Rent or Buy your Trade Show Display

Advantages that come with display rentals

If the reality is that your company or small business is not equipped in all of these areas then custom trade show rentals with an experienced rental exhibit builder may be your best option. Renting your trade show booth display  will provide the necessary expertise and resources in these key areas. Your comparison should be in the overall total costs related to using your trade show display over its entire lifetime, and not just the sticker price. One third of most companies trade show budget goes to logistics and show services, so its easy to see how these factors could make an overall difference in how cost effective your trade show marketing program is.

If you exhibit in fewer trade shows each year, renting versus buying a new custom trade show display might be more overall cost effective. Trade show exhibit rentals have evolved to give you a cost effective custom trade show exhibit look across multiple shows and demanding show schedules, without the risk, stress and hassle associated with owning your own booth display.

Choosing the right rental partner is certainly important. You’re not looking to rent a repurposed used booth. You want a design team that understands your business and show floor competition. You need a design team committed to quality materials and focused on efficient engineering with a versatile rental inventory. This is how you have an effective first trade show rental and continue to save even more money show after show!

You will want to consider all these costs:

The booth rental price, minus the custom graphics
The cost of the proposed custom graphics
The amount of graphics you likely can reuse for 3-4 shows
The dimensions and weight to ship your booth to and from your next 3-4 shows.
The cost to safely efficiently install your booth rental display considering that much may require Union workers at differing experience and skill levels.

Consider that more complexity adds time. Consider that trade show AV, electrical and anything suspended from the ceiling is a much higher labor rate.

Talk with one of our rental consultants, meet our team and learn how we provide support and limit your liability in the three key areas mentioned above. With their help, build a realistic budget based on your goals, then look at all the costs to rent your display booth, with graphics, flooring, AV, shipping and the show service fees to handle and install your booth. This will lead you to the target price you should be looking to pay.

When you rent from Exhibit People, we serve as your Exhibit Manager from concept to completion. Trade show exhibit rentals are our specialty. We have a vested interest in the safe return of your rental booth. We know how to complete all the proper forms on time, track the show schedule of deadlines, place orders in advance to reduce costs and catch errors resulting in install delays.

Exhibit People’s design team know how to get your trade show rental booth delivered next to your booth space on time for the install, for the best price. Our core strength lies in that we know how to stage the materials so our team works fast and efficiently to reduce labor costs. Moreover, We know our AV components and we make sure your content plays on queue.

Hopefully this trade show tip is helpful and you now better understand your options in renting versus buying a trade show display. Today, with greater health and safely concerns, a trade show rental could do more than just minimize the time and effort you spend on the trade show floor. Less time and effort results in less stress, less time in lines and crowds and more rest and focus. Just the recipe to keep your bodies immune system strong and ready to do your best trade show marketing, while attracting a stack of new business cards – yes even in our home town of Las Vegas!

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Planning for Booth Restrictions

With each new opportunity to participate in an upcoming show, it’s a good practice to first review the booth space guidelines for rules and planning booth restrictions that have been published by show management. This planning for booth restrictions will help you make better booth space selection and use your location to your BEST advantage in planning your new trade show exhibit design.

In case we haven’t been crystal clear, location is a BIG DEAL. It is one of the key advantages of rental, where we can tailor the booth design to fit your booth size and location within the exhibit hall; it’s one of the first things we look at when customizing your booth design. We work to develop a design that uses this resource to help increase traffic flow but also complies with the show’s display rules and regulations. On occasion, show management will grant exceptions if you are proactive. Ultimately, if the booth you design pushes the boundaries a bit, it comes down to properly submitting your request and keeping your neighbors happy.

Lastly, today with more concerns of health and safety from germs and viruses like Covid-19, most trade shows will implement new rules related to disinfecting and social distancing, so keep an eye out for those requirements and guidelines as well. They will likely be different for different trade shows in the short term, then eventually standardize after a few years.

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Trade Show Material Handling Tips

Some of the most important material handling tips for trade shows will seem intuitive. But we are surprised by how often these details are missed. Moreover; Our Project Managers know the ins and outs of Exhibitor Service Manuals and are always on the lookout for these 3 important pieces of information. This helps our clients pay the least amount of material handling possible.

First is complying with the move-in dates and times. Be aware of any targeted move-in/move-out times as well as advance warehouse dates. This will help you save paying additional fees for delivering freight off-target or outside of warehouse dates and hours. Target move-in refers to the date and time your driver must check in to collect the freight. Shows are fairly strict on this and the penalty is often a 30% surcharge for off-target freight. Shipping to advance warehouse may cost you a bit more, but it allows your freight to arrive ahead of the direct-to-show freight which means your installation team can get started sooner rather than later.

Second is properly packing your booth freight. Can all of your items fit in one or two crates? Does it make sense to ship odd-shaped items on top of your crate? Shipping companies charge what’s called dimensional weight for freight that is bulky. Your shipping company has a formula for determining if they will make more basing the fees on actual weight vs. dimensional weight. If you wrap one item to the top of the booth crate, keep in mind that is the same as a crate made tall enough for the additional height of that item. These are all things our team is tuned in to when packing and arranging for the shipment of your rental booth.

