Featured Story
In the previous two installments, we discussed the theory of electricity and the use of electrical tools and wiring. This time, I'll give an overview of switches, resistors, small lights and LED's, and small motors.
This ‘expert team’ model works not only in a concert hall but for exhibit design and production as well. The complexity and focused content of today’s exhibits is well-suited to project design teams. Because exhibits usually present information and stories about specific topics, the right combination of experienced talent often requires specific knowledge of the exhibit’s subject.
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Using The ‘Sound Of Silence’ To Spice Up Your Exhibits
by Dr. F. Joseph Pompei
Founder and President
Holosonic Research Labs, Inc.
Watertown, MA
(Sept/Oct 2008)
Cover Story
The show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston featured Holosonics’ Audio Spotlight directional sound system, which established a unique soundscape to precisely distinguish each collection, all in one continuous space.
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Sensory overload, especially auditory noise, can be a major problem on a show floor whether at a trade show or a special museum exhibit. An event’s sights and sounds can bombard prospects or guests from every direction as exhibits compete for attention. It’s not the type of environment that best presents a company’s products, it may make closing a sale difficult, and it is not the desired ambiance for a special exhibit in a museum. Consider instead how sound, or rather the absence of it, might be used to one’s advantage.
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By Dr. Scott F. Gary
Professor Pepperdine University, CA
(Nov/Dec 2008)
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The 2008 Exhibit Builder Economic Survey shows that average revenues for responding companies declined 15.26% from $5.6 million to $4.8 million. As bad as that might be, the real story may be the hit that bottom lines – profits – took, especially because of increasing energy costs and the domino effect they have had on other expenses paid by exhibit builders, such as transportation. Although the Exhibit Builder Survey does not measure bottom lines, anecdotal responses from survey participants indicate that increasing costs are a very real concern, especially amid declining revenues.
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Enhancing Design Flexibility With Audio/Visual Technology
by Dr. Scott F. Gray
Professor
Pepperdine University. CA
(Feb/Mar 2008)
A children's interactive at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY, demonstrates how audio can be added to an exhibit colorfully and whimsically. A unique example of audio flexibility, the exhibit plays nursery rhymes forwards and backwards with the switch of a giant lever. Siginal-Innova's FlashAudio 16M was used with its Sight & Sounds controller in this exhibit built by Murphy Catton, Inc.
Photo courtesy of Murphy Catton, Inc. |
Dr. Gray notes that the style of the viewer/listener is important in the audio/visual approach that is used. For example, he posits that there are three types of visitors to a zoo or museum: the streaker, the stroller and the scholar... The streaker, he explained, is interested in the visual and wants to see as much content as possible. It’s the person who moves quickly through a gallery, absorbing as many items as possible. Can you describe which kind of viewers' are attracted to your exhibit?
Web sites are just one of the many tools you need to use to generate business. The reason it’s called a mix is because you have to use a variety of advertising and promotional media to reach your target audience.
The 2007 Exhibit Builder Magazine Transportation Survey was mailed to 150 exhibit builders and 100 transportation suppliers, which included exhibit carrier head offices, corporate branch offices, agents, and exhibit transportation consultants. Potential exhibit builder respondents were selected from a variety of sources that comprise a database of approximately 1,500 potential respondents.
The Exhibit Builder Economic Survey is mailed to potential respondents who are selected from a master database. Three-hundred and fifty potential respondents were selected to receive the survey. Over the years, the size of the database has varied from between approximately 750 and 1,500 records. While the selection of individual companies is random, the database itself has been maintained to reflect the national statistical segmentation of the exhibit design and fabrication field.
In traditional museum exhibits, graphic design is relegated to small lines of text on object labels or on information panels and maybe a gallery name sign or two. Click on the picture above to read how Wayne Hunt created a better way to read this important information.
Let Pink help you to imagine an exhibit where center stage is truly at the center of the venue with events
Wayne Nicolette, owner and founder of Xibitz, demonstrates the advantages of the “lighter than air” Helium line of luggage when a case soars to a level just above the 14' high rim – literally on a column of air. Click here to read how he makes his luggage lighter then all the rest.
