ACCOMODATING INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS 8 tips for their care and retention By Stephanie Selesnick
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our organization’s sales team has closed the deal with Lyft) along with the time the commute should take (rush hour/ an international client for the upcoming convention. non-rush hour). Provide the same information with regard to Congratulations! If you plan on retaining the exhibiting the hotels and the meeting venue. If you will have shuttles company for year two and beyond, the real work has just going to the airport the last day, share that information as well begun. The list below will give you a good start on the path to as the times they run. success. 4. International page on your show website: This page 1. Invoicing and payments: A number of developing should include more than “get your visa letter here.” Far more! countries (typically their governments) require that a certain Think about what kinds of things you would want to see on format with certain information be used to process invoices. the international page of a show if you were going abroad. Ask Additionally, if a country has soft currency (not easily traded your team for their ideas and incorporate them. on the open market), then Some basics include: the exhibitors have to go to the location of nearby Office country bank and order dollars Depots and FedEx Offices, Have a reasonable policy to be transferred to pay for Loews or Home Depots in place in case exhibiting booth space, displays, utilities, (for basic booth supplies), personnel are denied visas. etc. This also requires the convenience stores, grocery paperwork to be in a specified stores, restaurants (feature Will you roll over their format. If your system can’t different cuisines and price booth to the next show? be modified to conform to points), shopping malls and Find a digital alternative? these requirements, create the sightseeing attractions, along Be prepared. invoices in MS Word or Excel. with any discount coupon As a side note, verify that all codes if available. of your exhibition’s suppliers Develop an international take wire transfers. FAQ sheet based on the most-asked questions (it may 2. Visa letters: Make these easy to obtain several months change from show to show, year to year) and update it before your event. There may be a long wait (three months frequently. or more) for U.S. State Department visa appointments. If you 5. Ordering booth décor, utilities, catering: Exhibitions have a lot of exhibitors coming from one country, contact in the United States are different than anywhere else in the the visa officers in that country’s U.S. embassy or consulate world. For example, pipe and drape is used in nearly all U.S. to see if you can help move the process along. Sometimes trade shows, but eschewed in favor of shell scheme by shows the answer may be to send an Excel file naming those who outside the United States. There are many rules and systems have received letters. Sometimes it’s sharing your show’s visa no one outside of the United States has ever heard of. Display letter containing a typo — on purpose. Counterfeiters will rules (space is cubic), union jurisdictions and drayage are all automatically correct mistakes. Sometimes it will work, other unfamiliar. Have an easy to read cheat-sheet. Pictures convey times not. It’s always worth a try. far more than words. For many of your international exhibitors, Have a reasonable policy in place in case exhibiting English is a second language. personnel are denied visas. Will you roll over their booth to the Offer packages with flooring and furniture, in both pipe next show? Find a digital alternative? Be prepared. and drape and shell scheme. International clients may opt 3. Hotels and transportation: Assume some people have for pipe and drape since shell scheme is overpriced in the never been to the city your event is in. Share official hotels with United States. your exhibitors as early as possible, emphasizing the benefits 6. Free Wi-Fi: Share where free Wi-Fi may be found of booking within the block. Some show organizers allow only throughout the building or campus. In greater Asia, most exhibitors and visitors booked within the hotel block to ride convention centers think of Wi-Fi the same as restrooms — it’s shuttles between the hotels and venues for free. They charge a free and works everywhere. Additionally, U.S. data plans can fee for all others wishing to ride. be expensive and international exhibitors may not want to pay List transportation costs from the airport (taxi and Uber/ those fees. 56
FACILITIES & DESTINATIONS 2020 SPRING
