Eleven Point - Booth Design

It has been forever. UGH. My apologies.
Lately I have had so many emails and messages and even a few phone calls from you awesome people who tell me that you are waiting for me to post more booth stuff.
Good news. I have new booth stuff for you.
It's actually from August 2014 NY NOW. Pretty new.

This is the Eleven Point Home Fragrance booth. It was on Pier 94 and the newest brand introduction of my awesome client Scentations Home Fragrance. I love love love working with this company, and am so proud of what we created for Eleven Point. I will post more about the line separately, but let's get to what you are asking for, the booth stuff.

This was a 10"x10" corner booth. As with most of us, they didn't want to spend a gazillion dollars on a booth but, they still wanted a presence. The goal was to create a little wholesale shop where buyers could see the line, quickly understand the line, experience the fragrances and place orders.
The NY NOW show is offering some new options for walls these days, so there was no need for foam board this time. We decided to order the MDF panel option and have them paint it for us, you just need to supply them with the Behr paint color (I chose a charcoal grey). We needed 2 ten foot walls done (since we had a corner). On the Piers we did this through FB International (via the show). The pricing was somewhere around $150 per panel (painted) and we needed 6 panels (they cut them and price them to just a little over 3' each since most of the booths are sold in 10' increments, if you go to Lowe's or Home Depot, they will be 4'x8' and you will pay around $25/panel unpainted), the unpainted was $120/panel. Not cheap. I know.
If you are local, the process they used to make the walls was super simple (explained below) and it could be easily done for WAY cheaper, but, if you are not local, it could be a pain to get this done on your own as the panels are not easy to transport and move around, they aren't heavy, this particular MDF was only 3/8" thick, these panels are floppy and cumbersome and 8 ft long.

If you decide to build a booth like this yourself, I would definitely go for the heavier MDF so that screwing into it wouldn't be an issue if you wanted to hang shelves or anything heavy-ish and remember to get the panels cut to your booth size so they fit your walls, or, you can always take 3 panels per wall and place your middle panel over the 2 others and the empty space, so that there wouldn't be cutting involved (and it looks pretty cool too).
I talked about this method with foam board here

Let's get to it...introducing the August 2014 Eleven Point booth

Here's what I did.
As mentioned the walls were ready to go - well, almost, when I got to the booth they were still being painted, but, it was done quickly. In a nutshell, this is what FB International did for the walls - they screwed in 2 little silver squared inverted U brackets at the top of each of the panels and simply hung them over the squared bars of the booth structure. (This is new too, remember how the booths were all loose drape over round poles? square now.)

No, they were not super strong and yes, a few of the brackets fell off and I had to have FB come and put them back in. MDF is not the greatest stuff to screw into, often screws don't catch and slip right out, this is what was happening, but it was fixable.

I had ordered a strip of wallpaper that was the same pattern I had designed in the line's packaging to personalize the space - I worked with Murals Your Way for this and used this same idea in all of our summer showrooms. It was easy and quick to install and is actually removable, so it can be used for a few shows if you need. Since my wall paint was pretty fresh, the vinyl didn't stick as securely as I would have liked, so I just added a few staples to make sure it was not going to unpeel.

For the booth sign, I had our graphics printed at Fedex Kinkos and I spray painted an old textured frame gold.
The wall sconces were a fun addition, they are battery operated, and don't shed much light, but they added a nice touch to the booth and didn't require wiring to install, only a plastic pushpin.
I bought several sets (again for all of our showrooms) on ebay. This particular set I sprayed gold quickly, to match the frame and the other booth details (they were originally a bronze color).

The frames on the wall were super lightweight black plastic Ikea frames (with plexi fronts rather than glass) and each one had a fragrance description from the Eleven Point line that I laid out and, again, printed at Kinkos. I had originally wanted to place 6 frames on one wall and 3 on the other, but that didn't happen, so I did a quick adjustment and put all 9 on the same wall.
Since the frames were so light, I used heavy duty velcro tape to stick them to the walls, MUCH faster and more forgiving than nails and hooks.
The cute linen grey bench was a score at TJ Max.

