Business Up for Exhibit Designers

Don't be surprised if a raucous symphony of power drills and circular saws welcomes you to the tradeshow floor in the new year. You may be jarred by the commotion, but it's music to the ears of tradeshow design firms.

Much as with the real estate market, exhibit booth construction follows the ebb and flow of the economic tides. So it should come as little shock that just as the stock market is testing its bull hooves for 2004, so have exhibitors begun submitting requests for proposals to exhibit design firms in greater numbers.

During the recent recession, "companies that exhibit at tradeshows delayed their decisions on marketing and exhibit booth plans," explained Peter Dicks, executive director of the Exhibit Designers & Producers Assn. "They've reached a point now where they have to update their exhibits, and are ready to do so based in part on their own optimism."

As a result, competition has been heating up among exhibit design firms to win new contracts, mostly in the health care, technology and construction sectors, according to Dicks. To lure the deals after such a long drought, some exhibit design firms have been looking at providing a wider range of services, including pre-event and post-event support. "They're helping exhibitors see the value of tradeshows by trying to integrate themselves as a consultant to the marketing team," Dicks said.

"We've gotten more RFP action in the last four to eight weeks than we've seen in the first half of the year," said Chris Kappes, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Sparks Exhibits & Environments. Kappes estimates his company has $12 million to $14 million worth of possible business in the pipeline.

Daniel Giglio, vice president of Exhibit and Tradeshow Consultants, said calls from corporate exhibitors started to increase six months ago. The pace has further accelerated the past two months. "It's picked up considerably, both with existing clientele and a lot of new interest. So far, it's looking good," he said.

After a nearly two-year-long slowdown, the surge in activity was more than welcome at the New York-based exhibit design company, which is weathering the third recession in its 19-year history. Unlike some of its competitors, the company managed to hang on to its dozen skilled employees and all of its 28,000 square feet of manufacturing space during the slow times. "It's a cycle. If you can get through the rough water, you can survive," he said.

Business has also been on the up tick for Robert Laarhoven, president of Laarhoven Design, with plenty of orders for shows scheduled in the first quarter of 2004. The company focuses on small to midsized booths, typically 20′×20′s or 20′×40′s. "Back in '99, we sold a lot of 10′×20′s and some now tend to be larger projects," Laarhoven said. The company also has a new lightweight, less expensive product out that Laarhoven said exhibitors are embracing.

"Clients can't afford to take their old stuff out of storage. They have huge crates that are thousands of pounds each. The drayage and transportation costs are astronomical," Laarhoven explained. "They're asking themselves, 'How can I get the same presence on the show floor without the non productive show costs?'"

Laarhoven Design also rents his new Matrix product for about a third of what it would cost to buy the modulars outright, and at about the same price it would cost for exhibitors to drag their existing wood and metal booths out of storage and ship them to the show. "Companies are saying, 'OK, we're ready for a new exhibit but we don't want to go back to where we were a few years ago where we couldn't justify the cost,'" Laarhoven said.

Still, the enthusiasm is not exactly universal. "I would not say we have seen a marked increase yet, but there seems to be a tone," said Kent Jones, vice president of marketing for Derse Exhibits. "Everybody's being very cautious. We've been having a lot of conversations about, 'Hey, we might have more money next year,' and some projects are on the back burner for their 2004 budgets.

"I think most companies are entering 2004 cautiously. We had more RFPs during spring and summer than now."