Sam Galloway, Executive Director of the Southern Council of Optometrists, sees no need to get bids from specialty contractors as long as the existing provider's level of service and quality continues and their prices are in line. Galloway differentiates between suppliers to show management and those whose services are offered in the exhibitors' service kit. He notes that for his annual Congress and Trade Show in Atlanta, he has used ADF security services since 1981 and has had the same general contractor and printer for more than 10 years. A firm believer in show management selecting specialty contractors is David Jacobson, Show Manager of the Gutenberg Festival, a printing machinery and graphic arts trade show. Jacobson also goes by the oldtime rule of business loyalty.
Familiarity makes it easier for the show manager and the exhibitor.
The Interface Group usually sends requests for proposals to specialty contractors, and show management decides which specialty contractor to use in most eases, according to Leonard Goodman, Vice President of Show Operations. On a smaller show, he says, show management may leave the choice of a specific specialty firm, floral for instance, to the general contractor because it's not a big concern to the show's exhibitors. Developing relationships is helpful in any type of business situation, and working with specialty contractors is no exception. I get a better feel for what's needed. We work with show management on crowd control, bank drops, and traffic flow in the hall, for instance.