The table is from World Market, a gorgeous extendable table that we will be using for a while and was surprisingly easy to assemble (sign up for their emails and you will get great coupons and free shipping vouchers).

The carpet is from the wonderful Flokati Phil. I have had one of his Flokati rugs in our loft for many years and love it, so I called him to help me find the right one for the Eleven Point Booth. Once I was in the booth, I realized that an oval shape was the way to go, so all I did was tuck the corners under and it became this awesome puffy oval soft addition to the booth.


For the shelf under the Eleven Point sign, I used light metal brackets from Ikea and sprayed them gold, and a piece of wood that I had cut to the length I wanted at Home Depot. I added a coat of wood stain to it to bring it to the color of the other woods in the booth. I stained the extra piece they had cut off for me, and used it as a riser in the middle of the table to add a second layer to the main display.
Since the MDF walls were not very sturdy, I used my foam board trick and placed 2 pieces of scrap wood behind the shelf brackets to screw into - this added a lot of strength to the shelf.
(I would NOT have done a wall of shelves on these walls without doing some serious securing first, and even then, these thin MDF walls are not built for lots of shelving, I wouldn't risk it).

Here are some photos of the process, and the finished booth.

little robots

Last night my uber talented friend Lynn and I, did a shoot for another friend's line, Twig Toys.
Most baby Tess photos you see and many of the photos on my site are done by Lynn. We have really been wanting to combine our ideas and start doing some work together, I style, she photographs!
Here are some of the results...

still more great booths!

My booth piece continues with  more of my favorites in the simple, clean, lower budget-but-fabulous category from the August 2010 New York Gift Fair,  here they are:

http://www.9spotmonk.com/ did a GREAT booth! foamcore white walls, covered in a fabulous high gloss orange vinyl adhesive. They also built a wall right in the middle of their booth which not only added 2 extra walls for displaying but also added architecture to the square booth. They used a craft paper brown to offset the high gloss orange to make their wall, for their bench at the back of the booth and for their floor.

LOVE this booth!

(and hope to have a link to share with you soon on where they got their orange high gloss vinyl!

http://www.flipandtumble.com/ took white and clean to new heights!

They did a floor that looks like wood, simple white furnishings (Ikea) and white walls.

They lined their white walls with their fantastic bags, making the colors simply POP!

I think the simplicity of this booth and the almost laboratory look of it was a really smart way to showcase their products, let me tell you, walking down their aisle, you HAD to look in their booth, and that, as the fabulous martha would say, is a good thing!

Lastly in this series, one of my favorite little booths at the show, http://www.baileydoesntbark.com/ .

Everytime I walked past this booth, I would admire and swoon a little...

Using simple dark stained wooden shelves and tables with non color, natural textured extras and vintagy details they acheived a beautiful soft look yet with a very sophisticated feel, right down to their beautiful sign! (the font is amazing!).

Through their display, they did a great job showing their clients how easy and impactful it could be to show their products once clients order them and have them in store.

They are showing retailers that their products look great grouped  (hey retailers, buy a bunch of our stuff and you too can have this look!) Hello? who wouldn't want this look!?

So smart! So effective...YAYE Bailey Doesn't Bark!

(for some crazy reason I didn't ask...but I hope Bailey is a cat or a fish...or a pet rock...)

New York International Gift Fair - August 2010

Yes, I survived another NY Gift Fair...I would have posted sooner, however, I came home with a terrible cold and guess who got it?...Tess! The little one has been sick for a full week, fever, rash, no appetite, trouble sleeping, crying and so unhappy...it has been a LONG week, let me tell you! (happy to report that she is starting to turn a corner and it seems she is feeling a bit better...phew!)
I actually went into this show not really knowing what to expect. I think that generally, we are all hoping that something magical will happen, that suddenly trade show aisles will fill up with buyers aching to spend huge amounts of money, but so far, unfortunately, this is still not the case. Buyers are still careful, understandably so. There seemed to almost be high fiving going on, lots of "so happy to see you here" comments, lots of buyers stating simply, "well, you are still here and we are still here and that's something!".
We are all trying to weather this storm, come out the other end and still be standing somehow.
I suppose hearing everyone say the same thing in some way is reassuring. It's nice to somehow know that BlueDogz Design is not the only little company struggling. And it was great to see some of our long standing clients. Not necessarily buying HUGE, but buying nonetheless, and every little bit counts!

