The Hawthorne Effect

Cookies?  Coffee?  Free lunch?  How to keep your booth staff in the booth and effective is an age old question.

Companies today still follow lessons learned from a study done some 80 years ago dubbed the "Hawthorne effect".  The experiment found that performance improves when people perceive they are receiving special consideration.

Turn consideration of your booth staff into productivity with treats and perhaps modest but special "thank-you" awards of $10 or $20 gift cards.  And be sure to let them know you recognize their toil by thanking them for their hard work and support.  It works!

How much space do people need?

Most of us are uncomfortable in narrow aisles - especially when there isn't enough space to pass someone without brushing them. We don't like being squeezed tight when perusing a booth.  When designing your booth, leave enough room between display elements so visitors can maneuver in your booth space untouched.  And instruct your staff to avoid blocking the narrow spots.

Find more tips at www.espexhibits.com

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As an exhibit manager, you are expected to know everything about everything - including graphic production - when it comes to managing your trade show program.  Graphics used to be my least favorite topic simply because I didn't know a PMS from a CMYK.  While I still defer to experts when it gets too deep, just knowing the basics gives me comfort.  Hopefully it will do the same for you.

Know Your Suppliers
Make sure your graphic designers are capable.  Review samples of their work from concept to end product.  Evaluate quality and compare to your need.  Is the work relevant to the scope of your project in terms of graphic size, materials, and level of difficulty?

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We have had a number of shows completed in the past few weeks – and the major complaint we heard time and time again was the dinging of our client’s credit cards by the show contractors. We try to emphasize to any and all exhibitors that you must meet the show deadlines for service purchases to get the discount. And if you do not meet the deadlines, no one can get those discounted prices for you.


How can your exhibit house help you? I cannot speak for all exhibit houses but we do your paperwork for you in regard to electrical, electrical labor, cleaning, material handling, rigging, internet connections, lead retrieval services, and additional services such as plumbing, forklifts, and refrigerated storage. We then send completed paperwork to the client for their credit card information and they or we return fax it to the show.

Having a partnership with your exhibit house can help clients stick to deadlines and keep within budgets. What happens on the show floor? Impulse buying, not thinking through your needs beforehand, items are brought to show site that need additional electric capacity, or simply the realization that your forgot furniture items, a plant or two, or a water cooler.

Again, be a forward thinker, have a planning meeting with the people that are going to be in your booth space, and take an emergency supply box – we know you can always buy tape, or pencils, or an extension cord on site – but at what price?

Jan Koren - jkren@AbsoluteExhibits.com