This one may seem like a no-brainer, but traveling to NYC can get expensive fast! I could give you a list of great hotels, or link up to Travel + Leisure but instead I’m going to discuss weather, comfort and planning ahead.

A few things to know before you attend.

Book Early
As soon as that deposit is paid to GLM for your NSS booth you can head on over and hit up TPHousing which is the travel planners for most, if not all, GLM sponsored trade shows. After really searching on my own I came to the conclusion that if you are going to hotel – book through TPHousing. You get discounts much more affordable than booking on a discount travel site like expedia, hot-wire or kayak. First and foremost, if you have card-member rewards, bonus! Use those for your travel. If you don’t (like me) then starting the search early is key. A great thing about booking this way is that no money is due for the reservation, just a credit card number. So there is really no harm in booking a year in advance and getting a killer rate (try $165/night for a 3-star hotel). That same hotel in April will either be booked for exhibitor reserved rooms, or 2-3 times as expensive.

Both last year and this year I booked in July for hotel for the longest amount of stay I anticipated. You can change with most locations represented up to 2 weeks before the show. I booked at the New Yorker Hotel which only requires 72 hours notice for reservation changes or cancellation.

By booking early, you also have peace of mind of having one thing that you don’t have to worry about (unless you want to). This year, I’m exploring the option of renting an apartment short term. By booking hotel early, I can still continue to search but without the stress of a deadline in case I don’t find anything that is a right fit.

Exploring Apartments
If you decide to go the apartment route, you’ll want to make sure you search for short-term vacation rentals, or short-term apartment rentals. When I first started exploring this avenue, I kept ending up with long-term rentals and monthly rent costs which I didn’t want. The advantage to doing an apartment is the option of having a kitchen and a little more space than a hotel room provides. You can usually get good apartments that are larger than a standard hotel room at close to the same price as hotel. Also with the benefit of a kitchen, you can do a little grocery shopping and not be forced to eat out for every meal (unless you want to live off snack food which is another viable option). The disadvantage to doing an apartment is the lack of hotel-service. You don’t come home to a made bed and fresh sheets/towels – that is something you have to do yourself. There also isn’t wake-up calls or concierge. Pick your preferences and weigh them in.

Bringing Help
When exhibiting for a first time, you’ll want to factor in not only your travel expenses but any travel for people you are bringing along. I would NOT have survived without sibling help from Matt last year. There are so many variables that I was unsure of when attending for the first time that it was great to have a stress cushion there to help me not lose my mind. When deciding to bring the help, ask yourself the following questions: Will you pay for their full trip? Will you pay them for their time on the show floor and have them split cost of flight/hotel? Do they love you enough to foot their own flights? Are you going to cover their meals? Transportation? Is this an all expenses paid trip for them because they are your other half? If yes to any of these, put that in the budget and plan for it.

Location, location, location
Another first-year tip that I’m glad I focused hard on was location. I wanted to be as close to Javits as possible and MAN am I glad I was. I could walk in the mornings if I wanted to, and cabs were cheap to Javits if I decided to go that route. This year I’m more willing to venture further out into Manhattan but still don’t want to feel like I’m commuting to Javits. I shipped a few boxes of important booth stuff to the hotel that I had to drag to Javits. It was nice being close when hauling that stuff down. As you get more familiar with the city and metro, I think your options open up substantially with travel and you can spread your wings a little when figuring in location.

Weather
This one was something I didn’t think about at all! I was so excited to get out of our 5′ of snow that I didn’t really think about anything else last year. It RAINED the whole time we were there. Plan for cabs (and the lack thereof when it rains) and budget it in. Then if the weather is beautiful, you have saved yourself a few bucks, or you can go spend it on yourself. Pack clothing that can be layered and comfy shoes as well as wet weather shoes. And DON’T forget an umbrella. With inclement weather, consider location (hotel) in addition to transportation. It will be a long walk in the rain or muggy subways if you can’t catch a cab and your hotel is up by Columbus Circle. With that said, with a little planning you’ll survive (I did which is a miracle in and of itself)!

Metro
Buy a metro card and get a map. If you are as unfamiliar with NYC as I am, you’ll want to give yourself ample time to get to your destination. A metro card for a week will give you unlimited rides so if you mess up (and take that express train instead of the local) you won’t be kicking yourself when you have to shell out another couple of dollars (and are late for a very important date).

