Conventions Halls Drop Rates For Trade Show Exhibitors

Most convention labor rates are high and now the union and labor force have finally come together to help regulate the high cost of exhibit. Some of the major conventions and venue holding have realized finally the cost burden place on trade show exhibitor is extreme.

The unions are getting biog pressure from the show managements to hold down the cost on various items, drayage, and labor cost has finally dropped. The conventions halls are giving much more flexibility to exhibitor. Exhibitors having spaces less than 400 square ft can now set up their booth without union labor providing hat there are no needs for ladders etc. The union are now extending the standard labor rates and holding back the overtime labor rates. This certainly helps the large exhibitor keep their budget under control.

The reasons for these adjustments have been because of pressure not only from exhibitors (lack of participation) but from smaller cities who now have their own venues. Some of these smaller cities have much more flexibility with their rates etc.

Certain cities which have always been strong union base cities have made major revisions in their rules and regulations some of these cities are Philadelphia, Detroit, and St Louis. Certain cities such as Orlando, Denver and Salt Lake have upgraded their venues which have placed a great deal of pressure on the strong union cities. We also see pressure from large exhibitors who have just not exhibited due to high cost. With the new changes on the way we feel that the trade show industry is coming out of the ice age, realizing that they can no longer change the high rates at these conventions and expect that exhibitors will just take it.

Lastly, another area of reduction has been in the high drayage cost. In the last few years exhibit builder should as ELDS, INC at http://www.eldsusa.com have concentrated on reducing the weight of exhibit booth components. We all realized that portable trade show booths are less affected by the high drayage cost, however as an exhibit build for custom trade show booth we have used are extremely light weight material such as fabric and light weight metal frames. This helps not only with the reduction of drayage cost but also setup time, which entails a quicker setup.