Community Support
How does a 100% remote team support its local
community when there’s no local office?
We found a way, and it takes a story to explain it.
When we have room for our 20-foot booth, we’ll have a 45″ TV for demonstrations and a 70+” TV to catch your eye, convey news about the company, our show schedule, our software, etc. Our 10-foot booth will only accommodate a single 45″ TV.
It can be difficult to get modern, large-size high-resolution televisions from show vendors. Some locations have them, some don’t. In some locations, the equipment is old and so it doesn’t provide the high-resolution experience we want to exhibit hall visitors to see. The TVs we use need to support USB drives and HDMI. An engineering software company needs… consistency, right?
Shipping televisions repeatedly is risky. Ask anyone – even the people who do the shipping for trade shows – and they will tell you that televisions frequently (or eventually) arrive broken. Highways are rough in places. Mistakes happen when moving crates around.
Mack meeting with a volunteer for Rose Haven (Portland, OR) to deliver a donated TV after SEAOC 2024.
What happens when our booth team discovers a TV is broken?
Breakage of the TVs we’re planning to use at a show would be discovered during booth setup. This is usually the day before the show opens. In some cases, booth setup is barely hours before the show opens.
It’s not a good time to ask our booth team to scramble to replace two TVs, particularly the 70″+ one.
The alternative is rent from the trade show vendors. Unfortunately, this usually means you get an aging, low-tech TV. Rentals tend to be smaller than we need. We prefer the larger sizes to properly present our products. Rentals tend to be older than we’d like, because show vendors can’t justify the economics of replacing them frequently. Worst of all, these older rentals tend to be lower resolution models.
On top of that, you’ll find that the rental pricing for any TV from a trade show vendor will be higher than the price of buying a brand-new TV.
Mack (left) and Seth delivering 2 donated TVs to a representative of Magdalena House (San Antonio, TX) after NASCC 2024.
We found what we believe is a better way.
Our tradeshow logistics coordinator finds a local store in the city where we’re going to exhibit at a trade show – and buys TVs from them. We get the TVs delivered to the exhibit hall and get them to the booth via the local show’s logistics vendor.
Our logistics coordinator then finds a non-profit organization in the area that is interested accepting 1 or more almost-new TVs as a donation. We tend to seek out organizations supporting women and/or children.
When we arrive at the show, we unpack and setup brand new, factory-packaged TVs that were purchased locally.
When the show is over, the local TV beneficiary (or beneficiaries) arrange to meet us at the show location. Our booth team hauls the TVs out to their parking area and loads them into the beneficiary’s vehicle(s).
We get great TVs – exactly the model, size and resolution we need, and we reduce our show expenses a little.
A local non-profit organization gets new TVs – something that they might struggle to justify in their budget.
Seth delivering 2 donated TVs to a representative of ourBRIDGE for KIDS (Charlotte, NC) after NASCC 2023.
Seth delivering two donated TVs to a representative of Refuge for Women (Las Vegas, NV) after NCSEA 2024. Qnect joined the cause and provided a third TV to Refuge for Women.
ENERCALC, LLC
400 W Broadway St, STE 101-515
Missoula, MT 59802
Mail us
info@enercalc.com (Business office)
support@enercalc.com (Technical and engineering support)