Cover Your Assets

War Stories from the Trade Show Floor — Cover Your Assets

Everyone remembers when Obi Wan Kenobi said to Luke Skywalker “You will never see a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” He was, of course, talking about Mos Eisley, the spaceport on Luke's home planet of Tatooine. However, had Obi Wan been in the trade show industry, I'm fairly certain he might have instead said “There is but one more wretched hive of scum and villainy, New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center”.

You see, several years ago I was managing the installation of a million dollar booth at Javits. Out of all the union run-ins I encountered at that show, this one stands out as the most bizarre.

There is but one more wretched hive of scum and villainy, New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center

This was a big project: a 20’ tall enclosed theater, conference room, reception area, themed product presentation areas, and rock concert styled lighting complete with lighting crew. The booth also had four 20’ tall columns that had to be built from the inside. The towers where designed around a very specific lift that could fit inside the column. This specific lift was such a crucial part of the booth’s construction that I had the client buy the $10,000 lift and ship it to all the shows along with the booth.

According to union ‘law’ the Installation and Dismantle Union (I&D) could only use ladders. Any tasks requiring a lift required the Lift Union and their equipment. And, for ‘liability reasons,’ the Lift Union could only use their own equipment.

So here I am with the I&D union unable to work, the Lift union telling me that I can’t use my own lift, and their equipment is too big to bother with. They tried however, but I knew; I had already done the research. That’s why I had my client buy the lift in the first place, along with all of its union approved safety equipment. The other union was sitting around waiting to see what I wanted them to do and my client was getting very nervous as the time clicked closer with no booth.

Finally I told the I&D guys to use the lift. After all, this thing needed to be built. What happened next was amazing: the twenty guys from the lift union who were on the floor at the time came and stood in a grid formation in my booth. It was a stand-in, and if any one of the union guys where bumped they would sue. The lift supervisor was yelling at me for taking food off the plates of his guys, while other guys where yelling, and my client was turning pale. I thought they where going to faint. Security was called in.

At this point, the show superintendent came down to the floor. This was one of the most chaotic events of my career. What did I do? Simple, I pulled out my show binder and showed the show superintendent the lift authorization paperwork I had his office sign. The paperwork that said my I&D guys could use the lift as long as they followed proper safety guidelines, had the correct safety harnesses, and had a rider on my insurance policy naming the I&D union and the convention center.

The point is, read the show rules and regulations. Know before you get there what oppositions you are likely to encounter. If anything in your build does not conform to the show regulations request specific permission for your situation and request it in writing.

In short. Do your homework and be prepared.

Written by the man, the myth, the legend: Ken Pettit.