Every association planner plans the outbound shipment. Far fewer plan the trip home. By the time...
Should Your Meeting Materials Come Back to the Office at All?
The banners, workbooks, giveaways and AV equipment that go to your company's meetings tend to make the same loop. They ship to the venue, ship back to the office, sit in a hallway or a supply closet, and ship out again for the next session. Then someone discovers a banner is torn, a case is cracked or a box of workbooks never came back.
The sensible question is whether those materials should come back to the office at all.
What the trip back to the office costs
- Two extra legs of freight for every event: venue to office, and office to the next venue.
- Office space taken up by cases, pallets and boxes between sessions.
- More handling, which means more chances for damage and more chances for something to go missing.
- Someone's time to receive it, check it, repack it and book the next shipment.
When storage makes more sense
If your materials go out again within weeks or months, storage between sessions usually beats the trip home. Your materials stay together, stay out of the office and go straight to the next venue. Bring something back only when it actually needs your team's attention, such as a reprint or an update.
Pack for the whole season, not one trip
Materials that travel to several meetings a year take more wear than materials that travel once. A few habits keep them in one piece:
- Use proper cases, not reused boxes. Shipping cartons weaken with every trip.
- Label lighter cartons to ride on top. That keeps heavier items from crushing them on the pallet.
- Protect the fragile pieces. AV equipment, displays and anything with glass should travel in their own hard-sided cases or crates.
- Keep an inventory. List what's in each case, so you know right away if something didn't come back.
For more packing tips, see How to Pack for Trade Show Shipping: A 4-Step Plan.
How NorthStar handles it
NorthStar's short- and long-term storage, coast to coast, keeps banners, workbooks and AV equipment out of the office, and your Shipping Coach ships them straight to the next venue. Before anything ships, your coach walks you through packing. Then everything is palletized and plastic-wrapped on our end.
Pair storage with NorthStar 365, and your coach reaches out 90 days before each event to plan the outbound and return shipping, so your materials are on their way to the right venue before anyone has to think about them. It's optional, at no added cost for NorthStar customers.
You can read more about how we work with corporate meeting planners.
Tired of the round trip? Request a quote, or reach a Shipping Coach at 703-532-0520 or shippingcoach@northstarexpress.com.
About the author
Rex Houlihan is the CEO of NorthStar Express, a trade show and event shipping company in Falls Church, Virginia that has been shipping to events for 35 years. Rex also created Coast2Coast4ALS, a cross-country bike ride raising awareness and funds for the ALS community. Connect with Rex on LinkedIn.