A Blog from ELITeXPO

w/Commentary from David Mihalik, ELITeXPO President, C.E.O.

Keeping Your Freight Family Together

Recently I received an email from one of my reps describing an issue he had with a recent shipment. It seems that the customer prepared 10 pieces for their outbound shipment from show site but when the driver came to pick them up, the General Contractor was only able to locate six of the ten pieces. The client was frustrated because this had happened to them once before previously under similar circumstances. They understandably were concerned but I received an email from the customer asking if there was anything that they were doing wrong or could be doing better to assure that these pieces wouldn't go astray on the show floor once they  labeled the boxes, turned in their MHA and left the building. It occurred to me that there are some things that a shipper can do to improve their odds of keeping all the pieces in a multiple piece shipment together. Because like our families we want to make sure that all the pieces in our shipment, stay together.

Here are a few tips and ideas that ELITeXPO believes will assist any shipper in keeping their shipment intact.

Think Pink -  I believe that having our bright pink ELITeXPO pre addressed labels on your packages greatly improves your opportunity for the shipment to stay together. Everyone in the industry knows the ELITeXPO "PINK" label. We've been using them since 1987, when our company was born.  We designed software that allowed us to print these labels on show site both for our Official Shows where we are the Preferred Carrier or when we simply are there to service multiple clients with multiple shipments on high volume events.   It also makes it easier for dock crews to locate the packages because we reference the airbill number on each label. If you are adding piece counts to your labels, (ie; 1of 10, 2 of 10, etc) then this will also greatly aid the handler with knowing what the complete shipment should look like.

When A GSC Is A 3PL - The reason we need to assist the show site loader is that for many General Service Contractors, (GSC) aside from their work as a GC, they are also a 3rd Party Logistics (3PL) provider. This means that they ship freight under their name but give those shipments to other, "3rd Party" Freight carriers. (like ELITeXPO) That is potentially why it will take longer for a 3PL to locate your packages because they first need to locate which carrier they sent the shipment on. You further compound that issue with the volume of freight that they are moving at show close back to their warehouse. GSC labels can also designate that particular GSC's shipments and it does make it easier for someone to group together GSC labels thinking that they are part of the same order. Even if our Pink labeled shipments become "cross routed", we stand a better chance to located the errant packages sooner and also have greater flexibility as an indirect air carrier to expedite them on their correct routing. Remember at this stage of the game, there are no bar codes involved and that means for everyone, FedEx included. So we are trying to perfect the human element at this point on the show floor.

Keep The Smaller Kids Together - Next, it's not enough to have any label on the package to assume that they were properly labeled. Even without the optimum method that ELITeXPO provides labels for, its not much to expect everyone in the chain to do their job and read the label. One piece of advice I can give is to condense the smaller pieces in order limit the potential for multiple pieces to be separated from the rest of the lot. In many cases smaller pieces such as graphics or banners are shipped in smaller individual cartons. Banner stands or simply banner graphics may be packed in longer narrow cartons. I would recommend to condense those pieces depending on their size and weight to one or two pieces. We would be happy to assist in developing a shipping case for these items that would limit damage and make it easier to ship. ELITeXPO can assist you in locating an economical shipping case to properly pack and condense your shipment to make it a smaller piece count.  We work with a number of vendors and provide this service to our clients, or we can simply repack these items into a larger, yet manageable corrugated box. .

When A Mohawk Is A Good Thing - Anything you can do to make your shipment stand out and be recognized is a good thing. We have had customers, name their cartons and crates in order to be able to locate them better. They have had fun with this by naming them after employees, or even recognizable icons such as Paul, John, George and Ringo. It may seem cheesy, but tell me that you wouldn't want to know where Ringo was, if you only had the other three. Other times customers have us paint a logo or use a company color to designate their items. A large band of purple for instance can be used to identify one carton from another plain generic carton of which there are thousands on the show floor. For example, if your company makes permanent waterproof surgical markers in multiple colors,  we can use the colors you provide in your product as a way to identify your cartons. (Red, Blue, Green, Black) This also can serve as a constant advertisement of one of your company products. People are still on the show floor and if you are like our company, you can sell to other exhibitors as well. If you always ship the same amount of cartons you can then add carton numbers to whatever unique identification you wish to use.  ELITeXPO has a new service which we call "Package Personalities" and we can develop a "personality" for your cartons or crates.   ELITeXPO can perform that work next time anytime we ship your items back to our Chicago warehouse.  So what happens if you have, say, 10 boxes, crates or cases? If we add Alice and Sam the Butcher to the Brady Bunch, we can have 10 names ! But you get the idea. An economical and fun way to keep your Freight Family together. I guarantee that your shipment will get noticed and will stand a better chance of not being separated without a custody hearing.

