From all of us at Convention Insider and from the people at Conventions.net, we want to thank all of our veterans and thank them for their service.  From the many men that have served in the past and those that are serving now, thank you and bless all of you!

If you have a veteran in your life thank them for their service, for the freedom they provide and for the sacrifices they have made.

Tags: Veteran’s Day, Conventions.net, Convention Insider

I was talking about BYOD and the attachment for the audio visual portion of a slide show, and it made me think of "BYOB" or "Bring Your Own Beer."  In the trade show and convention industry a corkage fee represents the fee paid to the facility where your event is held, for the money that they lose by not being able to sell their own goods. In other words, if you have a sponsor that is providing free beer to your attendees, you must pay a fee for each beer given out "free" to the event facility.  They would normally be able to sell that concession to your attendees and because you are giving away something for nothing that they would make money on, you must compensate them.

This can get pretty ridiculous in my opinion as you get a large number of giveaways.  If you have an event that has a number of exhibitors giving away bottled water or refreshments or samples of their products, you can have a very large corkage bill that is paid to the event facility. 

This is not just limited to drinks given away or bottled water, but free samples of food and snacks as well. If you wanted to give a cookie to each of your visitors at the booth you are working, you would have to pay a percentage of the value of that cookie to the facility.  Yes, the house must get their "cut".  I can certainly see both sides of this issue and it may be a controversial payment to the facility, but when you are stopped from bringing doughnuts to your speakers in the speaker ready room because you have not paid your corkage it can get a little crazy.  Be sure you check to see if a corkage fee is charged before you decide to have a cool giveaway.

Tags: corkage fee, BYOB, conventions, trade shows, giveaways, promotional products, free samples

Having a good floor manager is key in making all things work well for your trade show or convention. If someone is well versed in procedures and what can and cannot be done in any given situation you will be way ahead of the game.  I watched as someone recently had no idea how to accomplish a small task like adding chairs to a room, and also watched as an experienced floor manager operate a situation where a wheel chair ramp was needed and it wen smoothly and without any problems. 

The same goes for someone that works well with the facility and if applicable a third party vendor that does things like registration, lead tracking etc.  Having an experienced floor manager can make your trade show work like a well oiled machine or make it a crazy nightmare for everyone.  There are plenty of freelance managers that do nothing but this for any show in their town, and their are those that do that as their sole responsibility for a big show. Getting a great floor manager is key whether your show is 10 exhibitors or 1000.

Tags: Floor Manager, Conventions, Trade Shows, Exhibitors, Freelance

I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping your exhibit booth clean. I have seen the exhibit floor empty and how it looks without thousands of people walking around and on the floor, and I can tell those that care about how their booth looks and those that do not.  Keeping your area free from debris and clutter can make the difference between a good contact and lead that can be a sale or an attendee walking past to someone that looks more professional.

As an organizer I think it is important to budget if needed for housekeeping.  We recently had our event at the Las Vegas Convention Center and once the show floor had been set up ad ready for attendees, you could tell that we needed to have a little clean up.  A person or two with a vacuum was brought in for carpet clean up which made all the difference in the world.  Keep it clean.  It helps your exhibitors and makes for a better experience for the attendees.

Tags: Exhibit Booths, Cleaning, Conventions, Trade Shows

I am in Hawaii this week and have been helping organize another event that we held at the Marriott Waikiki.  The event I was putting on had to do with business and social media. One of the themes that keeps coming up here in Hawaii is "sustainability". This is the word of the hour here and it stands to reason when you think of the limits that the islands have in products and energy.

Today I am at the Hawaii Convention Center here in Honolulu and it is a beautiful facility. I highly recommend you put it in your short list for venues to consider when planning a get away for attendees.  With an all glass front and palm trees in its lobby there is no mistake that you are attending a conference and convention in paradise.  I took this picture as I was standing on the hallway looking at a table of fresh fruit.  Something that is always in abundance here.  I commend the Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau for having a great facility.  More to come from Hawaii and a look at what I saw as I headed to the conference and the event I was being a part of today.

Tags: Hawaii, HCVB, Conventions, Trade Shows, Conferences, Honolulu

One of the things I have been doing since the event I was involved in as an organizer ended on October 17, is what is known as "Post Show Analysis", or PSA.  The organizers get a chance to sit down and decompress from the event.  I for one have been trying to remember all of the things that I learned as a show organizer and how I will approach all of this knowledge next time.

The problem with some of the PSA that has taken place is that for the planning of the following year, changes in the event location and event dates and many other factors can change the analysis and how it is applied to the following year.  For instance if you had rave reviews of your event for the fact that some of it was carried on outdoors, you cannot then make that a permanent part of your show if you happen to change the date to hurricane season in Southern Florida.  That is one prime example, but even small things like the analysis of the performance of a registration vendor or of the facilities vendors can all change with the simple changing of the guard.

For the most part I like looking back on what went well and what didn’t, and providing the feedback to make the next trade show or convention event better.  The post show analysis and any meetings related to that make that all possible.  Organizers should make sure that they make the feedback sessions with the organizers are made an important part of the analysis to make your event better in years to come.

Tags: Event Organizer, Conventions, Trade Show Planning, Convention Feedback

I want to let everyone know why I have been absent for a while from the blog.  I have been in complete trade show and convention mode for the last 6 weeks and it has been quite an experience.  I talk about a lot of things that are part of our industry, such as travel, meeting venues and trade shows that are occurring but never have I given real life experiences that I have had.  That all can change now as I went through that process last week in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  We had a three day conference with a two day full on exhibited trade show at that location and I was in the heart of the show and its inner workings.  I have much to discuss as it relates to the real inside of a trade show and convention.  There were some good, bad and ugly stories and I want to share all of those with you.

I had to deal with vendors, exhibitors, speakers, attendees, location managers, and staff and everyone else involved with the show. From the planning to the inner workings, to the post show analysis debriefing I was involved from start to finish.  The good news is I have been invited back to do it all again next year, and for some that might even be bad news.

I want to thank the folks at Conventions.net for giving me the latitude for some real inside research and participation.  I am hoping to pass on some of that knowledge I learned, some funny stories, and perhaps a nightmare or two.  Stay tuned here as I go through the process.  I am afraid I still have one event left and that will be at the Marriott Waikiki in beautiful Hawaii.  It’s not a bad gig but still it is working on a conference and convention.

Tags: trade shows, conventions, Las Vegas Convention Center, LCVA, BlogWorld Expo, BWE09, Hawaii, Rethink Hawaii

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

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