Chuck Gould wrote:
basskisser wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:
Boat Show season can't be far behind.

Atlantic City International Power Boat Show
Jan 31 - Feb 4, 2007


I have a friend who works for the company that sets up and runs the
Atlanta boat show, so I go every year. I get a TON of freebees, too!

Nice to know that somebody gets a freebie from the boat show. :-)

Well, it wasn't like gold or anything! Mostly patches, stuff like that,
plus I could get into events before the general public and talk to and
get autographs from alot of cool people. I did, however, get a really
nice All Star graphite rod once.

We now buy our own fixtures and furnishings and use them for several
shows at a time.
The initial purchase of a table and chairs at IKEA costs about the same
as renting the identical items for a single show!

My favorite story about dealing with the display companies (and the
incident that began our practice of purchasing our stuff rather than
renting it):

We had ordered a display table with a 40" height. When we arrived at
our show space, we found a table in place that looked so short it could
have been a coffee table! I went to the exposition company office to
complain. Got nowhere. Although I am absoutely *certain* that
we ordered a 40-inch table, the records of the expo company don't
reflect that and the table Nazi assured me that it was my company's
fault, not hers. They would have to charge me for the use of that table
(even though the show hadn't even started) and charge me as well
for the 40-inch table-(the one we originally ordered, but their records
did not specify). Among her explanations for the policy was the fact
that the labor to remove the small table and haul in the proper size
for us was the same amount any time. All said and done, it was going to
cost us another $150 to get the proper table. With no time to make
other arrangments, I bent over and OK'd the additional billing. The
woman at the expo booth told me to expect "delivery" of the new table
within the hour, so I went back to the booth and did some miscellaneous
setup.

About 45 minutes later, some guy in an expo company uniform shows up
and asks if this is the booth that needed a 40-inch table. I said,
"Yes, and we'd like delivery as soon as possible so we can finish
setting up."

"No problem," said the expo worker. He then took the little short
table, flipped it over on its top, extended the *adjustable legs* (!)
until we had a 40-inch table, turned it back up onto its feet and said,
"There you go!" That's what we got for our $150.

Now, of course, the 24-inch table skirt looked ridiculous on a 40-inch
table. And of course the table Nazi assured me once again that if I had
wanted a 40-inch skirt for my 40-inch table I should have said
so......and it went downhill from there. :-)

I don't know how much of that stuff this particular event company does
and how much they contract out to locals. They do a lot of the heavy
stuff, getting boats set up with stairs and walkways and such. They may
well handle tables and such, I just never really asked. I will though.
I know they do it all over. I think that if I were in a situation such
as yours, I do the same thing, buy instead of rent. It would be one
thing if you went somewhere a couple of times a year, then it'd be
worth having someone else lug the crap around, but if you do a lot of
shows and such, why not?!