Getting Ready For Your Trade Show

We pride ourselves on giving you beautiful, quality graphics fast! As you get geared up for your trade show season, here are some things to help you along the way.

Your Booth

• Have a colorful graphic that catches the customer's eye.

• Have a headline of six words or less that will interest your target customer.

• Very often, something that helps you explain your product as you talk to the customer can be helpful.

Our turn time on most trade show graphics is 2-3 days, so we can get it done fast! If you need design work done, or you have a special order, it may take a few more days.

Whether you are looking for a graphics, pop-up booth, tabletop display, banner stand, or a banner and banner hangers, we can help!

For our compete trade show primer click here! Or call (800) 590-7850

Gator Board or Foamcore Board?

If you are having trouble deciding between foamcore and gatorboard, here are two key questions to ask yourself.

1) How long am I going to use this?

If the answer is a few days, go with foamcore, it will work fine and is less expensive than gatorboard. Your typical meeting sign that stands on an easel for a few days can be done very successfully with paper on foamcore board.

Somthing that needs to last should be mounted to gatorboard. Foamcore will bend with changes in humidity, and gatorboard will remain flat for years.

2) How is it going to be used?

If you are going to take it from place to place, gatorboard will look better much longer. It's tougher stuff for going in an out of your car, etc. For things that are really going to be slapped around, consider using our edge trim to protect the edges.

Anything that is a permanent display, like pictures of buildings you have built or historical pictures of your town, should be on gatorboard. For graphics to look good for many years, you should consider UV inks, which will not fade over the years.


Foamcore and gatorboard look a lot alike. The difference is that while foamcore is paper on either side of a slice of styrofoam, gatorboard is a heavy (think oak tag) moisture impregnated paper on either side of the same styrofoam. Since the paper doesn't accept moisture, it is much more stable dimensionally. It's also just plain tougher. Gatorboard comes in black and white, foamcore only in white.

Banner Stands- Everywhere!

I spent 10 days in Scotland in July, and one thing that I noticed was the number of banner stands being used! Most retail stores, the train station, even our little hiker's hotel had a banner stand to communicate their message to passers by.

What's great about them is, first of all, how easy they are to use. Three poles fit together, and you draw the banner out of the cannister and hang it on the pole. Done! No hardware is required, no tools, no stepladder to put fittings in the false ceiling. If you decide to move it, it takes a minute.

We offer two banner stands. Our economy stand will do a great job if you aren't going to beat it around. If it will be transported regularly and you plan to change the graphic a lot, our premium banner stand is a better choice. It's more durable, and the graphic is easy to change yourself.

With either one, you have a way of communicating with your customer quickly, easily, and flexibly. Give it a try!