For those who want to order online the signage, booth furnishingsand other contractor-supplied sundries they need at show time, one frequentlyasked question -- What's the decorator's Web address? -- is finally beinganswered.

Now you can see The Freeman Cos. at http://www.freemanco.com; GES Exposition Servicesat http://www.gesexpo.com; Champion Exposition Services at http://www.concentric.net/~Champxpo/champion.htm -- and other contractor sites are on the way. Carl Mitchell, President of Shepard Convention Services in Atlanta, says his company will have a Web site up by the end of 1997's first quarter.

These sites offer general information about contractor services, companyhistories and educational resources, with hot links that zip you to otherrelated Web sites in a mouse-click. Freeman, for instance, links show producers'Web sites to their site, enabling exhibitors to go directly from FreemanOnline, and back again.

The Internet has become a wide open channel for communication among servicecontractors, show managers and exhibitors. Anita Bota, General Manager ofthe Graphics Department at Avon, MA-based Champion Exposition Services,says she and her staff use the Net as a general source of information andto get answers to specific questions and/or problems from professional organizations.

Clay Lovelace, Design Center Director in Freeman's Chicago office, takesadvantage of the fact that most of the company's show producer customersalso have Web sites. By checking out the graphics they use for their Webpages, he can get a much better feel for the image each show is trying tocreate. He can even download the images and import them into his CAD designsto maintain consistency.

Debbie Perrault, Vice President of Information Systems for GES in LasVegas, notes that show managers and exhibitors can easily connect with GESemployees via the company's Web site, where GES publishes a directory ofits Internet e-mail addresses.

Online exhibitor kits
Having a Web site and being able to use that site as an online orderingservice means taking another technological leap. Freeman Online, which premiereson the Web this month, is an enhancement of the online ordering system availablevia Compuserve since 1994. Ellen Beckert, Director of Corporate Developmentat the Freeman headquarters in Dallas, explains: "About three yearsago, we set up a dedicated network through Compuserve for online ordering.Several of our show manager customers saw a need for it for their exhibitors.At that time, it was the best alternative we found. Then, as more peopleshifted to the Internet and away from subscriber services, we decided todevelop this version for the Net."

Each show that Freeman services will have its own customized order formsand color photos of materials and equipment available online. For example,an exhibitor who wants to preview the particular furniture items he's orderingwill be able to pull each up on the computer screen. Since credit cardswill be accepted online, a security password, issued by each show, willbe required to access the ordering system. Also, the database will be maintainedin-house, adding another level of security and confidentiality for exhibitorlists and credit card information.

GES debuted its online ordering system, Interkit, in mid-January. Theprogram allows customers to "test drive" the system using an onlinedemo. "We'll conduct focus groups with exhibitors afterwards to learnwhat they like and what needs to be changed," Perrault says. Kit-on-Demand,also introduced in January, delivers ordering information via fax.

A proprietary approach
While other general contractors are ramping up for Internet ordering, TheExpo Group (TEG) in Irving, TX, will take a different tack. "We'reworking on having our own proprietary online service for ordering,"says President Ray Pekowski. "It'll function much like America Onlineand Compuserve. But it will bypass the Internet. Exhibitors and show managerscan dial one toll-free number and they're into our system."

Several factors figured into TEG's decision to skirt the Net. Pekowskibelieves it's becoming a huge "yellow pages," which will slowit down. Further, he maintains that there are a number of people who eitherdon't have Internet access; or, if they do, don't want to take the timeto surf for Web sites.

TEG's approach, too, is very much driven by the way it provides exhibitorservices. Instead of dealing with eight to 10 vendors for services and equipmentfor each show, exhibitors place one order with TEG, which, in turn, generatesthe various orders to numerous suppliers. The exhibitor gets one invoiceand deals with one customer service person at TEG. The innovative company,which last fall was ranked number 28 on Inc. magazine's list of the 500fastest growing private companies, developed Co-pro, proprietary softwareto handle the huge volume of orders this centralized system demands.

"We have a database for each vendor in each city that we work inand every conceivable item an exhibitor would need," says Pekowski."Plus, each show has its own set of databases. So, the software hasto be flexible. The system is also very portable. PCs have made our conceptof bundling services viable today. We can download data into a file server,which we take along with 10 computer terminals to our larger shows."

