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By Chris Valentine, 05/24/2010 10:58 am

The average McDonalds in the U.S. brings in $7.9 million in revenue.  Compared to the overall sample of revenue numbers from restaurants, this may be in the upper quartiles for revenue, but not unprecedented.  And what do we know about McDonalds? You can go into a McDonalds in Boston and be almost positive that there is someone in LA having a McDonalds experience very similar to yours. Their supply chain mandates an almost uniform selection of goods which they can then turn over to their customers at minimal cost.

By comparison, a local owner of an independent restaurant has a very flexible supply chain as his volume relative to the supplier market is small. In fact, he can get quite creative when it comes to his menu and offerings.  He can provide low calorie and green offerings; he can change his menu weekly, even daily to appeal to his customers’ changing tastes. He can do all of this and offer a price point, while not a McDonalds’ level, is very competitive within the casual dining segment.

Now, if the independent restaurant owner begins to expand, opening new locations, etc., the demands on his supply chain become very stringent.  Bottlenecks, quality, price consistency all become paramount as he strives to meet his overhead and the desires of his growing customer base.

Now within the world of GSC’s the large players will have you believe the depth and value of their owned equipment (the majority of their supply chain), is necessary to produce your events.  However, it is quite the opposite. The depth of their supply chain is not needed for YOUR event; it is needed due to the 400, 700 or 4,000 other events they produce within a year.  In fact, if that were the case, the largest players in the industry should have substantially lower pricing (much as McDonalds drives their supply chain) as their depth of offerings are limited, but broad – evidence that inefficiencies within the chain have existed throughout the years without being removed or improved.

We live in a marketing environment. It is the responsibility of the GSC to represent a client’s brand, offering products that speak for the brand in a unique way that’s tailored to the client. Currently these offerings are based upon a warehouse of furnishings or even graphics and signage that has been reused client after client, show after show, without any individualization at all.

You want to hire T3 not because of a rental inventory; we can give you a list of 100 vendors that will all have the same equipment.  You are hiring us because we understand the logistical demands and dynamics that it takes to service a show.  Between the three of us we have almost half a century of experience with exhibitors, unions, design, facilities, corporate marketing, financial/budget and the real challenges that are placed on your event.  And we know how to bring it together the way you want it. That cannot be bought like a 6’ table and an aluminum post.

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By Chris Valentine, 05/04/2010 2:53 pm

Over the last few months some industry associations have decided to move their annual tradeshows from Chicago to other North American locations. Given the current economic environment, this has become a major issue in the local Chicago media, as well as a hot topic of discussion among those of us involved in the tradeshow and event industry.

Why certain associations have chosen to leave Chicago is secondary to the perception across the industry that participation is too costly, whether in Chicago or any other venue.  I think those of us involved in the industry would agree that the way events and tradeshows are priced needs to be revisited. When a customer speaks, perception is reality and the market has spoken and spoken very loudly.

In our humble opinion, General Service Contractors are an important part of the solution. We need to work with everyone involved (exhibitors, show owners, associations, labor, unions, convention centers, third party providers, etc.) to understand their concerns and requirements and create innovative, new pricing solutions as soon as possible. We have to provide transparency to our customers within the context of the environment in which we operate.  This is not a new issue; we referenced a 1971 Chicago Tribune article {cited below} in a prior blog post in which this same topic was being discussed.  As an involved, invested participant in this industry, we need to create value-based pricing and product offerings that enhance any event, whether in Chicago or any other North American city.

{“Analyzing the Trade Show Industry” written by Thomas Powers appeared in the July 18^th edition of the Chicago Tribune}

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By Nate Derby, 02/23/2010 4:54 pm

Corporate events are unique, complicated undertakings.  A much different breed of animal than tradeshows, a corporate event often has to drive home a compelling corporate branding story or dramatically kick-off a crucial product launch. Unlike association trade shows and conferences, where the general requirements are typically similar from year to year, a corporate event is a totally singular occurrence that needs to be unique, fluid and stunning each time. Also, the planning phase of a corporate event is typically much shorter and has many more contributors and owners who need to be fully included in the process, which results in additional levels of approval. This is why a Corporate Event mandates a different skill set from the general service contractor.

Unlike many other GSCs that have established partners or even their own internal experiential marketing business units that they are structurally required to drive business towards, T3 Expo does not have any arrangements, and we are open and willing to work with any third party provider. As a company we fundamentally believe in providing our focused brand of GSC services in collaboration with any experiential marketing and strategy firm, and making that effort a success. We are truly agnostic when it comes to whom we can and will work with because we have no interest in competing with experiential marketing providers. 