More Than One Babysitter? -  I don't wish to make light of a potential serious situation. ELITeXPO will always do everything we can to locate missing or separated pieces on show site and our experience in tradeshows will give us the best opportunity to locate the potential places where they may have been diverted. Let us know if there were any other separate carrier shipments in the booth at the time. Sometimes one shipment is picked up before another and pieces become crossed. The first place to look is with another carrier who also may have picked up too many pieces from your booth. This is also a great time for me to plug that for this reason alone, it makes perfect sense to have ELITeXPO handle all of your event shipments. Comedy aside, ELITeXPO offers a complete and full range of transportation services worldwide, as well as storage, online inventory and Installation and Dismantlement. Check with your account rep and let us keep track of all your kids all the time.

Make Sure Your Kids Get New Shoes & Clean Clothes - Cartons that are in poor condition and falling apart are candidates for the dumpster. A show floor worker may not know your good box from your garbage boxes. Boxes with labels are thrown away ALL THE TIME on show floor. If the cartons become haggard then they can be mistaken for garbage, especially if they become separated from the rest of the shipment on the show floor. At the same time, don't advertise really expensive, high value, high desire items. For example, a carton that is marked "iPads, iPods and Giveaways" is show floor lingo for "Steal Me". I much prefer, Box # 4 of 10......... Marcia, Marcia Marcia !  (that's because she was the one that Jan always envied...try to keep up)

Count The Kids Before Leaving Chucky Cheese - A clear and accurate description is always beneficial in identifying misplaced pieces. This is especially true if anything had changed prior to your outbound shipping from show site. If an empty box is lost on show site and then you use a different box or case to pack the same items into, its important that you change that description on the outbound paperwork. It's important that you get this change BOTH on the MHA (Material Handling Agreement) that you complete at the GSC Service Desk AND with your carrier. If something goes astray, we can't be looking for Greg, if he took off on show site with Florence Henderson. The idea being that if we are looking for a brown carton but it was repacked into a plastic tub, then it makes it more difficult to locate the missing kid. By all means, make sure that you count all the pieces that you are shipping. I've seen many times an exhibitor ship a skid of packages out as one piece. What that exhibitor has done is given away all of their other freight with the exception of one piece and it doesn't matter which one it is. All anyone is responsible for then is one piece, regardless that you had 10 on that skid. So unless you have a complete shrunk wrap skid where the pieces cannot be taken apart, record that your shipment is 10 pieces on one skid. Understand that you also will pay for the weight of the wooden pallet as part of your shipping and drayage charges. A typical wooden pallet weighs about 75 pounds. If you are shipping pieces "loose" then make sure you get an accurate count. The GSC doesn't know exactly how many pieces are actually in your shipment when you drop off your MHA. Effectively, they get that piece count when they pick up the pieces from your booth. If those missing pieces do not show up, the GSC is NOT responsible for that loss. You are responsible for your shipment up until the time your carrier arrives and the loading crew takes it away from your booth.

Everyone Is Insured - One thing that you need to have on your shipment is insurance. If all else fails and your package is lost, then at the very least you can recover your monetary loss through you cargo insurance. ELITeXPO provides a type of insurance called "All Risk" Cargo Insurance which protects your shipment from the moment we pick up your pieces from your or our warehouse, through the whole time its away until it returns. That means that this insurance covers for loss on show site, where normal cargo insurance doesn't. But declare your insurance values properly. You wouldn't say your 18 year old is a  4 year old when you list them for health insurance. The same is true with cargo. If your shipment is worth 20,000.00, then you need to declare all of it if you wish to receive full value for any individual lost piece. Sometimes companies declare 5000.00, thinking that this will cover the first 5K in losses. The reasoning being that rarely is the whole shipment lost or damaged. The reality is, if you shipped the Brady Family, (10 pieces) then each item is valued at 500.00 per piece. So if that box of iPads gets ripped first, then all you get is 500.00, not the 5000.00 you will potentially loose because they were stolen. If you do declare the whole 20K, then let your rep know that Box # 4 or Marcia, is worth 5K of the 20k so it doesn't get prorated to 2K per box. (20K divided by 10 pieces). Your ELITeXPO rep will purchase All Risk Cargo Insurance for you and fax you an insurance certificate proving that your shipment is properly insured. Sure it costs a little more, but so does peace of mind.

