Tradeshow Excellence in the West and Midwest
It’s been over a year since Condit Exhibits of Denver acquired Exhibit Source, Inc. and added a second facility – this one east of the Mississippi. President Kevin Trainor takes a moment to talk tradeshows, COVID-19, and adjusting to Midwestern winters.
1. 2020 was a rough year for events. Which shows is the Chicago team looking forward to in 2021?
We’re concentrating on three events right now. The first is NPE – The Plastics Show. We have five clients planning to attend the May event in Orlando, and the designs for their exhibits are striking. NPE is an event our Chicago office has a lot of insight and experience at, and we’re looking forward to it.
Sweets and Snacks, a premium candy and treat show, is now scheduled for June in Indianapolis. Food industry events have been iffy of late, but our clients and partners are excited about this new timing and location. And with such a short distance to our Chicago location, we’re perfectly positioned to provide design, fabrication, shipping, and show services.
The Inspired Home Show, formerly the International Home + Housewares Show, is another one we’ve got scheduled. It goes without saying that huge amounts of time and money are now being spent in the home, and the market for home products is booming. The rescheduling of the Chicago event from March to August is giving brands more time to prepare and a greater chance that the show will proceed.
2. How has the South Holland location changed over the past year?
Downtime, though not always welcome, is when you have a chance to regroup and improve things. We’ve been keeping busy streamlining processes, upgrading the facility, and getting all our ducks in a row for what we believe is an inevitable surge in business.
We’re working on:
- New designs for the front of the house
- Facility cleanup: the loading docks have not looked this good in years!
- Inventory: out with the old, and in with the new!
- Storage organization: a number of new clients are moving properties to our warehouse, so we need to make room for our new partners.
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- New lobby design
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- New conference room design
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- Clean loading docks
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- Replacing old inventory
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- New inventory
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- Making room in the warehouse
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we’ve also had to downsize our staff at both the Denver and Chicago locations to accommodate lost revenue. Our people, with their skills and experience, are our most valuable asset. We hate to lose great talent and plan to bring back some of these key people at the earliest opportunity.
3. You’re wearing many hats (hopefully at least one is wool) and traveling back and forth to both facilities. How is the winter weather treating you?
Denver’s much-lauded 300 days of sunshine a year sets a pretty high bar. But the fall weather this year in Chicago has been pretty mild. I just need to keep in mind that they don’t call it the “Windy City” for nothing; I’ll need to bundle up pretty soon.
Experts in Chicago Exhibit Design
Both our Denver and Chicago offices offer the full range of services necessary to get you to the event looking your best, and to maintain and upgrade your exhibit to keep it in tip-top shape. Whether you avail yourself of all our services or choose to handle some of them yourself, our goal is always to help you elevate your brand.
Interested in learning more about our Chicago location? Contact us.
If you’ve got an upcoming project in the Chicagoland area, you can get started here.