Ways to Cut Exhibit Costs … Without Sacrificing Results

Marlys Arnold [00:00:00]: You're listening to the Trade Show Insights podcast season 20 episode three. I'm your host and exhibit marketing strategist, Marlys Arnold, bringing you tools to improve your exhibit results. On today's episode, brought to you by the Exhibit Marketers Cafe, we're talking about ways that you can cut your exhibit costs without sacrificing results. These days, it seems everyone's talking about budgets and the rising cost of exhibiting. And yes, I realize that some elements are out of your control, but there are areas where you might be able to save some money and still make a great impact on the show floor. Recently, I post this question to my LinkedIn cohorts, and they shared so many great tips that I just had to compile them here for you in this episode. Our first tip is from Heidi Maschman at ELITeXPO, and it's a no-brainer. "Be sure to have all the exhibit materials that are going to the event ready as soon as you possibly can. Last minute shipping can add quite a bit to the event budget and risk late fees at the advance warehouse." Yes, meeting those early bird deadlines for everything! That is the best way to save money on stuff that has absolutely zero influence on your exhibit results. Along similar lines, Rich Vallaster recommends that you "talk with your partners and vendors. It's amazing how willing they are to work with you when you ask them about alternative options, rentals, lower cost materials, and so on."

Marlys Arnold [00:02:21]: Now when it comes to show services, we all wanna save money. Right? Candy Adams has an expert tip to keep those costs in check.

Candy Adams [00:02:31]: Always track your budget and audit all final bills against your contracts, your orders, and your confirmations. At a recent mega show in Vegas, I was charged by an electrician to plug in a monitor on a Friday morning between 10 and 11 AM, which would have been straight time, but he claimed it as an hour overtime. That was the first red flag, and the monitor wasn't even delivered until two days later on a Sunday afternoon that he claimed to have plugged in on Friday. Disputing this charge resulted in a $271 credit for my client. Marvelous, I've been managing exhibits for over thirty years and done over 500 shows, and, really, the accuracy of invoicing hasn't really changed. There have always been some honest mistakes, some questionable bills, and some just blatant, like the one I just mentioned in Vegas. But the majority of errors on show invoices are not surprisingly in the favor of the vendor contractor. Any exhibit manager who doesn't audit their invoices is leaving a lot of money on the table as I found errors for clients on about 30% of all the invoices I receive. A few years ago, I almost had a heart attack when I was charged tens of thousands of dollars for material handling based on not the weight of my freight, but the total weight of the tractor, the trailer, and my freight. So you gotta keep your eyes open and always look at the bills.

Marlys Arnold [00:04:15]: Oh, wow! Now there's a really smart way to keep from simply throwing cash out the window! Next, Rajarshi Banerjee suggests you consider what and who you're taking to the show.

Rajarshi Banerjee [00:04:31]: Cutting exhibit costs without losing results, it's all about being smart, not stingy. Here's the deal. Logistics will eat your budget alive if you're not careful. Shipping, drayage, those last minute rush fees, they add up fast. That's why I always go with lightweight modular booth designs. Way easier and cheaper to transport and set up. And don't even get me started on printed materials. So much of it ends up in the trash. Instead, I would use QR codes, interactive screens, or just a simple lead capture form on a tablet. Saves money, looks modern, and gives you better return on investment. Pro tip. Everything is negotiable at a trade show, booth space, AV, furniture, even carpet. If you book early or bundle stuff together, you can save a ton. And finally, take a hard look at who really needs to travel. Flights, hotels, per diems. It stacks up. Sometimes a smaller, well trained team can actually do a better job. Bottom line, focus on making an impact, not just spending big. A smart, engaging booth always wins over something that's just expensive and flashy.

Marlys Arnold [00:05:55]: Those are great tips! And, of course, you also wanna make sure that your team is well prepared for what's expected in the booth. Trimming budget elsewhere won't help if your staff isn't effective at attracting and qualifying leads. Now before you create all the assets for your exhibit, Chris Dunn from BlueHive has advice on where to look first.

Chris Dunn [00:06:18]: So an idea that, that I have and certainly not my idea, I've borrowed it from several other folks, but repurposing assets that are created for trade shows. And the specific example that I wanted to cite today was creation of a a video that is intended to be played, on a large screen monitor or or a video screen at your show. Now in order to get that content, you might reach into other departments, looking for existing video assets, text transcripts, other examples, maybe even still photos, pulling all those pieces together to create this really cool video component asset that you can use at the show, but then you can repurpose that, sales department, social media, advertising, marketing. Right? There's so many other avenues that you'd be able to take that, that piece once it's created, and to dole that out and let people use the whole thing, chunk it up, use pieces of it, what for, you know, whatever their their needs are, and you're getting maximum value from that spend. The other thing that's oftentimes helpful is before you even, you know, spend that money, go to those other departments, find out what their goals are, what their needs are, maybe take some budget from their budget buckets, and then gaining really more of a spend on your end so you can produce a better product that everyone can share.

Marlys Arnold [00:07:50]: Smart! And another advantage to this strategy is that you're reinforcing your message in multiple places and platforms. Now thinking about doing a giveaway in your booth? Rama Beerfas from Lev Promotions has a great tip. "When choosing your promotional products, be strategic about what you choose. You'll get better results and may spend less money. If you need help with being strategic, work with your promotional products professional and discuss how to do that for your goals, budget, and target market." And finally, Marco Barozzi shared an article with 11 more ways to save on your exhibit costs, and I put that link in the show notes for you. But one of my favorites on his list is finding creative ways to collaborate with other exhibitors, whether that means pooling resources or doing a joint marketing campaign. So be sure you check out Marco's article as well as my full LinkedIn post for even more ideas. So do you have other examples of ways you've trimmed exhibit expenses? Please share them in the comments either at the bottom of the show notes page or on the original LinkedIn post. And if you'd like to connect with any of these people that you've heard quotes from today, you'll find links for their LinkedIn profiles in the show notes. If you enjoyed today's episode and would like more, you can subscribe to the Trade Show Insights podcast and automatically receive future episodes on your chosen device. Simply search for Trade Show Insights in Apple, Spotify, or virtually anywhere else that podcasts are found, then click the subscribe button. Trade Show Insights is protected by the Creative Commons copyright license. You may feel free to share this recording with colleagues or embed it on your own blog as long as it's shared in its entirety and is not used for commercial purposes. To learn more, please see the link in the sidebar of the show notes at tradeshowinsights.com. Well, that's it for this episode of Trade Show Insights. Be sure to check out our show notes and archives at tradeshowinsights.com. You can also connect with me using the social media links or the contact page on

Marlys Arnold [00:10:15]: the site. I'm Marlys Arnold. Thanks for listening, and be sure to join us next time for more tools to improve your exhibit results.