CHICAGO — A critical part of the events ecosystem is the labor that helps bring the show floors to life — but is also a key component that is misunderstood.
To help get young professionals and other early-career professionals up to speed about working with labor, the Exhibition Services and Contractors Association’s (ESCA) Rising Leaders Committee put together a webinar exploring the fundamentals.
As part of ESCA’s Leadership Lab series, a conversation led by Andre Burns, Vice President of Material Handling and Logistics at Shepard, with Bryant Preston, Assistant Director of Trade Show & Display of IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees), both of whom are members of ESCA’s Labor and Management Council, focused on what emerging professionals should know about working with labor.
The first part of the webinar focused on four key areas of information around what impacts labor jurisdictions and rules:
- Venue Agreements: Some venues already have contracts in place with local unions that will define the labor requirements for an event.
- Local Jurisdictions: The rules vary by city, state and venue, and there is no national standard; it’s key to understand the standard in the specific venue and location you’re hosting in.
- General Contractors: Labor terms for jurisdictions are negotiated by general contractors.
- Show & Client Rules: Information about what can be handled directly and what must be handled by labor is presented in the show kits for exhibitors.
Essentials for Cost Containment
The second half of the webinar was spent exploring what comes together to make a budget for labor.
For show organizers and partners that are working to help exhibitors contain their costs and understand what charges are for, the webinar outlined some standard cost categories that can be explained to exhibitors ahead of the show for more financial transparency.
- Labor Rate Variances
“Depending on what city you’re working in, you’re going to have different variances that occur where you’re going to have premium hours that occur either in the morning, or after a certain amount of hours in a day, or on the weekend,” Preston said. “If you’re working over a certain amount of hours in almost every jurisdiction, expect that you’re going to see a premium hour, and that there are breaks that are scheduled into those (labor) calls that are contractual.”
- Material Handling
Material handling costs are weight-based fees for receiving, storing and delivering freight to the booth.
“This is something you can budget for. … You have an idea of how much weight you’re going to bring,” Burns said, “I’m starting to see a trend that I think will make everyone happy. A lot of show managers are trying to find a way to combine (material handling) into the overall build to where we’re not seeing it as much (on the billing).”
- Electrical, Plumbing and Internet
Understand your utility needs before getting on site, and pre-plan as much as possible to ensure you’re limiting add-on fees you weren’t budgeting for.
- Rigging
Rigging is required for any structures that hang overhead, and you should expect to need skilled labor to do that work.
“Anything that’s going to hang over your head, you should expect that’s going to be something you coordinate with the service desk to schedule, because that is often going to need the certified folks to hang that,” Preston said. “And mind you, you’re going to want that because it’s over your head and you want that security for yourself and everybody else around you.”
- Supervision Fees
These kinds of fees can be incurred in jurisdictions that require a labor supervisor once there’s multiple workers on site.
- Contingency Buffer
As a rule of thumb, exhibitors should build in an extra 10-15% into the budget to account for any last-minute changes, rate variances and on-site add-ons.
“Part of planning is planning for the unknown. We’re all subject to what might happen, what could happen, and there’s a lot of factors that are out of everybody’s control. If there’s an accident and the truck is late, it might be a rush to get things done,” Preston said. “That might happen during those premium hours that we talked about. You just have to be prepared for that.”
Related. How Boothlyo Changes the Exhibiting Game
Common Misunderstandings About Labor
Burns and Preston also addressed some common misconceptions someone new to the industry may have about labor.
“The biggest (misconception) is a right-to-work state,” Burns said. “(Contractors) have collective bargaining agreements. Nevada is a right-to-work state, and a lot of people say, ‘I should be able to do this.’ But no, the union is strong, and they have the CBA with (contractors), they have the venues as well.”
Another misconception is around what people are able to do on their own and what needs to be done by labor. The rules for that vary city to city, and Burns suggested using AI tools to break down the exhibitor kits to better understand what is and isn’t allowed on-site.
Preston emphasized the importance of asking questions if something isn’t clear in the kits and to verify that your understanding of what’s allowed is accurate, especially when using AI.
A Key Takeaway: Invest in Positive Relationships with Labor
For emerging leaders, one of the most important things to do is to start building a positive relationship with labor. Whether you’re a show organizer, a contractor or a vendor, it is important to treat crews with respect to get their best work.
Some helpful tips for building positive relationships that Burns and Preston shared were:
- Introduce yourself and set clear expectations
- Be on time for your scheduled labor call
- Provide clear, organized booth plans and instructions
- Route significant issues through your contractor
- Treat labor crews as an extension of your team
- Plan ahead as much as possible to help labor work efficiently
Interested in learning more? You can watch the full webinar and catch up on other Leadership Labs from ESCA here.
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