Sign of the Times

Usually I'm very organized and ship all my materials to the show as early as possible to avoid any snafus. So when I purchased an overhead sign at the last minute for my company's booth at the National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) show in Orlando, FL, I should have known trouble might be lurking. My last-minute decision not only robbed me of some well-deserved R&R; it almost threw my entire setup schedule into a trade show tailspin.

A few weeks before the 2011 NAFEM show, I purchased a 12-foot-diameter circular aluminum frame over which I planned to place a fabric graphic. My bosses felt our exhibit needed something eye-catching on the show floor, and a customized graphic featuring two company logos and text identifying our product offerings - controls for commercial kitchen appliances - seemed just the fix.

My graphics-printing firm needed the frame in hand to determine the proper size of the graphic. But the late date meant the firm would need to create the graphic and then send both the frame and graphic directly to my installation company's warehouse in Orlando. Speed was even more important because the I&D company wanted to assemble and hang the sign on Sunday before my crated exhibit was moved into the space.

On Friday, before I left the office for the show, I confirmed via UPS tracking that the sign had been delivered to the I&D company. I breathed a sigh of relief that my last-minute shipment had arrived safely, and I looked forward to a couple of days of sun and sand before NAFEM. Since my travel plans were already taking me to Florida, I'd decided to enjoy some downtime in the Sunshine State. Thus, I did not plan to arrive at the show hall until Monday.

But somewhere between the time I boarded my plane early on Saturday and when it landed in Florida, my new sign made a last-minute detour, meaning my vacation was instantly and indefinitely put on hold. While still sitting on the plane as we taxied toward the gate, I turned on my phone and received a call from my I&D vendor. Apparently, my new sign was not in the warehouse.

Once I got to the hotel, I called UPS and asked it to send all the tracking information to me and the people at the warehouse. I then spoke with the I&D company, and from what we could discern, UPS had delivered my sign to the wrong address. The graphic-printing company had addressed it correctly, but my package was nowhere to be found. Furthermore, the I&D folks informed me that they had no employee at the warehouse whose name matched the signature UPS had recorded for the delivery.

As I was looking over the tracking information, I also discovered that UPS registered the weight of the missing package at all of 12 pounds. This meant it apparently had been shipped without the relatively hefty aluminum frame. With my relaxing vacation fading away, I realized my last-minute purchase was quickly becoming a source of major trouble in my otherwise orderly life.

While the show did not start until Thursday morning, according to show management all installation work needed to be completed by 5 p.m. on Wednesday. And since we were supposed to get the sign up first, it looked like my plans needed to change on the fly. What's more, I now had to locate both my frame and my graphic and get them to the show.

Hoping to get to the bottom of my problems, I called the printing company. After some searching, the staff there confirmed that my frame had not been sent with the fabric graphic cover the company had made. So the printer arranged for the frame to be shipped out first thing Monday morning. Unfortunately, the company wouldn't be able to reproduce the graphic fast enough to ship it in time for the show.

I had hoped UPS would be able to track down the fabric graphic by Monday, but when Monday arrived - after I'd spent a frustrating weekend on the phone with UPS - the shipping company confirmed that it had truly lost my graphic. Thus, as that morning became that afternoon, I had to face the facts: The frame was on its way, but there was no hope of finding the existing graphic, which meant I'd have to find a new one. Plus, I also needed to change the install so we'd have ample space to assemble the frame before the exhibit went in.

On Tuesday, the frame arrived via rush delivery. Immediately, the I&D crew assembled the frame in our still-empty exhibit space. When the crates containing the rest of my exhibit were delivered to my booth shortly thereafter, the I&D folks started building the exhibit, careful to leave room for us to add the graphic to the frame and hoist it skyward.

With the install solution under way, I set about finding a new graphic. After making a few calls, I figured out that no local vendors in Florida could get me a fabric graphic that fit snuggly over the frame before the show began. Soon, however, I discovered that my I&D company had a partner that could reproduce my overhead signage on vinyl panels. It would not be perfect, but it would have to do.

I called my office in Connecticut and had my colleagues e-mail the graphics files to the I&D company. And while a team back at the I&D office worked with a local vendor to create my new graphic, the install crew in the exhibit hall worked on my booth through Tuesday. By the middle of Wednesday afternoon, the exhibit was mostly done. All we needed was to get the graphic, attach it to the waiting frame, and hoist it up before that 5 p.m. deadline.

At 3 p.m., the replacement graphic finally arrived. Made of vinyl, it would attach to the aluminum frame via hook-and-loop fasteners on the back of the graphic. The I&D crew took care to work on the overhead sign while not disturbing the booth around it. While this made for some tricky construction, the circular banner was finally rigged from above at 4:55 p.m.

I knew the vinyl replacement didn't look quite as good as our fabric graphic would have. Still, the overhead banner served as a beacon above the exhibit, and attendees didn't seem to notice anything amiss.

Now that I'm back from my Florida foray, my fabric graphic has finally been found, though I'll probably never know where it went. I've now paired the wayward graphic with the frame and will make sure the duo travel together in the future. Next time, hopefully, the signage pair will show up as planned, and I'll finally find a little time to relax.

- Sherry Kraynak, sales operations manager, Fast Inc., Stratford, CT