Some conventions cost more than others depending one whether its in Las Vegas, New York or some other state; costs differ from state to state. Make sure to make allowance in your overall budget to accommodate these costs,it is very common to be surpised by a large bill at the close of the show. A great way to keep cost down is to use light weight material in the construction of your booth . Drayge cost is high this helps in keeping cost down.. Drayage is calculated by the hundred pound weight.
Reduce your shipping weight and reduce your dryage cost. Drayage is the cost that is charged by the convention hall to bring your shipment to and from the dock. Do not get this mixed up with the shipping cost. Be careful this can be costly if your trade show displays is not designed and built properly. do seek out a professional rental trade show booth that can help you with this.
Another high cosst item you must be careful of is the the high labor. Most Trade show and conventionhall you the exhibitor must use union contrators to set up your booth. This high cost can be reduced if once again your trade show exhibit booth is designed properly. Use a good exhibit company to assist you with this. Most cities are controlled by union cost. This means that you will have to pay a minimum amount per one hour labor cost.
Tradeshow differs in cost from city to city. It is best to have your exhibit company (exhibit house) go through your booth completely before shipping your booth out to the show. Include in your preshow set a full set of set up plans, electrical floor plan and a crate content list.
What you pay for with your rental trade show booth it’s going to be twice as much on the show floor. The perfect example is the old light bulb situation. Let’s say your booth need a light bulb; you wait until you reach the convention hall. You now have to get one of your laborers to go out (if they do not have it in stock) to get this bulb _ this person is called a runner. The labor rate for the show is let’s say $80 hour. You now have to pay $80 dollars to get this light bulb. Now it’s time to replace this light bulb. Depending on the show regulations, you may have to have a show electrician to install this bulb. Electricians do not come cheap, as a matter of fact they usually cost more than the shows labor rate, let’s say they charge $95 hour. Paying $175 for a light bulb is not exactly a cost savings, Oh by the way the light bulb cost still has to be added in. Word of advice make sure your booth is well prepared before you get to the convention floor, never cut cost by not setting up or checking out your booth before the show.
A client of mine decided to cut his trade show cost by storing his own booth, He had the booth shipped directly to the convention hall. I was on site. The client never checked his booth before shipping it out. On the convention hall floor, we noticed this client had no bolts to set up his booth. The client was not in a panic. We fortunately were on the set up floor and happened to have the exact bolts he needed. He was basically saved by us being on the floor and having the bolts he needed. I say this to emphasize that an exhibitor should not be in this situation by trying the do-it-yourself method. The question is – what if we did not have those special bolts? Those bolts would have cost him a lot more than storage would have cost.
Prepare ahead of time, have your trade show displays fully prepared by a professional exhibit company if you feel its too much to handle on your own. It will save you agreat deal of frustration and money in the long run. Do not forget you are at Trade Shows to get leads a that will evetually turn into sales. a good exhibit company relized this and will help to free you up to do just that …make sales.
For more information on San Francisco trade show display rentals contact ELDS, INC at (626) 969-3399 Your next trade show displays can be a big success