How to put your products on the show like PMA / CES?

When I arrived at the PMA 2009 photo exhibition in Las Vegas in early 2009, I myself wondered - why are we, an electronics manufacturer, not here yet? For various reasons, it took us 3 years to get here, but in the end I write this post from the hotel almost on the Strip , this is the main street of Vegas (almost because Ponte Stripe is sorry for the money). And in the PMA hall (which this year is tied to CES ) our stand is almost ready to show. Below we will talk about what needs to be done to get here, as well as a small breakdown of prices in US dollars.



It all starts with booking a place in the exhibition complex. The exhibition takes place within 4 days. This year at PMA @ CES it costs $ 42 per square foot (khm) for the entire duration of the exhibition. Seats are sold in blocks of 100 square meters. feet, which, after bringing to the system C, is a square of approximately 3x3 meters. You can book a place 3x6 meters, 6x6, etc. Our booth is 100 square meters. feet, and so cost $ 4,200. Reservations are made by contacting specially trained people on the organizing committee - they usually accept all well-known credit cards, and then give you the number of your stand in the tenture .
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Then the question arises - what to put there? No, of course, you can assemble your stand from plywood, but it will either take a lot of time, or it will look like it would not be better. We have no time, but there is self-esteem and a bit of money, so we will rent a stand from one of the many companies that are engaged in this particular business. Issue price - from 2 to 4 thousand for 3x3m stand. Yes, in 4 days. This includes the assembly before the exhibition, disassembly after, as well as transportation of all this junk to the exhibition complex, and it weighs a lot - depending on the design, it can go beyond a couple of hundred kilograms. For the last, by the way, the exhibition organizer takes money (about $ 600), which is included in the amount above.

So, the stand is worth it. Oops, why are we so dark? And this is because we did not order the light from the organizers. This is a separate order form, there indicated approximate appetites (otherwise you will conduct electric welding there). The prices are quite tangible - in 4 days the show can run up a few hundred dollars, and that is for modest things like a pair of light bulbs and two laptops.

So, laptops hooked up. Now let's check the mail ... well, you understand - we did not connect the Internet. Well, gentlemen - sit down. One megabit for 4 days costs EMNIP 1200 dollars (one thousand two hundred). No, I'm not lying. 10 megabits - something like 3 or 4 thousand, I do not remember exactly, but the orders are preserved. For four days. So, we skip it, we hope for the help of WiFi Hotspot in the correct Android. But oh my goodness, so I earned so much! (with)

We go further. The stand will get dirty - the people will go there. Stand cleaning at night is a separate form, costs $ 0.33 per foot for each day of cleaning, i.e. $ 33 a day. This is to vacuum 9 square meters and wipe the dust off the tables.

Ffuhh seems to have broken through - everything seems to be there. So, stop - why is the stand empty? :) OK, we are starting to put production - well, everything is simpler, it is all his own, but if you want to show any videos on the stand, then you will need monitors. Rent a monitor for 3 days - $ 300. Yes, it is cheaper to get to the local store, and buy it there ... BUT! He will still have to hang on the wall of the stand, because at 9 square meters. m. to put it on the table so that it was not demolished by the first visitor is simply unrealistic. And the wall of the stand is not yours (remember, the stand is rented), therefore spoil it to the very bottom. We sigh and count the money for the rent of the monitor, at the same time recalling Whoopi Goldberg from the movie “Ghost” . It remains to hope that all this will pay off.

It is time to think about pleasant things - for example, such as the visitor data collection system. Magnetic cards are distributed to all visitors, and you can rent a simple device that, when holding such a card through it, reads all the information, and then issues a certain CSV with all the data of visitors who decide to share their information. Tack ... $ 400 for 4 days. We drove, for example, to a girl so that she would collect regular business cards, then we would scan and recognize it in one piece.

Summary. These people will take off their last pants, because as my boss says, "they need it," which means "they have what you need." Considering the fact that there are almost no vacant places at these exhibitions, it must be assumed that all these costs pay off. Wish me luck, the day after tomorrow the show from the category of "pan, or disappeared."

Sincerely, your correspondent at CES 2012.

UPD: It seems to have opened.



The stand is simple, I tried to attract attention with demonstrations. Two WD TV Live + with flash drives are hooked up to the monitors from which demos are spinning - on the right monitor you can often see a live video stream from Canon 5DMII that performs periodic focus stacking , which is much more convenient to watch on a large monitor.

Today I understood one thing - the people’s eyes are washed out, and after dinner everyone starts to pass by, because there are a million people like us. OK, “everything has its own schema” (c) - walked around the exhibition, saw the guys from Topaz Labs , who made a live demo with a microphone and blackjack . I went and bought the same system, tomorrow we will do live demos, more product we have is very featureful, there is something to show.