Arriving at the booth was a bit messy...my pallet, which I reported would be sitting quietly in my booth, waiting for my arrival and eager to be set up, was NOT waiting for me in my booth, but rather halfway up the aisle and partially in another nice exhibitor's booth...this was so NOT the plan.Getting that reassuring email from Freeman (the company in charge of drayage at the show) saying that my pallet had been delivered to my booth the day before leaving to drive to the show was apparently a bit of a stretch.
It would not have been so bad if the aisle had been clear enough to get one of the Freeman gentlemen to move my pallet to my booth for me, but our aisle was piled high with crates and bins and booths and junk, there was barely enough room to walk the aisle. This made life a little more complicated. I had to tear down the pallet up the aisle and lug everything piece by piece to my booth, via 3 aisles east and through other people's booths, where we could actually get stuff through.
Honestly? I don't have much compared to other companies in terms of booth decor and storage but this alone took about 3 hours, (always be ready for the worst!).
Ah, the booth...without the stretched canvas walls (as requested) and with the booth carpeting (which we had requested NOT be installed). Well, one out of two ain't bad!
We usually get the canvas and no carpet, eventhough we don't use either, but this time it was reversed.
I italisized the word carpeting because I have to say, WOW, that was a sad excuse for a Carpet!
Not only did it not cover the whole booth space that we rent, missing almost 2 feet along the entire frontage of the booth (if my math is right, in a booth that is 25 feet long that is about 50 square feet, right?). It was even more skinny and non carpetish than ever. Kind of like a piece of black felt taped to the floor. I'm very happy that we don't count on the show carpet to complete our booth look.
Here is the booth:

We ended up ordering electricity this time even if our booth comes equipped with lights. The extra lighting supplied by the clamp lights really brightened things up.

more to come ... stay tuned!

more layout options

I had shown you an easy foam board layout for a 10'x10' booth here , by using 3, 4'x8' foam board panels per wall. You would place a panel at each side, right to the corner and overlap a 3rd panel in the center of the wall, like this (this shows one wall).
For a 10'x 10' booth, this design layout would use 9 panels of foam board.

Here is another way to plan your layout.

Find the center of your wall. Line up 2 panels of foam board so that they meet in the center of your wall. Now you will have 1 foot left of space on either side to cover up.

At this point, you can play around with your design a little bit...

1- You can start putting up your side walls now, but start at the front poles on each side, like this.

You will have 2 panels per wall, on your back wall, the panels will be centered, on the side walls your panels will be lined up with the front poles. Result will be 2 feet of unfoamed wall on each of your side walls (the area near the back of your booth), plus, 1 foot on each side of your back wall that is unfoamed. In other words, your 2 back corners will be open.

2- Here comes the fun part...well, some of us weirdos think this is fun!...

You can now decide how you would like to cover your empty space in the back corners.

You might want to use a panel that is scored down the center to fit into the corners. You can slip the excess behind your already set panels, or trim them with a sharp box cutting tool/blade.

You might decide to make a diagonal wall, by attaching a panel from your back wall to your side wall. There are no rules here...you can do both corners differently, one as a fit corner and one as a diagonal, get creative! This can actually make your very square booth look a little bit more interesting and architectural.

* A note here on storing excess samples or supplies. If you decide to do a diagonal wall, you can actually use the space behind it for some storage! Sometimes we simply tape one side closed on the bottom near the floor and this way we can open the diagonal wall when we need to get back there. (very convenient!)

see our diagonal wall (below) on the right, we displayed our press features on it.

we also kept the trunk in front of it to keep the wall in place!

we did the same thing here (below) with a diagonal wall.

