It takes a Village!

It takes a Village! How many (fill in the blank) does it take to…

When you are attending or exhibiting at a convention that has been awesome and smoothly run, does anyone ever stop to think about how many dedicated people working behind the scenes it takes to organize & pull this off?  At Las Vegas Expo Complete Show Services our team is just one part of this hidden army of helping hands……………

I am tempted to rework the old joke how many (fill in the blank) does it take to screw in a light bulb? It just won’t do justice since it would diminish the finely tuned back of the house machinations that must seamlessly mesh to organize and produce spectacular events.  As a General Service Contractor for expositions, conventions, trade shows and corporate meetings, we are intimately involved with multiple departments within the meeting venue as well as outside entities.

Let’s take a look at this efficient cadre of meeting professionals.  The Association, Corporation or Trade group organizing the event has an entire staff working just to get the event to the venue.  Behind the scenes of the Exposition Service company (aka Decorator)   has worked with not only the organizing client but a multitude of other industry personnel.  Certainly one of the lynchpin items is a Fire Marshal approved floor plan and Event Permit.   Before a booth can be sold by the Show organizer, a Graphics designer must produce a CAD layout which complies with all local & facility regulations into a viable exhibit hall layout addressing all the requirements and specifications of the Group.  This step alone involves many people from LVE (Account Executive, Project Manager and Graphic design) communicating with the Show Manager and their team and coordinating and juggling those design needs within the space constraints to accommodate Food & Beverage areas and other Special Exhibit Hall focal points.  With the approved Floor plan and Event Permit in hand we’re getting nearer to Show Time as preproduction planning stays on its timeline.

It takes a team of people working in synchronicity and unison to provide the client and everyone attending or exhibiting in the Event with a positive show experience.  There are Convention Service Managers, Food and Beverage Managers, Banquet Room Set-up staff, Audio Visual contractors, Electrical crews, cleaning crews and of course the Exposition Service Contractors labor and supervisory staff.  A critical but never to be overlooked person is the Dock Master; without prior schedule coordination the trucks will not be unloaded on time and that’s not how we roll.

Schedules are shared, targeted moves and room sets are coordinated, crews are ordered and all of this must be integrated with efficient and ongoing communications.  These managers and staffers must email and call each other both intra and interdepartmentally.  The open lines must stretch across multiple vendors, the venue, and the organizing group.  No matter the footprint of the Conference, there is literally a Village of people working daily behind the scenes for months in advance to develop, fine tune, order, procure and install all that is necessary.

No matter how small or how large it’s a monumental task to propel all of the details to fruition.  So many individuals, working in synchronicity to achieve success which in real terms means nobody notices the effort.

Trade Shows, Meetings, and Conferences should be on time, with all departments and companies firing on all cylinders so that every person attending and participating in the conference feels they were treated properly.  Everyone involved behind the scenes goals’ are to exceed expectations, so that most importantly, people will certainly be attending the following year’s meeting….. and would definitely return to the venue for another group’s Expo or Conference.

So the next time you are attending or exhibiting and having a wonderful time, it’s only because there was a large battalion of people working tirelessly in the background for months before you arrived.  Hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of emails & telephone calls were exchanged on a daily and often 24/7 basis.  The end game of all of this is to make everything so perfect no one gives a thought to the Village of industry professionals who work indefatigable behind the scenes.

To all of you wading in the dark of the off stage wings, thank you for all you do.  At Las Vegas Expo, all of us appreciate your efforts.

Mitch Isaacs – Sales & Marketing Manager – mitch@lvexpo.com

Enlarge Image

Related Posts

No Comments Yet.

Leave a reply