Exposition Management

Exposition Management Chapter 30

Objectives After completing chapter 30, the reader will be able to: • Determine how to evaluate a facility for an exposition. • Determine how much exhibit space is required to hold an exposition. • Discuss how to prepare a budget for an exposition. • Plan a marketing program to sell exhibit space. • Plan the elements of an exhibitor prospectus. • Plan the elements of an exhibitor service kit.

Introduction • Adding an exposition or trade show to an educational conference or meeting creates a viable marketplace for “buyer to meet seller.”

Why Plan an Exposition? • Stimulate attendee participation • “Hands -on” educational experience • View products and services in relationship to their company’s needs

Center for Exhibition Industry Research CEIR research validates that expositions provide a cost-effective marketing opportunity for exhibitors when compared to the costs of reaching the same numbers of potential customers through direct sales.

CEIR’s Study Revealed 1. Direct Sales 4. Direct Mail 2. Exhibitions 5. Telemarketing 3. Advertising 6. Public Relations

Facilities • Selecting the facility that will best suit the needs of the organization, the attendees and the exhibitors is very important. The facility contributes significantly to the success of the overall event. Before choosing an exhibit hall, you need to consider the following...

Types of Facilities Market Centers Trade Centers EXHIBITIONS Universities Colleges

Location • Convention centers and convention hotels are located: • Outskirts of major cities • Near the city’s center • Near major airports • Distance from airports • May lack international or major airport

Accessibility • Freight • People • Space • Hotels publish gross square footage of space Standard booth is 10’ X10’ or 100 sq. ft. or 8’ X 10” or 80 sq. ft.

Hall Rental • The following overhead depicts questions you should ask when negotiating a hall rental agreement.

Physical and Utility Requirements • Columns • Stairwells, escalators and elevators • Entrances • Ceiling heights and obstructions • Lighting fixtures • Heating and air conditioning ducts • Floor loads & material composition • Utility port locations (continued)

Physical and Utility Requirements • Loading docks and freight elevators • Crate storage area • Truck marshaling area • Bus and taxi pick-up & drop off areas • Parking facilities • Location and acoustics of meeting rooms & equipment therein

Accessibility (continued) • Experience of key facility personnel • Facility rules and regulations • Fire regulations • Union regulations • Exclusive in-house contracts • Electrical and utilities • Telecommunications, • Cleaning & catering • Floral • Registration, etc.

Hotel Room Blocks • Selecting hotels • Cleanliness, comfort and convenience • Adequately furnished sleeping rooms • Equipped with: • Business center, telecommunications center, coffee shop, fitness center, facilities for disabled, etc.

Budgeting • Estimating expenses • Marketing exhibit space • Providing exhibitor services • Producing the exposition • Include the following in a basic expense budget for an exposition:

Management Costs: • cost of management, clerical, sales personnel time and/or commissions • allocated office expenses (rent, utilities, etc.) • telephone, fax, photocopies • liability and cancellation insurance • cost of outside exposition management company (optional)

Marketing/Sales Cost: • artwork for an exhibitor prospectus • artwork and printing for letterheads and envelopes • printing and mailing costs for exhibitor prospectuses • database development costs, purchase price of mailing lists • printing and postage for follow-up mailings • development, printing and analysis of evaluation instrument

Exhibitor Services Costs: • purchasing binders and tabs for exhibitor service kit; printing of pages for the service kit (Note: as part of their agreement with show management, general service contractors either provide the exhibitor service kits or just their forms) • artwork and printing for guest passes for exhibitor distribution • artwork and printing for directory of exhibits.

Production and Exposition Costs: Refer to overhead

Budgeting (continued) • Estimating revenues • determine how much space you might sell • determine what proceeds you want to generate from this activity

Budgeting (continued) • Exhibit space sales = Basis for Pricing Divide # of booths or net square feet EXPENSES Projected sq. ft. or number of booths Estimated exhibit space sales revenue Sq. ft. price or booth price X =

Budgeting (continued) • Registration fees are a source of income • Some shows allow exhibitors unlimited badges • Others allow 5-10 pre 100 sq. ft. of space and charge for additional badges • Some allow attendees free admission • Others allow pre-registered attendees to attend free or a nominal fee for on-site registration

Budgeting (continued) • Sponsorships/other income • Create awareness of their company’s presence at the show • Build their image and generate traffic • Offer activities: coffee breaks, receptions, billboard advertising, etc. • Merchandise sales • Sell advertising (i.e., directory) • Interest-bearing accounts and forfeited exhibit space deposits

Exhibitor Prospectus • Information to include: • Brochure • Floor plan • Space application and sales letter

Exhibitor Prospectus • Brochure should include: • show name, dates, and location • brief overview of the purpose of exposition • who should exhibit and why they should • who attends • profile or demographics of potential attendees (continued)

Exhibitor Prospectus • Brochure should include: • a statement about the “power of expositions” • sample list of previous or potential attendees • exhibit hall hours • restrictions for exhibits • highlights or quotes about the previous year’s success.

Exhibit Space Contracts • The application may be a two-sided document or it may be multiple pages, printed on all sides using carbonized stock. The design should be uncluttered, but it must allow room to provide the necessary information required for the space assignment.

The next few over heads deal with what a basic contract should include.

Floor Plan • Show management must determine how they want to develop the show floor. The general contractor may lay the initial floor plan out in 10 t. X 10 ft. booths. Show management may combine some of the standard booths (in-lines) to form larger spaces. The initial plan could include a variety of island booths of varying sizes, and perimeter booths.

