On March 31 – April 1, 2010, Aaron Rents held their annual Trade Show and  Meeting for their vendors and Store Managers at The Gaylord Texan Hotel in Washington, DC.  Approximately 2000 Aarons store and staff members attended the two day trade show event and convention.  The program allows the manufacturers reps of Aarons Rents’ product lines to present the features, benefits and technical information of their new products to assist the store managers and staff in the sales promotions process.

The Trade Show is held in the Exhibit Hall with 11 individual display areas.  Each area if piped and draped to provide visual separation, but the challenge that Aaron Rents had faced in the past was the constant ambient noise from 11 loud P.A. Speakers blaring at the same time.  As the groups rotated through each exhibit, no one could hear the presenter in their assigned area.  The shows had become completely counter-productive and unsuccessful.

Aarons came to PlantTours to solve the problem.  Our experience with tradeshows and this type of exhibit venue equipped us to present a detailed plan to provide each exhibitor and attendee/participant with the ideal solution.   Our crew of 8 uniformed Service Reps arrived at the exhibit hall the morning of the first day of the event to set up.  We placed all the equipment in the vendor booths in the Exhibit Hall, placed a receiver and headphone on each chair in each exhibit area and tested each unit programmed to match the hands-free and hand-held microphone placed on the table at the front of each display for the product reps to use for their presentations.  Over the next two trade show days, 11 groups of 80 Aaron Rents Managers and staff were assigned 17 minute time slots to rotate through the exhibits.  Our Service Reps were on hand to neaten the areas and replace the headphones and receivers during the rotation intervals of the schedule.

Instead of a constant noisy cacophony of sound, the client tells us how beneficial our service and product is to deliver a successful show on schedule.  With our system in place, even among over 1000 people in one large area, all that could be heard during the presentations was the low murmur of the presenters speaking in normal voice tones into their microphones.  So according to the client’s comments, not only could all the attendees easily and clearly hear and learn the material presented, they were not fatigued and annoyed by constant loud ambient noise.  In addition, the speakers were refreshed and comfortable and the schedule was precise, on time and a total success.

Following the conclusion of the Day #2 of the show, our Service Reps handled the process of packing and removing all the equipment from the Exhibition Hall.  Our client and the Manufacturer’s reps told us that the service was hassle-free, turn-key and that they looked forward to having us handle their Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL in 2011.

[View with PicLens]

Ranger Boats has been manufacturing premium custom fishing boats since 1968.  The site includes several  buildings on a multi-acre site.

Ranger Boats invited 600 boat dealers to Flippin for their annual Advantage Tour which includes meetings, sales seminars, on-the-water tests and tours of the plant and operations.  The dealers arrived on Wednesday and Friday mornings for the split schedule.  4 PlantTours Service Reps arrived on Tuesday at 5:00pm to set up all the PlantTours equipment for the next morning’s tour.

They ordered receivers and headphones for 4 groups of 75 dealers in each tour.  We pre-programmed and labeled the groups 1, 2,3, and 4.  One guide led each group through 6  stops on the tour of the plant.  At most stops, a presenter was stationed with visual aids, posters, samples, etc. to present the technical information regarding the stage of each boat’s production, process stage.  The presenters and guides provided a description of all updates of  products and manufacturing  methods.  The president and founder of the company were also present to deliver remarks.

PlantTours handled the tour guide equipment logistics for the plant staff and groups and set up all the equipment a separate display and seminar building.  Ranger Boats chose the Moderate Noise/Behind-Head headphones for light noise reduction for each guest; few areas of the manufacturing area are high noise.  After their opening comments by the Vice President of Sales ended at 7:30am and each participant was equipped with safety glasses they were issued the receiver and headphone and were gathered by group by each assigned guide. It took about 20 minutes to issue all the radios and headphones to the dealers.

Each guide did a quick sound check and each group was assigned a tour route that began on a Spaced Start, so they rotated through each tour stop every 5 minutes.

Ranger Boats use this annual meeting and tour to update their dealers on new boat enhancements and competitive features.  The guides used Hand-Held microphones so each guide could pass the Microphone to the Presenter at each station for their portion of the tour.

All tours were completed by 11;45am.  No service or assistance was needed.

A wrap-up summary meeting and comments from management concluded the event at the plant.

[View with PicLens]