When you are developing your budget and resource allocation for your upcoming show, the question of ancillary services comes into play. These are services provided by either an exhibit rental company or the convention center itself, and can include items like onsite show supervision, catering, cleaning, and more. You may want to try to manage everything yourself, but in some scenarios, using ancillary services can take a burden off you and is a cost-effective choice. But how do you decide?
First, look at the size of your booth. If you are running a small booth, such as a 10×10 or 10×20, there are some services that you can probably forgo. You likely won’t need catering; instead, order a water container from the show. Likewise, assign team members cleaning duties, like emptying the trash and wiping down counters, and spare yourself daily cleaning fees. When the footprint of your booth begins to increase, however, hiring out some of ancillary services, like onsite supervision, can keep things running smoothly and help you cover more ground.
Second, consider the length of the show. I always like to factor in the length of the show, or put another way, how long do I have to handle these tasks on my own before the show closes? A one or two-day show might be fine to handle, but when you get to three, four or more days, having extra help that handles tasks will be a lifesaver. And with a longer show, the probability of having to put out some sort of “fire” can exponentially increase, and you do not want a senior staff member seeing the carpet not vacuumed at the same time.
Third, review your in-booth staff. Some things you may be able to put on rotation assignment, such as quickly moping down the laminate floor or emptying trash every couple of hours into the aisle trash can. In addition, you can roll in some items like water bottles each day if you have multiple staff members coming in. If you already are asking your booth staff to handle extra duties, you may want to farm out those tasks so that your sales team can focus on engaging and selling to customers, instead of worrying if the trash has been emptied.
Fourth, factor in your budget. Yes, your budget really should be the last thing you consider when you are reviewing ancillary services. Many times, you can modify your shipping requirements, cost of giveaways or even dinner costs to cover additional services. Re-visit your budget as a final consideration, since this is the time when you will have the most wiggle room to fit your ancillary service line item in your budget.
Keep these ideas in mind as you develop your budget and weigh different scenarios as you decide which ancillary services to use and which services to manage yourself.