I hope that some of these tips will assist in providing some assurances that your shipment will stay in tact for your future shows. Please contact an ELITeXPO Account Rep for more information about any of the services mentioned in this blog. As always, i am always free and available to answer any questions and listen to any comments you may have. If you are a current customer of ELITeXPO, please let me take this time to thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of everyone here at ELITeXPO for your continued loyalty and support. If you are reading this and considering trying out ELITeXPO, let me say that we would greatly appreciate the opportunity to show you that we practice what we preach here at ELITeXPO. Give us a try, you won't be dissapointed.

For more info, hit the web at www.ELITeXPO.com or visit us on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and My Space.

Dave

If Chicago's new work rules are approved by the Legislature, more exhibitors will have the ability to set and tear down their own exhibits of any size using ladders and hand tools. What remains to be settled is if the State has the right to impose work rules on the Union workers whose collective bargaining agreements with private employers are federally protected.

Lawsuits will follow and uncertainty will rule the day. The natural course of thinking will be that the Unions, as they always have, will want to protect their turf and the work they currently receive as guaranteed by their collective bargaining agreements. The reality is, the model is broken and already some of that work has gone away. Now it has migrated to another Union hall, so if you were to speak of the Union as a whole, the work was not lost. It was lost to Chicago, and those Unions guys will care less that its being handled by a Union worker in Vegas. Conventional thinking may indicate that if the shows stay or return as a result of the sweeping changes, then there will be more work available and that should be a good thing.

You also have to take into consideration the landscape of Exhibit properties as well. Exhibits are lighter, use tension fabrics and extruded aluminum profiles which in many cases don't need any tools to install. In some cases they only need an Allen wrench. So if you peel the onion back, the Union has not only to worry about losing work they also have to consider that the technical aspect of their work, when working with custom fabricated booths will begin to diminish. That doesn't mean it goes away, because there will always be the large exhibit presence on the show floor.

But this becomes more of the classic case of whether the Unionization of workers as outlived its economic usefulness. The market should dictate price and the people who wish to work should decide what labor rate they wish to work for. In my opinion that is why so much manufacturing has left this country in search of cheaper labor. But let's not blame all that on the workers’ wages. I place a higher blame on corporate greed. There are plenty of right to work states with ready and willing workers desperate for work. It manifests itself in simple everyday things we purchase. Which is why when you go to buy a pair of Nike shoes that was made in Viet Nam or China, it's still costs over 100.00 for a pair of sneakers. We can't put people to work here in the USA to make a pair of sneakers for less than a C note? Perhaps it’s the fear that a union shop would double the costs to competitively manufacture that shoe. Bottom line though, is you and I still don't get to see the benefits of that reduced price at the retail level, all the while we support sweat shop labor in other countries. Makes our little trade show issue seem petty.

05/12/2010 Fear & Retribution on the Show Floor

With the new found efforts to rebuild the trade show model starting to take root,  comments about praying there is no retribution is exactly why most EAC's, exhibitors and I will add, Show Organizers sit in the shadows with their hands on their laps afraid to stand up and speak. Imagine a world without vocal opposition to the things that are plainly wrong. If that were the case we all would be drinking 'New" Coke by now. Simply making the comment that you are afraid but at the same time not offering support to a particular position, even if implied, is the very reason why NOTHING CHANGES. But it will change, because people who are very vocal and a few of the regular suspects on the LinkedIn discussions are willing to step up.

Fear and Retribution On The Show Floor

I think the key element in any discussion is to stay on topic and to not make the comments demeaning. It's hard sometimes to point out injustice "diplomatically" but it can be done. It's the mature route to making the other side understand where you are coming from.

I just returned from TSEA's Face to Face and more Exhibit Managers are planning their own events and are reducing or at best keeping pace with their trade show exhibit schedule. This is a result of the classic analogy "killing the goose that lays the golden eggs". So while comments about not speaking out for fear of missing crates may dominate some agendas, understand that some managers will speak with their feet and either not come or do it their own way. (ie; Pack Expo) Or in another case that I find amazing, Apple pulls out of Mac World. I am sure that are hundreds more to list, but know this, more are coming. The battle has been started with a single shot. If you're afraid of missing a crate, then I suppose its best you sit back and let others do the heavy lifting.

