What is the most pressing issue/challenge/opportunity for show organizers in the coming year? How should they respond? j "In 1994, the Summer CES (Consumer Electronics Show) was in the wrong city and being held at the wrong time for the major electronic gaming exhibitors so they pulled out of CES and created E3. (Two years later, Summer CES did not exist and E3 was on its way to mega-show status.)

"In 2006 many of the same electronic gaming exhibitors that started E3 decided a mega-show was no longer the right marketing medium for them. This handful of companies decided that E3, with its 400 exhibiting companies, in 540,000 net square feet of exhibit space, and 60,000 attendees, no longer met their needs. So their association, which owned E3, announced it would replace E3 in 2007 with a hotel meeting.

"This stunning transformation of a major exhibition into a small meeting - in less than a year - is the biggest challenge show organizers will have to face in the future. To counteract this, show organizers need to take note of the following characteristics of E3:

1. anchor exhibitors that command the lion's share of interest from other exhibitors, attendees, media, and analysts
2. 80 percent of revenue comes from 20 percent of exhibitors
3. exhibitors demonstrate services, software, or handheld products
4. distribution is well established in a handful of channels.

"Shows that have three out of the four characteristics above need to know that what happened to E3 could happen to them. To avoid your show's demise, you need to:
1. Listen well to your exhibitors - even their silence is a sign.
2. Invest more in new benefits for your attendees (i.e., accept a lower profit).
3. Diversify, diversify, diversify your exhibitor mix so all of the power isn't in the hands of a few exhibiting companies in any product category.

What is the most pressing issue/challenge/opportunity for exhibitors in the coming year? How should they respond?
"Too many companies don't take exhibiting seriously. They sign a space application and show up. These exhibitors are wasting their companies' money. They wouldn't treat other expenses the same way. Just as they purchase other goods and services and manage their other suppliers, they must start managing the show manager. Before a company commits to any show its senior staff must answer these questions: 1. What measurable objectives are we trying to achieve?
2. Will this exhibition and show management team help us achieve our objectives?
3. How will we know if we've achieved our objectives?

"If more companies answered these questions before they became exhibitors, more shows and exhi- bitors would realize successes."
Sam Lippman
President, integrated show management & marketing
Producer, Exhibition and Convention Executives Forum
(www.eceforum.com) and the
 Large Show Roundtable (http://www.largeshow%20roundtable.com)

"The biggest challenge facing organizers today is adding value to their events for both attendees and exhibiting companies. The attendee experience is the easiest to address because you can program educational sessions, workshops, and demonstrations, each of which add value and enhance the experience.

"Adding value for the exhibiting company requires more relationship selling and understanding why the company is exhibiting and what they want to achieve. Most organizers are not that in tune with their exhibiting customers. It will take time, effort, and resources to better understand their needs and objectives.

"It is a 'buyer's market' for exhibit space. Good deals can be made that enhance the bottom line. It is also a great climate for launching new ventures. If you are thinking about launching a new event, now is the time to do it!

"The most pressing issue for most exhibiting companies is demonstrating a measurable ROI to their 'C' managers. Unless an event is a 'market' where orders are actually written, it is a difficult task to identify the revenue from an event that favorably compares to the cost of exhibiting.
"One of the biggest challenges exhibiting companies face is dealing with five cohorts [generations] in their customer group. There is a huge gap between appealing to a pre-boomer and an Xgener or Millennial today. Companies use channel marketing in print and electronic promotions. On the exhibition floor however, an exhibitor has to be ready to properly greet and communicate with a customer regardless of their age. There is a big difference between, 'Hi, my name is' and 'What's up?' \"Exhibitions are the last bastion of face-to-face marketing. Successful companies vigorously pursue having conversations with their customers. Exhibitions offer the most efficient opportunity to have that meaningful conversation."
Douglas L. Ducate
President and CEO
The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR)
www.ceir.org

Have the costs associated with exhibiting at trade shows risen dramatically over the last year due to high energy costs? How are you handling this challenge? What do you see in the coming year?
"For the past year we have seen two increases in the fuel surcharge. The first was 15 percent, the second was 5 percent, bringing the grand total to 20 percent. That was painful. Add the fact that standard rates for freight rose 10 to 12 percent ... very painful indeed! "Our budgets are basically the same as they've been in past years, so it is the old game, called 'do without.' We've scaled back on floor space at some of the smaller shows, are sending less product, and instead, using collateral materials. For those shows that require product, we are consolidating freight. We've beefed up use of eye-catching graphics within our booths, and then recycle these graphics for use at other shows. In some cases, we've cut shows, and are sending sales personnel to try to drum up business while roaming the halls of convention centers.

