Candy Adams, CTSM, CME, CEM, CMP, CMM, is an independent exhibit-management consultant, trainer, speaker, writer, and an Exhibitor conference faculty member. CandyAdams @BoothMom.com

hen I started my career as an exhibit manager, I was lucky that the first vendor I got to know was my transportation broker and mentor, Mike Kropp, who at the time owned First Choice Transportation in San Diego. What he taught me has made all the difference in having great shows versus “no shows.”

The following lessons represent some of the most valuable advice I have ever received from him regarding the transportation industry. Take these lessons to heart, and they’ll help you shape up so you can ship out just about anything with confidence.

Pick the Proper Carrier

Shipping exhibit materials to trade show venues is different than shipping anything anywhere else, in part because of the number, fragility, and size of the packages. The logistics of coordinating the shipping and arrival times to meet show deadlines, filling out all the shipping and material-handling paperwork, and managing the material-handling process further complicate the issue.

Because of this, the first question to ask a potential carrier is what percentage of the company’s sales come from trade show exhibit shipments. I usually steer clear of a company that doesn’t derive at least 50 percent of its sales from the trade show industry. Look for a carrier that has a dedicated trade show division with staff and drivers who have experience in trade show procedures.

Request a written copy of the carrier’s procedure for problem solving in the event of lost or missing freight, damage, delays, etc. And ask about your shipping agent’s availability, in case of emergency.

Your shipping agent is an integral part of your trade show team and is your lifeline should a problem occur. Trade show transportation carriers’ agents, brokers, and dispatchers should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Personally, I won’t ship with a company with which I don’t have a “call anytime” cell-phone number for somebody at the vice-president level.

Additionally, ask any potential carriers to supply you with a few long-time exhibitor customers as references. Then contact these references and ask them how long they have been shipping with the carrier; the size, type, and frequency of their trade show shipments; how closely the carrier’s quotes match the final invoices; what surprises (good or bad) they’ve experienced; if they have an assigned contact within the shipping company; and how the company has handled any problems or mix-ups. Choosing your carrier is a mission-critical decision, so make sure you have all the information possible before you commit.

Once you find a company you trust, stick with it. The stronger — and longer — your relationship, the more likely company reps are to go that extra mile to help when disaster strikes.

Provide Adequate Information

For each show, compile a spreadsheet of the exhibit components, graphics, carpet, products, equipment, literature, giveaways, and supplies that need to be shipped. Add columns for the quantity of each, how they will be packed (crated, in cases, loose boxes, or palletized), and their dimensions and estimated weight. Provide this list to your carrier so it can deliver an accurate quote and reserve your shipping space on the truck or plane.

Your carrier will also need to know the full name of the show (not just the acronym), your booth number, the show dates, your move-in and move-out dates, and whether these dates are targeted. Indicate if you will need special equipment, such as a lift-gate truck, stacking bars, J-bar, pallet jack, dollies, and/or moving pads. Tell your carrier whether a dock is available for loading, if there will be pick-ups or deliveries at multiple locations, and if you have pallets of multiple pieces that you don’t want depalletized. If you have a map of the marshaling-yard location, pass that on, too.

Determine Your Destination

Exhibit managers typically have two options on where to ship exhibits: 1) directly to the show site, or 2) to an advance warehouse, where they typically receive 30 days of free warehouse storage provided by the show’s general services contractor (GSC).

Shipping to the advance warehouse gets your freight on the show floor well before direct-to-show-site shipments begin unloading. This may save you money on transportation and storage expenses.

One limitation of using the advance warehouse is that it does not accept pad-wrapped freight. Shipping to the advance warehouse also requires additional labor and equipment, which may raise your material-handling cost and create more risk for damage or loss during handling. Another risk is that exhibit materials are not always stored in an actual warehouse; they may be stored in trailers and are not always secure.

