Lincoln Electric attends many trade shows throughout the year. With a lot of help from the two dedicated trade show gentlemen and our fabulous exhibit house, I don't always have to sweat the small stuff.

This past year we attended the OTC show and tried a new concept that had never been done before - no product or demos were shown in the booth. So how does one fill a 1200 sq. ft. booth if there is no product? Well how about a coffee bar and conversation area set behind large image walls with simple messaging. This new look booth was well received by the sales team. Phew!

Towards the end of the year was the mother of all trade shows for the welding industry - FABTECH. Last year we had two large booths, totaling over 18,000 sq. ft. of booth space. That is a lot of sq. ft. to organize! Working with internal stakeholders on messaging and presentation, 11 new walls were created - over 8,000 sq. ft. of graphics, showing 40+ videos and requiring 13 semis to deliver everything to show site. Overall, the booth received top marks from attendees and analysts alike.