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:: Tradeshow Shipping 101 |
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In order to have a great Trade Show
experience you need to make sure your exhibit
makes it to the show. This page is a guide to
help you with the process. |
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Getting Your Freight
to the Show On Time
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Make your crates and cartons stand
out on the show floor. All crates
 can
be dull and similar and in many cases
can be misplaced on the show floor. Pick
an outstanding color or even a corporate
color combination and paint the corners
of your crates to identify amongst the
sea of wood that this crate is yours.
Any creative coloring ideas can be used,
right down to painting the whole thing.
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Identify your crates and boxes so
that describing them is easier. Once
you color coordinate your pieces, a few
may still be similar in size and type.
This is where a clear description is
invaluable. A fun way to identify each
piece is to give them a name. Big crates
can have burly names (Bruno or Thor) and
small cartons can have something more
appropriate for their size (Thumper or
Peanut). They can be named after your
staff or even named after favorite
famous people (Mo, Larry & Curly). You
can keep them all guessing by giving
them names that are totally made up to
make them truly your own (meepzork or
huzyjaz) |
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Retire old crates and boxes.
Packaging will only last so long. Boxes
should only be realistically used for
one round trip, and a new carton used for
your next event. Crates will last longer
but need to be inspected and repaired
before they are used again. Remember
crates are designed to protect the
contents. Dings and cracks and dents
will happen as they do their job
protecting what’s inside.
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Remove old address and carrier labels.
If you have multiple labels on
 your
pieces, then any freight handler may not
know which one is the current one to be
using. Freight can be sent to the
location that you just shipped back from
if its not perfectly clear which label
is providing the current address or
shipping info. |
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Plasma Monitors need specialized
packaging. If you are using your own
plasma monitors make sure that they are
packaged in heavy anvil type containers
specifically designed for shipping these
types of fragile glass screens. Many
companies exclude plasma monitors from
their shipping insurance liabilities.
See your ELITeXPO rep for our Plasma
Monitor Cargo Insurance that insures
your high value product from the moment
it leaves your door until it returns
back home. |
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Learn how to complete the Material
Handling Form (MHA, Bill of Lading,
Shipping form) before the show ends.
This is the most important document that
you need to complete to assure that your
freight is shipped according to your
wishes. Above all, never leave it
sitting on a crate inside your booth.
You MUST turn it into the Exhibitor
Service Center once your entire shipment
is packed and ready to ship. Write in
your Carrier’s name in the box provided
on the MHA. It may be hard to find, but you
know you can always ask your assigned
ELITeXPO account rep to assist you with
any type of General Contractor paperwork
that needs to be completed. Ask your
carrier, “What is an MHA?” If they don’t
know, give ELITeXPO a call.
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Properly label and count your entire
shipment. It's easy with ELITeXPO.
Your account rep will pre-print a
complete set of address labels and booth
number labels for both the inbound and
the outbound shipping of your show. Also
our bright pink labels will assist in
identifying your pieces for proper
shipping. Put a label on each piece of
freight because even though you have
them shrunk wrapped to a skid, often
times the skid is broken apart. No
label, no delivery. Also don’t count
your skid as one piece, because that is
all anyone will be responsible for. If
there are 10 pieces on the skid, count
it as 10 pieces shipped on one skid.
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Condense the size of your booth
shipment. You can save a lot of
money by using interlocking carpet
panels. You don’t need carpet pad, or
high rental costs as you can reuse these
panels over and over again and ship them
in a 2x2 shipping case instead of a 10
foot long roll. Its easier to ship,
costs less and can ride on more carriers
to get to its destination safely and on
time. |
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Save shipping costs by weighing and
measuring each piece in your shipment.