Flights
Since I’m a west coaster, there is absolutely no option for me to drive. I think that would be the death of me. Depending on the airline you are flying, you can book pretty early and get a great rate. Remember that sometimes if you call and book instead of booking online, you can book farther in advance too securing the lower rate. I always book with my AmEx miles on JetBlue. I use the card enough for the business that it gets enough points to buy a couple of round-trip tickets per year. Use those cards if you’ve got them for big ticket purchases for your business and those miles will stack up fast.

Timing
If you plan well, you can hit up the holidays too for great travel deals. Black Friday is my favorite time to book for spring travel as the airlines usually are reserving online through June at that point and you can get a stellar discount if you plan enough ahead.

Planning
As indicated above with reserving the longest amount of time you anticipate being at the show, when you book your flight, be sure to update your hotel reservation as well if necessary. Also plan to give yourself enough time for set-up, take-down and any sort of tourist activities you plan on doing so you don’t get stuck last minute with expensive flights home on peak travel days.

]]> http://blog.dingbatpress.com/business/posted-by-adrienne/tradeshow-tuesday-travel/feed/ 0 http://blog.dingbatpress.com/custom/love-by-phoebe/ http://blog.dingbatpress.com/custom/love-by-phoebe/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:47:10 +0000 Adrienne http://blog.dingbatpress.com/?p=4590

These cards were letterpress printed on 220# arturo with Pantone match and matte metallic gold inks as a 1/1 business card for Phoebe. Phoebe is an excellent graphic designer and designed these cards for her branding collateral as an extension of her already awesome website.

I am a big fan of chevrons lately and am totally digging these wide set ones on the back of Phoebe’s card, how about you?

Edge painted with a custom mix strawberry ink, thanks Phoebe for being so excellent to work with! I loved how these turned out.

I’m going to pull the main expenses from last week’s post and dive into suggested ways of setting your budget based off of these elements.

Booth Fee This is, for me, the place to start with my budget. Whether you are sharing a booth or going with an 8×10 (first years) or maybe you feel daring and want to splurge on a corner booth or 10×12 – your booth size will help map out the rest of your pricing expenditures. The reason I use this as a gauge is because as your business and product offering grow, so will your booth size. By starting small, you should also be realistic in understanding that you don’t want to go overboard in other areas especially as a first year exhibitor. Put your DIY skills to work so the final bill isn’t sticker shock that you will be paying off in three-years time. In the budget worksheet I’m allotting 35% of my total expenses to my booth fee. The running total this year is roughly $2,600. I’m going with another 8×10′ booth but am upgrading to a corner booth which is a +$400 charge up from last year. This puts my estimated budget at $7,500. While this is an annual expense, it usually is one of the biggest expenses.

Booth Expense Booth walls, lighting and more have been designated 15% – $1125 – the reason this gets less than travel is because a lot of these expenses can either be cut after your first year because of the reusable nature of this Tradeshow expense, but also because you can continue to allot the same amount year after year and “improve on the booth” – like remodeling. Hopefully you can build a base booth and then make tweaks from year to year that will help keep this expense not one of your most expensive ones. This will need to include walls, lighting, electrical, flooring and installation hardware to start with.

Booth Furnishings While this may be the most exciting part of Tradeshow prep, it is also the easiest to break the budget on. Who doesn’t love decorating?! Again, like the booth expense above, this category can be built on year after year. So ultimately it gets a smaller budget – 6% or roughly $450. It should include shelving or product display, and seating. Desks, tables, consoles etc. are optional that you can use if you feel it necessary. This is a good place to rent equipment as well – specifically the big ticket items of you don’t want to spend a fortune shipping it out.

Shipping When shipping you will need to consider a few things – will you need a lift gate on the truck, will you require a forklift, will the pickup be at a residential location, will it be on ground level for easy access (it better be), do you live rural or close to a major city (or in one) so that you have access to a shipping terminal, have you calculated the weight of your booth correctly, and are you shipping one way or round trip? All of these things will add or subtract to your freight quote. Since I am very rural, need a forklift, have a residential pickup, and no close access to a shipping terminal I need to budget more for shipping. I’m putting in 9% or roughly $675 for shipping. Last year’s booth was estimated at $585 one way at 500 lbs. I shipped wood walls, it came out being 715 lbs. and a total of $900ish. For me it is more economical to ship and reuse, and store on site.

Travel Whether you live near or far from convention land there are ways to save on travel if you are smart. For me, I’ve allotted 20% of my budget to travel. I get my flights for free with cardmember miles and just need to pay for food and lodging. 20% = $1500 in my budget which hopefully will cover hotel/apt. and food. If you can stay with friends, more power to you! NYC is not cheap!