This philosophy provides us the freedom to recommend the BEST and the most EFFECTIVE resources and providers.  We realize and value and talent that third parties can bring to a partnership and are excited to collaborate with them to create the wow factor in a corporate event. We truly understand the unique needs of GSC to support a corporate event and have designed our service assets and products to function precisely, with maximum flexibility in this unique environment. T3 Expo is not an event marketing company. We are not an I&D house. We do not market ourselves as social media experts. This enables us  to work with the best providers, irrespective of business partnerships and structures, to ultimately deliver what our clients are paying us for: an event as successful and unique as their brand!

T3 Expo is committed to servicing all GSC facets of the corporate event with superior execution. Some differentiators:

• Furnishings: we are not constrained by the need to re-rent existing inventory from a warehouse. We collaborate with you and your partners get a feel for your brand and find furnishings, flooring and design that communicate the look and feel you want.
• Partner Booth Design: our award winning designers have plenty of experience working with local manufacturers in an effort to maximize design impact while also reducing budgets.
• Budget Maintenance/Adherence:  we’ve developed a suite of planning tools to monitor and track event budgets in real time, giving all appropriate parties the access to view and update changes.  We can adhere to any budget.
• Workflow: T3 Expo takes the time to truly understand the client’s team we will be working with, then and we will structure our team and workflow tools to specifically maximize efficiency.
• Extension of Team: T3 Expo understands that the experiential marketing company is our client and that our service is an extension of their team. We provide services to achieve the end goal of a successful event for our mutual client. We are not in competition with our experiential marketing/strategy clients.

T3 Expo brings in the best of breeds to make every corporate event a success. We are committed to providing the finest service to our clients and making the most of these relationships. As we said recently on this blog, at T3 a ‘laser like focus on the customer’ has been our philosophy from the very beginning; our core competency is to be your general service contractor.

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By Nate Derby, 02/17/2010 3:29 pm

Before striving to get a bigger piece of the action, the general service contractor should step back and take a good look at the present situation. Are current customers being serviced to maximize their needs, or are they looked at solely for revenue extraction and often left behind as the GSC reaches upstream.

Instead of trying to be everything to everyone – a branding company, an ad agency, a direct marketing provider, a social media maven, we need to find new and innovative ways to serve our clients better and focus like a laser on executing on that vision. Service is about talking to your customers, learning and understanding what their needs are and then building a solution for them. It’s about building a community that creates a class of exhibitors or customers that want to expand, rather than repeat.

Now is the time to really listen and respond to what our customers want – transparent pricing models that won’t leave them frustrated about hidden fees, hassle-free ways to interact directly with providers to answer their questions and solve problems in real time. Or maybe pricing isn’t their pain point and they want something entirely different from their exhibiting or meeting experience…but it’s up to us to ask them and find out. Every single exchange and conversation with our exhibitors and customers is an important part of the event or show process. We as contractors should not work to simply meet our customer’s expectations, but we should aspire to surpass them by providing fresh ideas that will maximize the return on their show investment.

We as GSCs need to reevaluate how tradeshows and corporate events are done at the ground level. We can save our customers a lot of money and headaches by perfecting the basics before trying to sell them higher level strategy or packaging options.

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By Chris Young, 02/08/2010 2:13 pm

A recent article in Fast Company about how WalMart is making significant strides in going green (who knew?!), got me to thinking about how we must all participate in this global business trend if we truly intend to make a difference. Like any industry, the tradeshow and event business is working hard to create green solutions. Especially when considering the paper products needed for padding and shipping packages and furniture, and the energy, exhaust and pollution expended during the shipping and warehousing process.

When we exhibited at Expo! Expo! back in December, one of the biggest ways we were able cut down on environmental harm was making the smart and simple decision of choosing a local supplier. For our exhibit, we worked with Foundation Fabricators and Brumark out of Georgia. Because they were in close proximity to show site, we all together avoided the packaging debris associated with long distance shipping. We also avoided using energy (and money) in warehousing, since we didn’t need to store anything. Because we wanted to create an impactful, elegant look inside our booth, we designed our exhibit using the following green options:

• Structural Panels:  made from 100% recycled post-consumer paper waste
• Carpet Tiles: 100% recycled flooring materials
• T3 Centerpiece: made with environmentally friendly products including green adhesives and corrugated materials
• Digital Signage: By conveying their message though video, T3 negated the cost and environmental waste associated with the usual printed marketing materials

We realized , as we planned and set up our exhibit during the show, that choosing green options aren’t always expensive. Sometimes it takes a little more creativity – but like WalMart uses the grease from their hotdog machines to power their trucks, it IS possible!

