Don’t miss a great opportunity to improve your presence at the 2009 NAB Show.
Join us for an NAB Show webinar on Effective Public Relations, February 26th at 2 p.m. E.S.T.
Presented by Terry Hanley, Editor, NAB Show Daily News and Tom Cherry, Co-Founder, Virtual Press Office.
This webinar will walk you through topics including Developing Press Materials, Identifying News, Audience Targeting & Content Distribution and finally Media Follow-up.
Space is limited. Reserve your webinar seat now!
NAB has extended the deadline to January 6th, 2009 to submit your nominations for the Exhibitor Advisory Committee!!!!
NAB currently has two vacancies for our Exhibitor Advisory Committee in the South Upper Hall category. One vacancy must be filled by a representative from the 100-399 square feet and the second in the 400-3000 square feet. By committing to the EAC, you will ensure the continued success and the shaping of the NAB Show. If you are interested, please visit the EAC website and complete a nomination form.
Reducing shipping costs is a great way to help your budget and NAB and Freeman have an option to help you to save big! NAB exhibitors that will be exhibiting at CES can utilize complimentary Freeman storage between shows. To take advantage of this cost saving benefit, contact Kathy Guerrero with Freeman for details.
For many smaller companies, the exhibit manager may also be wearing the marketing and sales hats too. If that’s you, then here are some tips.
As you know it is crucial to your trade show’s success to reach attendees prior to the show as well as to set up meetings in advance. There are a number of tools that NAB offers exhibitors to connect with attendees – market their products and services and set up meetings. eventLeads (formerly SmartBooth) is one great tool with intelligent matching, online introductions and networking. The purchase of attendee lists for direct mail/email is another. The exhibitor webinars also offer suggestions. And there are always your own guerrilla and viral methods. However you do it – do it. Don’t just hope to catch the fish that happen to swim by.
So in your pre-planning, include a budget amount - as well as time – to target your potentials however you feel is most effective. It will make the rest of your significant investment of time and money – worth it.
Posted by Kathy Mosher-Boule – EAC representative for RTNDA
From my perspective representing the RTNDA convention exhibitors – the show-within-a-show at the Hilton – the lack of traffic seems to be the biggest challenge to the success of the show. With many stations as well as station groups cutting back, attendance may be even slimmer, although the RTNDA organization is being proactive in promoting attendance with station groups.
With this challenge in mind, the new floor layout – the networking village concept – has the potential to bring more conference traffic onto the exhibit floor and help the exhibitors have better visibility on the floor. There are plans to hold more events on the exhibit floor. I hope RTNDA exhibitors are excited about these changes and I look forward to comments.
Posted by Kathy Mosher-Boule – EAC representative for RTNDA
Hi Everyone,
Ernie Belanger here, Chair of the Exhibitor Advisory Committee (EAC).
I want to take a moment to welcome you to the NAB Exhibitor Blog. Here you will find time saving tips and other information for both novice and experienced booth managers. The goal of NAB and your Exhibitor Advisory Committee is to make the NAB show as hassle free and beneficial to you and your company as possible.
Let me take this opportunity to set the record straight on a few things that almost all of us may not understand.
Many exhibitors are still under the impression that it is an “US against Them” atmosphere when it comes to dealing with NAB and show issues. While that may have been true over the years, I can tell you from personal experience that for the past 2 years it just isn’t so.
When David Rehr took the helm at NAB, those who had been our advocates found themselves with leadership that allowed their voices to be heard. Chris Brown, Justine McVaney, Shawn Canfield, David Dziedzic, Patrick Flynn and their staffs were given the opportunity to openly change the way the NAB Show operates and they have done an outstanding job in making this show the premiere broadcast show in the world.
They listened to our needs as exhibitors both directly and those that came through EAC members. The positive changes have been dramatic and dynamic. I must also tell you how proud I am of my fellow EAC members and the countless hours they too have put in to make our show a wonderful experience both for us as exhibitors and most importantly for our customers, the attendees.
Here are several examples of positive changes that have come about in the past two years because of the cooperative spirit of NAB and your Exhibitor Advisory Committee:
With NAB’s leadership we have worked with the Unions and our Show Contractor to make changes in the Show rules. Many of these affect every exhibitor and we are continuing to push for more changes to make our lives easier and the show cost reasonable.
In conjunction with NAB and the housing bureau we are working to keep hotel costs in line. This year there was a pilot program in place that kept rates at certain hotels lower when rooms were booked sooner, prices will go up as rooms fill and the show nears. (This is similar to the way Airlines Book seats) One of the biggest obstacles we have is that most of the hotel rooms are owned by only two major groups: Harrah’s and MGM. We will continue to work to keep cost in line.
For the record: Contrary to popular belief NAB DOES NOT make any money on the hotel rooms we book. FYI: Other shows such as CES don’t use a housing office and hotel rooms for those show can go as high as $500 a night.
NAB went out to bid for a new show contractor and last year we saw the result in the wonderful service received and lower overall prices from Freeman. Yes, there were a few isolated situations that occurred but overall the experience of the NAB Show exhibitors was 91% positive. Steve Anderson, Vice President, Sales, Freeman, is striving for 100%… So it looks like we will see the save level of service in 09 and beyond.
I did promise our web master this would be short, but there was so much positive it turned out longer that I planned.
Remember if you need anything don’t hesitate to contact a member of the EAC.
Enjoy the Blog.
Ernie Belanger
Chair
NAB Exhibitor Advisory Committee
Yes I know when you first see the manual it can be daunting, but it is there to help you. 95% of the answers you need are buried in that binder (or CD, on-line PDF’s) of information.
A main document that is your friend is the deadlines page. All the deadlines for forms, orders, and shipping are listed in one place. When I first started doing this it was invaluable, and it still is today.
There’s other handy things like shipping label templates & maps, but most important, are labor rules for the show. I have found that labor rules change from show to show and are not consistent. This document demystifies and explicitly outlines what exhibitors can and cannot do on the show floor when loading in or dismantling the booths. Reading this can save a lot of grief once you are on the show floor.