If you make a mistake, cut down your foam board in the wrong place or find that your booth is not exactly the dimensions you had planned for, or the perfect square you had hoped for, don't sweat it, once it's all up and your samples are displayed, if a seam is not perfect, or if one wall is not exactly the mirror image of the other, it won't show...relax, no one will notice! If you need to cleanly run white tape down all your seams to keep things straight and secure, do it! it will look fine (try to use matte rather than glossy tape for that!), if you need to use some heavy duty clamps or extra velcro tape or hot glue- do it!...this is all illusion, it doesn't have to withstand weeks or months of use, it's temporary and really just theater, keep that in mind!

shelves?

By now, you have probably noticed that some of the photos of my booth  feature shelves on the foam board walls...These amazing shelves were the perfect size and weight for trade shows and were available at Ikea for years, to make matters even better (at the time), they ran about $3 per shelf, can you believe it? They called it the STRIPPA shelf (trust me, it is taking every ounce of restraint I can muster to not comment on the name).
Back to the perfect $3 shelf. Kind of too good to be true!...Yes, yes it was! Ikea does not make them anymore. (Waaaaa WAAAA, can you hear that disappointment music?...) I will post a bunch of close up photos of them however, when I am reunited with them in August at the show, if you know a carpenter or woodworker, you might be able to have some made, the construction is crazy easy.
If you want to use another type of small shelf, you can, and hanging them might sound like a process, but in actual fact, it is not that horrible to do, it just takes a little patience, some measuring and some organizing.
Here it goes.

Basically, what you are going to do, is sandwich your foam board between a strip of wood and a shelf,
that is how the shelf will stay up.
In the case of the STRIPPA shelves, there were simply 2 holes supplied, right in the shelves to hang them up.
A screw in each and presto, the shelf was up.

here's a closer shot of a single shelf, you can see where the screws go in on either side of the clipboards.

My process went something like this.
1- I would decide how many shelves I wanted to use and where I wanted to place them on the walls.
2- I would organize my 4-5 ft wood strips and drill holes about a half inch from the top of each one (hole should be wide enough to get a tie wrap through).
3- I would tie wrap the strips of wood to the top pipe (through the drilled holes). The strips of wood would now be hanging down from the top pipe/bar.

you can repeat this step as many times as you need, ie: if you want to put 3 shelves up on this back wall, you will need to tie up 6 wood strips, 2 per shelf. You can do the same for your side walls.

4- Once my wood strips were in place, I would place a sheet of foam board in front of the wood strips, essentially hiding them. For example, if I was starting to put up my foam board in this example on the left side of the back wall it would look like this.

 5- Before you do anything else, it's time to attach a shelf!  I would simply hold my shelf where I wanted to hang it, have a helper hold it, or have the helper reach around and hold the wood strips in place, and drill! (I liked to put my handy little level on the shelf before drilling, just to make sure that it was straight)...As I drill the screw through the shelf holes, they go right through the foam board and into the wood strips behind it. The wood strips ensure that everything is solid and tight and able to bare weight without the foam board tearing. In essence, the wood is carrying the burden of the weight and the foam board is simply sandwiched between the wood and the shelf. It's that easy!

later that day...

but, here's what it will look like (without xray vision)

So, there you have it...the process I used to put up sturdy little shelves in an unstable little world!

I will be testing out lots of new ideas at the show this August however, as I am working with http://www.foamwerks.com/ testing out all their really cool products! I can't wait to share ideas, tips and tricks!

WALLS!!!

WALLS...WHAT DO YOU PUT ON THE BOOTH WALLS NADINE????
Definitely a common question these days...FOAM BOARD! is the simple answer.
What is foam board (aka foam core, foam core board)? it's this really cool stuff that is best explained by the experts, so I will refer you here. You can also look here, and here.

There are a gazillion options for your walls, and I have tried several different looks. I have used colored draping that I hung over the supplied walls or drapes using metal S hooks (lots of ironing involved, in my opinion they always looked a little too drapey and not quite sleek enough). I have used painted canvas that I equipped with silver grommets on the top edge for hanging, and again, although less drapey than drapes, still not easy to keep flat and smooth looking. So far, short of building custom walls out of wood, which I have never felt compelled to use (for a few very key reasons that I will mention below*) Foam board has been my best wall choice to date in terms of ease, expense and overall look.