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By Chris Valentine, 12/15/2009 4:56 pm

This year I attended IAEE’s Expo! Expo! from a totally different perspective. In my past life I was part of a crowd. Working the booth, attending show functions as well as touching base with old friends, colleagues and clients. The old Woody Allen proverb that 80% of life is just showing up was a thought that passed my mind more than a few times over the years at Expo! Expo!.

This year, as part of T3 Expo, the experience could not have been more different. I was an attendee and exhibitor and I quickly remembered that events are what you make of them. The show organizer can put together great content, attract the right mix of attendees, speakers and exhibitors to deliver a compelling mix, but the delivery of ROI ultimately fell on us.

The whole T3 Expo team spent many hours creating and executing our exhibition and marketing strategy: refining and defining our offering and messaging, creating our booth design (which turned out to be award winning!), seeking out attendees and creating raffle prizes. While we certainly did not get it 100% right, we were and continue to be overwhelmed by the positive outcomes from the experience. There is no magic solution to making this kind of exercise a success. There are a lot of great technology and service tools, but in the right recipe is equal parts passion, planning, commitment and old-school hard work (and conversely a total lack of sleep).

In a face to face marketing industry is grappling with myriad questions relating to costs, marketing alternatives and measurement of ROI. Here at T3 we walked away from Expo! Expo! with a reinvigorated, more personal perspective relating to the industry in which we participate in and even greater commitment to assist in growing it (not to mention that pretty cool Best of Show award!)

Thanks to IAEE, everyone involved with Expo! Expo! 2009 and all of its participants for making the week in Atlanta a great one for T3 Expo.

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By Chris Valentine, 11/20/2009 5:10 pm

Thanks TSW for the write up on 11/9 regarding T3! Check it out.

Save Money, grow your event.

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By Chris Valentine, 10/21/2009 3:14 pm

Outside Innovation, roughly speaking, is the process of using your customers and vendors as a resource to develop and define your products. With the onslaught of Web 2.0, it is everywhere.  iPhone apps, Progressive Insurance and Lulu to name a few.

We looked at these very good companies and asked, why not use Outside Innovation for general service contracting in the trade show and event industry?  Customers have been begging for it since 1971 (see previous post).

The general service contractor provides a key role in the knowledge base or eco-system of a trade show or event.  The majority of the show organizers have 1-4 events.  An established general service contractor will produce hundreds if not thousands of events and service 10 times that in exhibitors.  If a general service contractor really cared about the clients (both show mangers and exhibitors) they would aggressively mine and analyze these experiences and the ensuing feedback data, then create and deploy innovative solutions to the industry to ensure that users were being heard.

WOW, imagine that, products that meet the expectation of the user.  How quaint.

A classic case that has many parallels was recently written in Patricia Seybold’s Outside Innovation blog post “How to Revolutionize Your Industry“.  Seybold asks, “If your business model is under siege, what should you do?”  As fitting as it seems, Seybold was not talking about the trade show general service contractor.  She was talking about the educational textbook industry, which she makes the additonal points as it relates to the stakeholders:

• Customers don’t choose what to buy — the students who buy the books don’t get to choose which books to buy (their professors assign them).
• There’s no feedback mechanism for students to react to the material in the textbooks, nor to interact with the people who write them.
• There are no real alternatives to traditional textbooks, so publishers can’t tell what their customers would prefer.

When we looked at the statement, what struck us is similarities to the relationship among show mangers, exhibitors and general service contractors.  It is not to say that there aren’t good vendors, (be it contractors, publishers or authors) but the lack of feedback mechanisms and lack of listening has led to stagnation as it pertains to new innovation within the community.

So how do we start?  Well this blog is not about us telling you what we think.  It is about you contributing to change the event industry.  We will listen.  We will interpret.  We will risk and explore.  You just tell us what you feel.  The first step is filling out the survey from the previous post.  It is just a few questions, but it will give us a direction.  Or comment on this one.  Tell us we are crazy.  Tell us it is a great idea and this is what you want.  Don’t tell us anything.  We are listening regardless, and even unanswered questions lead us in a direction.

Look forward to working together.  See you on the floor.

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By Chris Valentine, 10/12/2009 3:53 am

This article, by Thomas Powers of the Chicago Tribune, questions the value of tradeshows relative to their cost. Within the piece, William Bucher, exhibits manager for Kiekhaefer Mercury Corp, surveyed 210 exhibitors at the National Food Processors show and found that 58% considered not exhibiting the following year, while 25% had already decided to drop out of subsequent events because of costs.

Sound familiar? Ironically this article was written on July 18….1971!

Since then, the options for marketing dollars have expanded exponentially and here we are 38 years later hearing the same comments. So we ask you, the customers, are tradeshow general service contractors doing enough to not only sustain, but grow the tradeshow and event industry? If not, what improvements or changes would like to see happen?