Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

I am now faced with my own trade show where I have an exhibit booth and trying to figure out what is the best branded object to give to those attendees that are interested in my service or product.  As a background, I provide a service to companies and not necessarily a product so I am unable to give away my own products as a try before you buy.  I am one of a few companies in the country that provides the service so it’s not like I am trying real hard to distinguish myself from the competition in that regard.

I am limited on a budget and the number of giveaways should be about half the projected attendees of 4000.  I figure that I won’t give one to every attendee and and certainly will only se about 1/2 at the most pass by my booth.  I am limited on a budget so I am hoping to spend less than about $1000 for the idea.  I have been to a number of branded giveaway sites and we have actually featured on the sites I visited. 

My question to myself is given the background of what I have for a budget and the background of what I am trying to accomplish, what is the best product to give away?  I have written before about a lip balm that was given to me and I remembered the company that gave that as I carried it around in my pocket for a few days and it was etched in my memory.  I also like the mint tins that are giveaways.  My kids love when I bring home stress balls, and little flashlights and those types of things so I am stumped.  What is the best selling products, not based on overall sales, but because it is an item that is remembered and is not going to break the bank.  My call to the companies that are selling promotional products, can you help me and the many that are like me?  What do you suggest?

Photo via Marco Promotional Products

Tags: promotional products, trade shows, conventions, giveaways, exhibitors, exhibit booths

In case you have not figured it out I am in full on Convention Planning Mode.  CPM I know has so many more meanings, but for me right now it means that I am pulling out hair with both hands and I am running out of hair.  It has been making me not have the proper time here to be posting on a regular basis and for that I apologize.  In case you have not been reading this blog, I should fill you in.  I am the conference director and social media director for an event that is in its third year.  It is growing and getting bigger each year and we are on track to be nearly double in size this year with exhibitors, attendees, sponsors and of course headaches.

The show is called BlogWorld & New Media Expo.  I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t invite you all to come and be a part of the show.  For you event planners and meeting planners or if you are a trade show or convention organizer it is a must attend to learn about social media, blogging and all the other tools to help you market your event.

The problem I am having is with the 11 different tracks, the 4 sessions per track and three days of sessions.  We are now over the 300 speaker mark and I am running around and feeling like I am nailing Jello to a tree.  This is where I am curious about speaker management software.  What is being used out there by experts?  We at BlogWorld & New media Expo have the tech world at our fingertips and we are still going crazy with issues of back end mayhem and craziness.  My boss who is a chairman of a chapter of the IAEE said I am suffering from "First Show Face".  I think I called it something else.  I am curious, what if anything are you using for your project management tool?  Do you use a software to make your life easier?  If you don’t know what I am talking about you probably look like I do right now.

Tags: Trade Shows, Conventions, Event Planning, Conference Planning, Las Vegas, Speakers

I have done some reviews of hotels in the past and since I am discussing my travel this week I might as well include where I stayed in my travel plans.  I had my nightmare of travel and this is the icing of that cake.  I have never bee to the Custom Hotel and had no expectations.  In addition to adding to the problems with my travel from the last post, I got off the plane at LAX and found the place where I was to pick up the shuttle.  The shuttle is sent after you call the front desk. I pulled out my paperwork and the domino effect being the norm that day, the last digit of the phone number of the hotel did not show up.  No problem I would call information and have the call patched through.  The only problem with that is the information people had no listing for the hotel in their system. "Excuse me", I said in disbelief.  I’m looking at their number I just don’t have the last digit.  You would think I could give them the number and I cold ask them to provide the last digit.  No luck there.

I finally found the website on my smart phone, something I would say all road warriors must have, and finally found the number.  To its credit however, providing a free hotel shuttle is a huge plus when I am staying at a hotel.  I first stay with those that provide this as a value add not requiring a cab ride from the airport is a money saver and a great perk.

I arrived at the hotel and while I waiting to check in I surveyed the land.  Not too bad a hotel for a room under $100.  They had a restaurant that served a pretty good chicken avocado and it was clean and fairly quiet.  The only issue I had was the decor.  I am a guy and decor means as much to me most of the time as curtains in the garage, I don’t really care.  The problem with this decor however, was black carpet, black walls, black ceiling and hardly any light.  It was like entering a lava cave I saw in Hawaii.  Spooky.  To add to the comedy of the issue was the vending machine selling Halloween masks.  No I am not kidding.