A pproximately two million visitors,
from around the world, each year, visit The Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago (MSI). Since it is the oldest
museum in the Western hemisphere, dedicated to science, it was a natural for the museum to create an entirely new
exhibition dedicated to the incredible inventions and genius of Leonardo Da Vinci. Click here to read how David Woody
and Kevin Snow created an incredible setting for Leonardo Da Vinci’s astounding creations.
The 2006 Exhibit Builder Magazine Transportation Survey was mailed to 150 exhibit builders and 100 transportation suppliers, which included exhibit carrier head offices, corporate branch offices, agents, and exhibit transportation consultants. Potential exhibit builder respondents were selected from a variety of sources that comprise a database of approximately 1,500 potential respondents.
The Exhibit Builder Economic Survey is mailed to potential respondents who are selected from a master database. Three-hundred and fifty potential respondents were selected to receive the survey. The survey shows that the typical exhibit builder’s sales volume rose, in the past year, by 10.17%, up to nearly five and three-quarter million dollars.
Do you want more traffic at your display booth?
Lightboxes are an effective way to answer the challenge.
Click on the picture to read how.
Do you want more traffic at your display booth?
Lightboxes are an effective way to answer the challenge Click on the picture to read how.
Virtual Gallerie, LLC (VG) provides museums and galleries with leading-edge 3D visualization software to plan their spaces and exhibitions online. The company’s mission is to enable museum and gallery exhibition planners to visualize their creations in interactive 3D and share them online with their peers and the public.
The addition of lighting, video and the color and motion they bring, are
just more tools in the creation of experience and the desire to
separate from the neighbor’s booth.
Transpiration Logistics
By Dr. Scott F. Gary
Professor Pepperdine University, CA
(May/June 2006)
A key to success – and avoiding problems – is for the exhibit builder to be intimately involved with the transportation process, and, in fact, the whole of the system that makes up exhibit transportation logistics.
“"With Sealed Exhibit service, each shipment is segregated and sealed behind a
tamper-resistant partition. And these less-than-truckload shippers pay only for the
trailer space they use."
Lighting Up The New Yorker
by Steven J. Vaccaro
Marketing Manager
Advanced Polymer Shapes of CYRO Industries
Rockaway, NJ (March/April 2006)
Cutting
edge technology enabled The New Yorker Hotel to send a message to New York City
visitors, residents and workers that The New Yorker Hotel is more vibrant and
alive than ever before.
Internet Recruiting Requires
Careful Documentation
How much documentation are you required to keep?
by
Joel J. Greenwald, Esq.
Senior Partner
Joel Greenwald & Associates (March/April 2006)
So
you are designing an exhibit and have spent a great deal of time selecting its
size, materials to give it that special look and feel, graphic components and
accessories. Now it is time to get it noticed by selecting from the right lighting
options.
It's
not all that often that museum curators want visitors to look up or look down.
They're more concerned about having them look at the artifacts on display or
the carefully thought out interpretive information they've created, which is
usually somewhere from eye level down to about the knees.
Considerations
about both illuminating the displays yet protecting often delicate artifacts
that can be damaged by the very light that allows them to be viewed.
Flooring
can set a tone or even carry messages. It can also be the solid foundation on
which visitors move, giving their steps traction and ensuring they don't slip.
The most unusual ballet
you will ever see.
Not your father's
tent or sign or banner or visitor's center or museum exhibit or...
A company offering to rent rather than sell trade show exhibits. Today, many companies
now have exhibit rental divisions. Read why and how renting your next exhibit
might save your company money and time.
...Right and right!
Trade Shows
Exhibitor Show
Mandalay Bay
Las Vegas, NV.
April 23-25, 2009
American Association of Museums
Annual Meeting and MuseumExpo™2009
Philadelphia, PA
April 30-May 4, 2009
TS-2
Lakeside Center at McCormick Place
Chicago, IL.