People are too quick to point at show floor workers or union labor as a culprit. You are seeing some of that in the McCormick Place revamp. Some believe that it’s all hatched in conference or board room at a few large corporations.  I also don't think that this is all a "suits" issue either.  In my experience sometimes the corporate mandate does NOT make it to the show floor. I have been on the receiving end of problems numerous times, only to have been easily able to resolve them by calling up a "suit" who was able to set everything straight. (Insert forced freight here) But that's my company. We make it a point to know who to talk to and how to get things resolved with the right people who can resolve them. I can assure you that Don Freeman is unaware of what some guy in New Orleans is doing at show close with freight that needs to be forced or a crate that was sent to who knows where on the in. I blame these local train wrecks on incentive plans put forward to the local GSC office to promote revenue/profit strategies. There are two ways to do that. One is to be creative and find ways to compete on price and value, the other is to leverage your position as a provider of exclusive services.

Character is determined by your actions once you have been given the power to act. If everyone' character was beyond approach, then we would have no criminals, no wars and empty jails. It's coming folks, just not here, and it requires traveling there in a pine box. If you believe in that, then we really are in hell now, or at least purgatory with the hope that this is all just a stopover or a bad dream. Personally, I'm leaning towards stop over.

In reality most people on the show floor are not at issue. They are not in the profit stream. They are hard working people looking to stay hard working, although there are plenty that are trading time for money. For the most part, there are GSC's that are a pleasure to work with, because they are interested in the end product or they are under a strong mandate from their show organizer to play nice. The latter is such a simple way to make nice sandboxes for all. Let's not all forget that there are power brokers in many cities who have big time influence on the activities and hiring of specific people or entities within a convention environment. Sometimes these warlord's are weeded out and sent on their way, sometimes not.

05/08/2010 How did we get here?

I believe that Show Organizers have a lot to do with the type of show contracts that are being written. I am also now sure that a lot of them don't even realize the impact that they have made on the cost shift structure of today's trade show. No one can be sure though if these contracts became popular as part of GSC (General Service Contractor) one-upmanship in their endeavors to be creative with wining show contracts. It wasn't long ago that we read about a GSC paying an organizer in advance to be the GC on contract. I think there is culpability on both sides regardless of who started this game of twister. It's clear that it’s now become the standard and most everyone wants in.

Recently I was at a session where the Show Organizer spoke of the free aisle carpet, registration counters and pipe/drape as if that is a fore gone conclusion to be part of the standard rate package. At the same time she was saying that they really don't completely understand what makes up the Material Handling rates. I find it significant that an Association representing Show Organizers hasn't come forward with some white paper of their own that shows a position statement on these fees or at least a description of how these contracts impact material handling.

This is the exact reason why the industry's call for transparency is so important and also so misunderstood. You can't clarify what you don't know your clarifying in the first place. For some, they have long ago given up trying to determine what goes into material handling. Has any of these types of organizers gone to the GSC to ask them how they come up with those rates? I wouldn't be surprised if many GSC's actually would tell them. After all, the costs have to go "somewhere" and the free stuff has to be paid for "somewhere" too.

I also feel that some Organizers are unqualified to be in their positions. (this is true for any or all of us) I've heard many times that a Show Organizer was unwilling to allow a competitive bid on show services because they were unwilling to disturb their relationship with their GSC, AE. The reason being, the GSC AE knows more about how to run a show than the manager who is being paid to manage it. They concurred that without that assistance, they would be lost. That's great for servicing the show, not so great for controlling runaway costs.

Bottom line, and I've said this many times and for a long time. Show Organizers hold the keys for making the kinds of changes that this industry needs to have. This doesn't just mean those Organizers currently in place. This means those new events that dare to compete with an event that while being popular, has lost touch with its cost structures and thus it's exhibitors. I for one would love for an Show or Exhibition Manager Association such as IAEE, or PCMA or SISO come out and tell us what they think about their constituencies role in the problems that we all face. It may be, as Hans states, that they don't need to. And they don't want to so they don't need to. Once again, two things drive that complacency or action. Competition or Failure.

Keep an eye out for the EIC and the EACA for action and activity in providing insight and reality towards creating the transparent tradeshow. If I were a show producer, this time would be the best opportunity to create a competitive advantage and an event that would shake up the industry. But since I'm not, I'll put my efforts into achieving similar results through my membership in the EIC and EACA.

05/03/2010 Can Real Change Happen?

I for one am confident that change is happening. The issues with the shows that recently left Chicago has shed a light on problems that caused the customer (the organizer in this case) to say that they were unhappy. The resulting exodus prompted city officials, many of whom potentially are hitting the problem at ground zero and working to get up to speed to understand all the nuances. The misconceptions of what the problems really are have now all been put together into one pot of soup and there is a battle cry that is blaming everyone and everything that is wrong. I don't have a problem with that even if the proverbial dog is barking up the wrong tree. Everyone gets in for one ticket price.

