I admit, there was a time early on in my exhibiting career when I believed that the best plan B was simply to make plan A work. Unfortunately, I hadn't factored in the irresistible lure of Walt Disney World.

Years ago, I was charged with setting up a client's 10-by-20-foot booth. The truck carrying the exhibit, product samples, and marketing material was coming from Southern California and was supposed to be at the marshalling yard three days in advance of the show. With a team that included the client's advertising manager and the exhibit builder, I waited throughout that day, but the truck never arrived.

By midway through the next day, the truck had still not arrived, and panic was growing among the ranks. This was before the proliferation of cellphones, and landline calls to the shipper netted no information except that it had no idea where the driver was with our truck. Nervously, the team mulled over the options. My client was a power house in the medical-device industry, and a nondescript rental exhibit would rain shame upon it. A backup exhibit from the warehouse would never arrive in time. What we really needed was that truck, but at the end of day two, we went to bed empty-handed again.

On the morning of the last setup day, we came to terms with our fate. There was still no truck, but even if it arrived that day, we would never get the exhibit set up in time. We huddled one more time and came up with a different idea.

The client's advertising manager felt the company's image would be better preserved if we played off of the missing exhibit rather than trying to pretend everything was fine. So instead of cobbling together an exhibit property and replacement graphics at the last minute, we turned the booth space into a little funeral for our dearly departed exhibit.

We rented black carpet, black pipe and drape, and black table covers and skirting for two 8-foot-long tables. One staffer tracked down a local florist and came back with two giant pots of somber-looking calla lilies, and we made a stoic 30-inch, white sign with black lettering that said, "May our booth rest in peace."

When the trade show opened, our doleful-looking exhibit was an instant hit. The impromptu funeral was so unexpected and off the wall that attendees came by in droves to pay their respects and have a little chuckle with us over our misfortune.

As for the truck driver, it seems that as he was driving our freight through Orlando, FL, en route to Miami, he passed by the magical gates of Disney World and could not overcome the urge to stop. No, really. While we were panicking and planning a faux funeral for our missing booth, he was living out his childhood dreams, riding rollercoasters, and hugging Mickey Mouse. I suspect he was probably looking for work after that escapade, but maybe the train through the Magic Kingdom was in need of a new driver.

— Michael Cole, owner, Exhibitphotos.com, Orange, CA