The Booth’s in the Mail
The year 2006 marked a milestone for my company, which was celebrating its 25th year in the legal-technology business. But our first trade show of the season started without reason to celebrate.

My company, Synaptec Software Inc., provides case-management software for the legal industry. We were gearing up for LegalTech 2006 at the Hilton New York.

One week before the show, I shipped three packages via FedEx Ground to Christy Burke, our public-relations person in New York. (Safer,
I thought, than sending them to the show hotel.) The components for our pop-up booth were in two packages, and the third package contained the monitors that would display our demo software.

Our technical-support person and I planned to fly from our office in Colorado to New York on Sunday, the day before the show. If everything went according to plan, we’d have our booth set up in less than two hours, after which we’d enjoy a quiet evening at the hotel.

Late Friday afternoon, however, my visions of a relaxing evening were squashed in a New York minute when I got a frantic call from Christy. She told me that the package containing our monitors had arrived, but there was no sign of the two packages containing our booth.

I immediately contacted FedEx to find out what happened. Although its records reported that all three packages were on the truck, only one package was signed for and delivered, and the other two were AWOL. While FedEx put a trace on the missing packages, the representative said it could take at least 24 hours to find them.

On Saturday, I called to check the status of the trace. FedEx told me that FedEx Ground didn’t work on the weekend, and I probably wouldn’t have an answer about my packages until Monday. Although I was livid, I tried to stay calm and explained that I was in dire straits, as our show started at 10 a.m. on Monday.

The representative transferred me to a supervisor who gave me the name and phone number of a FedEx representative in the Brooklyn office who’d be in at 6:30 a.m. on Monday. She also said it was likely that our booth had ended up in Brooklyn, and with a little legwork on both of our parts, it would be delivered on Monday morning before the show opened. However, it was still up to me to reach the man in Brooklyn to coordinate the delivery.

It wasn’t the perfect solution, but at least I had a plan.

After a night of tossing and turning, I called the Brooklyn contact promptly at 6:30 a.m — but only spoke to his voice mail. I waited until 6:45, thinking he might be a little late to work. When he didn’t answer his phone by 7:15, I started to panic.

I called the main FedEx number, only to hit a string of voice options. When I finally spoke to a person, I learned our booth wasn’t in Brooklyn after all. FedEx told me the packages might be in the New Jersey warehouse waiting for return shipment, and that I might catch them before they began the trip back to Colorado.

After a computerized search of their New Jersey warehouse, however, FedEx still couldn’t find the booth. But it didn’t have a record of it being on a truck either. After a FedEx employee searched for my booth, the representative told me the only explanation left was that the booth was already on its way back to Colorado.

With only two hours left before the show opened, not only didn’t I have a booth, I also didn’t have any signs, marketing materials, or even power strips or extension cords, all of which had shipped with the booth. All I had were computers and monitors — and hardware doesn’t make for much of an exhibit.

My first Plan B was to lie down in our exhibit in a fetal position, suck my thumb, and chant “why me” over and over again. But that wasn’t going to get our booth back, nor would it help
my career. Then came the “ah-ha” moment. I recalled solutions I’d read in prior “Plan B” columns.

I took a quick inventory of the materials that had arrived in our lone package and the items I brought with me. I had press kits, two laptops, the standard exhibit table, and of course, the monitors.

I borrowed three power strips and two extension cords from other exhibitors to hook up the laptops and monitors. I created marketing materials by removing items from our press kits and adding a few business cards from my briefcase. I quickly ordered a second table for our third monitor and to help fill up the otherwise barren booth space. Still, signage remained a problem.

With the “Chariots of Fire” theme song playing in my head, I ran four city blocks to the nearest FedExKinko’s location, where I printed several 36-by-48-inch black-and-white signs. The first sign identified our product and read, “LawBase. FedEx lost our booth (first time in 25 years!). Please talk to us about matter management.”

I also printed 10, 8.5-by-11-inch color signs with our company name, and a picture of a milk carton paired with a picture of our booth. Above the picture, it read, “Have you seen me?” Under the picture, it pleaded to attendees: “Help Synaptec finds its booth. If you have information, or want to learn more about matter management, come to booth #214.” Without asking show management’s permission, we took a gamble and hung the color copies throughout the exhibit hall.

A man from show management soon approached us, holding one of our signs in his hand. While he scolded us and warned us not to hang any more signs, he didn’t tell us we had to take down our other signs. In fact, the signs created empathy from attendees, who stopped and shared their own shipping horror stories. The conversation also served as a great icebreaker to introduce our products.

Ironically enough, the exhibitor several booths up and across the aisle from us was United Parcel Service of America Inc. (UPS). UPS staff used our exhibit signs to their benefit. When they asked attendees which shipping agent they used, many responded with, “We use the ‘other guy,’” referring to FedEx. In return, UPS staffers simply pointed at our booth and responded, “They did, too.”

When I arrived back at the office, the two lost packages were waiting. Someone from FedEx had placed a note on them reading, “Return to Shipper.” Next time, I’m using the “other guy.”

— Jeff Tefelske, vice president of sales and marketing, Synaptec Software Inc., Denver