The third is reducing the weight of your shipment where possible. We focus on giving more booths for less money. We design and build our rental solutions using lighter materials such as aluminum frame structure, printed sintra, tension fabric. These factors will minimize your shipping and Material Handling costs. Overall, we’re looking at reducing the costs in using a rental booth, not just the cost of the booth itself.

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Trade Show Rigging Tips

Your Trade Show Rigging costs are directly related to the time and number of workers required to assemble and suspend your hanging sign or truss structure. Most shows will provide a rigging crew to accomplish this task. Where possible, riggers will use guide ropes from the ground to assist the aerial team in getting your sign or truss structure to the right height and location within your booth space.

If your suspending an LED video wall, union riggers as well as stagehands and electricians may all be involved, depending on their jurisdiction at the venue your show is held. Planning and communicating with rigging crews and vendors will greatly help you avoid wasting expensive time on the show floor.

We’ve found that it’s best to plan for flooring/rigging on the first day of install and leave the construction of the booth until the second day. When you’re unable to to this, it’s good to unpack and stage the materials to help your workers get everything ready to build quicker. Our teams know to visit the rigging desk early to ensure we are in queue as planned. We plan our installations to give time for the rigging so that labor time & money aren’t wasted.

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Trade Show Electrical Tips

Before you install flooring, ensuring your trade show electrical is placed correctly and in working order. We measure and check electrical placement when we first arrive at the booth space. We test extension cords and outlets before covering with flooring and we unpack and stage all electrical items to minimize any electrician time required during the booth install.

Incorrect electrical placement can cause your install to come to a screeching halt while you wait for an electrician. For this reason, for EVERY show, we call Exhibitor Services, speak to a real person, and verify that the show has received the electrical order and drawing. We also take time to understand how power is coming into the booth. The 3 most common ways are from a ceiling drop, up from a floor plate, or across from a structural column nearby.

We actively work to avoid all the common electrical delays so the install can proceed smoothly. When things don’t go as planned, we know where to go and who to talk with to get things done as quickly as possible. This is one of the many benefits of renting a trade show booth that includes install services.

The most common way of ordering power is in terms of amps and watts. A good rule of thumb is 1 amp is equal to 100 watts. 20 Amps are equal to 2000 watts and so on. You can Google to see the wattage requirement for computers and TVs and easily estimate the total watts your booth will require.

Routing power from your main drop to various locations within your booth space will require extension cords (see floor work above). Keep in mind that many shows require a minimum of 500 watts associated with each extension cord. It’s common to have 3-4 extension cords routed on the floor to counters and rooms in your booth space. You will be charged for the rental of the extension cords, power strips and the usage of the tapes or other supplies used to complete your installation as ordered.

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Ordering Trade Show Services

Ordering trade show services is best done systematically referencing the shows checklist of deadlines. This allows you to make certain all forms are completed, submitted and verified. It also helps to catch the small print items like target move-in/move-out dates; clean floor policy, or all-clear date/time after the show.

When you rent from Exhibit People we will gladly complete and submit all the show forms for a small 10% fee. Or, to save the 10% markup we will point you in the right direction and also check your orders when they are completed. We provide all required layouts to the general contractor or facility for both electrical and rigging placement. We have the option to submit Third Party forms that allow us to pay for your services and add them to your final invoice, so you only receive one invoice for structure and services from us.

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Reducing Trade Show Labor Costs

Our best strategy for reducing trade show labor costs is to come prepared to the show with an Exhibit People install supervisor. Not only do we know your rental booth design inside and out, we know how it was packed and the most efficient way of staging the materials. We arrive to the show site with a game plan and goals to accomplish to help ensure that we don’t exceed the number of hours planned.

When it makes sense, we send portions of the booth partially assembled, reducing install time and shipping costs. We start each install with a brief meeting to make sure everyone is clear on the details and the milestones. We always check electrical floor work to ensure outlets are positioned properly before we install flooring. From there we build the booth systematically in a manner that keeps tools and materials organized and the booth space clean.

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Reducing Trade Show Shipping Costs

At Exhibit People, we’ve adopted a particularly efficient way of packing in layers. This allows us to fill in spaces efficiently and effectively to help minimize freight dimensions and reduce trade show shipping costs. Shipping is another reason why we choose to design and build with lightweight materials. The result is that many of our island booths require only 1-2 crates which amount to big savings on shipping costs.

It’s important that your carrier understands what it means to ship to a trade show. Many drivers don’t understand the process of the marshaling yard when going direct to show and that waiting in line to be called up to unload at the facility is a given for trade show freight. Whenever possible, we work with an experienced shipping company that understands the ins and outs of shipping to a trade show or advance warehouse. Our freight ships in a way that minimizes terminal transfers and freight handling, often going directly from our warehouse to the shows advance warehouse or venue.

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Reducing Trade Show Booth Costs

Take a look at all the related trade show booth costs. Lighter booths will cost less to transport and accrue less in Material Handling costs charged by the show. This alone can amount to thousands in savings. Keep in mind the chaotic environment of the trade show floor. Subtle booth features can be easily overlooked and end up wasting time and money. Resist the temptation to have too much going on in your booth space. There is value in open spaces to gather and mingle.

It’s also important to keep in mind the cost of storage in a booth space. The convenience of having your literature and giveaway inventory along with everyone’s computer bags and hand bags in your booth comes at a premium.

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