*Wooden walls would be ideal for certain situations, using sheets of plywood or ie: super easy to paint, super easy to drill into (think shelves, hooks, anything really), however, for me, unless you live around the corner from where you will be exhibiting, or have a budget and can hire a carpenter/handyman/painter, delivery van and installer, well, you are likely not even reading this blog post, because you have an unlimited budget and all of the above staff on hand...if you do have the budget and staff on hand but are still here reading this blog post, first off, hi! and if you need a new booth concept and want to hire someone to do that part, call me now. (seriously).

So, back to foam board.
We use the large 4' x 8' sheets, so far, in white. You can buy black or white at most art stores or art supply companies and some offer custom colors or an array of colors that you can choose from. The price difference between the white and black and color is usually quite substantial, if you have the time during set up, Foam board can be painted using acrylic paint and a roller, so you could actually make it any color you want! Our supplier of choice, by far, is  http://www.utrechtart.com/
I repeat! BY FAR! why? Not only do they deliver in a bunch of show cities, if they don't deliver, their customer service is so amazingly outstanding that once, in DC, they actually sent an employee with us to help us walk the many sheets of foam board to the convention center from their retail store (many blocks)...see why we love them? ...and guess what? that's not all, I have another amazing story to tell you about them a little later.

Factoid: Foam board is light and easy to move around and lift, 10 or 20 sheets together?, not so much, it gets heavy and rather awkward to maneuver.

Foam board will run you about $17 to $22 per sheet (4' x 8' sheet, or 48" x 96") the 2 thicknesses that you will usually find are 1/2" or 3/16th", we use the thinner 3/16th thickness and the prices here are for this thinner version. You can usually buy foam board in boxes of 25 sheets, you will see this online alot, but most places will sell it to you per/ sheet. http://www.utrechart.com/ will sell you the number of sheets you need, you do not need to buy a huge box. A great solution is also to call some other exhibitor friends and order together, this way you can share a box or a few boxes if necessary. Utrecht Art will deliver to the Javits Center usually for FREE, depending on which day you need it. For the gift fair, it's usually perfect for their Friday delivery and almost always arrives at around noon. We organize to have someone available to run out front and receive it- or a few people if the order is big. This door to door delivery in NYC is a trade show exhibitor's dream!!!!  While we are ordering foam board, we usually order our flooring with Utrecht Art also, depending on what we are using, our last show, and this upcoming show, we used, and will be using a glossy mounting board for our flooring, it worked perfectly! More on the floor a little later...
Are you finding this information helpful? have I told you anything you didn't already know? are you looking forward to what's next? let me know, leave a comment.

once you have set up...what will happen to your boxes and pallet?