The room was nice, clean the bathroom was great ad the shower was sufficient.  I had a great room and I don’t want to detract from people staying here, but I am wondering why they had a flock of sheep in the lobby.  No, not a real living and breathing flock, but stuffed animal sheep.  The bizarre of this trip continues it seems.

Tags: Travel, Los Angeles, Custom Hotel, Conferences, Trade Shows, Hotels

I don’t want to turn this into a blog about crazy travel stories, as that is another blog for another place, but when I travel as much as I do it is part of what keeps me looking inside the convention centers, hotels, meeting venues and other places.  Part of that has to do quite a bit for travel and how I do it.  I had to get this story out as it seems that not even I cold make this up.

It began easily enough with the need to fly to Los Angeles to speak at an event to a group of people in my network.  This was the fifth time for this presentation to this type of group so it is a no brainer. That is until I have to get there.

I headed out with my usual time allotment to getting to the plane.  This usually means I am running late, but for some reason today was different.  Today I was early.  I was about 10 miles from my house on the way to DIA when I discovered the error of my thinking.  I did not have the boarding pass I worked so hard to get printed 24 hours in advance to give myself the early seating.  I quickly turned the car around knowing that I was now very late, which is okay because I am used to being late.  Back to the house and back to the airport.  I am officially late, as per usual.

Then thinking about being late and thinking about my presentation and going over in my head all the things I had to do caused my next adventure.  I missed the turn to the airport.  This is a toll road, there would be no turning around easily and getting back to the original turn.  I know this is an emergency I will use the emergency turn around in the median.  Yes, I am probably going to jail on top of being late.  I found the turn around, but in doing so it cause my laptop bags and most of its content to end up on the floor.

Then finally I found a parking spot in the shuttle parking because i am a frugal traveler.  I park in the cheapest place possible.  I would have to hope that there was not many stops for my shuttle. At this point there is problem of being very late, but I can manage.  Then I noticed that my bag that had dumped out all over the floor of the car, was sans my wallet.  Yes, I need to have the ID in the wallet to get through security, otherwise no bid deal I could somehow manage. I yelled to the bus driver to stop so I could ru back to the car to get my wallet.  He pleasantly obliged and sped off as soon as I got off making me have to wait for the next shuttle.  I headed back to the car, and bent down to grab my keys…yes, you guessed it right, the keys were now on their merry way to the terminal with the original shuttle.  I have not yet screamed but I was close.  I flagged down a supervisor that told me he would radio ahead and when the shuttle made its stop at the terminal he would ask the driver to search for my keys.  I could see the shuttle from where I was standing and knew it was a few miles to the terminal.  I guess having him stop for two minutes and having the supervisor run me over there in his air conditioned vehicle was asking too much. I waited. Then I waited some more, and then even more.  Soon (relative term at this point), I saw the shuttle we were looking for.  He pulled up sheepishly handing me my keys and sped off again, not waiting for me to get the wallet from my car.  I would have to wait for the next available shuttle.

Suffice it to say I was the last guy on the plane which was too bad as I worked very hard to get that early on pass.  It became moot and I got to sit at the back of the plane between two linebackers and in front of a screaming toddler.  I thought myself lucky for making the flight although late, right up and until the man next to me said, "flying makes me sick sometimes."  No you could not have ended this any better.

Tags: Travel, Conferences, DIA, Denver, Road Warrior

I am headed to a couple of cities this week with Houston on the first stop and then rounding out the week with a presentation at an event in Los Angeles.  I have been used to the travel schedule and working my way in and out of airports.  To me it has become second nature to go through the security checkpoints and sitting on a flight taking notes, doing expense reports and in fact even typing blog posts.  My daughter on the other hand is not so used to the idea of "travel".

I had to first explain the idea of falling from the sky at 5,000 fee or 35,000 feet.  It doesn’t really matter once you hit earth from either elevation.  I think she is still wrapping her head around that concept.  So much for the laws of physics.  It is her birthday which is why she gets a chance to travel on a quick overnight and a short time with her grandmother in Houston. 

I love travel and I get a chance to see a number of different places.  It looks as tough my year will end somewhere like it began with a trip to Las Vegas.  I am also looking forward to getting back to Hawaii.  I will be headed there in November and this time I have no choice but to include my wife on the trip. I wonder if she too will grasp the idea of what happens when you careen into the earth from either 5,000 feet or 35,000 feet.  Let’s hope I never have to try the theory.

