All the boxes on your list are checked and your booth timeline is set!

Yet despite your best laid plans, you arrive on site to find items in your freight are missing. Or you underestimated the type of labor needed. We’ve all been there – unexpected things pop up – but don’t stress, because you’ve got this! Still it’s important to  show up with bases covered to ensure everything falls into place.

Here are three simple tips to maintain your planning momentum and be show site ready.

1. Streamline Setup

Your team is ready and eager to showcase your brand, products or services, and, of course, generate leads! So you want to prepare for a smooth setup.

Timeline Tip: Create your ultimate setup checklist complete with go-to contacts, labor call times, and material handling zones. Also add a full production schedule if you can. This is your survival guide. Include a list of solutions providers to address things like missing hardware, minor labor challenges, or unexpected technical issues. Knowing who you’re gonna call and where the exhibitor service desk is means breathing easier for you and your team. And when our Exhibitor Services team is onsite, for sure hit them up. They’re there to help, so let them.

2. Plan Shipping Contingencies

Obviously, you want your booth materials to arrive on time – complete and intact – but between weather wildcards and venue logistics there are potential pitfalls. But they don’t have to be showstoppers.

Timeline Tip: Know your venue. Familiarize yourself with the exhibitor service manual – and ensure your team has this as well. It will contain everything from show floor zone details, to move in and move out schedules. You can get a lot of this info from the “Quick Facts” section in your Exhibitor Service Manual. 

Also, shipping freight to the advanced shipping warehouse might cost a bit more, but is the most efficient way to keep track of your freight and receive updates for its arrival.

3. Utilize On Site Services

Maybe your partners or marketing team needs to make last-minute changes to messaging, or someone on your team can’t make the trip and man the booth. Or your promotional materials never showed up, etc. Here’s how to handle it with ease.Find out if your AV provider can scale solutions specific to your event needs while offering innovative solutions that fit within your budget.

Timeline Tip: Always double check your service orders. This should be one of the first things you do on site in case you run into any last minute issues with anything from initial design to final production. If you do anticipate messaging adjustments, prep your team ahead of time on the adjustments and any schedule changes.

It’s Showtime!

The key to a successful, and sequential timeline isn’t about waiting for individual issues to pop up and then reacting. It’s about having a coordinated approach where every element works together so you can show off the best of your brand at live events.

It also helps to maintain a working relationship with a full-service provider so turnaround time is faster and streamlined. Successful trade show participation means you don’t have to handle everything alone. With the right partner, you can turn timeline challenges into opportunities that showcase your business at its best, and save on your budget in the long run.

Start planning creative AV and production for a perfect 10 event.

It takes a well-executed plan to deliver keynotes, presentations, live performances, LED signage, and all other AV-driven experiences that create an event your attendees will consider a 10 out of 10.

But it does help to know what questions to ask to get the sound advice you need for an efficient planning process.

Our AV creative production experts helped compile the top five questions you should ask your potential event AV partner — and bonus! — five questions an AV partner, who is really plugged in, should ask you.

Ask your AV creative production partner these 5 questions

1. What level of services do you offer?

It’s essential that you confirm the AV creative partner can support your needs at every level – from event strategy to AV equipment delivery.

2. How can you provide more value compared to other AV partners?

The best AV providers will have extensive experience along with a professional AV and creative production knowledge base to look at your event holistically while elevating it within budget and time constraints — as not all experience elevations increase cost/budget, but are built from knowledge in supporting your attendee’s experience.

3. How do you control costs?

Find out if your AV provider can scale solutions specific to your event needs while offering innovative solutions that fit within your budget.

Pro-tip: Watch out for hidden costs, such as internet, cross-rental equipment, bolts and rigging, rates for power, over time, and more. A great AV partner is transparent about all costs upfront so there are no surprises after your event. Check out our AV spending checklist for more cost-controlling tips.

The best AV providers will have extensive experience along with a professional AV and creative production knowledge base to look at your event holistically while elevating it within budget and time constraints — as not all experience elevations increase cost/budget, but are built from knowledge in supporting your attendee’s experience.

4. How can I elevate my keynote and general session(s) without blowing the budget?

Partner with experts that can do more than simply deliver AV production services — confirm they have the resources and creative vision to design experiences that engage your attendees from the moment they walk in until they leave.

5. Should I consider any of the event venue’s AV solutions?

Work with an AV team that can help you navigate venue capabilities, solutions that may be more (or less) cost efficient, and outside vendor requirements.