In the last post, I gave you some resources and ideas on how to get your product and booth stuff into a convention center and what to do with your product at the end of the show (how to get it out, and where to keep it if you're like me and just you don't want to take all home with you).
You might be asking yourself some questions at this point?
What will happen to my empty boxes or bins during the show?
Where can I leave my pallet?
What about all my extras, like my tool box? ladder? or my big bulky winter coat? where can I hide it?
No worries...I've got you covered. I've lived through it and I have found solutions (if you have better solutions, be a sport, let me know! thanks.)
First thing is storage during shows.
"Empty" is what the shows call your shipping boxes, cartons, bins, etc...they will want to give you big bright stickers to place on your empty stuff, so that they can take it away and store it for you during the show. Very kind of them, and, at many shows, this will be the simplest solution, so do it! ....However, (yes, there is a huge HOWEVER)...If the show you are exhibiting at is, for example, off the top of my head, how about at...THE JAVITS CENTER in nyc...this will be a BIG BIG pain in the ass!
Why?
Simple answer. The Javits Center can take up to 6 hrs after the closing of a show to get you your Empties back...If you are anything like me, this will not be good news to you. Trust me, these guys are not sitting around having lunch or sleeping in your cartons, they are working around the clock to get you your stuff, but there are 1000's of exhibitors, gazillions of boxes/ crates and pallets and, shocking as it may sound, YOU are not their priority, even though we all know that YOU should be! (don't they know who YOU are?????). As a matter of fact, many of the Empties at the Javits are taken outside and packed up in long trailers during the show, so you have to understand that it's a process to get it all back to you.
*As an ASIDE- and this is important and not everyone tells you about this...At any show, if you are going to store your Empties with the show management (as they usually require you to), shrink wrap everything you need securely to your pallet. Otherwise you just might not get back all that you sent away a few days prior. Trust me on this. When all you want to do is go home after a show and as they say in Canada "get the puck outta there!" the last thing you want to do it run around and try to find cartons, shrink wrap, a new pallet and bubble wrap...just trust me! The more organized you are the faster you will get home!
I can tell you from experience that where your trade show is storing your empties during the show will determine how fast you will get them back at the end of the show.
Chicago Living and Giving show? empties come back FAST...Atlanta, depending on which building you are exhibiting in, can range from speedy to "OMG I am just going to walk out of this place NOW and never look back!", Boston, a small show, never waited long. So be safe, just ask. Ask someone who knows and if they are not sure, ask someone else. If you can, ask to be taken to where they will be storing your empties, or simply follow them, and then you'll know. (Although, this will probably not work at the Javits Center!, but at the least, they will tell you where they are taking it).
Let's say you are at the Javits, the show wants to take your empties far far away to a far away land of cartons and pallets and bins and you decide - "OH NO YOU DON'T, BlueDogz Design told me this might happen!" What should you do?
Here are some of my tips.
If you packed in cardboard boxes, break them down and flatten them out, it's always easier to hide a flat cardboard box than an actual 3 dimensional box. If you have packed in bins, like I do, stack them one inside the other as much as you can and then if you need storage for bubble wrap or extras, put it all in the top box.
Usually, during my booth design layout process, I account for my empties. I know, maybe a little too anal for some, but from experience, this kind of organization works for me. As you can see, my last booth in NY had a 4 foot table used as a display piece, I actually had my 4 empty (or relatively empty) bins hidden under this table, all my extra bubble and packing wrap and my tool box.

As you can see, I incorporated my fabulous silver trunk into my decor (I hate to brag, but the trunk is to die for! what's worse? I only paid $20 for it at a flea market...HA, a shopping coup!).
Not only does it look cool, and add some sparkly and shine to the booth, it is great for storage of coats, bags, extra shoes, catalogs, pens, bottles of water and order sheets, supplies that we need on a daily basis during the run of the show. Believe it or not, between these 2 pieces, all of my extra stuff is hidden away...except for my pallet. Ah the dreaded game of hide the pallet!
Ok...Scooch in closer now and keep what I am about to tell you quiet...
You can actually hide stuff in the Javits Center...The show would KILL me if they knew I was telling you this, but if you are quiet, cool and a teeny bit ninja-like, it is a relatively easy thing to do, here's how.
Often, at the very end of aisles, there are empty areas or areas where the show has put up extra pipe and draping to hide ugliness or extra show junk. Take a look behind the curtains, you might find the perfect spot for your pallet...the time to do this sort of thing is as late as possible at the end of set up day, or even early in the morning on the day of the show's opening...this is because, chances are, most things have been put away and not much else will be moved around or packed up at this point...usually you are safe and your stuff will be untouched. You might want to clearly mark your booth number, name or cell number on your stuff/pallet, so that if someone needs to move it, hopefully they will be kind enough to let you know.
Another option is to make friends with an exhibitor that has all or some of the following;
a booth at the end of an aisle, against a wall, or with an area that looks like it could be easily used to hide stuff, often these areas have a dead space behind them, perfect for hiding...BE NICE, BE POLITE...you know the old expression, "you get more bees with honey than...", yeah, you know it...LIVE IT! offer to buy them lunch, a bottle of wine, a few water bottles, something....they are doing you a BIG favor! Plus, let's face it, being nice, is, well, nice!
Another option? seek out an exhibitor who does one of those drapey decor jobs. You know, the booths that use numerous long tables all draped in fabric...if they are not hiding stuff under every single one, you can ask if they would mind if you hid a few things under one of them...getting the idea now?
Don't worry if an exhibitor snubs you or tells you NO...there are creepy people everywhere, but most are really nice and you can capitalize on the whole good karma trade show vibe that goes on pre-opening. Yep, it's alive and well. It should be! It's kind of like the trade show world's version of paying it forward in a screwed up trade showish way.

a shrinkwrapped pallet in the middle of our bare booth...