"Unless pricing on shipping and drayage is reduced, I see more of the same actions that I've mentioned. I believe more exhibitors will use graphics to sell their products. I see a wider use of technology being integrated within exhibits to make a more powerful statement. My preference is to reduce, rather than cancel exhibiting at shows. I am more selective as to what gets shipped to the convention centers."
Sandra Panebianco
Senior Manager, Co-op and Exhibits
McGraw-Hill

"We have seen fuel surcharges on shipping bills and, at some events late summer, we were assessed a 2 percent fuel surcharge on all show services. The 2 percent show service surcharge was unanticipated and particularly painful.

 "Here's how we're handling this challenge:
Rentals - We have, in the past few years, utilized more rental properties at some of our larger shows. Renting from the show contractor in particular has been attractive in that we can set a budget and roll basically all costs into the package (structure, electrical, labor, material handling, transportation for the structure). Any of the services the contractor is handling can be bundled. Takes lots of the guesswork out of the expenses and has also allowed us to add a bit of flare to our presence. Booths are customized to match current marketing campaigns.
Fabric - We have purchased many more fabric components. Fabric gives the booth a polished/more custom look without the costs (electrical, labor, and shipping are biggest areas of saving).
Shipping -We meet with our shipping carrier at least twice a year to review the state of things. We partner with them to make sure we are using the most economical shipping means (consolidating shipments and longer shipping windows). "

Growing economies (like China) are putting increasing demands on the world's energy supply plus instability in the Middle East means 2007 will be another challenging year. While we hope for better, we prepare for worse (or at least, more of the same)."
Kathy Granger
Trade Show Director
Thomson Legal & Regulatory

"The biggest cost increase I've seen has to do with labor and drayage. I did a spreadsheet for finance, because our budgets aren't increasing at this rate. I based this off of Tradeshow Week's annual survey of labor rates in the various cities - one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, one in the South - and looked at the 2004 rates versus the 2005 rates. For example, a rigger in San Francisco from 2004 to 2005, straight time, regular rate, went from $101/hour to $234/ hour. The cost for drayage/general labor in San Francisco went from $80/hour to $95/hour for regular time. For overtime, it went from $129/hour to $167/hour.

"A huge part of my budget has to do with rates that I can't control like the labor and drayage rates, and electricians and riggers and carpenters. The rates are actually negotiated by the association on behalf of the exhibitors, with the general contractors. It's a problem. You have to do more with less. Maybe you bring fewer counters to the booth. If we want to stay the same footprint size, we have to either bring less property or have our booth be less complicated to set up, or have it weigh less, so the costs don't go up as the rates are going up.

"Looking at Orlando, the overtime for a rigger went from $89/hour to $107/hour - that's some increase! We have no control over the use of overtime. The pattern of the show is set by the association and the availability of the convention center. A lot of associations have a pattern of move-in on Friday, setup on Saturday/Sunday; that's all overtime or doubletime. So the exhibit opens Monday, and they may want to keep that pattern year after year, because that association has found it works best for the medical professionals who attend their meeting. We don't have control if the setup is only on the weekend, although we'll try to get early move-in on Thursday, and do as much as we can on Friday to avoid those overtime costs as much as possible. And we usually have setup or dismantle on the weekend - it's one or the other with the medical associations.

"We also don't really have control over whether our booth is moved out on straight time or overtime. They only have so much time to clear the exhibit hall; some are going to get moved out on straight time but others will be moved out on overtime. It's very difficult to budget for something like that and that's a huge surcharge. Overtime charges for drayage have increased the most. You review your bill before you leave the floor and everything looks good. Then you get another bill in the mail that said everything moved out on overtime so they're going to slap another $20,000 on your bill. That's a big shock. And I didn't have control over it, either. So that's a problem. We can't continue to pay these high rates.

"At the most recent Health Care Exhibitors Association (HCEA) meeting, it was discussed whether a blending of rates would be helpful for people. Then you could at least budget for it and some exhibitors wouldn't be penalized because the drayage/ labor can't get to their booth to move it out on straight time. Why not have an average rate and get away from the overtime rates for drayage and just have it be one rate whether you're moved out at 3 p.m. or 6 p.m.?

