The Business of Better Exhibiting

0:00 Adam, thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.

0:03 I know you have a lot going on.

0:04 Good.

0:04 Thank you.

0:06 All right.

0:07 So for those of you who don't know Adam, Adam is Steelhead's Business Systems Manager and not every exhibit house has that position.

0:18 So can you speak into how you support Steelhead and what you do with your work day?

0:25 Of course, at a high level, I'm working with all different departments, team members to help translate the data that we have from day-to-day activities and drive business decisions.

0:37 So I'm working with Rhiannon and the other executives to make sure they're making the best decisions possible about the things going on in the company.

0:45 Yeah, I love it.

0:46 And I'm so thankful for your contribution.

0:48 And in addition to that function, I know that you have supported estimating and it gives you an insight into what happens on the client side.

1:01 And I'd like to ask you a few questions which will kind of cover what goes on on the Steelhead side and then what goes on on the customer side.

1:09 So I have three questions.

1:11 Are you ready for the first question, Adam?

1:13 Super ready.

1:14 Let's go.

1:15 OK, good.

1:15 Excellent.

1:16 OK.

1:16 So question one, what's the average percentage of the clients dollars that goes into purely invisible operations cost?

1:26 So think somebody has an exhibit, but there's a percentage of cost that goes into things like drayage, shipping, complex I&D setup versus the average percentage that goes into the things that people see and get to experience like immersive AV and the finishes and custom activations.

1:47 Do you have like a grasp on the percentage of budget average allocated to those two kind of buckets?

1:55 Yeah.

1:55 Well, first of all, with any of our clients, you can be flexible, but on an average state, usually you're going to spend around half of any amount that you're spending on invisible costs.

2:06 And that can vary depending on what you're trying to demo at an Expo.

2:11 Sometimes you might want to be a little bit more tech heavy and and that might go a little bit more towards you spending money on things that people are going to see on the trade show floor.

2:19 But other times might be at a different area of the country or you might be in in a spot that it's harder to either, let me repeat that you might be at an area where your your labor force isn't as good or installs have to be overnight or there's a holiday.

2:38 And those things can drive up the cost a lot more.

2:40 Yeah, on that invisible side.

2:42 Yeah.

2:43 And you spoke into our model in particular because the rental or access model, it allows that flexibility component where you can really decide how much infrastructure you want in your space given a particular audience or a particular event.

3:05 And so it's tailorable and it doesn't have to be the same across every show that you may attend over the course of a year, Correct?

3:13 Yeah, exactly.

3:14 So we'll work with different clients on their programs and there will be a certain target show that they may want to leverage more of their annual spend to, but maybe there's one that pops up that they want to show off a little bit more.

3:27 So we're able to be a lot more flexible with the rental model and the access model.

3:31 Yeah.

3:32 Well, we're very in love with the Access model, i.e., the rental model, we think that it works for all types of exhibitors.

3:39 Nobody should buy exhibits.

3:40 OK, I have another question.

3:41 When a client requests like a major mid flight or like mid design process change or even like a last minute show pivot, how does the financial penalty of traditional build compared to the agility of the access model or custom rental ecosystem?

4:03 Yeah, with a traditional build, typically you're locked into whatever design you had months and months in advance.

4:10 Depending on the program, it might even be a year or so because you're going to buy that and use it multiple times the exact same way.

4:16 With the access model, what you're working with is on every show, which could be a month or a year apart, you're going to look entirely different.

4:24 So when you have a last minute change, it can be super easy.

4:28 For us, we have an entire catalog of cabinets and modular systems that work seamlessly with each other.

4:35 So when you're at Steelhead, you'll see a pre-stage of your booth and you can swap something out if you don't like it.

4:43 And the financial impact is very minimal as compared to something else.

4:46 Yeah, exactly.

4:47 Yeah, it's nice for those who might be thrown a, we also want to demo this product last minute or something like that.

4:56 OK, very cool.

4:57 All right, well, coming around the homestretch here, I have one last question for you.

5:02 So I know that you've been privy to the proposal process on a lot of Steelhead's projects.

5:08 So when we audit like lower priced competitors and their proposals, what are some of the like maybe hidden ghost fees or artificially deflated line items that you might catch and know are off when you see another proposal, you know, and unfortunately, addendum invoicing is this unfortunate reality in our industry.

5:38 So sometimes clients fall in love with a proposal from a different provider and then get hit with cost because the solution actually didn't cost what the provider said it was going to cost.

5:51 So what are some of those?

5:53 Yeah, line items that they should look out for?

5:56 Yeah.

5:56 Those big line items that you're going to want to look out for would be anything to do with the general contractor would be installation and dismantle or maybe even a transportation.

6:07 A lot of those things can vary by the scope that you're trying to buy from a provider.

6:12 So other providers, they will typically say it'll cost X for the build, but they're talking about the smallest and lowest scope version.

6:22 When you're working with Steelhead, we're we're completely guaranteeing everything upfront.

6:26 So you're not ever going to get hit with that surprise invoice like someone else.

6:30 Yeah, it feels really good from an integrity standpoint to know that the price we provide is the price that people pay.

6:39 If you read the contract and we've promised that it's a particular price, it is up to us and all the people internally at Steelhead to make sure that it we're able to achieve what we say we're going to achieve with the quoted price.

6:54 And it feels good that we can offer that.

6:57 And I know that so much of your heavy lifting professionally ensures that when we say something, we could actually deliver on it.

7:06 Very cool.

7:07 Exactly, Exactly.

7:08 Yeah.

7:08 Well, Adam, thank you so much for taking these couple minutes with me.

7:12 I'm sure I'll be circling back with you.

7:15 There are so many questions in our industry around pricing and transparency around pricing.

7:22 So I appreciate it.

7:25 And I'm sure that more things like this will come up and I'll tap you in.

7:29 Right on.

7:30 All right.

7:30 Thank you.

7:30 Well, have a really stellar day Adam, and I'll see you and talk to you soon.

7:34 Bye, friend.