July 21-22, 2009
ETS-LDI
Orlando Convention Center
Orlando, FL.
November 20-22, 2009
EDPA AC&SS
December 3-5, 2008
Doral Golf Resort and Spa
Miami, FL |
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Museum News
How to preserve the valuable artifacts in our museums. If we don't follow the museum's Hippocratic Oath, many of our great works of art will be lost due to light, temperature and other damaging environmental conditions. Read here to learn how to save our priceless treasures.
New Trends in Museum Exhibits
by Jill Brookman
Publisher
Exhibit Builder Magazine
Woodland Hills, CA
The museum industry
is doing fine. I discovered that for myself when I asked some exhibit designers,
"What are the newest trends in the museum exhibit design/build market?" The responses varied tremendously.
Head Games
by Sara J. Bennett
Senior Writer
Jack Rouse Associates
Cincinnati, OH (March/April 2004)
The Head First!
Theater is the first thing visitors see when they enter HealthSpace Cleveland's
new facility. It's also likely to be the first thing non-visitors notice when
they pass the new building, which is located on the corner of busy Euclid
and 89th and sports a three-story glass atrium. "It's
fabulous. It's fun. It stops traffic!"
Buffalo Bill and Friends
by Jill M. Ryan
Account Executive
Stauch Vetromile & Mitchell
East Providence, RI (February 2004)
The Buffalo Bill
Historical Center, located in Cody, WY, features five internationally acclaimed
museums, all under one roof. Widely regarded as America's finest Western
museum, the Historical Center is devoted to Western cultural and natural
history, and consists of the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Buffalo Bill
Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum and the Draper Museum
of Natural History. Approximately 250,000 people from around the world
visit the Center annually.
Countdown to Kitty Hawk
by Jon Gunderson, Senior Designer
and
James Hanlon, Senior Account Executive
Exhibitgroup/Giltspur Chicago, IL (February 2004)
Almost three years ago, the EAA
approached Exhibit group/Giltspur (E/G) and a number of other design firms
and asked them to help create a traveling museum telling the story of the
first 100 years of flight. E/G's winning design was a radical departure
from the other sleek, contemporary concepts. In sharp contrast, it looks
and feels like something the Wright brothers, co-owners of a bicycle shop,
might have built themselves.
Always a Hot Issue:
Fire and Electrical Codes for McCormick
Place, Chicago
The National Fire Protection Association, founded in 1896, is in its second century as
a safety standards-making organization. I'm sure the great Chicago fire in 1871
contributed to its creation, but it wasn't until the fire in McCormick Place years
later that most likely cemented the need for codes and standards in exhibition
halls throughout the country. These codes, rules and regulations are "created
by people in the industry, they reflect the latest technology and advances"
says, George D Miller, President, National Fire Protection Association.
more...
Business Trends
New Options/Creative Solutions in Exhibit Flooring
by David Walens
President
Brumark
Marietta, GA
Today’s exhibit designer has more options than ever before. Click here to read why.
Exhibit Transportation
Survey - The Results
by Dr. Scott F. Gray
Professor
Pepperdine University. CA
The 2004 Exhibit Builder Magazine Transportation Survey was
mailed to 150 exhibit builders and 100 transportation suppliers. Click here to read the results...
Exhibit Economic Survey
- The Results
by Dr. Scott F. Gray
Professor
Pepperdine University. CA
Exhibit builders have reached a point when, more than ever,
they have to find new ways of doing business to remain competitive. Click here to read why...
Intelligent Business Alliances - A new look in a new book
An emerging business trend is the
making of alliances, as suggested in Larraine Segil's new book,
Intelligent Business Alliances (Time Press).
(We have seen
these "alliances" recently within our own industry, only they had
been called "mergers and acquisitions"!) In her book, Larraine's
predictions for 2000 and beyond are: more...
