Want to save a few bucks? Ask show management or the general contractor if you can move in your exhibit early, says Bob Milam, president and founder of exhibit-marketing firm TSB Enterprises. An early move-in schedule allows you more time to set up your booth on straight-time rates, and decreases your chances of having to pay overtime or double-time labor rates. Traditionally, the larger your exhibit, the better your chances of securing an early move-in schedule. Still, Milam says even small exhibitors should investigate this opportunity, as few exhibitors ever ask management for this favor. If you have a plausible reason for early setup, such as you need six skilled carpenters and you can’t afford to pay them overtime, your chances of attaining the earlier time will improve.
 How does a plant nursery stand out at a trade show where almost every booth is filled with abundant fresh flowers and verdant plants? One exhibitor at the 2008 Minnesota Green Expo tried the divide-and-conquer method.
Inver Grove Heights, MN-based wholesale nursery Gertens Inc. crafted a 20-by-40-foot booth divided into four sections representing
the four seasons. Each section of the exhibit featured flora and fauna appropriate to its respective season, along with a sign identifying the season and text reading: “How Can Gertens Help You Through the Season?” So while other exhibitors at the show may have featured clustered masses of colorful blooming plants and a cacophony of soil and seed options, Gertens’ booth offered passing attendees a visually appealing, organized product display, illustrating in a glance how the wholesaler could help them throughout the entire year with its season-specific plant selections.
 Attendees who saw the Westone Music Products booth at the 2009 Audiology Now show must have thought they’d happened upon a bizarre new kind of air-band competition, complete with two guitars and a drummer silently wailing away on their instruments. Westone wanted attendees to experience the sound quality of its in-ear monitors, typically worn by on-stage musicians. So it hired the three musicians to play in the booth, but did not hook up speakers to the PA system. Thus, the musicians could hear the music through their in-ear monitors, but all attendees heard were sticks tapping on the drum pads and the sounds of fingers plucking guitar strings. A table at the front of the 30-by-50-foot booth held nine pairs of Westone’s monitors and a sign that read, “Experience In-Ear Music.” When curious attendees placed the monitors in their ears, they were transported to their very own rock concert, proving that sometimes hearing is believing.
 Inspiration springs from just about anywhere. But for Dr. David Grant, owner of Animal Care Technologies, it popped up during a movie-theater visit when he spied a 9-foot-wide book promoting one of the films. Searching for a way to make fellow veterinarians stop at his company’s booth at the 2009 North American Veterinary Conference, Grant immediately imagined the book as a one-of-a-kind traffic stopper and portfolio combined. After convincing the theater owner to part with the giant book, Grant reworked eight huge pages to look like pages from a scrapbook, filled with photos, sticky notes, and text telling the narrative of a vet looking for staffing and office solutions and finding the answers at Animal Care Technologies. The towering tome drew hordes of attendees who stayed in the booth until the very last page was turned, increasing staffers’ time with attendees by 20 to 40 percent compared to the previous year.
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Taking a cue from its founder’s Ukrainian Gypsy roots, Zhena’s Gypsy Tea turned its booth at the 2008 Specialty Coffee Association of America show into a tent made of rich-hued fabrics worthy of a nomadic prince. The structure’s unique shape and eye-catching colors effectively popped against the table-and-drape 10-by-10-foot booths littering the aisles. Answers to attendees’ casual questions about the tent-inspired structure easily segued into conversations about the company and its offerings, giving Zhena’s Gypsy Tea something to talk about while visitors sipped aromatic samples of its products.
To keep exhibit expenses down at the 2009 International Builders’ Show, DJA Imports Ltd. opted for out-of-the-ordinary flooring. The New Milford, CT-based distributor of metal gates, doors, and hardware covered its floor space with brightly colored, interlocking foam square tiles often used in children’s playrooms. Lightweight, durable, inexpensive, and easy to pack and ship, they helped DJA save on both the initial flooring purchase as well as shipping and drayage charges. The company also incorporated alphabet squares into the flooring pattern, spelling out “DJA Imports” in primary colors. The clever use of unconventional flooring successfully stopped attendees in their tracks.
 Hoping to scare up some attention at the 2008 Semicon West show, White Knight Fluid Handling LLC employed a startling strategy. To emphasize its motto, “We’re so reliable, you’ll never see us,” the chemical-pump manufacturer covered the back wall of its 10-by-20-foot booth with camouflage fabric, and positioned a camouflage-clad staffer and a bowl of candy in front of it. As passersby grabbed for a piece of candy, the booth staffer — rendered virtually invisible in his head-to-toe camo suit — stepped up and seemingly out of the back wall to offer them a branded pen. While attendees recovered from the shock, additional staffers pounced on the opportunity to open a conversation about the company’s reliability promise. Now that’s a successful scare tactic.
What's The Big Idea?
Do you have a clever exhibit-related tip? Did your last exhibit have an über-cool traffic builder?
Contact Janet Van Vleet [email protected].
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