When you plan a trade show or exhibition, you might wonder how insurance companies fit into the scheme of things.

The simple fact of the matter is that  business organizations these

days are investing more and more money in trade shows and exhibitions.

First of all, there is the custom exhibition stand. These can cost tens

of thousands of pounds sometimes. Sometimes they have been designed

from scratch by a professional design company.

First sketches were floated, then the design was converted into digital

3D, then complex and detailed graphics panels were designed, and

finally the whole design was brought to reality by a team of skilled

engineers – and this entire process cost your company a  vast amount of

money. Think about your losses, without insurance companies covering

you, if this state of the art custom stand were to be damaged, for

example, in transit.

That could happen, you know – incorrect packing could do it, or even a

minor trucking accident. Or a little slip loading or unloading it, or

not tying it down properly when the truck is on the move. Each point

that I've mentioned here is a distinct possibility, and any of them

could lead to the loss of your custom stand. Then there are things that

could happen on site as well – a small fire, for instance.

Even a small fire would be enough to damage your stand, and the fire

fighting foam that would inevitably be sprayed all over the stand to

put out the fire would do the rest. With good insurance companies on

your side you need never worry about something like this.

And we are still only considering the cost of the stand itself. What

about the on-site equipment that you'll be using? Perhaps you have an

on board, state of the art sound system that costs a small fortune,

speakers and all. Then you have spotlights to show off your stand –

these could easily fall prey to a power surge or short circuit. You

might even have an expensive movie projector as well as luxury seating

arrangements that could go up in smoke in case of an accident or fire.

You have to consider the potential losses if something should go wrong,

and you don't have the coverage and support of one of the main

insurance companies. Almost all the items I've mentioned here represent

long term investments. This is equipment your company is going to be

using again and again for trade shows over perhaps the next ten years.

Can you afford to lose, and replace it, at the whim of random chance,

or due to a minor, unforeseeable accident? Of course not.

A good insurance company will cover not only the cost of all this

equipment, but also the little extras – the banner that you place over

your exhibition stand, for example, or the smaller banners you place

around the grounds – each of which costs money. Insurance companies

will also cover the cost of the promotional items you might store at

your stand, as well as your employees. You do not want to end up paying

heavy damages to one of your employees because a banner stand fell on

him.

It really is better to be safe than sorry, and it is always best to

take reasonable precautions against disaster, and a good insurance

company is in business precisely to guard you against any such disaster.

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