Did my last post stop you cold? did you wonder, "how did she get her booth delivered on a shrinkwrapped pallet?, "was that expensive?", "complicated", "how how how?"...
Relax, here is everything you need to know.
First off, what's a pallet (aka, a skid)? (alright listen, if you don't know what a pallet is, you are really new at this, but that's ok, I won't tell anyone and I will even show you a photo of one)...here you go. Most standard pallets in the USA and Canada are 48" x 40". If you need one at the end of the show at the Javit's Center, you can usually ask one of the guys out back on the docks and you will be able to get one, do NOT expect this to be as easy on the Piers in NYC or other shows necessarily, so be organized. If you are looking to find one in your area, you can call shipping companies or even ask a local business in your area that ships alot or receives alot and they should be able to point you in the right direction. They are not feather light, most good sturdy pallets weigh around 30 to 40 lbs, so expect to pay for this extra weight when/if you are shipping your goods.

want more pallet info and the complete history of pallets? (not sure why you would?  but heck, I'm thorough, here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallet .

Another little detail at this point, shrink wrap!

Basically, with good quality shrink wrap and a bad case of dizzy when the job is done, one can pretty much securely attach anything to a pallet. Just pull tight and start circling your pallet with the wrap, and make sure that you also circle the actual sides of the pallet, this will keep your stuff attached to it, a kind of important detail...you will be amazed at how secure you can get stuff on there!
In an ideal pack job universe, everything that you will need to set up, exhibit, write orders and pack up at the end of your show, will be shrink wrapped to this pallet, perfectly packed in perfectly fitting boxes that all line up and make a perfect cube...perfectly up to about 4 ft in height...but let's face it, nothing is perfect! (well, except my daughter...but we won't go there right now).
Here is an excellent step by step guide to how to shrink wrap, http://www.wikihow.com/Shrink-Wrap-a-Pallet .
You would be amazed at what my pallet looks like and what I can get on it. (I will take photos of it the minute I am reunited with it in NYC in August, promise!) But long story a little bit shorter, I can get ALL of my product samples, 6 ikea display tables (which I am really just lugging around and not even using at this point), 1 round wooden table with heavy legs, tools, sign, a step ladder, a fabulous silver trunk, booth chairs and catalogs onto 1 single skid! To save on time and space, I found that packing all my product samples into large plastic bins with some layers of bubble wrap to keep things safe has really cut down on packing/ unpacking time, breakage during transport and stacking ease and uniformity on the pallet. Where can you buy shrink wrap? any packaging store or supplier like http://www.uline.com/ or even your local http://www.staples.com/ or http://www.officedepot.com/ store...wondering if the rolls you see with the cardboard handles are worth buying? YES! they definitely are!
For those of you who are going big, you might want to look into a crate or custom packing system on wheels. You will definitely increase your shipping expenses, but it might be worth it depending on your products or needs. I am not going to go into detail about this sort of thing, because I am really geared at helping the companies that want to do this trade show thing as painlessly and inexpensively as possible. But here is a photo of what a crate would look like.

Where is my pallet when it's not in my booth?...
ah, the question of the day...
IN NEW JERSEY!
I know right?, my warehouse is out in California, I live on the east coast and my pallet is stored in New Jersey...wtf? right?...well, actually, it's quite simple.
There's this guy... Stuart Stockelberg...and he takes care of all of it for me! (love him!)

He works with a company called http://www.servicebyair.com/ and they have changed my packing and shipping and moving to and from trade show procedures from complicated and tiresome to simple and affordable.
Since most of my shows are (were) on the east coast, I decided that I was tired of moving my stuff around, these guys pick it up right out of my booth after the NY shows, and bring it in (or ship it) to the next show. They are connected with a storage warehouse and the one pallet costs me roughly $35 / month to store in NJ, so in between any shows, I simply leave it there and pay the storage. The in and out of the show shipping usually runs about $125 each way, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on how heavy it is. I have also used them to ship my pallet to other shows, sometimes they quote better than anyone else, sometimes they don't, you have to check, but the service is fantastic and these guys KNOW trade shows, so you don't have to worry about hidden charges or delivery into convention center prices. There will be no surprises and I highly recommend them.