"At the HCEA meeting, a medical association representative in the room raised her hand and said, 'I didn't know I could negotiate the labor rates.' And my thought was, they are negotiating on our behalf and they don't know. I think it's an education process.

"We can have two different meetings within two weeks of each other, using the same general contractor, and we can pay a difference of $20/hour in the labor rate. Why is that? I think it's because an association with the higher rate is getting more freebies so costs are passed on to the exhibitors.

"With the fuel surcharges, I question why there is a surcharge on vacuuming. I don't understand the correlation. Now that fuel costs have gone down, I will have to see if that surcharge goes away.

"Overall, I just see rates continuing to climb, but what are you going to do? You're locked. If I want to have an exhibit at that association meeting, I'm going to have to pay the rates. The rates are rising much faster than the rate of inflation. If it continues like this, we're going to have to decrease our booth space, which is going to decrease the amount of revenue the association is going to get from selling exhibit space - unless they are able to sell to more companies. I pay more in drayage than to ship my entire booth across the country. There's something wrong with that picture."

Are associations so focused on attendees and members that exhibitors are given short shrift?
"I'm not seeing that. Most of the medical associations we're working with have exhibitor advisory committees and they're pretty good about listening to the exhibitors to find out what works, what doesn't, and to make sure that they're not cutting back on the amount of time but also trying to make it more quality time for the attendees. Some of the larger associations may charge the exhibitors a little more but they have free lunches in the exhibit hall for their attendees so that brings them in. Or they have a reception in the hall, or a dinner hour where different exhibitors can offer food to entice the attendees into the hall. I'm seeing more of that which I think is a positive thing."
Sue Huff
Director, Corporate Conventions
Medtronic Inc
"I think that more and more organizations do neglect the exhibitors and don't consider them partners in the event. Yes, it is true that the main reason exhibitors are there is to get more business, but we are also there to learn what is happening in the industry so that we can come out with better products.

"Too often, associations tend to see the trade show as a revenue source and forget that it is a valuable educational component for the attendee. This is where they meet new vendors, see new products, and first hear about upcoming products."
Nick Topitzes, CMP
President PC/Nametag
www.pcnametag.com

14 Tips to Help Exhibit Managers Control Their Costs and Maximize ROI
1. Plan in advance by reading the information in the Exhibitor Services Manual. Although it may seem like an overwhelming amount of information, it is the single best resource for planning your exhibit costs, establishing the necessary timelines, and ensuring that your exhibit is within show regulations.
2. Take advantage of the experts. Call the official service contractor for ideas on how you can save money and how to place your order if you don't understand the process. This is particularly important in the area of material handling, which can be very confusing. Understanding how rates are charged is vitally important so that you can plan accordingly.
3. Pay attention to advance order deadlines printed in the Exhibitor Services Manual. Placing your order in advance can save up to 25 percent on furnishings and other show needs.
4. Consider renting an exhibit from the official services contractor. Make sure that the cost of the rental is turnkey including shipping, material handling, labor, carpet, and basic furnishing costs.
5. Send as much information as possible to the appropriate service contractors. Include floor plans, electrical layouts, shipping documents, etc. to minimize the opportunity for error on site.
6. Pay attention to the published move-in schedule and plan the shipment of your exhibit material and collateral so that you may use ground transportation rather than expedited air freight. Also, try to plan the arrival of your shipment to coincide with straight time labor hours of operation. Consolidate your shipment as much as possible.
7. Special handling charges do apply for certain shipments. Make sure that you understand when those charges apply and reduce your exposure by shipping your freight in crates and/or shrink wrapping them onto skids.
8. Pre-wire as much of your equipment and display as possible before you get to the show, and organize/color code all wires to minimize electrical service labor time on site.
9. Order only the amount of services/utilities you need (i.e., electrical, plumbing, Internet, telephone lines). Contact the appropriate supplier if you have any questions.
10. Avoid making changes to your orders on site whenever possible.
11. Plan to set up and dismantle your exhibit during straight time labor hours of operation whenever possible.
12. Review all invoices on site before you leave.
13. Be sure to make arrangements for outbound shipping in advance, and provide that information to the service contractor prior to show closing.
14. If you participate in multiple shows throughout the year, ask the service contractor about multi-event coordination of services (exhibit program management) to take advantage of better efficiencies in ordering services, storing, and shipping of exhibit materials.
Carrie Freeman Parsons
Vice President, Marketing Freeman
www.freemanco.com