If one of the many purposes of a trade show stand is to delight and surprise passersby enough that they slide in to chat, one way that can definitely be accomplished is by bringing a piece of the Great White North to the concrete jungle of Las Vegas. Especially if that piece of the Great White North comes in the form of a giant orange moose named Maurice.

Our company, stevensE3, which is based in Canada, was planning to attend EXHIBITORLIVE 2022 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. We were going to use a version of a booth we debuted at EuroShop 2020. We serve customers across North America, but because we were part of the International Federation of Exhibition & Event Services (IFES) pavilion at the trade show, we decided to run with the international aspect of the pavilion and embrace our role as Canadians. For our stand, we leaned into the Canadian theme and designed it complete with a campfire, log tools, and even fake marshmallows, which were there for show attendees who wanted all the fun of a s'more with none of the dental work.

The central piece of our stand, Maurice the moose, was going to raise the roof with his impressive set of 11-foot-tall antlers. The antlers were so tall that we even had to get a special variance from show organizers on the design so we could reach that height. The moose's original iteration was a pre-COVID piece, so by the time 2022 rolled around, the first bull had entered the Great White North in the sky. Even if he hadn't, however, he would have been entirely too heavy to ship from Europe to Vegas, so he was redrawn, reimagined, and remade in North America.

Rather than a free-standing moose, our designers created just the front half of a moose, which would burst from the wall into the interior of our booth. They left any blueprints for the business end of Maurice on the cutting room floor. The moose's towering front half was designed for moofies — that's selfies with a moose for those non-Canadians among us — and he was enough hands high that people could stand beneath his withers for photo ops. The plan was to attach his front end to a backer board that displayed a scenic view of Canada's mountains. But we all know what they say about the best laid plans of moose and men. They often go awry.

The backer board was in place. Maurice's antlers were secured. The fake marshmallows were on skewers. And I was on a plane headed for Vegas. But when the folks setting up the booth looked for the specific bolt they needed to attach Maurice to the backer wall, it was nowhere in sight. That super essential piece just never made it into the crate. And a Maurice without a bolt is like a Tim Horton's without coffee — just not that exciting.

When I landed in Vegas, I already knew the situation on the show floor because my team had been keeping me updated over the phone. We were working with Mike Boone from Coastal Inc. for our I&D, and during my travel, he was doing everything he could to reassure me that in the end, Maurice would be fine. But I knew the missing part was specific enough that no one on the show floor would have an extra one we could use. If we couldn't figure out this bolt issue, we'd be frozen like a Canadian lake in winter. Still, I chose to believe Mike's attempts to console me, and I did my best to relax on the plane.

While I was trying not to panic at 35,000 feet, Duo, the company that provided the booth structure for the IFES pavilion and a good friend of stevensE3, took the first step toward solving our problem by coming up with a solution that didn't require that special bolt. They agreed to let us tap into the wall of the pavilion structure much like a syrup maker tapping into a maple tree. Oh, Canada! Just when we were starting to feel drained.

When I landed, my team told me that the holes had already been drilled into the pavilion wall, so I immediately hoofed it to the show floor to see how I could help. Mike and I took off together, touring the aisles and asking around for the bolts and screws we'd need to make Maurice the eye-catching, statuesque creature his designers intended. Now here's where my gratitude sets in. I could have been sitting in a hotel room in St. Louis with this problem. But I was on the show floor at EXHIBITORLIVE, and a room full of industry folks is one of the best places to have a part go missing. Because everyone has been there, everyone gets it, and everyone is willing to help. I was amazed that even on a show floor where we're all competitors, there wasn't a hint of rivalry or contention when I asked for assistance. Everyone was very helpful and looked into their kits to see what they had that might work. And I still maintain that self-tappers in multiple sizes are the best tool to have in your toolbox when on a show floor.

After a frenzied search, Mike hit up one of his other clients who had just the parts we needed. We dashed back to our booth and secured Maurice into the Canadian Rockies — right where he belonged — and with time to spare before the show floor opened the next day.

Despite the panic we had to go through to get to opening day, EXHIBITORLIVE ended up being an incredibly successful show for us that year. Not only was I thrilled about the partnership that was strengthened during the booth's design, I couldn't have been happier about the trauma bond Mike and I formed during the missing bolt debacle. He proved himself an incredible partner in the face of near disaster. And the best part? stevensE3 received the award for Best of Show for Small Booth, an honor that definitely helped us break the ice with many potential customers walking the show floor.