9.Trade Show Exhibits Rentals: Rule #3-Trade Show Electrical – a Real Shock
Trade Show electrical has absolutely changed over the past 35 years, not just for display rentals, but for all trade show exhibit booths.. At one time, you could purchase a 5 amp outlet for $25-$35 and get out your extension cords, and plug in all your own equipment, without even having to ask the electricians,. The only time you needed to pay for electrical labor was if you needed to have the power hard wired directly into an electric motor or some other device.
When thinking these type of services and the costs associated with them, causes some of us to remember what it used to be like in Chicago with the electrical unions having the sole authority to screw in light bulbs Well, those really are the the best days now that we know what today looks like at most trade shows
It wasn’t too many years ago that, you can no longer buy power for the sum total of what you need, but now you have to lay out the power and pay for each location where a 500 or 1000 watt outlet is called for; none of this using 100 watts here, 300 over there, and another 50 up front. You now had to buy a 5 amp outlet in each location; how convenient and profitable for the contractor.
How does this effect Display Rentals? First of all, time should be taken to think through the placement of the main drops and be sure the the power cords are long enough to reach from the equipment to the main outlets. Sometimes the logic of a point gets lost if you’re not familiar with the subject so let me explain a little further. If your booth has a single 500 watt outlet and you have need for two outlets for the two items you need to plug in and the existing plug in is placed in the booth where only one of the two items that you need to have plugged in, will reach, you’ll then need to place an order another 500 watts of power to reach the second machine even though the total consumption of power in the exhibit space is only 300 watts.
Second, special effort should also be made to use LED lights. All told, they use about 1/5th the amount of power as halogens and run much cooler as well.
Third, if you have the ability to do so, purchase all products such as lights or power equipment, with lengthy power cables so they can be extended from where they’re sitting in the booth,to the location of the power drop outlet is located. That will partially reduce ordering the power and labor for multiple 5 or 10 amp outlets.
Fourth, bring your own cube taps and electrical strips so you don’t need to rent this type of hardware from the electrical people at the show at inflated prices; but always be certain to buy the electrical strips that are graded at 15 amps, so the electricians won’t confiscate them asserting that they don’t meet the city codes. Also, always be certain to mark your power strips with a black marker before you get to the show so your electrical gear won’t be confiscated by the electrical help at the conclusion of the show with the electricians thinking that it belongs to them.
Finally,failing to pay attention to the way you manage the electrical needs in your booth can cost you big dollars, and being thorough in how you manage it, can bring a handsome return.
Lowell Nickens is the owner of Shopforexhibits.com and Shopfordisplays.com; both of which offer perhaps the largest inventory of higher quality trade show displays found anywhere on the internet at very competitive prices.
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