I've been to the EIC keynote at EDPA this year and saw how powerful the message that Jim Wurm delivered to the membership. I've been to those early planning meetings, held in private and in secret because of the fear of retaliation. I've been to Red Diamond and heard the murmurs if not loud voices of those exhibitors who are starting to say they are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. They are tired of being pushed around. But mostly they are tired of being the biggest kid on the block and still getting bullied for their lunch money. Meetings like the Red Diamond are training the big kids on how to fight back or at least know who is planning on taking their lunch money next. Most importantly, the meetings are now out in the open and the people are not hiding anymore. That's real progress.

I won't be one saying that nothing is going to happen because that would just be a self fulfilling prophecy. I learned as a young buck 23 years ago when I started my company that if I hung onto the notion that I would not fail, then I wouldn't. So far so good. In this instance, if we say that change will happen, then you need to provide input into these discussions more than once. You can't be a drive by commenter. If more people get involved, the momentum will be too great. The old story is, "whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right".

04/24/2010 The Auto Industry Solution

And here is how the other side of the industry works, (or doesn't as it were) Apathy is the standing quality appreciated by the oppressors. My company is a charter member of the EIC and that council was started because there were enough people standing around doing nothing and were sick and tired of it.

Let's be honest, zero invoicing started with a single shot. It became a strategy employed around industry meetings by people boasting about their new promotions because they saved their firm so much money. Whether GC's or the organizer was the first to offer this doesn't matter, because once Pandora was let out of the box, then other GC's had to follow. I am sure it started with carpet, then went to reg counters and eventually someone couldn't help themselves and in the interest of being the winning bidder, said, "Hey, It's all free ! We know where to bury the costs".

This whole idea was thought up by someone sitting in a car showroom waiting for the delivery of their brand new car, just after they signed the Rusty Jones contract for additional rust proofing that cost them an extra 1200.00 but only 20 bucks a month. Such a deal, as long as your rust started from the inside out and not the outside in. (that's a true story there) The dealership made a nominal amount on the car but about 1190.00 on the rust proofing. It works because we are either stupid or apathetic or both. Now we all know what's happening to the auto industry and you must know what happened to Rusty Jones. Rusty Jones went out of business because the auto makers decided to rust proof the cars themselves to improve warranties in their efforts to win new customers. (Am I reaching anyone yet?) But eventually even a solid rust warranty didn't help a car that looked like a bucket of turd and broke down frequently, or had a Chevy motor in it regardless of what make GM sold.

The more I think of it the more we can use the auto industry as a template for what to do. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In the tradeshow industry, it seems that some are eager to repeat it, until eventually they too will be doomed.

04/24/2010 Solving Chicago

04/23/2010 Associations are for Who?

04/23/2010 Industry Association Chapter Meetings - Extinct?

04/14/2010 Crystal Ball

At Exhibitor Show this year it seemed the consensus was that companies are starting to look towards the near future. I believe that projects "optimism" probably more than actual economic indicators. But optimism is how it will all start. Someone with all the money has to start spending it so it reaches the rest of us who don't have it. But companies are saying that they are looking at purchasing now to be prepared for changes and the new events that they will go to or return to in the next 9-12 months. I believe that the buying patterns will be more conservative for at least a few years before companies start to forget about the lessons we all were suppose to learn as a result of this last depression. (Yes, I’m calling it a depression, just ask anyone who lost their job AND their house if they agree)

The product mix also will change as companies evaluate cost savings through their new purchases. Advances in exhibit manufacturing have presented companies with very professional looking environments at a fraction of the weight that was used previously. I also believe that this will transcend the typical users of this lightweight exhibit experience, the under 20x20 booth space. This will drive companies to adapt to the marketplace. It certainly has driven the product mix in our company. Who would have thought that a predominately transportation driven company would now be able to provide complete Exhibit Management services to clients who are looking for more than just the transportation component. Buyers will have to sift through the repackagers and still work with and find companies who have verifiable experience within the trade show field. It’s that process which will methodically take place before buyers jump in with both feet. They will be looking for more bang for their buck and expect more from their vendor partners. Good companies survive, great companies adapt. Optimism must take place on both sides of the purchase equation. That said, we are not there yet. It's been my opinion that the days of feeling good about reviewing balance sheets may come in 2011.

