Setting up a BOOTH at a Trade Show

Last week I attended the NAMTA (International Art Materials Association) Show in Orlando, Fl with Earth Safe Finishes.  I took a few photos while setting up the booth to give you an idea of the process.

When we (Nancy Burkhart; the owner of ESF and myself) first arrived at the convention center we found our booth....it had our name and booth number on the backdrop along with three tables in the space (they were still setting up the booths which is why there was an extra table in our space as we had ordered two not three).  We set down the boxes which we brought in with us and went to get the rest of our supplies.

The first thing to go up is the Earth Safe Finishes banner on the center of the backdrop.  This is a feat in itself considering there are no ladders around, we were able to locate a couple of chairs to stand on to get the banner in place.

Then the process of deciding what else will be hung (you will notice in later photos we did remove the samples that are under the banner as we did not like how they looked and found a better place for them; also that's Nancy in the photos).

Next we covered the tables with black and started unpacking everything; determining which area they go in.

Thus creating a bit of mess in the process....

We also spilled over into the booth next to us when one of our sales reps came by and dropped of some samples she created for the booth.

The display table started coming together quite nicely .

We started working on the demo table....

Added some finishing touches with a small display on the floor using the suitcase we brought things in with and covering it with black fabric to match the tables.

We decided to move the art from under the banner to either side of the sign on the demo table although we did not have a secure way to keep them up....so we headed to a store....

Picked up some VELCRO® brand Sticky Back Fasteners

Which worked perfect for hanging  these items to the front of the demo table....

After 5 hours the booth is set up and looks great....we are ready for the 8:30 am start of the show the next morning.

Here is a photo of Nancy and me....it was an AWESOME show; it seems people are finally getting the concept of Earth Safe Finishes which have no VOC's, no BPA or Heavy Metals....they are water based and easy clean up, you are able to mix your own colors and the products go on everything: wood, paper, plastic, fabric, metal....they are great products!