The most recent edition of the North American Spine Surgeons (NASS) conference and trade show was in Dallas in October. I had the chance to walk the floor and note some trends and see some examples.
Walking the floor with my colleagues from Imagecraft Exhibits, I was able to see and talk about a broad span of idea and examples.
Jeff Vanden Hoek, always gives me a solid overview of the show floors we walk together: he and I talked about the trends overall as well as the use of both hard structure and fabric.
“Some structures look like fabric,” Jeff said, “but they really are fabric fitted over hard structure.”
The usual items were there: hanging signs, wide aisles, lots of counter space to show off the products and devices demonstrated and displayed at this conference. The one thing I did notice was right at our feet: floor coverings seem to be changing.
“We’ve noticed a change in how floors are covered,” Darrell Glidewell remarked to me. He and I walked past and on several variations of flooring from carpet alone, to carpet and hardwood to composite flooring.
Ryan Hammond gave me a tour of his client’s, SpineSmith, new exhibit. It was a mix of both old and new ideas.
“This booth breaks all of the rules,” Ryan said. From having walls on the perimeter of the booth to large fabric images to being fully enclosed, the booth really did not fit the norm as we have seen on show floors in a while.
Truss covered by fabric, the tower-centered exhibit had a museum feel throughout its 30×50 footprint.
This show still has a traditional trade show feel to it because of the subject matter and because it deals with physical, demonstratable products and offerings. However, the issues of drayage weight and ease of assembly (to reduce labor) are fast approaching this industry as well.
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