As an exhibitor, you have a lot to juggle. In addition to managing the booth staffing schedule, giveaways, lead follow up plans, travel arrangements and customer meetings, there are many details involved in getting ready to exhibit at a show. When is the advanced order discount deadline? Have I ordered everything I may need for the exhibit? How do I get my exhibit to the show and back home again?

These and many more questions can be answered quickly and easily through Freeman OnLine. Freeman OnLine provides access to show-related timelines, interactive order forms and product and service information, and is the place to order show services and products online.
Exhibitor feedback has guided updates and enhancements to the site making it more user-friendly than ever. Useful tools include an Exhibitor Wizard that takes users through a step-by-step process to order the products and services needed for a show and help insure that nothing is forgotten. A Material Handling Estimator allows exhibitors a way to calculate material handling costs in advance and budget more effectively. Quotes for exhibit transportation can be requested and for exhibitors who prefer to place orders using order forms, the site offers access to interactive forms that prepopulate the exhibitor's company name, address and booth number and automatically calculate totals based on items ordered.
For your next show, give Freeman OnLine a try. You'll be amazed how quickly you can knock out all those show details and move on to more important things like generating new business opportunities for your organization. www.myfreemanonline.com

Credit Starbucks with the rise in popularity of the now-ubiquitous "third place" or that place beyond work and home where we can interact in a casual mingling of conversation, productivity and informal connections. Credit them with seeing that their consumers were searching for more than just a cup of coffee and a comfortable chair. Now credit the rest of the business world with pulling this idea and making it their own.

Our design team works with hundreds of companies through the year designing everything from rental exhibits to permanent installations. Along the way, we naturally are exposed to a cross section of industries and initiatives within those industries. One of the fastest growing design segments we are experiencing however is the trend being taken on by progressive corporations building "third places" directly into their work spaces.
Now the idea of an employee lounge or break room isn't a particularly new one, but what we see many of our larger clients taking on transcends the idea of a place for employees to hang out or grab a cup of coffee. The trend we are seeing is for "third places" complete with a look, a feel and a purpose entirely separate from that of the rest of the corporation, yet built into the fabric of the company in a way that encourages employees to think and interact in ways they would outside of the workplace.
Take, for instance, one of our corporate clients in the Midwest. During one of our initial discovery meetings, this client made it very clear that he wanted us to build a place for the interchange of ideas. "When I'm at my desk and my calendar is open and the phone is ringing I just don't have any time to think. I need a space where I can get away and exchange ideas and think but I can't always jump in the car and go find that place." What he was describing was a "third place" but one that was down the hall rather than down the street.
The "third place" we are designing for this company has a mix of comfortable seating and table areas for interaction - it even has a coffee bar and good music for that matter - and, since the colleagues this client interacts with are sometimes halfway around the world we are building in technology to allow his this corporate "third place" to visually and verbally communicate with other corporate "third places" in places like China, Germany and South America. Employees will be encouraged to stop by this space and interact with one another on whatever level they wish, blurring the lines between business and social environments. This combination of Starbucks and technology on a corporate level seems to be a driving trend in our business.
In the business world, these "third places" are being called innovation centers or ideation spaces or thinking pods and creative corners. They are being called all kinds of names but the point is that businesses are seeing the value of getting their employees out of their cubes and into a more social atmosphere as a way of freshening their thinking and keeping themselves energized about the day-to-day business of doing business. We see companies that are recognizing the value of balancing employee productivity with interaction.
We see the rise of a new third place - all without leaving the office.

Exhibit Manager Tips: Cost Control
By: Carrie Freeman- Parsons, vice president marketing Freeman

The following tried and true tips can help you save money on your next event

1. Plan in advance by reading the information in the exhibitor service manual or the show's online ordering site. It may seem like an overwhelming amount of information, but it is the single best resource for planning exhibit costs, establishing the necessary timelines and ensuring that your exhibit is within show regulations.

2. Take advantage of the experts - call the official service contractor for ideas on how you can save money. Understanding how material handling rates are derived is important. Consider renting an exhibit from the official service contractor. Make sure that the cost of the rental is turnkey including shipping, material handling and labor.

3. Pay attention to advance order deadlines. Placing your order in advance can save you up to 30% on furnishings, carpet and other show necessities. The advance order deadline can be found in the exhibitor service manual or the show's online ordering site.

4. Send as much information as possible to the appropriate service contractors. Include floor plans, electrical layouts, shipping documents, etc. to minimize the opportunity for error on show site.

5. Pay attention to the published move-in schedule and plan the shipment of your exhibit materials so that you may use ground transportation rather than expedited air freight. Also, try to plan the arrival of your shipment to coincide with straight time labor hours of operation. Consolidate your shipment as much as possible.

6. Special handling charges do apply for certain shipments. Make sure that you understand when those charges apply and reduce your exposure by shipping your freight in crates and/or shrink wrapping them onto skids.