Of course I encourage you to shop around, as there are other companies offering these services, likely even at the Javits Center or connected to your show, they might work out swimmingly, or not, just do your homework and ask exhibitors who have used the company you are considering hiring.

here comes NYC again...

I confess, I used to do the whole circuit of trade shows, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, sometimes Boston and San Francisco, plus, sales reps would do some of the shows in Dallas, LA, Seattle and Portland with my line...I believe that my sales would be alot higher if I added a few more shows to my present list. I know that my expenses would be a boatload higher if I added more shows to my present list. What's my present list you ask? New York International Gift Fair. The show I love to hate, or hate to love...(it's a long story).

It's July 12th. In a few weeks from now I will be trading my Beetle for my father's SUV, praying baby will have a nice long nap (in an ideal world, 6 hrs or so), packing up my odds and ends and heading to what I inevitably say will be "my last trade show EVER!"
I will head out early in the morning on a Friday and get to NYC around 2pm. The parking game will start...how long can we get away with parking in front of the Javits Center, can we bring in what needs to be brought in and leave the car there so that we can get a few hours of setting up the booth done? (thus saving the trip to the hotel/check in/ parking etc...?). Sounds silly, but this detail is key in saving time and energy on a set up day, ask any carni, I mean, exhibitor and they will agree!
(although highly illegal, ahem, you might be offered to "help out" one of the parking guys in front of the Javits Center and he in turn, might want to "help you out" wink wink...magically, somehow, the parking problem is not such a problem anymore, but you didn't hear that HERE!)

For the last few shows, the baby dance would then start, but I won't even be attempting it this time.
Babies are NOT allowed on the show floors during set up and tear down, understandably so, but not always a logistically easy feat for a small company without a nanny and a breast feeding Mom...anyhow, she is older now and things will be easier, there will be no baby in the booth during set up!

We will get to the bare booth, find our shrinkwrapped pallet with essentially our whole booth sitting in the middle of it and the week of craziness will ensue.

I have recently decided to focus several parts of my blog on booth set up, logistics and resources to help you! (fellow exhibitors, first time exhibitors and anyone who needs great, inexpensive, relatively simple but impactful ideas for booth design and set up). Why? you might ask.... Well, it seems my blog is getting lots of traffic from first time exhibitors or just nice folks who appreciate what I have done with my booth over the years. You would be shocked at how many phone calls and emails I get asking for help. (Dare I say, almost more than calls for orders some weeks?!...no no no, never!)

So, my thought is, heck, why fight it? let's see where this takes me...here we go! if you enjoy the postings, tips, resources and help that I will be offering you, or just have a question, please leave a comment! or send and email!
It is your feedback, calls and emails that have pushed me in this direction, so keep pushing!

jacob javits convention center in NYC,
a beautiful photo that I found at http://www.merakohblog.com/

(looks so calm and peaceful, not really so much in reality!)

anthropologie love...

I have a confession to make, I have a little bit of an obsession with Anthropologie.
Yes the clothes are pretty and I have found some amazing pieces there over the years, and yes, the catalog is also pretty and amazingly fun and inspiring to peruse...but holy mother of merchandising GODS...their displays, photography and styling is GENIUS! Would I like to work for the company? (which is Urban Outfitters actually) uh, YES!!!! (pick me, pick me!). Anyhow, I just got yet another gorgeous email from my personal friend "Anthro" and take a look at what they did this time- combining some of my very favorite things. Cardboard, doll houses, architecture, style and utter cuteness...I might need to go buy some cardboard and new blade and start building my very on dollhouse!

January 2010 New York International Gift Fair

finally have the amazing booth shots that fabulously talented Lynn took!

I will be posting her info as soon as she gets her website together...so that you can all hire her!

yeah yeah, I know, no web site yet,
I guess she wasn't sure this whole computer/internet thing was going to stick! :-)

need booth help, suggestions, tips & tricks and resources?...get in touch!