This detail information is invaluable in
providing an accurate
 description
of individual pieces that you may be
trying to locate for any reason. Have
the dimensions and the weight
permanently written on the outside of
each box or carton. You would be
surprised how many freight handlers will
just estimate the size and weight of
your freight. Overestimating increases
your freight rate AND your drayage
costs. Freight Handlers will use your
figures and record that to your shipment
paperwork. Be accurate, if you try to be
cute here, it could work against you.
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How
about supplying your shipping rep,
installation and dismantle reps, exhibit
managers and anyone else who will be
handling your freight, EMERGENCY CONTACT
NUMBERS? This will help eliminate
the possibility of your freight being
forced at any show. It also allows your
carrier to be able to contact you at any
time in order to make any necessary
changes or authorizations. As an added
measure, put your 800 number with an
after hours extension on your cases and
shipping crates. |
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Showsite Instructions
To be sure all will go well with the move out of your
shipment from a tradeshow always follow these instructions:
1) Acquire a
"Straight Bill of Lading" (Material Handling Agreement)
This is obtained from
the show's General Contractor at their service desk.
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2) Assign
ELITeXPO as Your Carrier
In the Carrier section
of the Contractors Bill of Lading you Must note ELITeXPO as your carrier.
You can do this by applying one of your XPOTAG labels.
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3) Affix the
ELITeXPO Shipping Labels
Place at least one label
on each box. Leave all pieces in your booth.
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4) Return the
Bill of Lading
When the shipment is
packed and ready, complete the bill of lading and return the bill of
lading to the Show's General Contractor's service desk.
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 By
David Mihalik
CEO, ELITeXPO Cargo Systems
as Published in Exhibit City News
Each time I am part of an
industry freight session there is heavy
debate that inevitably gets around to a
discussion of forced freight. No one likes
it, everyone hates it, and it needs to be
fixed, it’s been said. I keep hearing all
the time that carriers and general service
contractors, GSCs, would prefer not to deal
with dreaded freight of the forced kind.
There are so many parties living so far from
the truth that I wonder if anyone believes
us at all anymore. To paraphrase Gordon
Gecko in the movie “Wall Street”, the
reality is, forced freight is good. Maybe
not from the exhibitors’ point of view, but
certainly from those who receive those
shipments at the end of any trade show
anywhere.
The difference is, exhibitors can have full
control on whether or not their shipments
become part of this ongoing debate. Choose a
good carrier, follow instructions to the
letter and you never have to deal with the
controversy. Official Show Carriers (those
assigned by show management to be the
preferred carrier on show site) and
Exhibitor Assigned Carriers on the other
hand are at the mercy and discretion of the
general service contractor once they hit the
marshalling yard. Official Carriers are
there to service exhibitors and create
business by securing freight shipments.
Forced freight assists in that goal, albeit
with some thorny side effects. At the end of
the day, however, I find that I prefer to be
able to talk to customers who have had their
shipments forced so that I can extol to them
the benefits of using my company and how
this would never be an issue with our
service guarantees.
I won’t hide behind the fact that this is
also premium freight and revenue that
offsets our expense to be on show site until
the last piece of freight, like Elvis, has
left the building. And I know that general
service contractors feel the same way too,
since there is a dance of the living dead on
show site when it gets around to assigning
forced shipments. I know that there will be
adamant disagreement on this statement, but
I calls ’em as I sees ’em. I just think that
the corporate mandate hasn’t made it down to
the individual city level yet.
It should be noted that neither every
carrier, nor every general service
contractor are culprits here. In fact, I
have been able to see great progress by
working together with some GSCs on the
“Carrier Performance Standards” which is an
endorsed document by the Exhibitor Appointed
Contractor Assn. and Exposition Services and
Contractors Assn. aimed at solving show
floor shipping problems.
The following list explains 10 ways that
your freight shipment will get forced. Since
everyone will tell you hot tips on how to
avoid show floor problems, I thought that I
would provide real ways to create show floor
havoc, mostly for yourself. Since these
examples are most often already followed by
those companies that have their freight
forced often, here is a recap of those most
frequently used:
1.