Look for these 5 questions your AV production partner should ask you:

1 What is your brand story? 

Get ready to share your brand’s values, mission, and personality so your AV partner can help plan solutions that amplify and communicate your message/brand throughout the event.

2. What are your business goals?

Your AV planner will want to get the download on your marketing goals (are you trying to increase market share? boost brand recognition?), event-specific goals (looking to educate attendees? launch a new product or service?), and any personal goals (what would you like to accomplish during the event?).

3. What is your vision? 

Communicating your objectives (looking to increase attendance? want to measure engagement?) and vision will help make sure that integrated AV services support your event’s purpose with event flow and timing, audience experience, interactive elements, and more.

If your brand already has a corporate vision, your AV planner can help you extend that vision to all areas of your event and beyond — from keynote, general sessions, etc. to reusable digital and video content.

4. What kind of event are you planning?

The production and AV equipment needed will depend on the kind of event you are planning — Is your event for 500 sales professionals or 1,000 exhibitors and more than 10,000 attendees?

5. What do you want your attendee journey to consist of? 

AV helps define the attendee journey from the time attendees arrive until they leave with experiences such as: keynotes, general sessions, potential activations, digital signage, entrance/lobby and registration, and interactive and immersive production elements.

The Pros of working with an AV expert

It’s the questions you ask ahead of time that will help bring your event vision to light without having to feel like you are planning in the dark. Whether you need a little guidance or a lot, the ideal AV provider will work side-by-side with you to implement the best audio-visual program for your event.

This year, at NPE2024: The Plastics Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL organizers collaborated to create a new baseline for sustainable practices. As Patrick Krieger, Vice President, Sustainability at Plastics Industry Association noted, “I think that the first thing to think about when you’re talking about a trade show is ‘how does the show itself reflect what the broader industry is representing as their values and priorities?’”

Implementing sustainable practices on this scale at the largest trade show in the Americas for the global plastics industry is tough. Especially considering it only happens every three years and demands dedication and commitment from all stakeholders. Not to mention the difficulty to find recycling solutions for mixed plastics.

So how did they make this happen?

Focus on Planning

NPE began planning logistics for sustainability practices and recycling programs 2.5 years before the show date. This long-term approach allowed for both a thorough evaluation of what needed to be done, and also time to connect with exhibitors and learn more about their specific recycling needs.

Success relied on a multi-pronged partnership between NPE, its exhibitors, Freeman, and the venue, with each bringing key resources and expertise. We assisted with logistics, storage solutions, and bringing in other supportive vendors. Then a dedicated recycling council emerged to monitor progress, assess needs, and plan next steps. It included NPE and those processing recycled materials onsite (Commercial Plastics Recycling, Inc., Conair, and WEIMA).

One way NPE is unique is how exhibitors and sponsors operate live equipment to manufacture products in real time on the show floor. NPE organizers asked them to complete a mandatory form so the team could tailor recycling services in advance. Some booths waited until the end of each show day to release materials for recycling, while others required pickups every hour. Ultimately, 516,160 lbs of material was removed and recycled from exhibitor booths – an approximately 30% increase from the previous show.

Key Takeaway: Make sure all of your partners and vendors are on the same team/page when it comes to your sustainability efforts. Making sustainability happen is a team effort that works best when you have total participation and buy-in from the top down.

Focus on Results

NPE organizers creatively addressed the “how-to” question of sustainable best practices by literally offering examples for attendees throughout the event. Here are some highlights:

• NPE Beer Garden: The beer garden featured recyclable plastic cups for all beverages served there, which were also produced on site.
• Recycling Center: Two recycling areas featured the latest equipment for repurposing plastics, allowing for process demos while servicing the event.
• Sustainability Hub: This interactive showcase followed the environmental journey of plastics and showed how the plastics industry is enhancing its sustainable footprint.

Key Takeaway: Creatively infusing recycling programs and themes across the event journey shows attendees, partners, and exhibitors that you’re prioritizing sustainable practices. This approach propelled NPE to achieve its goal of creating a 100% diversion rate, keeping almost 300 tons of plastics, cardboard, and aluminum out of landfills.

Focus on the Future

The example set by the NPE2024 team serves as a beacon to inspire other organizations across industries. This event’s success set new standards, but there’s still much work to be done to build best practices for live events. Moving forward, organizers have learned that even more communication with exhibitors can increase participation in on-site sustainability actions.

Key Takeaway: By thinking ahead, investing in creative solutions, and addressing on-site challenges directly, live events can reduce their environmental impacts to promote lasting, global change — regardless of the industry.