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GE Live at K/BIS
Tech Tip: Sending Large Files
Trade Show Coach: Using and Misusing Collateral Material
40-Year D&M Veteran Ray Lichtefeld
Grote Industries Launches a Tabletop Fleet
Decoding Graphics Lingo
A Sweet Sales Technique
According to trade show research, over 66 percent of all literature is discarded before attendees leave the show site. People visiting shows have a psychological urge to take either whatever is handed to them, or what is available to be taken. Is our literature going to be among the 33 percent of the information that is kept? Instead, why not offer to send information to a prospect or have them visit your website? That gives you the opportunity to better qualify the person. The information doesn't even need to be that expensive - literature does not sell; people do. Consider handing out CDs that describe your products/services. Attendees are less likely to throw them away.
After Ray Lichtefeld officially retired from his position as Production Manager after 36 years at D&M, he stayed busy spending time with his grandkids and volunteering with Meals on Wheels. However, needing more to fill his already busy days, Ray came back to D&M part-time.
The now 40-year veteran usually works two days a week, but during Derby time Ray handles the transportation and installation of the Kroger Garland of Roses displays, quadrupling his workload. Four displays with four silk replicas of the garland and jockey's bouquet are displayed at venues around Lexington and Louisville including Kroger Stores, the Kentucky Horse Park and Mayor Abramson's office. Ray has even been to the Winner's Circle on Derby Day, where the real garland and bouquet are viewed by millions of people and guarded by armed State Troopers.
When you have a file that is too large to email, and there is no time to burn and overnight a CD (hypothetically of course, since none of us ever wait until the last minute) Dropload.com offers convenient way to transfer large files. It is a free, online service that can accommodate files up to 100 MB.
Simply create an account with your email address (Dropload promises never to share this) and you can upload files in just minutes. A link is sent via email to the person you want to receive the file, and they have up to seven days to retrieve the file, after which it will be deleted from Dropload's server. Dropload will even send you an email confirmation once they have downloaded the file.
- Sir Winston Churchill British Statesman (1874-1965)
It was standing-room-only at the 2006 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show (K/BIS) in Chicago for both of GE Applicances' live demonstrations with celebrity chefs. Two operational stage kitchens ran presentations alternating every half-hour. One featured Martin Yan of PBS's "Yan Can Cook" demonstrating the ease of use, and special features of GE Monogram products. The other featured chef Brian Duffy of Philadelphia's popular Shanachie Irish Pub & Restaurant alongside Julie Thompson, Certified Kitchen Designer. The pair alternated with Brian using Advantium and Trivection ovens to show how their innovative speedcook technology harnesses the power of light to cook oven quality food at record speeds, and Julie discussing current trends in Kitchen design.
Free food and celebrities are typically a good way to draw a crowd to a demonstration. However the true success of the demonstrations was that, in addition to providing relevant information and conveying GE Appliances' message, they created memorable experiences by appealing to all five senses: the hiss of fresh veggies sautéing in a hot wok, the flash of sharp knives chopping at a dizzying pace, the smell of fresh-baked cookies (the most irresistible scent known to mankind), and of course, the taste and texture of expertly prepared food. The design of these demonstrations to be memorable, entertaining and informative ensures that GE Applicances' message will stay with attendees well after they have left the show.
To an inexperienced ear, the jargon of Graphic Designers can be confusing and intimidating. This brief primer will help you begin to decode the lingo.
Vector vs. Raster
Vector art is made up of points connected by lines and relies on mathematical formulas. It is created in programs like Illustrator and Freehand and can be resized to any scale without loosing quality of the image.
Raster images, also called Bitmap images, are made up of rows and columns of tiny dots of color called pixels. All digital photos and files created in programs like Photoshop are raster images. These have a fixed resolution, measured in DPI (dots per inch), and can only be scaled up to a certain point before loosing quality. As a general rule, 150 dpi is the ideal resolution for large format graphics and 100 dpi is the minimum to produce an acceptable image. Vector art can be rasterized, but raster art cannot be turned into vector art.
For more information and a glossary of terms, please visit the Tips and News section of our newsletter.
As an international corporation with manufacturing locations in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, Grote Industries is faced with the challenge of a trade show schedule full of national, regional, and local shows, as well as sales calls. The solution? A fleet consisting of six large, and 22 small self-contained folding displays distributed among Grote's sales force. For the smaller displays, setup requires simply unfolding the case and setting on a table, for the larger displays only lights need to be added.
The new tabletops can be stored in the trunk of a car and setup in minutes, virtually eliminating transportation, drayage and setup costs. These durable exhibits can even survive life on the road, with near-constant use as support on direct sales calls with the sales representatives.
Before the expansion of the tabletop fleet, Grote utilized five larger portable exhibits, shipped from Madison to regional shows in all 50 states. With their new fleet, distributed among 10-state regions, Grote has reduced shipping costs, time cost for arranging shipping, wait times, conflicts between concurrent shows, and opportunities for damage to the displays from frequent shipping.
There was once a young psychology student who was serving in the army and decided to test a theory he had. He drew KP duty and was assigned the duty of passing out apricots at the end of the chow line.
To the first few soldiers who came through the line he asked, "You don't want any apricots, do you? Ninety percent of the soldiers said "no."
Next, he tried a more positive approach, "You do want apricots, don't you." This time about 50 percent said yes, they wanted the apricots and took them.
Finally, he tried an approach based on a selling technique known as "either/or." This time he asked his question this way: "One dish of apricots, or two?" In spite of the fact that the soldiers obviously did not like Army apricots, 40 percent of the soldiers took two dishes, and 50 percent took one.