Shipping direct to site allows you to avoid these risks, and it may be cheaper (depending on the labor rates at both destinations). However, with direct-to-site shipments the exact time that your shipment will unload is unpredictable, based on the check-in time of your truck, efficiency of the marshaling process, and availability of docks with direct access to your booth space. You may even encounter a delay if you run out of room around your booth space after neighboring exhibitors’ freight arrives, especially if your exhibit is bordered by no-freight aisles.

You can also split your shipment and send some items to the advance warehouse and some direct to site. For example, hanging signs generally have to be sent to the advance warehouse so the GSC can get them hung before the floor fills up with freight. Some exhibitors ship their carpet, pad, and exhibit to the advance warehouse to gain the extra day(s) of setup time (ideally on straight time rather than overtime), and ship their product direct to site since they generally won’t need it until the exhibit build is completed.

Don’t Miss Deadlines

Make sure your transportation team knows the last day to unload at the advance warehouse and/or the time of your targeted direct-to-site shipments. If your carrier misses the inbound deadline, the truck will usually be sent to the end of the line to unload — and incur a hefty financial penalty or be unloaded at overtime rates, plus a penalty.

The time the freight arrives at the booth can also affect installation costs; if it does not arrive in time for your setup crew to work on straight time, you may have to pay overtime rates for your labor. So include a margin of error in your shipping schedule, as myriad hazards can delay your shipment, such as a mechanical failure on a plane or truck, an accident, a weather-related delay, a truck driver’s family emergency, or plain old human error. Discuss the worst-case scenarios with your carrier and make sure you pad an extra day into your schedule.

Anticipate All Expenses

Typically, transportation accounts for roughly 15 percent of a company’s overall trade show budget. But transportation can also affect other budget categories indirectly, such as material-handling and installation costs. So talk with your transportation carrier to make sure you are proactively anticipating — and budgeting for — direct and indirect charges you are likely to incur.

For example, material-handling rates vary based on the type of freight and its final destination. For example, there is one rate for crated/skidded freight to the advance warehouse, one rate for crated/skidded freight on a common carrier, and another for specialized carriers (i.e. air-freight or van-line carriers). You can also incur additional special-handling charges for loads requiring additional time, labor, or equipment to unload, such as pad-wrapped loads, carpet-and-pad-only loads, stacked shipments, constricted-piece unloading, designated-piece unloading, ground unloading, or shipments that don’t have individual bills of lading.

Don’t Forget Your Form

The material-handling form (aka bill of lading) is the most critical piece of documentation in the exhibit-shipping process. It establishes the terms of the contract between the shipper and its transportation company. At the end of the show, if the material-handling form is not completed and turned in to the GSC’s desk, your freight may be “forced” to the GSC’s warehouse for storage pending further instructions, or be shipped via the official shipping contractor at non-discounted rates.

Label Your Load

Many transportation problems are caused by old labels accidentally left on exhibit properties. Always check your shipment twice to make sure you’ve removed all old labels from the last shipment and placed two new labels on each piece of freight, just in case one falls off. And be sure the destination on your labels is correct for each leg of the trip.

Confirm Your Coverage

What would happen if your shipment was lost, stolen, damaged, or delayed? Many rookie exhibit managers assume that if their freight is lost, the carrier can be held responsible. But in most cases, your carrier will only provide minimal valuation called “released value,” which usually ranges from 30 to 60 cents per pound.

If you need to cover the replacement value of your shipment the entire time it is on the road, you can typically purchase additional valuation from carriers in $1,000 increments. However, the most economical way to cover your shipment’s value is to purchase “door-to-door” all-risk insurance as a rider to your corporate insurance policy. Work with your corporate risk-management department to determine the replacement value of your entire shipment and how much risk you want to assume with your deductible.

Ultimately, you incur some degree of risk every time you ship your freight to a show. Even if you are fully insured for every penny of the shipment’s value, losing it will undoubtedly cause stress and anxiety at the least, and could have serious repercussions for your company if you’re forced to exhibit, well, without an exhibit. But these valuable lessons will help you keep your program in ship shape, while providing you a little peace of mind in the process.e