Classified Ads
PROJECT MANAGER
We have an opening for an individual with moderate experience in guiding and implementing projects
from approved concept to completion. Trade show exhibit fabrication experience is required; millwork,
construction, theatrical production or associated background will be valuable. This position involves
in-house estimating, procurement and construction coordination. The position requires excellent time
management and interpersonal skills. Experience with MS Office products is required and knowledge in
AutoCad is a plus. On-time delivery, high quality and assignment ownership is essential. Environment
is very fast-paced, fun, dynamic and requires a team player.
Impact Unlimited, Inc.
250 Ridge Road, P.O. Box 558
Dayton, NJ 08810
E-Mail: hr@impactunlimited.com
EOE
02-20-08
EXHIBIT SUPERVISOR
Experience in supervision, design, layout, repair and maintenance of complex hands-on interactive
permanent and traveling exhibits.
Please see job bulletin: http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/GenInfo/
Employment/State/State.php
$4,201-5,067/mo.
Submit Resume and Application by 11/30/07 to
California Science Center
700 State Dr.
LA, CA 90037
Attn: State Human Resources
EOE
11-14-07
SOFT-GOODS SPECIALIST
Chicago Scenic Studios, Inc., an entertainment industry leader in design, fabrication and management, is looking for a SOFT-GOODS SPECIALIST.
Responsibilities include maintenance and repair of rental inventory and fabrication of soft goods projects as directed. Skills include sewing (including cutting, draping and upholstery) and basic crafting.
Flexible schedule 24-48 hours per week. Pay commensurate with experience.
Please submit letter and resume to rentals@chicagoscenic.com with the subject as “SOFTGOODS SPECIALIST”.
Chicago Scenic Studios, Inc.
1315 N. North Branch St.
Chicago, IL 60622
312-274-9900 office
312-274-9901 fax
09-26-07
SALES MANAGER
Testrite Visual Products, a dynamic U.S. Manufacturer, with exciting new lines, seeks driven individual to sell nationally to Exhibit Producers & Builders.
Northern N.J./N.Y. base preferred. Requirements: Understanding of industry, willingness to travel, attention to detail and an insistence on success.
Sell great products as you craft this important and influential position.
Full benefits, including profit sharing & 401/k. Salary commensurate with effectiveness.
Email to: paula@testrite.com;
07-29-07
the spark
The Spark designs and manages high impact, high value marketing communication solutions
for Fortune 500 clients, including Anheuser-Busch, Circuit City, Motorola and others.
Our product lines include Business Meetings, Event Marketing, Displays and Exhibits,
Sales Promotion, Mobile Marketing, Advertising, Video and Interactive Media. To learn
more about our company, visit our website at www.thesparkagency.com.
We are currently looking for an individual to fill the role of Exhibit Production Manager. Here are the job specs...
Primary Duties:
* Act as liaison between creative directors, designers, and production to enhance the buildability of project components
* Proactive consulting in the cost effective development of concepts
* Prepare project budgets (time, materials and labor cost estimates) by working with the creative and production departments along with company vendors, using designs, blueprints, client job specs, etc.
* Coordinator of exhibits and mobile construction, including the effective use of suppliers and sub-contractors
* Work with creative and project management staffs to implement designs
Requirements:
* 5 years background in construction/fabrication of exhibits/mobile exhibits
* Knowledge of multiple display fabrication techniques and approaches for display graphics, retail displays and events, permanent and traveling exhibits, and mobile exhibits
* Knowledge of mobile marketing/touring construction and logistics
* Strong knowledge of casework, metalwork, truss structures, scenic construction, rigging, AV, lighting systems, rental components, fabric structures, and modular exhibit systems.
* Must have experience in AutoCAD, estimating, and project management
* Strong computer skills required
* Experience with other design programs a plus (SketchUp, 3D Studio, Illustrator)
* Knowledge of industry vendors and suppliers
* Strong attention to detail with the ability to delegate
* Ability to work in a team environment with designers, suppliers, craftsmen and operational staff.
Qualified candidates please send resumes to:
The Spark
Attn: Human Resources
1881 Pine Street
St. Louis, MO 63103
Email to: employment@thesparkagency.com;
Fax: 314-206-7732
07-19-06
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Exhibit Builder 2009 Media Fact Folder