APPENDIX C

DO'S AND DON'TS OF RUNNING AN EXHIBIT

1. PLAN Start early in planning your site, the dates, your committees, your promotion of space sales, your promotion of attendance. One important note: Make sure you have enough liability insurance.

2. Choose a site easily accessible for attendees and exhibitors with plenty of parking.

3. If the site is in a hotel/motel, sign an iron clad contract. But before signing, let your lawyers see it, and you read it carefully.

4. If the site is in an arena or exhibit hall, the above is sound advice.

5. Before signing a contract make sure you understand the hotel/arena regulations, the fire regulations, the union regulations, and any costs, hidden or otherwise.

6. If you are in a hotel/arena and are going to use meeting rooms, find out if there is a charge for meeting rooms and if there is a chair charge. (A chair charge comes about when you change the setup of a meeting room).

7. Have a contact person at your site. Make sure he or she knows who you are and is aware you are responsible for making decisions. To avoid confusion, only one person should be giving orders to your contact.

8. If you are going to run an exhibit, pick your committee personnel very carefully. After you have picked them, make sure everyone has a backup.

9. Decide now. Will it be a table top or will you have a working exhibit?

10. If you will need sleeping rooms, make sure you have the number of rooms being held in writing and how long the hotel will hold them.

11. If you are going to have any type of social function, decide where you will have it and reserve the space. Make sure this reservation is in writing and all the details are included.

12. Find out if you will be using an outside contractor to erect and dismantle your booth. What is the union situation, the rules and regulations about who provides chairs, tables, waste baskets, draping, etc. Who provides electrical? How much electrical is available without burning out the fuse box?

13. Now that you have done the preliminaries, do the following:

a. Establish a budget

1. estimate income from exhibit sales

2. estimate your costs

b. Determine how you are going to sell exhibit space

c. Set up a promotion schedule

d. Set fees for attending the exhibit, if any, or attending technical meetings

e. Verify insurance coverage with agent

14. Now you're ready to promote the exhibit. Have a floor plan, rules and regulations, and brochures for exhibiting. The hotel or arena will not protect you beyond your contract with them.

15. Decide to whom you are going to mail the material.

16. A few points on your exhibit contract with your exhibitors: Get a deposit, preferably not refundable if they cancel. Establish a date for full payment and no refunds.

17. Assign space on a firstcome, first serve basis.

18. If you are going to hold meetings during the exhibit, the following should be established:

a. Size of meeting rooms

b. Seating and table arrangement

c. Audio visual equipment needed

19. Notify the hotel/arena in plenty of time as to the setup of meeting rooms.

20. Determine if union projectionists are necessary to operate each piece of AV equipment.

21. Find out if the arena or hotel supplies security. If not, plan to hire security.

22. Decide when you are going to have registration. Arrange for tables or registration counters.

23. Decide where you will get badges, badge holders, registration forms, etc.

24. Decide where you will rent typewriters or computers to type badges.

25. Find out where you will get the personnel to prepare the badges.

26. Decide on the signs you will need; directional, aisle, etc. and who will prepare them.

27. Find out if you will have medical facilities available in the exhibit/meeting area.

28. Now that many of these details are decided, determine how you are going to get the attendees to the exhibit hall.

29. Establish a promotion schedule and stick to it.

30. Have a preliminary program with a registration form at least 18 weeks prior to event.

31. Have a final program with registration form at least 10 weeks prior to event.

32. After the exhibit is over, have a critique. Find out what went wrong, what could have been done to improve efficiency, and what should be done next time. Find out how you could have done it better.

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