Standard Booth • This is a basic back-wall booth. It is designed to stand back-to-back with an opposite row of booths, and will probably have adjacent booths on one or both sides. One side (occasionally two) faces an aisle. The normal depth (aisle to back-wall) is 10 ft. (3.05m), although hotel showrooms sometimes downscale this dimension to 8 ft. (2.44m). The standard width is 10 ft.; a booth can, of course, occupy two, three or more adjacent 10-ft. booths. The back-wall height for standard booths is 8’3”; this uniformity insures that no booth will interfere with or detract from a smaller adjacent (or back-to-back) booth.

Perimeter Wall Booths • Similar to the standard booth in all respects except in the height of the back-wall and adjacent wings, which, in this case, is up to 12 ft. (3.66m). Since these booths are designed for setup against a wall, their added height won’t detract from a back-to-back neighbor. The 5 ft. sightline restrictions still apply for wing extensions (side rails) to the aisles and for exhibit fixtures. Many exhibitors who want to take advantage of the extra height permitted for perimeter wall booths will design their booth to work heights of 12 ft. or 8 ft.; this way, they can use the same exhibit in different venues, utilizing space.

Peninsula Booth • Surrounded on 3 sides by aisles, the peninsula booth usually consists of 4 or more booth units (10’ X 10’ each). The standard height for a peninsula booth is 16 ft. On the sides and corners bordered by aisles, peninsula booths may be built up to 16 feet all the way out to the aisles. Where peninsula booths have adjacent neighbors, all previously described sightline restrictions apply.

Island Booth • Bordered on all four sides by aisles, the island booth has no adjacent neighbors - and none of the sightline restrictions imposed on other booth types. The only restriction is that of height - 16 ft. The rational for imposing height restrictions on island (and peninsula) booths is to avoid skyscraper contests among exhibitors, who understandably look for any attention getting edge in the visually competitive environment of the exposition floor.

Island Booth (continued) • All display structures over 12 ft. in height should have drawings available for review on site. The drawings should be stamped or signed by a structural engineer and by the firm which build the exhibit.

Space Assignment Procedures / Policies • The following factors should be considered in assigning space to limit exposure to potential antitrust liability: • An exhibitor’s past performance • Amount of exhibit space requested • Date of receipt of the application and deposit • Space preferences, location of competition • Product or service to be displayed • Eligibility to exhibit • Member and Non-members

Space Assignment Procedures / Policies (continued) • Popular methods for assigning exhibit space • First-come, first-served • Priority point system • Lottery system • Advance sale

Marketing of Exhibit Space • Marketing tools - Marketing plan • statement summarizing the message to be conveyed • timeline for mailings • comprehensive list of the type of printed pieces to include in each mailing • chronological outline of dates for targeted sales calls planned in response to and in conjunction with promotional mailings.

Marketing of Exhibit Space (continued) • Resources of information • International Association for Exposition Management (IAEM) • International Exhibitors Association (IEA) • Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) • Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR)

Marketing of Exhibit Space (continued) • Surveys • Surveying potential exhibitors, past exhibitors, potential and past attendees, can help you capture precious information about the industry. • Survey results will provide an analysis of the potential audience (i.e., demographics, product/service interests, job function, geographical, etc.)

Marketing of Exhibit Space (continued) • Exhibit Advisory Committee • Exhibitor Prospectus • Prospective Exhibitor Database • Selling Exhibit Space An example of the types of calls that might take priority for a first-time event follow...

Leading companies of the industry • Past exhibitors who have not renewed • Competitors listed on exhibitor applications • Companies • who returned a mailer indicating their interest • who requested information by telephone or mail • who exhibit in related industry events • who advertise in industry publications • suggested by the Exhibitor Advisory Committee • Supplier members of industry associations

Exhibitor Services The next over head lists information and forms contained an an Exhibitor Service Kit.

Exhibitor Services (continued) • Pre-show/at-show promotion opportunities • pre-registration lists, labels and disks for use in preparing preshow and postshow direct mailings, broadcast fax blitz, E-mail mailings, etc. • exhibitor invitations (guest passes) • a variety of sponsorship opportunities • press information sheets • show logo sheets • participation in exposition-sponsored traffic-generating programs

Exhibitor Services (continued) • Exhibitor and guest registration • An exhibitor service kit should also contain information about exhibitor registration. Forms should be provided for registration of their exhibit staff, dealers, distributors and representatives. • Housing/travel • An exhibitor housing form should be developed, providing room rates and instructions for making room reservations. The form may be included in the exhibitor service kit or mailed to exhibitors under separate cover.

Exhibitor Services (continued) • Director of exhibitors • A key form to include in the exhibitor guide is the director listing form. Exhibitors should provide information about their company as they want it to appear in the directory. • Exhibitor education • Many expositions offer an exhibitor training/retraining workshop just prior to the opening of the exposition to gain tips and practical advice on how to work a booth effectively.

Producing the Exposition • Operations • Show management plans the exposition, but you need service contractors to make things happen. They implement the plan. Orders for services outlined in the exhibitor service kit are received in advance and at show site from exhibitors. • One of the first duties a general contractor performs at show site is to mark the exhibit floor for placement booths. Pipe and drape is then installed. The registration area and show managementoffices are constructed.

Producing the Exposition (continued) • Operations • General contractors have a warehouse within the show city to accept freight shipments from exhibitors prior to installation date (advance receiving warehouse), which is moved into the exhibitors’ booths. • Drayage refers to freight delivered over the dock and into the exhibitors’ booths. Drayage rates are published in the exhibitor service kit. The contractors then deliver the furnishings and other items ordered by exhibitors to their booths.

Exposition Management