Tell anyone you speak to regarding the
recovery of your shipment that “no one
told me about that” when asked if you
know the show rules. Don’t read the
exhibitor service manual and above all
don’t look to see what deadlines there
are for your carrier to check in line
and at what time the shipment will need
to be removed from the floor. If you
didn’t read it, then it can’t be true.
2.
Use Elmer’s Freight & Pizza Emporium to
handle your tradeshow shipment because
they have the best rates around. Make
sure that you take the cheapest quote
and don’t worry about asking them for
their tradeshow credentials. That may
ruin your rate.
3.
Leave your Material Handling Agreement,
(MHA or shipping form) right on top of
your recently packed shipment. There is
no need to turn it in to the service
desk, because some nice person walking
the floor will do that for you.
4.
In fact, don’t even worry about packing
your shipment at all. Just leave it. If
you time it right you can be first in
line for those little hot dogs wrapped
in bacon at happy hour because all those
other poor saps will be back at the hall
feverishly packing their shipment to
make their flights.
5.
Don’t listen to your booth manager about
the specific instructions on what to do
once the show breaks. What do they know?
They aren’t going to be there at that
time anyway. If you’re lucky, maybe they
won’t even bother to leave you
instructions and you can do whatever you
want.
6.
If you have to complete the MHA because
you are the kind of person who has to
have a receipt to prove that you really
were working, don’t worry about
assigning your carrier to the “Carrier”
box on the MHA. In fact, if you just
check the first box you see that says
freight, there is a good chance you are
assigning it to the GSC who will be
happy to tell your carrier when it shows
up, “Nope, sorry.” The attempted pick-up
charges should not be that expensive.
7.
If your assigned carrier is not able to
get your shipment because “he was told
that it was not there” and they didn’t
bother to call you on the emergency
contact numbers that you provided, don’t
be angry with them and don’t look for
another carrier. Use them again and
again until they use this excuse at
least three more times because, as you
know, it really wasn’t their fault.
8.
Use one of those national package
express carriers, because your traffic
department told you that you have to.
Don’t worry that they won’t wait in line
for 10 hours some day, that they will
leave after their cutoff time or that
it’s Sunday and they don’t make pickups
on that day. The advertisements that you
saw on the Super Bowl telling you how
absolutely perfect they are have to be
accurate-- otherwise they wouldn’t be on
TV, right ?
9.
You should assume that smaller
independent tradeshow carriers cannot
handle your shipment because sometimes
even the owner of the company will get
involved with your freight or be seen on
show floor. You don’t want to use a
company where most of the employees can
work any job in the company. Owners
should be spending their time making
commercials that you can watch on Super
Bowl Sunday, where you learn everything
that you need to know.
10.
Don’t go to any industry association
educational sessions and please don’t
report your gripes to show management.
Freight is not all that important. You
don’t want any trouble. After all you
have heard that troublemakers are the
last ones to receive their empty crates
and cases, if at all.
Remember, if your freight does get forced
and you are left with a larger freight bill
or worse--missing freight for ransom--you
can always threaten to sue the Carrier, Show
Organizer, the GSC and the bartender. You
can explain that you didn’t really
understand what you were signing when you
authorized the GSC to re-route your shipment
to a carrier of the GSC’s choice on the MHA.
If that doesn’t do the trick you can always
tell them that you didn’t see the terms of
your agreement for exhibit space because you
didn’t feel that it was really that
important to read.
May the force be with you.
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TRADESHOW TIP |
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Round Trip vs.
One-Way
The last thing that
an exhibitor should need to think about on show
floor is if they have a carrier scheduled to pickup
their freight. When booking a shipment into the show
you should always book the return as well. By
booking in advance, the last minute rush on the
floor to find a carrier can be avoided.
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Portable Display
Lightweight exhibit capable of being carried by one person.
Usually refers to a tabletop or pop-up exhibit. |
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