Exhibit Storage With Your Exhibit House, Yes or No? Hint…the Answer is Yes.

You have made an investment in a new trade show booth, which you will want to use throughout many future events.Just like a new home or a new car, a trade show display is not
something you buy on a monthly basis, or even annually.

You will need to protect your investment, and keep it in good shape, storage is definitely part of the solution.

How can you protect your new booth? What kind of exhibit solutions are required?Proper exhibit storage is essential in maintaining the integrity of your investment.
In order to do so, look for an exhibit builder with a booth storage facility that is :

• Safe
• Secure
• Organized
• Climate controlled

Part of an exhibit booth storage program should always include inspection, and professional maintenance of your exhibit properties.

Both custom exhibits, and portable exhibits, are subjected to less than friendly conditions on the show floor, and in transport to and from convention centres. As we say at Archex, exhibits need tender loving care too.

If your exhibit supplier doesn’t offer this service, then you need to find an exhibit house that does.

Exhibit properties should be inspected :

• Before they leave for a show.
• Immediately upon return from a tradeshow.

Don’t wait until just before the next show, or it will be too late to deal with any issues.

The life expectancy of a booth varies but is not typically a frequent purchase. Oftentimes after spending three long days on a show floor, your staff packs up your booth as quickly as possible and heads for the door. Damage can occur quite often, and if the booth is returned to your office following this show, you may uncover an unpleasant surprise at the next show.

Missing parts, broken parts, along with destroyed graphics, can all be fatal and ruin an event.

As part of the storage program, your exhibit vendor should check for these things when a booth returns and ensures that you, and your booth are good to go for the next event.

Now, what does this storage cost, and is there any value to paying someone else to do it when you have a massive amount of free space in your own building?

Most reputable trade show management companies offer inhouse storage to their clients. The fee is normally very reasonable and quite affordable. Storage fees can be charged using a few methods.

Typically charges are calculated using “cost per square foot”, “cost per cubic foot” or a “Per crate” methodology.

Almost all of these will work out to be comparable in cost.

Rates normally involve measuring a crate and assigning a cost to the footprint. As an example, if your crate measures 110” long x 48” wide x 48” high you are occupying approximately 36 square feet of exhibit storage space.

Using a rate of $1.50 per square foot, this crate will cost you $54 per month.

Rates normally involve cubing out the crate and assigning a cost to the volume. The same crate has a cubic volume of 146 square feet.

Using a rate of $.45 per cubic foot will cost you $66 per month.

Costs will typically be a fee that the vendor feels they need to cover costs, charge per crate and have the ability to stack crates vertically.

As an example, in Montreal, at Archex, we would charge a fee of $45 per month for this same crate.

There are also other factors to consider when selecting an exhibit storage vendor including insurance costs, in/out fees, convenience, cost to retrieve properties in the event of modifications or repairs and overall perceived value.

Leaving your booth vendor in charge of storage is an insurance policy. We urge you to consider it as important as the initial trade show booth design and purchase.

If storage options remain a mystery to you or it seems like a budget-related issue, feel free to reach out to us at Archex, and we will walk you through your exhibit storage options, and the advantages.