Ready for the New Year? Top 5 reasons to hurry.

If you have a show in January or February then it is time to get moving on it.  Time flies when you are having fun.  It really flies over the holidays. 

It is pretty standard in life that you can have things cheap, good and fast and you get to pick any two.  The easiest way to save money in the exhibit industry is to order early and it slow boat to your trade show.

So why start so early- here are the top 5 reasons:

1.  What takes the longest time to do?  Get the digital artwork agreed upon.  How many people are on the committee for the artwork layout?  The more people the longer it takes.   Make sure there is a lot of pre-planning here.  Bring in the decision maker up front.  You risk getting it done and having the decision maker say "no" at the end.

2.   Where is all the good art anyway?   Most companies have good raw art but they have no idea where it is located.  Where is your vector art logo?  Who has the high dpi professional pictures that you spent  lots of $ on?  Tracking it down can take a lot of time.  Just because it is your emergency does not mean it is there emergency.

3.   How is the weather?  We are coming into snow season here in the mid-west.  Most of the exhibit system manufacturers are located in the west.  Not sure why (?).   Shipping it cross country is usually not a problem but running into a snow storm can delay you a day or two.  Be kind and give yourself extra time.

4. There are a lot of people who have to put their hands on your exhibit and most of them have to follow detailed directions so that they produce exactly what you want.  Please don't hurry these people- it is a recipe for trouble.  Allow for regular production time and then items will not need to be re-done and shipped overnight.

5. It is the holidays- that's the good news.  It is the holidays- that's the bad news.  People have time off and vacation days in December.   Production schedules are longer during the holidays to allow for vacations.  It is usually a slow period for exhibit companies and you could get a substitute worker. 

Moral of the story- start early, it is the easiest way to save money.