Tags: Travel, Houston, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Conferences, Conventions, Trade Shows

Happy Labor Day!  This is apparently a day that I am not supposed to work.  The problem is we had to get up earlier than a day I normally work to get the brisket on the BBQ to begin smoking for a picnic party.  I must have forgotten the memo on that one.  Actually, I looked it up just to make sure it wasn’t against the rules of labor or something, and found tat you actually are required to work harder on Labor Day having fun than you do performing work.  Well to those of you that are relaxing ad taking it easy on this day, please enjoy and those that are out laboring at fun, please be careful safe and ave a great day.

Tags: Labor Day, Holidays, Conventions, Trade Shows

by Guest Contributor – Peter LoCascio

Most sales and marketing people have very different personalities. Depending on corporate culture and management style, the important functions they manage can either work well together or be very challenging.  This is especially so for the Exhibits Trade Show Manager, who is responsible for successful trade show exhibit planning, execution, and measuring results.  In many corporations, the trade show exhibit program is considered a marketing support function and usually reports to either a marketing, marketing communications, or advertising manager.

The distinctive personalities of marketing and sales people when faced with everyday business situations reveals the difference between the two. Those dynamics often dramatically show themselves when people are faced with the tasks of trade show planning and successfully executing exhibit functions on the show floor. Simply stated, marketing people tend to be more strategic, conservative and long-term thinkers.

Sales people, on the other hand, are often considered more tactical, short-term thinkers who are action-oriented and impatient with any esoteric concepts that fail to deliver immediate sales results. It is critical during the formative planning stages of any major trade show that the Trade Show Exhibits Manager understands and carefully empathizes with both sides of these dynamics and seeks to find common ground in establishing fully supported exhibit goals and objectives. Once a coordinated plan is established and documented in the form of a pre-show briefing memo, the trade show exhibit manager must pay close attention and be ready to adjust to any tactical or strategic variances while striving to attain the stated show goals and objectives.

Peter LoCascio

www.tradeshowconsultants.com

As I sit here with my leg immobilized in a Bledsoe Boot after an injury yesterday (yeah believe it or not this was an injury I received playing peek-a-boo, don’t ask) it made me think about what would have happened had I been scheduled to work a trade show or convention.  I would not have been able to go to a convention center and sit through a long day of meetings a sales pitches and all that would have been involved with that job.  What would have happened?  Realistically, I would would have had an empty exhibit booth and all of the attendees wondering what happened.  Not very professional to say the least.

Do you have a Plan B in place, or a disaster preparedness plan for when such things happen?  Generally speaking you would have a few people working your exhibit booth but what if you are a small business and you are the receptionist, CEO chief bottle washer and lone exhibit booth handler?  My suggestion is to have a plan in place.  Be prepared as the boy scouts say.  Are you prepared?

Photo via Bledsoe Products

Tags: Exhibit Booth, Disaster, Disaster Preparedness

More to come on this one but it is turning out to be quite a stir in the trade show and convention community.  There are some unanswered questions on both sides and some angry exhibitors and show organizers.

San Jose, CA — 1 September — The International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), The International Center for Exhibitor and Event Marketing (ICEEM), the Exhibition Services & Contractors Association (ESCA) and the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) met on 27 August with senior executives of the San Jose Convention Center (SJCC) at that center to try to resolve serious issues arising from the 1 August implementation of a new exclusive labor agreement between SJCC and Teamsters Local 287.

IAEE, ICEEM, ESCA and SISO asked that SJCC temporarily suspend its exclusive in-house labor agreement in order to furnish an ample opportunity to discuss how the group’s key concerns might be resolved. SJCC refused the group’s request to suspend the program and offered only minor token concessions on 1 September.

Among the concerns expressed to SJCC:

1. The decision by SJCC to take Teamsters labor in-house exclusively using Teamsters Local 287 (San Jose) immediately creates a very serious jurisdictional and contractual conflict. It places the general service contractors in the position of being forced to ignore their collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 85 (San Francisco) if they are to work in the building. Doing so would, no doubt, result in a grievance filed with good reason by Local 85 with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and might very well trigger a work action response from the International Teamsters Union that could target events in other cities. The action taken by SJCC places the contractors and their clients in a serious state of jeopardy and in an intolerable situation.