04/13/2010 Transparency

As a Show Organizer I can take my show wherever I want. As an organizer I can have a convention center begging to please come and rent some space. Convention centers are standing in line with the GSC to "get the business". A show organizer will take their event to the next venue that gives them what they want.

What if ? A venue decided to take the matter of bundling or excessive drayage rates (ie; cost shifting) into their own hands and took complete control of their own docks. For that venue and for that city, rates could come back under control and into reality. Exhibitors would vote early and often (as we do here in Chicago) for that business model. That said, I don't believe that there is a venue in the country that would take that bold move. Why ? For the very reasons you state. As an organizer you will take your show to the next venue that says, come here, we have no restrictions on how much you want to charge your exhibitors by restricting your access to the number one place where all your costs can be shifted.

Nixon called it plausible deniability. If we say it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist.

The funny thing about it. If this model were to somehow happen in a distant galaxy far far away, I don't believe that exhibitors may see a large amount of cost savings once all the costs fell back to where they belong. The difference would be, whose taking more than their fare share of the trade show pie when all the pieces have been distributed. Someone's making money, and it’s a classic case of the have's and the have not's. The end game would still be that the exhibitor would get the costs passed down to them, only in the new world order, the exhibitor would see all the line items and at the end of the day it may still cost them the same as it does today. What we would then have is something much more acceptable. And that is transparency. We can live with the costs if we somehow know where they come from.

04/12/2010 Time to Support TSEA

It’s being said that exhibitors are the ones that will bring about notable change in our faltering trade show model. But here is the problem as I see it. Exhibitors will not, by and large, initiate the change that they so desperately need. Exhibitors need to be organized and they need to speak out in large numbers. The recent exodus of shows from Chicago was driven by a show organizer who was making a financial decision based on the needs of all their exhibitors as well as themselves. Whether those cost savings are passed along to the exhibitors at the new venue will remain to be determined.

But exhibitors are in competition with one another. Will one vote with his feet while his competitor "sucks it up" and stays in order to reap the rewards of seeing all the potential buyers who are coming to the event that company A has now boycotted? Some. but not a majority. Would you, if you were given that competitive advantage for three or four days?

It’s vital that an Exhibitor Organization such as TSEA be the voice and advocate for exhibitor related issues. That's the real point of an Association, isn't it? That's the real value add in your membership dollars. Otherwise it's just a networking event where the sharks (vendors) swim around the bait (exhibitors) That's why it's important for companies to support Associations like TSEA who will speak up for exhibitors who are unable to by themselves. TSEA is a supporting Association of the EIC which is acting on the exhibitors behalf to represent those issues that best serve their membership. Exhibitors who are looking for a way to contribute, can easily do so by supporting their Association financially by becoming a member. There's never been in a time in my career where industry Associations have become such a valuable voice and entity for the changes that are desperately needed.

Venues themselves hold the silver bullet and the hidden key to unlocking the gridlock caused by the current industry model. But they are in no financial position to take a stand on what inevitably would cause them to lose money. (at least in the short term) They answer to the taxpayer, and since most taxpayers are probably not exhibitors, they could care less about our problems. They just want those venues to be successful and bring in tax dollars that would otherwise be collected from them in the form of sales, real estate or corporate taxation. The venues cannot satisfy multiple masters.

But it all makes for good headlines on the local newspapers, so Joe Factory Worker can read his Tribune in the morning and see that someone else has it worse than him. He can now point his finger at the reasons why everything in the world is wrong and it all starts with those greedy b**tards at the Convention Hall. And all of it getting reported by the messengers of doom who never set a foot on the show floor. You didn't realize how bad the fried food was for you once you got past how good it tasted.

04/12/2010 - The Tradeshow Industry in Flux?

Recently there have been a rash of articles being written about how the tradeshow industry is in flux and how the model needs to change. Much of this has become prominent as a result of recent problems surrounding the departure of major shows from Chicago’s McCormick Place. People are being interviewed and names and quotes are now being published. I can’t help but believe that I’ve heard these quotes and alternatives and reasons before. That is because these conversations have been going on for better than 3 years. Most people just don't know it. Most people don't know the courage of a group of individuals who have stuck their collective professional necks and businesses on the line in order to make this industry better. Where I come from, that's called "character".

