How to Carpet Your Booth Space – A Solid Foundation

A good first impression for your exhibit is the look and feel of a quality carpet and pad. By this I mean that you should consider the color, pile height, and density of the carpet to create an “aahhhhhhh”  experience for the customer. I love to hear show floor customers say – “Oh, I just want to stand here for a while – it feels so good on my feet”.

So I ask you – why do you get good quality carpet and padding for your home? You would tell me that you want it to be comfortable, to look good and to last a long time. The same should go for the show floor.

Rental prices of carpet and padding vary so much on the show floor. You can pay between $400 and $600 on average for a 9’ x 10’ carpet and pad per show. Notice that I said 9’ x 10’ for your 10’ x 10’ booth space. This carpet and padding is usually very low quality and comes in very basic colors. Your choices, on average, would be black, red, gray, and blue.

So here are my recommendations:

 1. If you are getting a 10 x 20 space or larger you should seriously look into purchasing your own carpet. Let me give you an example: to purchase a 10’ x 10’ carpet and pad – including shipping, a travel bag, and any fees from your display house you would probably spend about $500.

2. Learn to ship with carriers other then FedEx. After the initial carpet and pad purchase you are only looking at shipping costs maybe around $200 per round trip when combined with the rest of your shipment.

So, bottom line, after the first show where you would almost break even you would save at least half the cost of renting for each additional show.

3.  Install the carpet yourself. I know what you are going to say but it is easier then you think. If you buy the right type of padding then installation is no big deal. We will discuss that later.

4.  You can also hire 1 hour of labor, and after they spend 10 minutes rolling out your carpet then they can help install the exhibit for you.

Either way, you still come out ahead – your carpet looks better, feels better, and you present better at the show.

As always, please respond with your questions or comments and let others know about EXHIBITOR LOUNGE.COM. We will see you next week. Until then, I am your host Michael Gray telling you to RELAX in the Exhibitor Lounge.