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How to Design a "Wow!" Trade Show Booth Without Spending a Fortune

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The gist of the book is: 1)don't be like everyone else and 2)find a company to design your booth for you. There. Now you don't have to waste hard earned money on this one. If you use a trade show booth company to design for you, then you WILL spend a fortune. I am a designer and was expecting tips and tricks such as suggestions for lighting that are cheap (Exhibitors at the Buyers Market of American Craft liked track lighting at the Home Depot). Perhaps tips on building tables and other displays that are toolless to keep from using union labor to screw together a shelf...stuff like that. Instead, this book actually suggests using Installation and Dismantle supervisors...come on, how much do THEY cost? This book talks about the cost of the show and to which department various expenses should be billed to. If you have a company with different departments, you don't need a book with "without spending a fortune" in the title. Where's the book for the little mom and pop outfits that are dragging out the router and the dovetailing jig and building the display in the garage? The title is misleading. Nothing in there about cutting costs. If you really want some valuable info, check out: http://www.americancraft.com/toolless/index.html

Before spending money on this book, if you have not seen it in a brick and mortar store, you should know that it is essentially an article typeset with a large enough font to be book length. This would not be a problem if it were full of useful information. In fact, about 1/4 of the book is excerpted from the author's other book Over 66 Tips and Tricks to Supercharge Your Tradeshow Promotions. That title is a better buy. It is also basically an article stretched out to book length, but it does offer some useful tips and is worth a read. (My only complaint about that book is one self-serving section suggesting that the CEO give copies of the book to everyone in the company).

The main problem with this book is it does not live up to its title. It is not written with the small business person on a shoe-string budget in mind. It devotes whole chapters to choosing the right person from your corporation to design your booth. If you have a small mom-and-pop operation you probably already know who will be designing your booth-- one of your three employees, and they will all be at the conference. There are some good suggestions for companies on tight budgets, but not as many as you might think based on the title. There are few specifics on how to be eye catching or on money saving ideas. Most of it is impressing upon the reader that you *should* be eye catching. That, you probably already knew. The other main piece of advice is that you should be targeting your display to those most likely to buy.

The cover image is poor and a reflection of the mediocre contents. The title is a misnomer, as the author advises the reader to hire a designer. This is a very basic general overview of trade shows. Also, it is almost entirely focused on trade shows related to selling products.

This book is a total waste of money. Also, the author profile on Robert Sjoquist are exaggerations. This man has not started seven companies! I worked for him for two years and he is dishonest, has been married three times, and has been sued numerous times by his employees. He has also been sued by his customers. Not fit to give business advice.