Hidden costs of owning your trade show booth

Matt LaBruzza - Show Floor

Hidden costs of owning your trade show booth.

Not many trade show exhibitors dig deep to explore the real cost of owning the trade show booth, or the advantages of renting a trade show booth. Marketing people tend to focus on how great the booth display will look when the show opens while accounting people tend to focus on clever ways to finance and amortize the asset optimally. No one is really looking hard at the materials, weights and packing or even setup efficiencies until after the sale.

Exhibitors are aware that there’s always related costs to ship and install a trade show booth, whether purchased or rented.  However, what’s not analyzed is how much it can cost you if  your booth is overly heavy or overly difficult or fragile to install.

Show floor experience is critical.

Exhibitors generally expect that their Exhibit House is the expert in all these aspects so they can focus on only the booth design and price. But the truth is that most trade show booths are created by designers that spend very little time on the show floor and have only a rough idea of how the fabrication carpenters will  create their design so it packs into fewer lighter shipping crates.

This disconnect between designers and the show floor is one reason the trade show related costs can be vastly different from booth to booth. Another reason is materials selection. Even if the booth is efficiently designed and built it could be that the Exhibit House or the designer or the client preferred the heavier materials, unaware with their overall impact show after show.

Of course we are writing this post because we feel we’ve resolved this common disconnect between design and the show floor. But also this is why we chose focus all our efforts on designing and building trade show rental booths. As an industry insider, the more we dive in, the more we see real advantages in renting versus owning. The challenge is presenting those advantages to you so that they don’t appear self serving,

These advantages are hidden in the areas you don’t really think about when you’re evaluating a booth design, but the right materials, the right engineering, and the right show floor supervision can easily cut many thousands from the cost of using your booth at every single show.

If you’re the kind of company that ships high volumes to customers, with a shipping company that gives you great shipping rates, then you may be a good candidate to own your trade show booth. If you’re also a company that does enough trade shows each year to justify having an in-house exhibit manager to plan prepare and supervise on the show floor, then you may be a good candidate to own your booth. If you have a large low cost warehouse, available forklifts and your booth can sit tucked away in a corner until it’s needed, then storing your booth may be no big deal.  Lastly, if your staff knows how to unpack and preview your booth and re-pack before it ships out, you may be the ideal candidate to own your display booth. If you have most or all of these in your favor, then owning is likely your best option.

Renting fits most exhibitors

Most companies don’t meet all of these conditions, which is when renting starts to make a whole lot of sense.  Renting fits the majority of exhibitors providing all the expertise and support to insure your booth arrives efficiently, on time and is installed smoothly without waste or damage. It’s no wonder that most trade show exhibits that are used around the world are trade show rental exhibits. Rental exhibits are more about convenience, flexibility and managing the risk of a high cost business expense.

If this message resonates to you then let’s discuss these costs in detail. If it’s obvious that rental is right for you then we also want to you help you understand why and where our rental solutions are a cut above the rest.