Imaginary Landscape
RSS FeedRecently, we sponsored a national conference organized by the Python Software Foundation called PyCon. Python is a programming language that we use extensively for Web-based applications.
Part of the sponsorship was a booth in their exhibition hall. This was the first time we have boothed and it was a positive experience, albeit time consuming. As a result, I have great respect for those companies that do it on a regular basis (although I suspect there is an economy of scale and repetition).
It was a typical tradeshow booth - 8 x 8 with an 8 foot skirted table. The booth itself was defined by two side drapes about 3 feet tall, and one back drape about 10 feet tall. Two chairs, an outlet, a wastebasket and a non-descript sign that read "Imaginary Landscape" rounded out the includes.
The challenge was to outfit the booth economically, but retain a professional, if not slick, image. I spent some time on eBay looking at tradeshow set-ups - mostly the concave types with Velcro that sit on the table in the back of the booth - but they were expensive and I didn't want to invest in something so permanent yet. I decided we would do a large banner, but then set it aside as more pressing matters arose.
As the time for the conference drew nearer (and nearer), I finally turned my attention to the banner. I ran out of time to send it out, so I settled on Kinko's.
I wanted a big banner to span the back drape. I also wanted some color but without the color prices. I went to my local Kinko's and asked some questions, but they didn't have much sign expertise on staff. They pointed me to their local "sign guy" at another Kinko's nearby. My advice is that you drive as far as you have to in order to find your closest "sign guy."
I settled on an indoor vinyl two-ply sign. Each ply is a color. I wanted black text on a white background so I selected the black-on-white two-ply. They come in large rolls, 29" wide. There are many other color combinations available as well. The process is pretty cool. They run the blank sign through some machine that cuts the letters into the top ply. Then they peel off the top, leaving the black letters on the white background. This produced a very nice banner with text on it.
The next step was to have them take our color logo and print it separately on special adhesive paper. They printed the logo, cut away the non-logo excess and applied in to the sign.
The end result is a color banner, 6 feet wide and 29" tall for $80 - reusable for next year.
Updated 07/14/10 @ 11:32AM CDT by brian
Categories: Business Marketing Technology