The EIC is making the efforts of many people come to light in an organized effort to make change happen. Many companies still operate in a cloud of fear because of retribution. Voices are now being heard and people are making a stand because they are not alone. They are not standing alone on the soap box only to see others watching on the sidelines from behind the hall pillars, or behind the forklifts and peering over to see whether they are being pelted by tomatoes or worse. Those same people who only a year ago would agree to these revolutionary ideas so long as no one mentioned their names or the company, are now standing up and now joining in to give a voice and power to the efforts of those people who will continue to fight the uphill battle against bundling and illogical business models. I am awaiting that one venue or one GC who bucks the trends and makes a revolutionary decision for the better of the whole industry, even if it means losing some revenue or profits in doing so in the short term. I know a few hundred people who right now would know instinctively what that might be. In the mean time, watch for the smaller changes and innovations that will come from small businesses who adapt to the current environment.

Special kudos should be given to the EIC because I feel very little if any of these conversations would have seen the light of day otherwise. Also forums such as Linked In has spread the word and have given ample editorial content for enlightening articles to be written on the subject. But be warned, we are in the very beginnings of the first battle of a very long war. The current economy provides the right environment for change to foster, because many are suffering. Where were they when corporate profits were at an all time high? Where will everyone be when business starts rolling again and higher volumes camouflages the stains?

03/03/2010 - Do you think the current tradeshow model is sustainable?

Shows leaving Chicago have opened up the conversation, and this report was on the Chicago CBS news last week: http://bit.ly/cScfHg What do you think? Ain't broke so don't fix it or it's broken, and we need change?

The current tradeshow model is sustainable. It is because there are a reasonable number of interested parties and companies who wish to keep it that way. The current model makes money for some companies at the expense of others and there is a wide variance between the haves and the have not's. In my experience, I've been told to get used to it. I'm not. 

I've stated this in other discussions but the current model is based on significant cost shifting which I believe is tied to the current show contract model this is common amongst many events. I've stated that some shows such as Pack Expo went about to make change and became their own GC in order to save their event and lower their overall drayage costs on a high weight event. It worked but we didn't see a wider amount of shows gravitating to that model. 

I'm a proponent of privatizing material handling. I recently asked a manager from a major city venue if they have considered taking over the docks in order to gather in out of control drayage costs that may very well be leading to shows moving out of specific venues. The idea being, take away the place where all the cost shifting is falling to, then the costs will return to being charged where they belong. Like the 40.00 steak analogy made above but really fairly accurate. The problem is the cost shifted expenses become an exhibitor borne expense. The reply I was given that while it is an idea that has been considered and in many cases would be a logical solution, he cannot imagine any large venue taking that kind of bold move or risk that potentially would alienate their customer, which is the show organizer. The show organizers most likely would potentially not want to be restricted in their ability to negotiate their contracts with the GC's. Their fear is that the customer would then move to another city where they don't have this restriction. In consideration of the financial problems most of these venues have today, that is not a risk that any local government is about to approve. 

Many of these contracts are Zero Invoice deals where the services are provided at no charge. The GC is then forced to recover those costs somewhere and now the steak has become 40 - 60 bucks. The constituents they are trying to save are the ones that also need to make the most change. Please note that I say some and not all organizers subscribe to this model. 

The changes move at a glacial pace. It will take a BOLD move, a REVOLUTIONARY move in my opinion, to get other venues, GC's or show organizers to start real change to happen. In my assessment though, not every show has these types of deals and still we see such common rampant problems as bundling, high drayage and labor rates, etc. Why? Because it's a PROFIT business model and at the end of the day it's about the money. Exhibitor's, even those EAC's who exhibit themselves, will gladly go to harvest with their wallets and checkbooks open because they cannot take the stand to NOT exhibit because if they do, their competitors who have chosen to not take a stand will be the ones gathering the perceived leads and business on the show floor. I call it, conspicuous by your absence theory. 

So to answer the question posed in this discussion, “is it sustainable?” It certainly is.

Exhibitors and EAC’s be aware. I've noticed an increase in diversion tactics that results in many forced freight shipments as of late. We have seen this "change" numerous times recently and it has resulted in Exhibitors not being aware that the changes WILL cause their shipments to be forced.

Recently at the Photo Marketing Assoc Intl. show in Anaheim the show kit information that all exhibitors receive, shows that all carriers must be checked in by 8:00 AM on Friday Feb 26th. A move out notice was dropped at each Exhibitors booth (as normal) and in that notice was an instruction under the "Shipping" heading that Outside carriers must be checked in no later than 10:00 AM on Thursday Feb 25th. This is 22 Hours earlier than what was published. It is also "before" the last day of published dismantle which was noon on Friday the 26th.

