World Trade

“Prior to 2001, things were pretty fat and sassy” in the trade show industry, recalls Mike Vekich, chairman of the board at Skyline Exhibits. Then came 9/11. The huge downturn in trade show business put 75 of his competitors out of business, Vekich says. Those that remained ratcheted up the competition.

Skyline dug in and innovated. Perhaps that’s why 50 percent of its revenues—about $380 million last year—now come from products that have been developed since 2001. Skyline’s revenues have risen 63 percent over the past five years.

Vekich says that before September 11, customers didn’t scrutinize booth costs very closely. Now clients want to know what an exhibit manufacturer is going to do to help them lure customers.

This required Skyline to develop more strategic designs. Instead of simply selling characteristics of Skyline structures, such as high-quality aluminum truss beams or exact color matches for company logos, the salespeople collaborate on the customer’s marketing message at the conceptual stages of the project. The overarching idea is to create designs with an upscale, clean look like those of a cutting-edge retail space. Designs also include more practical considerations. Shipping crates can be designed to become part of the booth structure, minimizing clutter. The truss beams hide the wiring used by lights, computers, and plasma displays.

At Skyline’s 280,000-square-foot facility in Eagan, on a large skylit space resembling a show floor, the booth designs are tested for durability, aesthetics, and ease of construction and knockdown. This last consideration has become almost as important as aesthetic ones. Exhibitors are struggling with increasing shipping costs. Though fuel prices are the biggest factor here, drayage costs—the price charged for moving materials from the loading dock to an exhibitor’s spot on the show floor—also have risen. Skyline’s modular units fold or break down into pieces that can be packed into just a few crates.

Skyline now has 150 dealer locations in 42 countries (75 in the U.S.), Dealers take orders for new structures, which are manufactured in Eagan or at one of its larger service centers, located in Las Vegas, Orlando, Toronto, and Shanghai. Skyline also can arrange shipping of booths and components between show sites. “If you’re here and you want to go to Shanghai, you want to go to Düsseldorf, or if you want to be in Dubai, we can make sure that that happens for you,” Vekich says.

Skyline now is planning to enter a new market—retail structures. Its mobile, modular designs could fill a need for store interiors that are reconfigured frequently. Vekich expects Skyline’s retail products to be available within a year.