You’ve selected your booth and booked your flight. Now how do you ensure everything onsite is a success? Here are the top 10 exhibiting pitfalls and how to avoid them!
1. Shipping and freight: Not exactly what dreams are made of but shipping and freight are critical to your success. As it relates to Catersource, remember; new venue—new rules.
You are not able to drive up to the front of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center or parking lot to unload. Cart service is offered to unload POVs. If you have a local vendor making a delivery they must go through the marshaling yard and the local union must unload the freight and deliver to your booth. Deliveries cannot come through the front door.
Please note that all vehicles delivering materials to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center must report to the marshaling area at 1221 South Peters Street, Lot B, to obtain a dock pass. This includes privately owned vehicles who choose to unload their own materials at the established unloading areas. No vehicle will be allowed to the dock area without a pass.
2. Sustainability: Eliminate waste! Second Harvest, an onsite partner at the Catersource Conference & Tradeshow, will accept donations on the tradeshow floor after the event. They accept food, supplies, furniture etc. so your extras will go to good use!
3. Lighting and electric: Again, new venue—new rules! Electric and other utilities are now ordered through the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and not Freeman. Just pick your show to begin.
4. Lost items: Lost freight is a headache easily avoided. Bring all your tracking numbers for packages shipped by your team. Having tracking details within your mobile phone will give you peace of mind and speed up any potential onsite retrievals needed.
5. Organization: Download the Freeman Online app and the Catersource Conference & Tradeshow mobile app (available for download in the coming weeks!) so you have all show related information at your fingertips.
6. Timing: Planning to do a booth giveaway? Great idea! But remember, these customized products can take up to eight weeks to produce, plus time for shipping. Advanced planning is the name of the game here. When you select your booth immediately make note of what you want to hand out or provide attendees. Then reference your calendar and timeline. You’ll be surprised at the lead time needed and happy that you’ve planned and have one less last minute detail.
7. Money: No one wants to go over budget. So, the big key is being aware of early bird rates and take advantage of discounts. Specific to Catersource; place orders by February 17, 2017 for early bird pricing!
8. Safety: A friendly reminder that no one is permitted on the tradeshow floor during move in/move out with open toes shoes. Security will stop you. Just another reason to bring those comfy sneakers!
9. Onsite surprises: Phone dead? Nothing to write with? Lightheaded from hunger and the only one staffing your booth? Prepare a booth survival kit that includes scissors, tape, tissues, pens, energy bars, phone chargers and any other items that you may need onsite to ensure those little surprises don’t interfere with your sales and networking focus.
10. Discomfort: Fashion over function? Nope! It’s time to be a little practical. After all, ROI and your sanity are on the line. Don’t be afraid to add special touches to your booth for comfort and convenience. Did you order trashcans? What about extra floor padding? Also, comfortable shoes are a tradeshow must! You’ve selected your booth and booked your flight. Now how do you ensure everything onsite is a success? Here are the top 10 exhibiting pitfalls and how to avoid them!
Erika Ferrigno is Event Operations Manager, Event Operations & Services, UBM LLC 
