Headaches at HITEC

Having a single piece of your product display go missing can be a hair-raising hassle, what with finding replacements and shipping them to your booth at the last minute. But when your replacements go missing as well, you may find yourself not only pulling out that already raised hair but also wondering why you got into this business in the first place.

That was how I felt at the 2009 Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference (HITEC) in Anaheim, CA, where my company planned to showcase its line of digital signage for the hospitality industry. On the Friday before the show, I was on site in Anaheim overseeing the installation of our exhibit. Since our main booth components had arrived safe and sound and the show didn't open until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, I figured I was in the clear. However, when I went to check on some items that had shipped separately via airfreight, I discovered trouble.

My items - a 15-inch monitor and some custom-built frames that were an important part of our in-booth product displays - were missing. Upon further investigation, I found that the airfreight company had completely lost the shipment. In fact, my shipping rep was not only unable to explain how my materials had disappeared, but also couldn't tell me if they'd ever show up. So, my only option was to replace the missing items.

The custom-designed frames, which were made to go around a 42-inch and a 15-inch monitor, seemed at the moment like they'd be the more difficult items to replace. So I decided to tackle the frames first and then look for another monitor later.

Knowing I had a little time before the show opened, I called the vendor back in Florida that had made the original frames. I asked him to fabricate some replacements for us in a hurry, and because I didn't want to trust the shipping company again, I requested that the new frames be made to fit into carry-on luggage. Since three members of our sales staff were flying out to HITEC on Monday, I could simply have them bring the items on the plane. My frame builder even told me he'd make a carry-on-sized case that would hold the new frames plus a spare 15-inch monitor I had in storage.

With all of my troubles seemingly taken care of, I went back to overseeing the install of our 30-by-40-foot booth. Unfortunately, however, when it rains, it pours. Late on Monday, I got a phone call from the three salespeople bringing my replacement frames. It seemed they had run into some flight delays with a connection in Atlanta, and would be spending the night there instead of catching their flight to Anaheim. Thus, they wouldn't arrive until late Tuesday, several hours after the show opened.

As I worried about my missing frames and monitor, I had another problem brewing. While we put the finishing touches on the booth, I discovered that our 42-inch monitor wasn't working right. Although my tech guy back home ran me through a long troubleshooting session, checking wires, cables, the DVD input, and more, we eventually realized that the 42-inch monitor would need to be replaced.

Doing the best we could, my crew and I set up the product displays without the two monitors or frames, and I finally left the show floor some time past 1 a.m. Knowing I'd have a busy morning fixing my booth, and I'd be alone on the show floor until about noon, I headed back to the hotel to sneak in as much shuteye as I could.

By 7 a.m. on Tuesday, I was back in the exhibit hall looking for the show's audiovisual supplier to see if I could rent some monitors. When I couldn't find anyone at the service desk, I needed to vent my frustrations, and ended up telling my sob story to the people at the lead-retrieval desk. Sympathizing, they promised to send someone from the AV desk over - or come get me as soon as the AV people came in.

I went back to my booth to take care of some final cleaning before the show, and eventually got word from the lead-retrieval guys that an AV rep had arrived. But after finally finding this man, he told me that his company had rented all of its monitors the day before, and didn't have any more available. He gave me the name of a local company that might be able to help, but with the clock ticking, I didn't have time to track down another supplier and hope it would bring me two monitors in time.

With the situation looking bleak, the lead-retrieval reps paid me a visit to see how I was holding up. Upon hearing that the AV desk didn't have any monitors, they informed me that their company, Smartsource Computer & Audio Visual Rentals Inc., also rented plasma monitors. Since their company wasn't the official AV supplier for the show, they apparently couldn't offer me the monitors until the official AV supplier had told me to look elsewhere.

It seemed my luck was changing. The Smartsource reps had replacement monitors in my booth in mere minutes. Better yet, they went to work with my labor crew to get the monitors mounted and hooked up in the proper spots. I was still missing my two custom frames, but at least the monitors would be working, showing attendees our full line of products.

With about 20 minutes to go before the show opened, the labor and Smartsource reps looked at me in my grubby T-shirt and told me to run and change my clothes while they put the final touches on my booth. So off I ran to make myself look presentable, hoping that when I returned, my booth would look presentable, too.

After a quick change, I rushed back to my exhibit just as the show opened, delighted to see the labor crew and Smartsource reps had my display up and running - minus the still-missing frames. I spent the next few hours working the booth, collecting leads, and answering attendee questions. Around noon, the president of my company showed up as planned, and helped me staff the exhibit, engage attendees, and qualify leads.

Luckily for me, however, attendees didn't seem to notice anything amiss with our product displays on that first day. And by Tuesday evening, the sales reps with the carry-on case arrived, and I was finally able to install the frames around the proper monitors. My original shipment, however, was still AWOL for the duration of the show.

When my head hit the pillow Tuesday night, I considered just how well everything had come together in the end, thanks to a little help from some kind strangers. And I realized, despite the hair-pulling craziness, maybe this business isn't so bad after all.

- Amanda Dawson, marketing manager, Morrow Technologies Corp., St. Petersburg, FL