How to exhibit my products at an exhibition like PMA / CES?

When I arrived at the PMA 2009 photo exhibition in Las Vegas at the beginning of 2009 , I myself wondered why we, the electronics manufacturer, are not here yet? For various reasons, it took us 3 years to get here, but in the end I am writing this post from a hotel almost on the Strip , this is the main street of Vegas (almost - because I feel sorry for the Ponty Strip). And in the PMA hall (which this year is tied to the CES exhibition ), our stand is almost ready to be shown. Below we will talk about what needs to be done to get here, as well as a small breakdown of prices in US dollars.



It all starts with booking a place in the exhibition complex. The exhibition runs for 4 days. This year at PMA @ CES, it costs $ 42 per square foot (ahem) for the entire exhibition. Places are sold in blocks of 100 square meters. feet, which, after being reduced to the C system, is a square of about 3x3 meters. You can reserve a place 3x6 meters, 6x6, etc. Our stand costs 100 square meters. feet, and thus cost $ 4,200. Reservation is carried out by contacting specially trained people in the organizing committee - they usually accept all well-known credit cards, after which they will give you the number of your stand in tenture .

Then the question arises - what to put there? No, of course you can assemble your stand from plywood, but it will either take a lot of time, or it will look so that it would be better not to have it. We don’t have time, but there is self-esteem and a little bit of money, so we will rent a stand from one of the many companies involved in this particular business. The issue price is from 2 to 4 thousand for a 3x3 meter stand. Yes, in 4 days. This includes assembly before the exhibition, disassembly after, as well as transportation of all this junk to the exhibition complex, and it weighs a lot - depending on the design, it can go beyond a couple of hundred kilograms. For the latter, by the way, the company organizer of the exhibition takes money (about $ 600), which is included in the amount above.

So, the stand is standing. Oops, why is it so dark here? And this is because we did not order light from the organizers. This is a separate order form, approximate appetites are indicated there (otherwise you will conduct electric welding there). The prices are very tangible - for 4 days the show can run into several hundred dollars, and this is for modest things like a pair of light bulbs and two laptops.

So, laptops are connected. Now let's check the mail ... well, you understand - we did not connect the Internet. Well, gentlemen - sit down. One megabit for 4 days costs EMNIP $ 1,200 (one thousand two hundred). No, I'm not lying. 10 megabits - something like 3 or 4 thousand, I don’t remember exactly, but the orders are preserved. For four days. So, we skip this, we hope for the help of WiFi Hotspot in the correct Android. But oh my God, Schaub, I earned so much! (from)

We are going further. The stand will get dirty - people will go there. Cleaning the stand at night is a separate form, it costs $ 0.33 per foot for each day of cleaning, i.e. 33 dollars a day. This is to vacuum 9 square meters and wipe the dust from the tables.

Fffuhh, it seems to have broken through - everything seems to be there. So, stop - why is the stand empty? :) OK, we are starting to put up products - well, everything is simpler, it's all your own, but if you want to display any videos on the stand, then you will need monitors. Rent a monitor for 3 days - $ 300. Yes, it’s cheaper to get to the local store and buy it there ... BUT! He still has to hang on the wall of the stand, because on 9 square meters. m. to put it on the table so that it would not be taken down by the first visitor - it is simply unrealistic. But the wall of the stand is not yours (remember, the stand is rented), so to spoil it yourself lower. We sigh and count the money for renting a monitor, while recalling Whoopi Goldberg from the movie “Ghost” . It is hoped that all this will pay off.

It’s time to think about some nice little things, such as a visitor data collection system. Magnetic cards are handed out to all visitors, and you can rent a simple device that, when passing through such a card, reads all the information, and then gives out some CSV with all the data of visitors who decided to share their information. Tex ... 400 dollars in 4 days. We drove, let’s say to the girl, so that she would collect ordinary business cards, then we scan and recognize them in one person.

Summary. These people will take off your last pants, because as my boss says, “they got it and you need it”, which in a free translation means “they have what you need.” Given the fact that there are almost never empty seats at these exhibitions, it must be assumed that all these costs pay off. Wish me luck, the day after tomorrow the show starts from the category of "pan, or disappeared."

Sincerely, your correspondent for CES 2012.

UPD: It seems to have opened.



The stand is simple, I tried to attract attention with demonstrations. Two WD TV Live + with flash drives, from which demos are spinning, are hooked up to the monitors - on the right monitor you can often see a live video stream from Canon 5DMII, which performs periodic focus stacking , which is much more convenient to watch on a large monitor.

Today I realized one thing - the eyes of the people are blurred, and after lunch everyone starts to pass by, because there are a million people like us. OK, “everything has its own little scheme” (c) - I walked around the exhibition, I saw guys from Topaz Labs who made a live demo with a microphone and blackjack . I went and bought the same system, tomorrow we will do live demos, since our product is very featured, there is something to show.