initial trade show exhibit design failed to impress customers at a recent show. If you are renting, you can make changes and end up with a better result. If you own your display, you are stuck with what you have.

- There’s less commitment associated with renting a display. Maybe you don’t know if you want to keep going to trade shows. You may find that they are not the best way for your company to market itself. If trade shows end up not being for you, you can stop renting your display. If you own your display, you are stuck with it.

- Renting may also make more sense if you are an infrequent attendant at trade shows. Some companies go to trade shows all the time, but others simply attend once or twice a year. If you are not a frequent trade show attendant, renting may be the best way for you to spend your trade show marketing budget.

Times are hard, and more and more exhibitors are having to cut back at trade shows or simply not go because of the costs involved with attending. However, there is an alternative to cutting back or not attending a trade show for exhibitors that realize that the best way for them to succeed in these rough times is to attend trade shows. Rent a trade show display.

Renting a trade show versus purchasing one allows businesses to continue to attend the trade shows that will help their business in these tough economic times without having to commit to purchasing what can be a very expensive piece of equipment. Here are a few reasons trade show display rentals are a great way to still attend trade shows.

Customization

Many companies will still customize a trade show display for your company, helping you pick out a display setup and printing out graphics for your company to make sure that the display that you’re renting still reflects your company and not some predetermined design. What’s great is that most rental companies will allow you to keep the graphics after the show, perfect for reusing at another trade show if you rent again.

Storage

Owning a trade show display means you have to store a trade show display. Trade show displays range in size, but larger ones take up space even when packed up. By renting a trade show display instead of purchasing your company has one less thing that they have to find a place for. Instead of storing an elaborate trade show display, you’ll more than likely only need to find a home for the graphics that you used on the display, a far easier proposition.

Transportation

When renting a trade show display, you can have it shipped to where you will be attending the show, and then have it shipped back to the rental company directly from the show, saving you on the cost of having to transport the display between your business and the event. If your travel plans involve flying, the savings this represents can be significant as the prices to bring additional luggage are only going up.

Savings

Trade show displays can be very expensive. Even though you get to reuse them for numerous shows, the initial cost can be significant, and that’s not something that every company is prepared to invest in at the moment. Trade show display rentals allow you to save money and still attend the trade shows that help your business grow. With savings that can translate into the cost of travel, it’s a good way to cut business costs.

Cost of Doing Business

For many businesses, attending trade shows is how they get their business, or at least grow their business. Taking time off from the trade show circuit can have huge effects on how much money they make as a company. Renting a trade show still allows companies like this to survive these economic times by attending the shows they need to stay alive without having to break the bank to do so.

Renting a trade show display is the perfect way to allow your company to keep doing business even if they can’t afford a brand new display. There are numerous companies that offer trade show rentals, and each of them offers their own packages and benefits. Do your research before committing to renting from a company and make sure you get everything that you need for your display. Just because times are rough doesn’t mean you have to stop doing the things that are right for your business.

Trade shows are excellent venues to launch new products, new offers, and upgrades to existing product lines. Why? Because, presuming you select the correct trade shows, your target market is there, accessible, and primed to learn.

Yet there is another challenge: differentiating your trade show displays from the rest of the pack vying for attendees’ attention. One way to set your company apart is to put as much attention into the development of your trade show display as you do the rest of your efforts on behalf of a successful product launch.

Trade show displays can make or break your success in attracting the kind of audience you want for the all-important launch. Starting from scratch to build a custom display ensures that your display will be fresh and in sync with the rest of the marketing supporting your launch.

Custom-built trade show displays allow you to be creative, dramatic, and highly relevant to support your launch in the most powerful way possible. There are virtually no limits to the design options you can use to make your statement and grab attention: graphics, materials, size, elevation, or AV components.

When you opt to build custom trade show displays, there are a couple of tips you may want to keep in mind:

Timing

Building a custom display takes more time than usual. Allow enough time to ensure that quality standards can be used throughout the process and that you are also not stressed out wondering if you will make it in time for your first round of trade shows.

Reverse engineer from the start of your trade show schedule. You will want to allow four to six weeks for large custom-built trade show displays and six to 12 weeks for a mid-size island or smaller.

