The Mercuro Event Industry Interview Series: Crafting an Effective RFP with Candy Adams
Today we welcome Candy Adams, known throughout the industry as The Booth Mom®. Candy has been on the front lines of exhibit management for over 30 years. She’s supported more than 500 trade show programs, written thousands of pages of specs, and reviewed more RFPs than most exhibitors will draft in a lifetime. With a background in both corporate exhibit management and hands-on show floor execution, Candy brings a rare 360° perspective to what works, and what fails, in the RFP process.
In this Q&A, Candy unpacks what makes an RFP truly effective, where most exhibitors go wrong, and how to ensure your next request gets you the right partner and not just a giant stack of generic proposals. Whether you’re revamping your exhibit program or sending out your first RFP, this is advice you can’t afford to skip.
AM:
From your perspective, what top three pieces of information do you wish every client included in their Request for Proposal for a custom exhibit build, but rarely do?
CA:
First off, what their internal timeline and processes are for evaluating the proposals, including their priorities that will affect the selection process i.e. weighted importance of cost, design, references, etc.?
How is the project documentation (i.e. change orders, billing, deposits, post-show evaluation, etc.) managed - with samples showing the timing and level of itemization and back-up.
What are the ongoing estimated transportation, set-up/dismantle services and in-and-out handling costs estimated, per show?
AM:
How early in the planning cycle should a company realistically issue an RFP for a custom booth?
CA:
That depends on two things.
First, has the exhibitor already identified those exhibit houses who meet their basic business criteria, either by location, service capabilities, business philosophy, reputation, staff experience, online capabilities, etc. that they would like to include in the RFP process? This can reduce the “no-bid” rate drastically and increase the quality of the proposals. It’s frustrating for an exhibitor to send an RFP out and get a no-bid notification back at the proposal deadline, possibly putting the RFP process timeline in jeopardy, especially if a set number of bids are required. And it’s just as frustrating for the exhibit house to have wasted time on an extensive – and expensive – proposal in response to an RFP when a much simpler Request for Information (RFI) could have vetted them without spending the thousands of dollars on creating a full-blown RFP, including design.
Second, they must consider the size and complexity of the exhibit. I’ve had custom rentals slapped together in less than a month and 5,000 square foot double-decks that a six-month timeline wasn’t enough to do a gold-standard quality job based on a rebranding campaign that threw a monkey wrench into the project schedule.
AM:
What are some red flags you've seen in RFPs that make you think, “This is going to be a rough project?”
CA:
Missing budget information for the exhibit design/build. I’ve experienced clients who were adamant about not providing even a budget range. Their rationale was that they just want to see what the exhibit houses come up with without turning their hand to what they actually have to spend. This is why I prefer to have my client, the exhibitor, work directly with an independent, professional exhibit designer to create an exhibit that meets their functional needs, but then give latitude to the exhibit houses to tweak it and estimate their build and maintenance costs.
Also, unrealistic expectations on how quickly an exhibit house can turn around their response to a detailed RFP. This reminds me of the saying, “Procrastination on your part doesn’t create an emergency on ours.”
AM:
How can clients structure an RFP to allow for creative problem-solving without making it feel like a design contest?
CA:
I don’t believe exhibitors put enough thought into their ongoing show goals (that create their ROI) before going into the RFP process. How will they market before the show to attract their target audience? How many show attendees do they expect to visit their exhibit at peak times at the shows they plan to attend? How will they convey their key messages to their booth visitors? How many exhibit staff will be required to interact with those visitors, and what will the environment(s) be for these interactions (i.e. demo stations, seated presentations, one-on-one conversations, meetings in rooms, experiential stations, etc.)
AM:
Do you think RFPs should always require line-item pricing, or is there a smarter way to request pricing that helps everyone?
CA:
There has to be some level of trust when establishing a partnership between an exhibit house and exhibitor. Again, I’ll go back to the value of an initial RFI that provides client references from exhibitors with similar requirements, just so I can get a feel for the relationship.
I also believe that the standard rate sheet gives a foundation for establishing and understanding the exhibit house’s pricing model but believe that the most cost savings can be generated by “building smarter” based on considering all recurring post-build costs (storage, shipping, material handling, I&D, electrical, etc.) to maximize efficiency and minimize expenses. Capital construction happens once, but the expenses just keep coming!
When I first got into the trade show business, I heard the saying, “There was an exhibitor who knew the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.” I believe exhibitors need to collaborate with their exhibit house partners to add value based on their knowledge and experience. And (we as) exhibitors need to value that input by giving some leeway when it comes to billing to our vendor-partners for this expertise.
AM:
For clients, what criteria best indicate a strong exhibit partner fit, beyond just cost?
CA:
Understanding the teams’ (exhibit house and exhibitor) full experience, processes and expectations. What’s the business model and how much flexibility is there in it? I’ve worked for exhibiting companies who believed deadlines were just suggestions but that budgets were set in stone – to the penny.
I have also found a lot of value in working with an exhibit house with experience in the industry and that is familiar with the shows that my clients will participate in.
AM:
What is your advice to clients who want to bake sustainability into their booth RFP in a truly meaningful way?
CA:
Exhibit houses need to understand the exhibitor’s corporate sustainability goals and what they really mean. What drives them? How will success in meeting them be measured? What exactly is measured, and how? Exhibitors need to convey their sustainability priorities in the RFP.
I’ve had clients who said the recyclability of their exhibit construction materials was a top priority and had to use carpet that could be recycled. But they were giving away branded bottled waters to booth visitors in a venue that didn’t then have a program in place to sort and recycle their plastics (even though the venue website said they did). Another bragged about their sustainably-grown bamboo flooring but admitted that it had been shipped all the way from Thailand and trucked cross-country. Beware of good intentions and green-washing!
AM:
You've seen thousands of RFPs and managed countless builds. What’s the top factor separating the most successful projects from the ones that fall apart?
Who is on the team managing the RFP process? And who are the stakeholders on that internal team that need to provide their input early in the RFP-writing process? What do they need in an exhibit – but also, what do they want?
Who is responsible for the ongoing day-to-day asset and expense management of the exhibit program? Is Sales included to make sure their needs are met on the show floor? Is Purchasing represented to provide input on the corporate buying process so the lowest cost doesn’t drive the partner selection? Have you talked with Legal about their part in contracting with the exhibit house and generating an ongoing Master Services Agreement that you’ll need to drive the ongoing relationship with your exhibit house partner? Can Finance track the various types of costs (capital vs. expense) and based on your budget for the build, when the funds will be available for the deposits that will required upon contract signing and for progress payments? And who, ultimately, makes the final selection from the submitted proposal? Can the COO overrule the team’s recommendations after all is said and done? I’ve seen it happen, and the result wasn’t pretty.
