Portable & Modular Trade Show Hardware Makes Sense!

The days of huge custom exhibits that shipped to the show in huge crates that could hold large animals and cost you an arm and a leg to store and move around the show floor are becoming more and more a thing of the past. Fortunately, it is no longer necessary to spend ungodly amounts of money to achieve custom looks.


A typical custom trade show crate like this. That might hold an exhibit like this.

Compared To:

3 cases like this, that can hold a display like this


As a matter of fact, many of todays newer exhibit systems allow you to create substantial looking structures that fit in to wheeled cases that can be shipped via UPS for a fraction of the cost a full sized booth would be. Not only do you save on the shipping aspects of the exhibit, but also drayage, storage and setup. Many times one person can set a portable trade show exhibit up in less than a day.

At Bokland Custom Visuals we handle several different exhibit makers hardware, but focus primarily on products from Mark Bric Display. We choose Mark Bric for the quality of the products they bring to the table as well the diversity of hardware they manufacture. Remember that at the end of the day, whatever money you save on the exhibit hard costs, you can spend on stronger marketing and promotion of the show!

Free 11x14 LightJet Box Mount From Famous Nature Photographer Carl Heilman.

We are offering a free 11x14 LightJet Box Mounted print from renowned Adirondack photographer Carl Heilman. Carl has produced a number of published table books and has worked with Bokland Custom Visuals on a number of décor projects.

Just select from a gallery of 30 Carl Heilman images on our Digitalphotoprints.biz website and then order one of his fine prints with a 2" cherry Box Mount frame. We believe that you will be so impressed with the simple elegance and adaptability of our LightJet Box Mounts that you will realize that this can be a perfect resource for many office and hospitality environments.

Bokland will also include 3 other Box Mount molding samples and custom wall covering in this sample décor kit.

Our digitalphotoprints.biz website allows you to upload images or graphics into galleries and order Lightjet Photographic Prints in Box Mount frames to fit any image, even panoramas. With our production systems we can offer professional high quality reproductions in Box Mounting at exceptional value, either purchased online or worked up as a project via a quote with Bokland Custom Visuals.

Bokland can be a great resource for art, graphic and photographic images for your next décor project. We can direct you to some wonderful resources and websites that can be utilized and matched with our printing and box mounting products at reasonable prices.

Bokland Custom Visuals also is a complete Large Format Print producer that has a number or printing technologies to compliment any environment. If you need printing on Fabric, Canvas ,Wood, PVC, Banners, Metal ,Wall Covering, Adhesive Back Vinyls we can be your resource.

Click here to learn more about Bokland and all of our services!

Trade Show Awareness

Trade Shows these days are a funny thing, as mentioned in my previous article, costs are up and attendance is down. There still are those heavy hitting decision makers walking the floors however, making choices on whether to attend, how much to spend, how to niche your services, etc., etc, harder to figure out. I just read this past week that McCormick Place in Chicago just lost 2 of it’s largest shows for 2010. The trade show business is definitely a fluid one at best, but I think that there are some ways in which you can leverage the chaos in your favor, especially if you are a small or medium sized business that may not have to rely entirely on tier one, national trade shows to increase your business.

The fact of the matter is that national venues like McCormick Place, The Javitz Center, The Moscone Center are losing their luster in favor of venues like Orlando and even smaller places like The World Trade Center Boston, and resort settings. No, these smaller halls can’t handle big shows, but they do a very good job hosting targeted, niche trade shows and conferences. The question every business considering a trade show must answer is, “Is there enough business to be had in these “boutique” type events?”

A real world example of making these decisions is Bokland’s own experience in trade shows. Twice we have attended the national “Global Shop” trade show, focussing on the point of purchase market on a national level. There were great national prospects walking the show, but there were also literally thousands hundreds of companies competing for their attention. In the end, we walked away with the warm and fuzzy feeling that we had done a national show and looked pretty good doing it, only to find that the ROI never quite came around.

Bokland, At Global Shop 2005, a $30,000 investment in a Trade Show

By contrast, last year Bokland attended the National Brewers Conference in Boston at the World Trade Center. This particular show was two days, cost 1/10 of the amount it cost to do the national show and focussed very specifically on a small niche market. We were able to make a smaller space work for us, we could identify our prospects easily, and weren’t competing with the proverbial 800 lb. gorillas of our industry. We walked away with more business from this specialty trade show than we did displaying twice at the national level. We also advanced our presence as a leader in our particular field within this industry and continue to do so by leveraging this strategy.

Bokland at The National Brewers Conference, a $3000 Trade Show Investment

At the end of the day, we all have to ask ourselves where we fit within our industries. Some, unquestionably, have to work on a national level, but the vast majority of small and medium sized service companies do have a choice in regard to what trade shows they attend, and should without question make this a part of their decision making process!

Take color management to the next level

Soft-proofing is an on-screen simulation of how your image will look when output to an inkjet printer, substrate and ink combination or an RGB printer like the lightJet. It is based on an output profile of that device made especially for a that substrate and ink combination. A calibrated monitor is crucial for viewing color accurately and soft-proofing can take your images and color control to the next level.

A printer can not reproduce the entire range of colors that are viewable on a monitor, these are known as out of gamut colors. Each printer, paper, ink combination has its own gamut or range of reproducible colors. There may also be a shift in color balance from what you see on your monitor to the print. If you’re sending images or a design project to a printer for output on their LightJet or large format printer, the need for proof prints can be minimized with soft-proofing and you can identify what colors may need a little attention.