Unions The one advantage to being a small booth exhibitor is that you sort of get “forgotten” about – which means you can save here if you have a low-budget booth. I don’t want to get the union police all up in my hair so if you are looking to save in this department then email me and I’ll share some Tradeshow budget secrets with you that I learned last year! On another note, I highly recommend getting a PAR-CAN lamp (mega wattage) for your booth. This has to be done by union workers and is $320 if ordered by the April deadline. On-site ordering will cost you an extra $100 for the light PLUS an hourly installation fee. Don’t skimp out on a Parcan. I was in the low lighting area and still so glad I did it! Budget? 5% = $375.

Promotional Material As stated last week, your “throw-away” promo pieces should be budgeted every year, which includes promo material. I’ve allotted 8% or roughly $600 for this category. It will go fast once you price in postage so this should be an area where you not only showcase your creative genius but also utilize your paper resources to make the most out of the stuff you have on hand. Promo pieces to include in the budget should be direct-mail pre-show promos (and postage), press kits for the media that introduce your business to them, post-show mailers, catalogs, line sheets, giveaways, business cards and product samples.

Signage Even with the advent of home printers and vinyl lettering your business name needs to reflect quality and professionalism. You can either add this to your booth expense budget if you are doing pre-printed or MannyStone foam walls, or take care of this on your end. Just make sure it rocks. Since I had awesome signage made from Oslo Press last year, I’ll be reusing that and allotting less this year (2%) for just the small stuff – vinyl, totaling a budgeted amount of $150.

With all that said, start breaking down your budget and keep track in the attached budget Tradeshow worksheet. Keep it where it is visible so you don’t lose sight of the end goal (which hopefully is to make money)!

There is no easy way around a tradeshow and the best protection you can have is to prepare with a budget for the show. Otherwise, before you know it you’ll be throwing money left and right at anything and everything.

In breaking down a tradeshow you have your major purchases, supporting purchases and minor purchases. The show you are exhibiting at will determine your focus and spending power for each area. By setting aside a total dollar amount and then breaking it down by importance and percentage you will be more confident in sticking to your budget and not feeling overwhelmed at the large amount of cash you are going to throw down. This post is going to outline a budget for attending the show. New product develemt and cost will be broken down in a second post that is more related with your business plan and marketing for the show.

Starting off with the big ticket items for NSS:
Booth Fee This is at the top of my list because while it might not be the most expensive thing on the list, it is the first thing you pay for, and you must pay via cash/check – no credit cards for this one. For a small business I find this important to note because cash on hand is more variable and you don’t want to be caught ready to launch new product and no booth space to show it at!

Booth Expense Your NSS booth fee pretty much covers your “land” on the tradeshow floor. Think of it like this: you buy the land then build the house. Your booth fee is “buying the land” and your booth expense is “building the house”. Everything budgeted in your booth expense will be the house building portion of your budget. Including but not limited to: walls, hardware, electrical, flooring and aesthetic.

Booth Furnishings Your booth, once the house is built, now needs to be filled. No one will walk into an empty booth. Have you ever toured a home show and thought “Wow, everything is so perfect!” that is because the homes are shown fully furnished. It makes them more buyable and more welcoming. Having a place to seat your buyers (even though they most likely won’t sit) is enticing to sore tradeshow feet. Don’t underestimate the power of a welcoming interior.

Shipping When building your booth consider transportation. Even if you store onsite from year to year you have to get it out there in the first place. You will be hating life if you don’t work that into the process. After all, a 130 lb. average woman is going to have a hard time hanging sheet metal by herself with chicken arms. Consider booth construction in your shipping. More compact shipments are cheaper to ship. Lighter weighted walls make for a less expensive freight quote. Broken backs cost money too. 

Travel Whether you live next to the convention center or on the opposite side of the country you will want to make sure that you have budgeted in gas/flights, hotel and food – eating out for every meal can get expensive!

Unions Like it or not, most tradeshows use them. It helps with liability and trying to coordinate and schedule a couple thousand booths in one convention center. I include this in the budget because depending on your contract, you will be most likely required to hire the union for some of your setup. NSS specific rules include no standing on chairs, hanging lighting in the amount of 7+ lights, electrical, hanging hard walls (most people can get around this) and anything that requires the use of power tools. If you want catered food, you are supposed to hire the union. If you wand special foam walls you are encouraged to hire the union. Be aware of Freeman’s cost (NSS’ official contracted labor union) when you start planning so you can be aware of the costs associated with it when deciding what to hire out.

