If you’ve decided that it’s time to exhibit at a trade show, one of your crucial decisions will be finding the right trade show company to work with. However, once that decision is made, there are still physical considerations that you need to make. After all, it’s not just you and your staff that need to get to the destination of a trade show; it’s your exhibit itself, and any additional materials you may want to bring, such as marketing literature. Here are the three phases that you’ll need to consider for the logistics of a trade show.

Phase 1: Inbound Shipping

Depending on your circumstances, you may be working with your trade show company on this, or you may have to find an additional service to handle this. Regardless of which route you go with, your first concern for logistics is inbound shipping, which is all about organizing the transportation of your freight to the facilities where the trade show will be held.

A key point to keep in mind at this phase is that the earlier you can schedule your shipping, the better. More time for planning and scheduling means the ability to optimize and consolidate shipping, sometimes with others, to lower prices and increase cost-effectiveness.

Phase 2: Materials Handling

As you might imagine, when a trade show occurs, a plethora of exhibits and other related items arrive all at one place, and will need to be sent to their appropriate specific destinations in time for exhibitors to set up and operate at the trade show. This requires a lot of speed, efficiency, and expertise, and is definitely not something done for free.

This is why when the materials arrive, materials handling becomes crucial. This ensures that required items arrive at their destination on time, and, importantly, in good condition.

Phase 3: Outbound Shipping

The final phase, after being taken care of by the tail end of materials handling, is the outbound shipping. Once your trade show is done, your exhibit materials need to go somewhere. This is particularly important if you plan to use them again for a future trade show, or, in some cases, immediately once more for another upcoming trade show.

In either case, or even if you don’t plan to use the same assets, they still need to be moved, as materials disposal is not typically a service that trade shows will do.

If you want to work with an experienced trade show company to ensure you get a good return on your trade show investment, contact Lighthouse Exhibits.