To soft-proof your image in Photoshop, select View > Proof Setup > Custom.



The Proof Setup dialog box will pop up, in the first drop down select the profile for the output you’ll be using. You can request this from your printer or photo lab. Next, select a rendering intent. These are the methods by which out-of-gamut colors are mapped from the working space to the gamut of the printer, paper and ink. Perceptual works well for most images especially if there are many out-of-gamut colors. Relative Colorimetric can be better choice if your image doesn’t have any colors that are out-of-gamut for the intended output. Meaning there is less interpolation in the mapping of color to the output device, where as Perceptual there may be more interpolation in mapping colors, attempting to preserve the relationship of colors inside and outside the output gamut. Black Point Compensation should be checked, this ensures shadow detail will be maintained in the output gamut.



The Simulate Paper Color and Black Ink check boxes add a simulation of the whites and blacks of the profiled paper and ink. When a printer profile is made the color of the paper is one of the factors in building the profile, because the spectrophotometer is reading the combination of the ink, and the paper below it. These can be helpful if you are printing on off white or tinted substrates.

When you click OK, you will see a simulation of the image printed through your output profile. To toggle between the proof simulation and the normal view press Ctrl-Y.

Soft proofing can be a very valuable tool when preparing images for your trade show exhibit, POP poster or décor project. Feel free to email with any questions or to request one of our output profiles.

Paolo DeSanctis
Graphics Production

Planning For Your Trade Show Will Yield Results!

As mentioned in last weeks trade show blog, there are better and better prospects available on show floors these days, getting their attention and time is the trick. Here are a couple of ideas to help you to that end, while also helping to limit costs associated with attending a show.

Understanding the reason why you are at the Trade Show is they key to attracting the right people to your booth. There are tons of shows, all of which provide some sort of niche when it comes to attendees. This makes picking that right niche the most important single thing you can do in attending a show, especially if you are like most small businesses, with limited time, staffing and money to attend multiple shows. Figure out where you’ll get the most “bang for the buck” and you have taken the first step to success.

Once you have done that, crafting the right message and image to portray at the show becomes your next biggest test. Not only do you have to worry about the exhibit itself and how it looks, but also all of the pre-show marketing stuff that has to be done. It doesn’t matter how good you look, if your message falls on deaf ears, you are already behind the eight ball!

To this point, you need to know the niche that you will be selling to extremely well. Tailor your message and all of your collateral toward what you already know compels them. Invite the decision makers and influencers to your exhibit for a visit, giving them something in return for their effort. (This might be as simple as a promotional product or as elaborate as a discount off their next order.) Once they visit, be ready to accomplish what you intended to do from square one with that prospect.

Most so far is strategy, and that truly is the most important part of trade show success. Of course, if your prospects don’t recognize you when they get to the show, you have obviously done something wrong. While this sounds like a pith from a graphics company to have an elaborate exhibit, it’s really just a check to make sure that your exhibit materials look good and are on point.

If you are new to the trade show world, there are several ways to look great and not spend a ton of money in doing so. There are exhibit solutions that cater to limited budgets as well as others that may cost a little more up-front, but that save you money in the long-term by making graphic switches easier and more cost effective.

No matter what your level of need, there is a way for you to look great and achieve outstanding results at your next show. We would encourage you to speak with your trade show company (if not Bokland Custom Visuals) to discuss your options. Any good vendor will ask you the right questions to put you in the right exhibit solution for your needs, and once that is done have a selection of quality hardware and print options to fit your particular need.

Why Use Our Box Mounts?

Box Mounts Are:

• Beautiful ,simple and elegant
• Made to fit any environment or décor
• Sturdy, lightweight and ready to hang
• Quality reproductions made from any photographic, art or graphic original
• Archival, utilizing 70 year rated photographic materials
• Protected with UV lamination that can easily be cleaned
• Made up to any size from 8"x10" to 4ft'x 8ft including panoramas
• Easily  ordered online at www.digitalphotoprints.biz
• Efficiently produced  so we can provide incredible value

Please Contact Rick Bokland for details!

Photography rep needed for photo wall décor projects!

Fine Art and Nature Photographers

Try our Online Professional Photo website dedicated to Photo Wall Décor and receive a free 11x14 LightJet Box Mounted with your image!

Your images matched with our LightJet Box Mounting creates a simple and elegant treatment that will compliment any office or hospitiality environment.

Bokland will also include 3 other Box Mount molding samples and custom wall covering into a sample décor kit.

Our digitalphotoprints.biz website allows you to upload images or graphics into galleries and order LightJet Photographic Prints in Box Mount frames to fit any image, even panoramas. With our systems we can offer professional high quality reproductions as Box Mounts at exceptional value, either purchased online or worked up as a project via a quote with Bokland Custom Visuals.

You can order quantity display prints any size at low wholesale pricing and experience many unique features that can be customized to meet your professional objectives, including webstore plug-ins from your existing website.

Bokland Custom Visuals also is a complete Large Format Print producer that has a number or printing technologies to compliment any environment with printing on Fabric, Canvas, Wood, PVC, Banners, Metal ,Wall Covering or Adhesive Back Vinyls.

We are a great resource for stock art, graphic and photographic images for any décor. Matched with our printing and box mounting products or custom framing.

Bokland Custom Visuals is seeking décor reps who can meet with office and hospitality décor professionals in your area. Services offered may include photography and local imagery, your stock images , image and art consulting, display prints with custom framing or Box Mount , large format printing, logistics and on-site installation all from a single source.

Please Contact Us!