Print, online orders in mix for party rental Three-fourths of party rental operators polled by Special Events Magazine last month say they post prices on their Web sites to make ordering more efficient. But their faith in printed catalogues varies widely, with some saying that print is "going the way of the dinosaur," as one company head puts it, while others invest in fancy, full-color catalogues that account for as much as 80 percent of business. "The majority of our customers are repeat business, and they need a paper copy to work with," another operator says. Read the full story in the May issue of Special Events Magazine ...
Summer fliers to hurry up and wait Although images of passengers stranded due to storms made news last winter, the coming summer could be worse yet. Airlines have scheduled nearly 4 percent more flights this summer than last, the Wall Street Journal says, boosting the chances for disruptions in the event of bad weather. And while passengers may like the convenience of automated check-in systems when flights are running smoothly, they will miss having a live agent there to rebook when needed ...
'Back off,' show-goers say Exhibition attendees say that an overly aggressive salesperson is one of the biggest turn-offs when visiting exhibit booths. Another annoyance: Visitors want to control their experience at the booth; it's the exhibiting company's job to control the environment. Finally, poor signage, time constraints and blasts of multimedia and video can make the exhibit hall an "overwhelming, inefficient learning experience," says Dayton, N.J.-based Impact Unlimited, which conducted focus groups for two years to develop the results.