2. Team San Jose’s actions place organizers, exhibitors and contractors in legal peril by exposing them to liability claims for injuries sustained by teamsters of Local 287. When a general service contractor supervises the labor call it and its clients (organizers and exhibitors) are shielded from these exposures by virtue of the exclusive remedies provided to them under Worker’s Compensation laws. Since SJCC proposes to become responsible for the teamster labor it is shielded from these liabilities but others including the contractors, organizers and exhibitors are considered third parties and are not shielded from civil liabilities. Workers injured on the job could collect from SJCC’s Worker’s Compensation insurance and could then also sue the organizer, contractor and/or exhibitor as well.

3. The costs and new work rules established by SJCC for labor under its program will increase labor costs to end users (organizers and exhibitors) very substantially. The plan introduces new rules that will add additional costs such as that for non-working supervisors, and it will also reduce flexibility (the lowest labor rates must be ordered more than 14 days in advance; no labor can be ordered after 3:00 p.m.; phone orders are not accepted; orders will not be guaranteed with less than 24 hours advance notice). Overtime and last minute labor calls will drive prices even higher. Teamsters of Local 287 who are now considered “casual workers” will be entitled to secure “seniority status” under a much accelerated schedule thus entitling many, if not most, teamsters to significantly enhanced benefits for which customers will be required to pay.

4. The abruptness of the introduction of the new policy leaves those events that are scheduled to use the SJCC in the next several months in a particularly difficult position. Their budgets have been fixed based upon costs and rules that SJCC has invalidated. Many will have no alternative but to pay substantially higher costs. Moreover, the new agreement tramples on the contracts in place between many of the general service contractors and their organizer and exhibitor customers. Many of the contracts are multi-year agreements.

Speaking on behalf of IAEE, President Steven Hacker, CAE, said, “Our industry has been struggling to meet the unprecedented challenges of a severely impaired economy coupled with dramatic attendance reductions and corporate travel restrictions. The unexpected action of the San Jose Convention Center that imposes a new labor agreement that ignores existing binding labor agreements and does so with no prior consultation nor any forewarning is, in my opinion, a grossly unfair and irresponsible act that cannot and will not be condoned.”

Margaret Pederson, Chair of the IAEE Board of Directors added, “no one objects to the long term goal of the San Jose Convention Center to improve the quality of service that is provided in its building, that is, of course, a laudable goal. However, that end does not justify these means. It also seems somewhat ironic that the new San Jose Convention Center labor program that is destined to cost customers substantially more has been introduced at about the same time as an agreement is being finalized in New York that would freeze labor rates at Jacob Javits Convention Center through next year.”

When asked what will be IAEE’s next steps, Pederson, responded that “this issue will be taken up at the next IAEE board of directors meeting on 12 September. This is a complex set of issues and there are many options available to IAEE that we will want to weigh. We will withhold any further comment until after the board has fully considered the matter.”

I am going to see if I can contact someone at San Jose for comment.

Tags: San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, IAEE, Teamsters, Conventions, Trade Shows

I was recently in Seattle which I consider the a coffee drinker’s heaven since you have a coffee house on every street corner.  When you work 20 hours a day like I have been lately getting ready for my own trade show coming up in October you tend to fall back on coffee to get you headed to point B from point A.

An event I was hoping to make some day is Coffee Fest.   Coffee Fest is currently scheduled to take place in Seattle coming up on September 25 – 27, 2009 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.  One of the events that I am really interested in is the Latte Art Competition.

For those that are not up to speed with what this is, the competition is described as:

Attendees and exhibitors are invited to watch as top baristas from around the world, the cream of the crop — come to Coffee Fest to strut their artistic and espresso-pulling skills. In this case, beauty counts but only in the cup. Each barista is provided 5 minutes to warm up and another 5 minutes to craft up to three deftly designed drinks. The prettiest crema, decked out with the finest detail and most distinct design wins. Only the cup counts, as all three judges are "blind" – curtained off from the competitors and sheltered by headphones for the course of the competition.

My only question is how I might be the guy that gets to taste the art after it is judged–any ideas?

Tags: Seattle, CoffeeFest, Washington, Washington State Convention & Trade Center