What should you be thinking about as you evaluate your printing needs for your next conference or trade show?
While we could certainly answer the question, “What considerations are important for conference printing,” we think the best answer comes from a company that hosts conferences in Miami and has plenty of experience holding the hands of convention and trade show organizers and attendees. Mariott has quite a bit of experience with conferences, trade shows, and have developed a checklist for conference preparation and the like.
Here are some things you should consider leading up to your conference
We’ll spare you the entire list (linked above, if you like), but a few things jumped out at us in particular.
“Review previous years’ promotional budgets”
Always prudent, this is important not only to see how much might be available to spend, but to see what results were achieved in prior years and how to get better ones going forward. Think about how the budget was spent, as well, and how to get the most bang for your buck. You want to make sure you’re spending a reasonable amount of money on the necessities like conference printing in Miami, while still getting quality quick printing. PrintFarm has extensive experience in printing for trade shows and can guide you through this process.
“Determine objectives, scope, and audience”
You can’t market unless you know to whom you’re marketing. Will attendees be end users and decision makers, or will they be people whose job it is to report back so someone else can make a final decision? Will they want one piece of paper to remind them of where your website can be found, or are they academic types looking for as much data as possible, preferably on paper and organized neatly in an overnight glossy logo presentation folder? What are their needs? What speaks to them? Glossy or flat? Single page, or a logo presentation folder brimming with detail and specifications? These questions heavily affect the direction of your conference printing in Miami.
“Develop theme and graphics”
You can do this yourself, you can sub out offshore graphic design (not suggested), or you can use one printing company to do the design and print work. The latter is generally less expensive and gives better results – the designers at PrintFarm know exactly what our capabilities are, and how best to utilize them.
“Solicit competitive bids for printing”
If you’re planning ahead, we’re more than happy to bid on a job or combination of jobs and provide all the information you need to make an informed decision. We also are able to handle last minute conference printing, trade show materials overnight, and other situations where both quality and speed are crucial.
“Select printers, taking into account whether need is for quick or commercial quality”
PrintFarm has this in the bag – your job is handled quickly, but everything we do is commercial quality. We don’t have a lower quality tier for cheap or overnight. We’re built around both quality and speed.
“Agree with printer on schedule”
They suggest building extra time into the schedule, and that’s not a bad idea, but PrintFarm can take care of your needs on nearly zero notice.
“Demonstrate ability of a single printer to handle all needs, availability of necessary equipment for jobs, and ability to meet deadlines”
PrintFarm has all the equipment necessary for both offset and digital and short run printing, and deadlines can be as short as 24 hours. PrintFarm also handles nearly every type of printing you could need – brochures, posters, pocket folders for presentations, table tents, and a myriad of other products.
These are a great starting point, whether you need overnight convention printing, 24 hour printing for conferences in Miami, or quick print trade show materials. But the best way to see how PrintFarm can take your business to the next level is to reach out to us. We’ll be happy to provide you with quotes and details of what we can do and how fast we can do it, to help ensure your success at the convention.