Promotional Material While your product should be budgeted with your business plan, all your promo pieces pertaining to promoting your business at the show should be included in this budget. Chances are that you won’t get the exact same booth number year after year so this will be a “throw-away” expense that should be budgeted each time you do a tradeshow. Promo pieces to include in the budget should be direct-mail pre-show promos (and postage), press kits for the media that introduce your business to them, post-show mailers, catalogs, line sheets, giveaways, business cards and product samples.

Signage Even though this is at the bottom of the list, it gets it’s own mention because without great signage and a visable booth number, all that hard work promoting your business pre-show will have been fruitless. Don’t overlook the most important element of your booth – your business name should be front and center as well as easily recognizable.

With all that said, start thinking about these big ticket items first and then come back next week for the breakdown with a budget worksheet to help you get started!

]]> http://blog.dingbatpress.com/business/tradeshow-tuesday-1/feed/ 3 http://blog.dingbatpress.com/business/introducing-tradeshow-tuesday/ http://blog.dingbatpress.com/business/introducing-tradeshow-tuesday/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:44:27 +0000 Adrienne http://blog.dingbatpress.com/?p=4538 Hi guys and dolls! I am super excited to be unrolling Tradeshow Tuesday that will cover anything and everything you ever wanted to learn about exhibiting at a national tradeshow.

National Starionery Show was on the top of my lists since starting Dingbat Press back in 2006. I knew if I wanted to make something out of my love for stationery then this was the place I needed to be. The thing about tradeshows? Until you do one, not only are you most likely terrified about the investment but more so by the aftermath. Will I make an ROI (return on investment)? Will my product be well received? Will I land accounts? Will I bankrupt my business?

All of these questions are just the tipping point to making and jumping off the Tradeshow Cliff – in a free fall – with no parachute.

Now granted my experience thus far is one show, and it is all things stationery so this is more of a continuation on what I’ve learned through out the process as well as more info that shares what was successful for my first year and where improvements could be made. If you have a topic you want me to cover then let me know in the comments and I’ll make sure I address it in the following weeks! So without further rambling I’m kicking off our first topic, Budget. Enjoy!

Above and below are two pre-press proofs that we pulled for Lindsey so she could compare the color of the gradient, the value of the line screen clouds (which were hard to photograph but looked awesome in person) as well as the value of the silver. Above we have a more peachy hue, and below more pink with a lighter silver.

Upon sending images over to the client for final sign off we hit the presses and shipped these babies out!

Another letterpress technique to note is the reverse typography in Elliott’s flood. When reversing type out it shows a much better reverse impression is the image area to be knocked out is larger or more marginal. While there is a dominant and subordinate print side to all double-sided cards, you can still feel the impression because this typography is not too small.

We’ve also noticed that with the use of the alpha-cellulose composition of the Arturo paper, it gets a MUCH better flood coverage than the lettra. I’m not sure the exact scientific reasoning behind this but I imagine it has something to do with the porous nature of the cotton lettra vs. the arturo and the fiber content of the lettra. From what I believe, the lettra has more “glue” making it not as responsive to rubberbase inks, thus the transparency and “salty” look are more prominent in comparison to the same flood on an Arturo paper.

With that all taken into consideration, we still love printing on both the lettra as well as the Arturo but depending on the paper selection, you can come out with variables no matter how the process is tackled.

Another lovely set of Calling Cards for Emily Ellyn I love the orange edge paint paired with the black ink.

These were printed on 110# LUXE paper and edge painted with our signature highly pigmented inks with love. On these cards, I discovered that latex gloves really helps keep your hands from cracking.

With all the hand washing, painting and heat gun settings, my finger tips have started cracking with this dry winter weather. Good bye cracking knuckles, hello latex gloves!

If you are looking at landing yourself a set, it is a great way to get into some letterpress cards without breaking the bank and they turn around fast! Check them out here to customize a set of your own.

Her knocked out type was built up with extra stroke wight so that we could flood the press with a LOT of ink and by the time the letters started to fill in they were back to their “normal” weights. Serifed typography is a lot harder to work with and isn’t recommend (especially when small). If you want to knock out of a flood color area (knock-out meaning that the type is white or image area is white with ink surrounding it) then stick to imagery or typography that can be bulked with a stroke or two – that extra padding will make a huge difference in how your print turns out.

