For many clients, we will handle the complete turnkey program of ordering and executing all of their show services including items like: shipping, drayage, electric, flooring, labor and supervision for I&D, floral, hanging signs, booth cleaning, lead machines, catering, etc.

Donna, our Event Services and Traffic Manager, starts by gathering show information from the show management company, the general contractor, and from our clients. She downloads and studies all the show forms and schedules in order to accurately recommend a course of action. Sometimes she ships directly to the show and sometimes to the pre-show warehouse. Her determination is based on a complicated scenario of target dates, installation window dates, drayage rates, and trucking costs. She then bids the shipment out to several companies from her huge list of trucking suppliers. She will pick the best and safest trucking service and quote their rates as part of our package. She doesn't necessarily pick the least expensive trucking offer; she picks the safest service that fits with their scheduled plan. Our mission is to be the low risk provider, not the low cost provider. We recognize that our clients make major investments in their show programs, and we realize that we are their partner in managing their property and their risk.

We then make an analysis of labor required to set-up and dismantle the exhibit. Most often we use a review of labor hours used from prior shows, and we consult with our Project Managers, Production Manager, and our Field Supervisors. Donna then plugs the labor hours required into a a scenario of target dates, installation window dates, labor rates, trucking costs, and client need-by dates to determine the optimum labor schedule of straight time and overtime required. She will then quote the appropriate labor as part of our package.

Donna prepares a written quotation based on her recommendations described above, detailing each specific item. Our "Management, Handling and Coordination Fee" is calculated at a percentage of the cost of the services that we execute. We become your single point of contact to order, execute, coordinate, manage, supervise, and pay for the services that you engage with our company. Donna will fill out the forms required, process them with the appropriate providers, pay for the work, and make a myriad of phone calls to follow up to ensure that all services are executed to the highest level of professionalism. A critical part of her job is making sure that all of the contractors engaged, are moving towards a single target and are on the same schedule. She monitors the 24-hour hotline and communicates with our partners on site to be sure that your project is executed as planned. When the show is complete, Donna and her team become a mini accounting department as she chases our providers for documentation, back up as required, and billing. This process can take from 30 to 90 days until the bills (which have already been paid) are approved by Donna. Occasionally there are overages that require explanation. Some overages occur as a general matter of the course of business, like truck waiting time. The general contractor for the show decides which trucks get unloaded and loaded first, usually based on target times. They sometimes are off-schedule resulting in trucks waiting many hours to get unloaded. This waiting time may be billed back by our trucking companies. Other situations occur where there is a delay in labor to set-up because the rental carpet may not have been installed, or the electric lines haven't been installed. In these cases, there may be an addendum billing to our clients after the show. We review the accuracy of our quoting in comparison to our final invoicing, and have found that the vast majority of our quotes are right on target! Our clients are thrilled with the predictability of our costs. On average, the balance of our projects, run between 5%-7% in either direction.