Co-pro, written in 1987 and continuously refined, is now in its thirdversion. "In fact," says Pekowski, "version number four willbe our own online ordering system, planned to be available in 1998."TEG licenses the software to show producers who are customers for a tokenfee of $1. Suppliers and non-customers pay $7,500 to license the softwarewith their own databases installed. Show managers using TEG's Co-pro canorder all their needs on the system, then access information in real timefor ease in keeping track of expenses, budgets and logistics on-site.

Becky Yard, Senior Event Manager for Edlin Electrical Exhibition ServicesInc. in Las Vegas, says their use of Co-pro in providing electrical servicefor shows benefits show managers, too. "The system keeps a runningtrack of each show's electrical needs from year to year. So, if a show isusing a facility for the first time, we can generate a report which willtell the facility how many 120 and 480 volt outlets were used -- that'simportant because some buildings can't handle 480 volt power. We can alsogive the show manager a report of how many exhibitors have and have notordered power. Show managers considering including a 500 watt outlet ineach booth package can then determine whether doing so is beneficial."

Information technology at work
"Almost everything we do in processing and communicating is technological,"says Shepard's Mitchell. "Instead of getting a faxed exhibitor listfrom the show manager, it's being sent electronically into our computerand then in to our design equipment, so that signs can be made without usever touching them. All our design operations are on CAD stations, and allare electronically communicated."

Using a computer and modem, exhibitors and show managers can send ordersinto contractors from anywhere on the road. To help minimize travel, insome situations GES allows the show manager to dial directly into the designer'swork station to look at floor plans. And, at one show producer's office,GES has installed a printer along with a special phone line capable of handlinglarge graphics files, to permit immediate hard copy access to floor plans.

"These are some of the technologies show managers are telling usthey would like," Perrault explains. "We respond to what they'relooking for." Graphics and design work, so important to what Champion'sBota calls the "look and feel" of a show, have benefited enormouslyfrom technological advances, and contractors routinely use CAD programsto create signage and floor plans and design entryways, registration andhospitality areas.

Show manager Paul Katz describes Champion's graphics services for theNational Educational Computing Conference: "They're particularly sophisticatedin graphics. They have very high-end digital equipment, which allows themto take our art and translate it into huge signs and banners. The qualityis fantastic. In the design stage, they're able to do three-dimensionalrenderings -- photos of different areas in the facility with furnishingsand signage superimposed so we get a good idea of what we're getting. Wecan now download the file electronically, which speeds up the process andlets us share documents. We can make changes, mark on it and send it backelectronically. It's a value-added service because we have much broaderoptions."

Both Freeman and GES can also walk the show manager through a facilityvia three-dimensional modeling created with CAD software.

Innovations behind the scenes
Last year, GES debuted its automated receiving system, which has alreadybeen expanded to link with computers at facility freight doors. As eachdelivery truck comes into the facility's marshaling yard, information onits shipment is keyed into a computer and automatically fed into the showservices system. An order is generated on the spot. The service staff canimmediately give an exhibitor the status of his shipment. At several facilities,exhibitors can go to the freight area and get updates from the computerlink, as well.

Another launch from GES in '96, the automated time-tracking system usesPCs, machine-readable employee identification badges and hand-held scannersto electronically log the thousands of person-hours needed to set up anddismantle a show. By making budgeted and actual hours available at a glance,the system gives GES supervisors the information needed to manage hoursmore efficiently throughout a show.

Also using hand-held scanner technology, Freeman combines bar code informationalready on small packages with the exhibitor database programmed into thescanner to speed receipt and delivery to exhibitors at show site. DubbedShowScan, the scanner is a mini-computer that eliminates the manual, time-consumingprocess of sorting by booth number and writing individual manifests foreach package. Freeman's Beckert says with ShowScan on-site, staff can deliveras many as 1,000 packages within a two-hour time frame.

Innovations like these are cranking up the competition among contractorsto provide top-quality services to their clients. "Both show managersand contractors are driving technological developments," says Shepard'sMitchell. "We set goals each year for what we want to accomplish technologically,and we fund those projects through the budgeting process," Mitchellsays. "We do it within the context of benefits -- and it has to bea budgeted item. But that doesn't mean we won't consider ideas presentedto us. We'll certainly look at them."

And, like most contractors, he takes the open-minded yet conservativeapproach: Don't develop technology for technology's sake; but rather, toenhance relationships with customers and to make it easier for customersto do business with their suppliers.