The two most common complaints we hear among exhibitors are the price of shipping and the price of drayage. Here are just a few ideas on how to get rid of some of the excess in your exhibit to help keep these costs under control.

Are you keeping old properties in your crates "just in case"? Dump the old stuff and leave it at home. Plan your booth space before you ship your exhibit to the show and only bring what you need. You'll be surprised how well you fair without the "just in case" box.

When you're shipping your portable exhibit, are you palletizing your cases? This will actually increase your dimensional weight and usually cost more than shipping the cases individually. The risk involved is that the cases may get split up in shipment. This risk will have to be evaluated against the savings of shipping and drayage. It will essentially depend on how much you trust your shipper.

Are your crates the right size for your exhibit properties? Having extra space in your crate for incidentals may sound like a great idea, but remember that crates are weighed either

dimensionally or by scale, and you are charged with whichever is larger. If you ship a crate that is only half full, you're essentially paying to ship twice as much exhibit for no reason.

Whether your show is large or small, you will almost always have to face the dreaded drayage charge. At least we can try to make this experience as painless as possible.

Please send comments and article suggestions to: design@advancedexhibitmethods.com

Port-a-ble (adj.)-Capable of being moved easily.

There are a few things to consider when determining what type of exhibit is ideal for your company. Among them are: amount of shows per year, size of trade show, size of booth space, exhibit budget, and reoccurring trade show budget. Generally, in the smaller booth spaces, a portable exhibit is more suitable especially now that there are many alternatives to the traditional curved pop up exhibit. There are many benefits to using

portable properties in your exhibit space, but here are just a few.

Cost effective: Though the initial cost of portable equipment may be a little more than other display items, the savings you will retain through every aspect of the exhibiting process make them well worth the investment. Often, it only takes two shows to recover the price difference between a retail store fixture and a portable display unit.

Shipping: Portable exhibit properties were created specifically for ease of

shipment and installation. They usually come in compact, durable cases that are manufactured to perfectly house the equipment while maintaining ease of movement. Also, these cases are generally small enough to ship with common carriers (Fed Ex, UPS).

Installation: Portable exhibit properties are created to set up quickly and with the use of very few, or no tools. Also, unlike typical display fixtures, portable fixtures are durably made to withstand multiple assemblies.