Trade show season is nearly upon here in northern Virginia, and around the country. As you make your plans to send your staff off to Las Vegas, or Orlando, or anywhere in between, you’re also making plans to send your stuff.

The process of getting your booth, supplies, and collateral from point A to point B seems fairly simple, but it’s actually far more complex than you even realize. Often referred to in trade show circles as ‘material handling and drayage’, this highly coordinated effort that ensures the movement of your exhibit items between Craig Van Lines moving truck and your booth space involves an extraordinary amount of planning and preparation.

Most of the onus here falls on the shoulders of the organizers and decorators of the organization hosting the trade show, but you — as the exhibitor — too have responsibilities when it comes to achieving trade show shipping success. Chief among these responsibilities is the decision to ship your trade show materials to the advance warehouse, or direct to the show site.

Ship to the Advance Warehouse, or to the Show Site?

In many cases, shipping your materials directly to the show site will lower your material handling costs because the event-hosting organization will have less hands-on time with your freight items than they would moving items from an advance warehouse. But — yeah, there’s always a but: There are some general benefits associated with shipping your trade show materials to the advance warehouse.

You’ll more quickly be able to set up your booth space. When you choose to ship to the advance warehouse, your materials will be ready and waiting for you as soon as your allotted time for exhibit setup begins.

You’ll be able to rest easy, and worry about one less element of trade show planning. Exhibiting at a national, or international trade show is a big feat, and if you plan to ship your materials to the advance warehouse, and cross one more thing off your to-do list, do it!

Shipping directly to the convention can result in unexpected challenges. In the event that there’s more than one show taking place in the convention center destination, there may be confusion regarding on which dock to offload your freight, which in turn might lead to delayed delivery.

If time warrants, it is the professional opinion of northern Virginia’s commercial moving experts that — if time permits — you choose to ship your trade show materials to the advance warehouse. And hey, since you’re in the market:

It’s Trade Show Season: All About Shipping and Material Handling for Exhibitors in Northern Virginia