Looking for trade show display options

[Chris Krysinski]

Has anyone done a trade/home show and if so, what have you used for display equipment?

Thinking of doing a show and trying to figure out some economical options for a display while still having it look professional.

Appreciate any tips

[Belinda Barfield]

Chris,

It would be helpful to have an idea what type of item/products you want to display. I've participated in several trade/home shows in the stone business. Also helpful to know - how big is your space? What is provided by the show? What are you required to have in place?

[John Shuk]

There are companies that can rent you the display cabinets if need be.
My weekend neighbor has such a business in NYC and Las Vegas. I don't know the name of it though.

[Chris Krysinski]

Booth area is 10x10. There's a 8' tall back curtain with 3' curtain draped side railes.

I actually saw this deal on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-10-Trade-Show-Pop-Up-Display-Exhibit-Booth-PE-Case_W0QQitemZ150330243137QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_De faultDomain_0?hash=item150330243137&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A1|293%3A3|294%3A50

Not bad. I wonder how much custom graphics to put on that would be.

[Perry Holbrook]

Chris, my wife is a certified trade show expert. I showed her the ebay item. She said if she bought a pop up like that from a display house, it would run $2000 to $4000 WITH custom graphics. So I would say this one would be like buying from Harbor Freight rather than Festool or Saw Stop.

If you are going to use it just occassionally, it will probably be OK. A company like Fast Signs can give you a quote for graphics.

Perry

[Brian Elfert]

Back in 1999 I had an Internet Service Provider and we had a medium size booth at the Minnesota State Fair in the technology building. All of the booths were odd shapes like triangles and such to lessen the trade show look.

Anyhow, we had a triangle shaped booth so I designed and built a huge set of trusses about 10 or 12 feet tall and about 14 feet long on each side. It had three columns. The truss was made of plastic PVC pipe and tees. It was painted black. I went to place that makes items out of canvas and had them sew up flat pieces of black canvas to hang between the trusses. We also built various pieces of "furniture" that was wrapped with gray carpet from Home Depot. We had Fast Signs make some large digital printouts to hang on the canvas.

It was a LOT of work, but I had more time than money. It cost about $500 including carpet for the floor, but not including the digital printouts.

You could do something like this for the back of a 10x10 booth, but renting something from a company like Skyline Displays would be easier and fairly cost effective.

[Brian Elfert]

Fast Signs and the like are an expensive way to buy custom graphics these days. A friend of mine bought a 2x10' banner at Fast Signs for $170 last summer. He wanted bigger, but that was the budget. An online place would have made one twice the size for the same price or less.

Digital printing has made production of banners and custom graphics pretty inexpensive now. Digitally printed vinyl banners can be bought cheap online and I am sure some of the online places could also do graphics for trade show booths.

[Scott Pierce]

So I would say this one would be like buying from Harbor Freight rather than Festool or Saw Stop.

Hey Chris,
Did you ever do that home show, and what did you do for a trade show display? My first advice would be to just go to a show and walk around and see what other people are doing. Then understand that (IMO) the important thing at a show is to stand out and get your message across. Graphics are the most important thing, and if you stop by a FedEX Office (formerly Kinkos) you'll find they don't cost that much. As to the actual trade show displays, I'd be wary of buying anything off eBay (like buying power tools from Harbor Freight)... but if you have the time and desire, you can build something yourself... it probably won't be as portable or as easy to set up as a "professional" trade show display, but it will save you a money. Whatever you do, spend what it takes to get eye-catching graphics, and have a clear plan of what you intend to accomplish...

[Tim Morton]

I am in the trade...i produce graphics as well as procure various booths for people.

The first question was the one that needs to be answered...what is it you are trying to promote? And what type of trade shows are you going to be going to? And how often?

Some times you can get buy with a table and props and maybe hang some light weight graphics from the back drop....

Its like going to a party....you never want to be the best dressed...but more important, you don't want to be the worst dressed.

Pop up displays work well too...

Overall though graphics will run you about 3 bucks a square foot ready to hang.