Cost

One thing you will have to prepare for with the custom display is the cost. It is the most expensive to produce and has the highest operating costs due to size and number of packing crates.

Alternatives

If cost is the dominate concern, consider the following options which also can produce the attention-grabbing drama you want for your product launch:

• Custom Modular Trade Show Displays

Modular displays provide high quality exhibit imaging without the higher operating costs of custom displays.

Modular construction takes advantage of a large inventory of interchangeable pre-designed and engineered components such as back walls, counters, display pedestals and exterior panels. Lightweight structural materials such as aluminum, Plexiglas and high-grade tension fabrics provide simplified assembly, space-saving packing and often 400% lower shipment and handling costs.

The flexible design trend display components allow you to reconfigure the design or size of your trade show booths from trade show to trade show.

Custom modular trade show displays offer design and image quality with substantial savings in operating costs due to less weight and size and number of shipping containers.

• Portable Trade Show Displays

Yet another option is the portable system that offers trade show display versatility. Lightweight portable exhibits are ideal for trade show exhibitors who require ease of use and a variety of display configurations while presenting a distinctive creative image.

Easily set-up, the portable system has a skeletal frame with attachable laminate panels, which simply clip together in virtually unlimited structural styles. Accessories such as bridges, counters, alcoves and backlighting enhance versatility of the interchangeable portable systems.

The trade show portable systems can convert from tabletop to island exhibits in minutes and adapt to almost any trade show display situation with minimal effort. Usually your own booth staffers can transport and assemble the trade show displays themselves saving time and the added costs of drayage and contract workers.

Portable trade show displays are an especially suitable option for the first-time trade show exhibitor and for appearances at smaller, regional trade shows.

Your product launch is critical to your business. Give adequate consideration to the selection of the trade show displays that will support your launch in grand style – you won’t regret it.

Trade show are an excellent opportunity for you to meet new prospects, display your products and do networking within your industry. However, unless you plan carefully, you may end up wasting time and money at your next trade show.

A common mistake for new trade show attendees is to spend a lot of money on purchasing trade show displays. Buying a new display without attending your first tradeshow in your industry is a completely blind decision. You want to stand out among the crowd and if you have no idea what other people are using, you may pick a display that is inappropriate or too understated for your market.

A much better approach is to rent a display booth for your first few trade shows. Not only will you be able to investigate what others are using before making an investment, you’ll be able to save money. Trade show display rentals are a lot cheaper than purchasing displays. You can try out different styles of displays during the course of many trade shows to figure out what works best for you and your market. When you are ready to buy, you’ll be able to make an informed decision on your purchase.

In addition to saving money and doing some market research, trade show display rentals can help you save on travel costs. Most likely, you’ll be attending trade shows outside of your immediate area. Whether you are flying or driving, you’ll have to contend with transporting your trade show display to that location. You’ll have to either ship it separately and hope that it arrives when you do, or transport it in your vehicle and pray that it doesn’t get ruined along the way.

You have enough to worry when preparing for a trade show. You shouldn’t have to worry about your trade show displays showing up intact. When you use a rental trade show display, you can pick it up when you arrive in the trade show area. You can customize it with your own signs, banners and logos. You won’t have the hassle of bringing the display along for the ride. After the trade show is done, you can simply turn it back in and be on your way. Transportation and storage become non-issues when you use a rental.

Rental trade show displays fit a wide range of budgets. If your company has a limited marketing budget, you can rent trade show displays that fit on tabletops. You can choose a pop-up booth if you have a little more money to spare. Large companies can rent kiosks and panel displays. Most rental trade show display companies will work with you to create a custom exhibit that fits your budget and the nature of your business.

Best of all, with a rental trade show display you can change the look of your display for each and every show. Even if you never plan on buying a display, using a different display set up each time is a terrific idea for attracting attention. Certain trade shows have specific characteristics. You may find out that at some trade shows, kiosks are the norm and your tabletop display looks unappealing. At other trade shows within the same industry, smaller displays are more common. When you rent a trade show display rather than buy, you can approach each trade show with a fresh display.