Trade Show Industry Info & ELITeXPO News

I have always been a big proponent of pre-show planning, it’s a topic that I often share with customers and or colleagues when discussing their upcoming face- to-face event. I thought I would share my checklist with you, it’s straight forward and I have found it to be on target when discussing one’s strategic approach to exhibiting. Frankly quite often they find the questions to be somewhat enlightening, and often end up with a much different perspective on how to approach the show after some discussion. I call it ‘Know Before You Go’ Why are you Going? Exhibit for the right reason!

Here at ELITeXPO, we try to be as green as possible. Currently, we are a part of EPA’s Smartway Logistics Program – you can read all about it HERE. To continue our efforts to stay green, we encourage our customers to get paperless invoices. Switching over to paperless emailed invoices not only saves paper, but saves you time searching for that invoice on your desk. The process is quite easy and can be done by the time your coffee is done brewing!

Are you tired of trying to find everything around your office or warehouse that you need for your next trade show? Do you have to run down to the local "Your Storage Unit" facility every time your company attends an event? Do your event materials return back from your shows dirty or with damage?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you just may need to think about your Asset Management Program.

Celebrating 30 Years in Business, our Annual Meeting had some extra special moments. Several days of meetings, training, networking, and hands-on demonstrations had ELITeXPO staff from all over the country busy learning all about the latest and greatest. The Awards Banquet was a spectacular night of camaraderie, good food, and fun. We also took some time to thank David and Leslie Mihalik for being such amazing business owners and incredibly generous human beings.

ELITeXPO has been providing tradeshow logistics services for 30 years now. What's been the key to our success? Knowing the importance of communication. Making sure an exhibit shipment gets to and from a trade show on-time and in-tact relies on the details communicated between both the customer and our staff.

2017 has been a very busy year so far in the IT Department at ELITeXPO. To celebrate our 30th year in business, we're upgrading a significant number of software systems, hardware, and communications platforms with the goal of improving customer service and maximizing operating efficiencies. We're also moving many of our systems to the Cloud. 

You never know when you might be able to help someone. You also never know when you might be able to put your trade show experience to use while away from the office or as the guys I helped incorrectly assumed, "on vacation". I know that most of you who also work in trade shows often are envied by family and friends of all the great resort and vacation cities we are traveling to, envisioning someone of means and class, jet setting around the globe. If you’re like me, in your head you're thinking out loud, "uh, not so much".

According to a recent CEIR report, the cost of a face-to-face meeting with a prospect at a tradeshow is less than 10% of the cost of identifying and meeting with a prospect in the field. They also require less sales calls to close a sale. The overall savings per prospect are significant. So justifying the value of exhibiting at a tradeshow is easy.