7. Pre-wire as much of your equipment and exhibit as possible before you get to the show. Color code and organize all wires to minimize electrical service labor time on site.

8. Order only the amount of services/utilities you need (i.e., electrical, plumbing, internet, telephone lines, etc). Contact the appropriate supplier if you have any questions.

9. Avoid making changes to your orders on site whenever possible.

10. Plan to set up and dismantle your exhibit during straight time labor hours of operation whenever possible.

11. Review all invoices on site before you leave.

12. Make arrangements for outbound shipping in advance and provide that information to the service contractor prior to show closing.

13. If you participate in multiple shows throughout the year, ask your service contractor about multi event coordination of services (exhibit program management) to take advantage of better efficiencies in ordering services, storing and shipping of exhibit materials, etc.

Technology Can Help Marketers Quantify Events
By: Erin Biba, B2B Online

Many b-to-b marketers are starting to realize that measuring ROI is essential to the future of their event divisions. Yet while companies are reluctant to adopt new methods - or even to begin measuring at all - new technologies are emerging to help make the process more accessible.

According to Carrie Freeman Parsons, VP-marketing at Freeman, a company that produces events, "If you ask most companies if they measure ROI, they would say no. Overall, I don't think a lot of companies track it, and I don't think they know how," she said. "Where all of these event organizers are starting to get nervous is if the economy turns, they are going to have to explain that [expensive event] line item. That's when the heat gets turned up."
Ruth Stevens, president of eMarketing Strategy said a significant problem is the disconnect between marketers and event managers "Exhibit managers and event managers are mainly trained in logistics, in getting the event executed," she said. "The marketers are trained to be marketers. But when you ask a marketer to consider strategic questions like ROI relating to events, their eyes glaze over and they say, `Oh, talk to my event manager ... she/he takes care of events for me.' "
In addition, the task of proving ROI is tougher when dealing with b-to-b customers, according to Dax Callner, VP-communications strategist at Jack Morton Worldwide, an experiential marketing agency. "B-to-b audiences are tougher to demonstrate ROI [for] because, when a b-to-b customer makes a purchase, it involves many touch points and is often a longer cycle than it would be for a consumer target. Also, with b-to-b audiences there are multiple decision-makers. So it gets complicated and [as a result,] the more complicated the ROI calculations become.
"Even when you ask people what ROI means you get multiple definitions," Callner said. "I look at ROI as a financial metric, as in: `Did we increase revenue over what was spent?' Other people look at return on objective: 'Did we reach the right audience?' In my world, that's not enough."
And it's not just the definition of ROI that is not standardized. There are no across-the-board measurement standards being embraced, and many companies, though confident they would like to measure ROI, aren't sure where to begin.

Technological solutions
Without any industry standard to define ROI (whether it is measuring actual monetary return or, as Callner says, return on objective) how can marketers prove that the large expense is worth it? In fact, there are many new technologies popping up to quantify the value of an event.
Software management technology, which can often be accessed via the Web, can provide a real-time picture of an event. This means constantly updated access to registration, presenters, scheduling speakers and session attendance. Measuring every aspect of an event and collecting those data for the long term can quantify the event - allowing for comparison to past and future events so organizers can judge value over the years.
"We improve measurement and automate meetings and events in real time," said Paula Crerar, VP-marketing at nTag, an integrated event management technology. "Today's audience is so used to manipulating the information they get and experience, [that] they expect an immediacy. They expect to change the event based on the shared experience. We think of ourselves as bringing the online world to the face-to-face event."
In the case of Global LINKS, another event management program, the technology even allows event attendees to manage hotel reservations and scheduling of private meetings. "All of our products are accessible via the Web. They are mobile," said Shannon L. Ryan, director-product marketing worldwide at George P. Johnson Co., which created the software. "That's a key element because we understand that people are on the go. Having the real-time data enables them to make more strategic decisions."
Using systems such as these can allow organizers much more freedom for change. As the technologies track every aspect of an event, they allow event auditing while the event is taking place.
"Networking is more targeted and more interactive," Crerar said. "Then the attendee can provide instant feedback in the form of electronic survey or through live voting or audience response."
Global Links allowed Cisco Systems to have an immediate understanding of traffic patterns and session attendance, as well as improving the registration process, at its August Global Sales Meeting. The integration of the management software also gave Cisco the ability for organizers to communicate with each other more effectively, said Angie Smith, manager-operations and event management at Cisco.
"We have metrics built on just about everything," Smith said. "The return on investment for me was that before, I had one full-time head-counter. Moving to the integration of Global LINKS allowed me to eliminate the person. I no longer needed that person because a piece of technology could do that for us.
"I would like to use it from now on," she added. "The tool is just global; it takes into account and streamlines every piece of the event management business."
Even with these new technologies, proving ROI can be difficult. An industry standard defining ROI is needed as well as a willingness to discuss candidly how companies can go about measuring it. Ultimately, an industry-wide conversation will be invaluable to everyone involved.
Reprinted with permission from B2B Magazine Online www.btobonline.com