In doing so, the trade show exhibit industry witnessed an uptick in business patterns as well as revenue. Corporations, however, were very wise and cautious in their spending. Exhibit companies had two choices; design and produce less expensive exhibits or, decrease margins to accommodate this new potential upswing in business. Unfortunately, some exhibit companies chose to do neither and have been sold to a larger competitor or, in some cases, have gone out of business.

Southwest Displays & Events chose to design and produce less expensive exhibits AND decrease margins. In doing so, we increased our market share 17% in 2011. These changes were necessary due to our prospective customers’ demands. While they chose to increase revenues through trade show exhibitions, Southwest Displays & Events increased revenue and market share by meeting these demands and providing successful designs to increase “on floor” traffic and boost our customers’ sales.

Our publicly traded clientele saw an increase in share price of over 47% in most cases. Some, like Fossil, increased over 112%. Our non-publicly traded clientele experienced sizable sales revenue increases. How? By allowing Southwest Displays & Events to design and construct quality trade show exhibits at very fair market prices, we increased our clients’ ROI. We also assisted with pre-show marketing efforts designed to increase booth traffic. Working as a marketing team, our clients experienced less frustration on the front end and greater productivity on the back end.

What’s in store for 2012 besides our 25th anniversary in the exhibit business? Contact or email us today. We would be happy to design and deliver your next revenue-generating project!

Photo Credit: Dallas Convention Center: parksdh

Creating a high impact graphic can be a challenge. How do you support the image, how do you produce the image, and most importantly, how do you ship something that BIG?

Almost all of today’s aluminum extrusion makers (Octanorm, AGAM, etc.) have a gasketed graphic retainer. This is a small groove in the extrusion that accepts a silicone rubber gasket. The gasket is sewn into the perimeter of a fabric graphic which can then be inserted into the extrusion retainer. Kind of like making a window screen, or for you old-timers, me included, like stretching a screen for screen printing.

The beauty to this system is that it breaks down for shipping, and your graphic ships folded in a small package vs rolled onto a long tube. “But it will wrinkle!” you say. All the fabrics used in this process must have a small amount of stretch to make the system work. Wrinkles, if any, will fall out in a few hours after installation.  The graphic shown here shipped folded in a box that was 24″x18″x18″. It took 2 men 1/2 hour to install it, and that was mostly being moved around, up and down on a forklift. (3 men if you count the forklift driver).

Don’t shy away from gigantic images and don’t think that printing on fabric is less than desirable. Fabric ROCKS! The advances in fabric printing have been outstanding. Look to your vendors for samples of the latest fabrics and printing techniques.

Happy graphicing!

This is what you get when you spend $40 on a banner stand. This after one use. The aluminum on this unit is so thin that I can twist the stand by holding each end. What has happened in this photo is the receptacle that holds the pole upright, is now bent out of shape. When placed into the hole, the pole now wobbles and the graphic will lean back too far. Spend your money wisely. Spending a little more up front will save you a lot in the future.

You can perform mathematical functions in the dialog boxes in Illustrator. For example, double click the Rectangle tool and when you enter your sizes you enter something like 41.5-12.125 and your rectangle will be 29.375. Add, subtract, multiple (use * not X) and divide with /. Enjoy!

Chad-

I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank you for the excellent customer service that I have received from you and the team at Southwest Displays & Events over the past 4+ years that I have been a client. As we are beginning on the third exhibit build that you have executed for our company, I am reminded of the reasons that we decided to hire Southwest Displays & Events in the first place; outstanding customer service, close attention to detail, commitment to quality, and always going above and beyond the call of duty. These qualities speak volumes about your organization, but are just some of the reasons that you and your team are such a pleasure to work with. I wouldn’t trust the success of my tradeshow program to any other exhibit house! Thank you for all that you do.

Best Regards,

Erin Oettle
Marketing Services Manager
Network Solutions
Leviton Manufacturing Co., Inc.

Fred Carl, Jr. of Viking Range featured in Fortune Small Business magazine. Fred’s article covers building your global brand. Southwest Displays is proud to be a partner with Viking Range and a part of building the Viking Global brand.