Another advantage to flooding with Vanessa’s cards was the selection of a lighter ink value for her cards. Lighter colors usually flood more evenly. The reason behind this is that all inks are transparent. With transparent inks, large coverage areas, and a textured paper can often have the flecks and texturing show through, lending a “salty” look to the pieces being printed. The darker the ink color, the more evident the salty look. While the press can be run with a double strike (run through the press twice) you can run into registration problems and more waste. You can also set up your press to ink the forme twice before printing, however this can be time consuming and add to your labor costs as well.

Ultimately if you are considering a flood or large inked up area, know that there will be variables. Letterpress is much different than offset in that way. Stay tuned for the other half of flood printing where we’ll go over paper selection if printing a flood!

Letterpress printed on 220# lettra paper, 2/1 pantone inks, trimmed to 2×3.5″ – For a set of your own, get an estimate, we’d love to work with you! If you have questions about a file, you can also email it over and we would be happy to advise.

These were letterpress printed on lettra paper, 220# as a 2-color job. One thing I’m finding is that lettra – while a great paper – seems to exaggerate the “salty” look when printing large ink areas. It seems that paired with the texture and composition of the paper there is less ink absorbancy when printing a flood in comparison to other papers (Mohawk and Arturo come to mind specifically as having better absorbancy).

In the end, I think it depends on what sort of look you are going for. The salty ink coverage can add a very unique texture to a piece, especially if you are going for a more rustic or vintage look to your wedding suite. However if you are looking for a more consistent overlay and less ink transparency then ultimately you’ll want to go with a less textured paper.

Edge painted in hot pink, and paired with hot pink envelopes, I love how the salty print on these add character to the already flowing design. Do you like the salty look? Or do you prefer a more saturated look?

Another Minimalist Calling Card that shipped out recently, these were printed on 110# lettra cotton paper in gray ink, and paired with an orangish/papaya edge paint. Sets start at $99 and go up from there if you want custom add-ins like an edge paint or calling card sleeves.

This was the first RSVP where the couple requested music suggestions from guests. I thought it was brilliant, and so fitting for a wedding and RSVP. What a great way to involve guests!

What you might not have noticed from photos alone is that this wedding suite was actually not a standard A7 (5×7″) wedding invitation. To save a little money (which can go a long way for a budget savvy bride) the election to go with a smaller A6 (4.5×6″) invite/announcement can help cut cost in postage and printing. It worked well also because Jen and Chris had minimal information so it didn’t feel like all the elements were squeezed into a tight space.

These were escort cards we printed with the suite paired with a custom diecut pouch. We will be offering these for all escort card orders as well as for direct purchase over the next few weeks if you are a DIY bride (they also look fabulous with square business cards)!

In the end, I was so surprised with how well the color combo worked. It’s such a great aspect to working with a couple that has a defined vision and are confident about it. Printed on 110# lettra paper, paired with matching printed envelopes, this wedding suite is perfect for a fall or spring wedding. Thanks Jen and Chris for being so awesome to work with, best of luck to you both and congratulations on your new adventure!

Now I know I say this a lot about my clients but Natalie was SUPER awesome to work with. While we explored what felt like hundred of options, Natalie was really patient with us as we worked on her designs, layouts and typography to create a minimalist rockstar card for her new consulting venture.

When we finally got close to the design that Natalie wanted, it was a matter of then taking that and figuring out color and iconography to organize her information. This type was beautifully small and I love how petite it looks with their little matching dingbats and knocked-out type. I love the red on these too – it was a really rich and bloody color to print! Thanks Natalie for working with us and being so inspiring to work with. I am so happy with how these turned out, I hope you are too!

Letterpress printed on 110# Lettra paper. 1 Spot color ink, design and layout included.

To request an estimate for branding and letterpress work,
please Get An Estimate as we’d LOVE to work with you!
All designs ©2011 Dingbat Press

This card was fun to research and find an appropriate saying to pair with it. In the end I decided that religious or not, we can all agree that its not easy being a saint – especially when there is work to get done, or beds to be made, or children that need feeding. But having the right attitude can sure make a difference in the outcome of any chore or task. Saint or not, what are your dreaded tasks that could use a morning prayer or glass of wine at the end of the day?

This card makes me chuckle. When designing it, I intended to portray the image that good kings are best served when they serve their people. But when it came off press I kept wanting to read it instead of true kings serve their people well but as true kings serve their people hell. Because really; what king hasn’t served hell  to some degree on a silver platter throughout history?