Technically, official notice of a change had been made. It was not highlighted or separated to indicate that this was a change from the previous instructions. Exhibitors who made prior arrangements with their carriers would need to update them of the new move out deadlines. Interestingly the advertisement for the General Contractor Shipping option is directly following. They also make note that if your carrier doesn't show up they will "re-route" your shipment via themselves. "Forced Freight" is such an ugly word to use.

Good trade show carriers will get access to the "Show Kit" move out information to validate correct move out times. They are not privy to the "Move Out Bulletin or Notice" that is handed out on show floor. Further, getting this "latest" information is extremely difficult to get from a General Contractor in the proper time from when they publish this "updated" info and the deadline timeframe. It is understood that things change and sometimes at the last moment. But no one is going to go out of their way to single you out if you happen to have already planned to have your carrier in by the Show Kit's deadlines.

The solution? Exhibitors and on site EAC’s, you must read your Move Out Notice and scan it in every detail. Changes and updates are being made that can cost you A LOT OF MONEY. If you've had a shipment "forced" or should I say "re-routed" then you know the size of the shipping bill that is to be collected before your shipment will be delivered. Pay special attention to the Carrier check in deadline changes and update your carrier immediately. Only you have the most direct and expeditious path to transferring the information. For carriers themselves, other than the General's Logistics division, getting updated and current information is "challenging" at best. The reason for that is that the reps who are back at the office or who are helping on the chat lines, don't have the same information as what's happening on show site. There is clearly a disconnect in the flow of information. Exhibitors who pay special attention to everything that is dropped on their booth desktop, or chair or floor have the ability to connect that information and save themselves time and money later.

ELITeXPO will begin a new additional time consuming process of calling the General Contractors at the most optimum time to estimate when a move out deadline has been changed and the time when the General Contractor Move Out Notice is published and handed out to the Exhibitor. Note that we will attempt to get this information but there is nothing in our past that would dictate cooperation or that we will be successful in getting this information from the General Contractor’s. We will also instruct our Exhibitors to be aware that changes are being made that will cost them money if it turns out that their deadline instructions to us deem to be incorrect. We always will attempt to recover any freight that is forced in advance of noted deadlines. ELITeXPO has long had a “Freight Force Guarantee” in which we will recover any freight that is forced that was caused by our own error and deliver to you per our commitment at the rate we quoted. ELITeXPO will absorb any additional costs or charges invested in recovering a customer’s shipment. But this guarantee wouldn’t apply if the deadline check in times changed and we were not notified in advance of that time to assure a proper pickup. In our company we have an operations person whose job it is to recover freight that is re-routed as a result of questionable tactics that cause changes that exhibitors may not be experienced enough to catch.

It’s a shame in this current economy and in light of the duress that the trade show industry is under that we still have to jump through hoops and create special processes to simply recover freight from the show floor.  Forced Freight had become a problem less noticeable recently and that may be because the industry has much bigger fish to fry. It’s still a symptom of a much bigger problem and in the end it’s another tactic that will cost the exhibitor more money. When the resolution has a reverse impact on revenue then the solutions are not so forthcoming, because this problem is so simple to eliminate that its mind boggling that in 2010 I’m still talking about forced freight tactics.

02/18/2010 - Giving excellent service in a bad economy is even more important than in a good economy.

Unless you can only achieve great customer service through the addition of additional bodies and technology, then your cost structure to perform at this level dictates your price point. Most can achieve great customer service utilizing existing assets without increasing costs by simply demanding this high level of customer service as a matter of standard operating procedure. All that is needed and what is missing most of the time is to provide the motivation and training to perform at the highest levels all the time. When employees believe that they are part of the value equation and are compensated accordingly, amazing results are possible.

I think that the generalization that CEO's don't understand the value of Customer Service over price is drastically overstated. That may be the opinion of an employee who has an disdain for anything that management does, and it may be typical of mega large corporations where the CEO does not get involved on an individual shipment level. I can assure you that as a CEO when something gets off the rails, I'm the first one to contact the client and offer what solutions we have to offer and make sure that the client is satisfied that we have rectified their concerns. Low cost carrier directives are normally the process of procurement. Procurement reports up hill. Don't confuse corporate policy for CEO indifference because that is just not true in most cases.

02/18/2010 - What statements would you make to the other stakeholders of the exhibition industry (i.e., show organizers; GCs; EACs; housing companies; convention centers; etc.) to help shape the industry's future?

From exhibitor perspective, how can the current model be updated? How can it move forward to become a true partnership between exhibitors and other industry stakeholders?