Complaint Review: Tidewater TechExpo

Our company was emailed a trade show event called:  Fort Bragg B2G Conference and Expo.  Tidewater TechExpo and it's owner Jay Elliott charged us $695!  Prior to registering, I spoke with Jay on the phone inquring about wether this event would be appropriate (and worth) us spending our company time, staff, and expense to host a vendor booth.

Jay told me that, "There would be many important military visitors, high ranking officials who would be attending, over 250, that we were the only sign company, that he could arrange to use our services to market the event, he would personally be there every step of the way to ensure our company and other vendors would bennefit from not only the high ranking visitors but also ensure that the vendors would benefit from each others businesses.

When I asked him if our company could reserve a space with an assigned booth number, he said, "No, it was first come first serve."  I have never heard of a trade show where vendors were not permitted to register for or be assigned to a booth.  This was my first sign that this company was unprofessional and unorganized.

After registering and paying the $695, I never heard from Jay Elliott again despite numerous phone calls and emails.  This was the overwhelming consensus with the other vendors at the trade show including the property manager.

Tidewater's website stated that vendors could arrive the day before the event between 8-11:00 pm to set up their tables (again first come first serve).  We arrived at 11:00 to speak with the property manager who informed us that we could arrive at 4:00 pm--so we did.

Day of event, we picked up our blue vendor badges at the front entry.  We notice the red "visitor" badges on the adjoining table filled with hundreds of red badges.  One hour before event ended at 3:00 pm, the table with red "visitor" badges was 3/4 full as Tidewater had so poorly marked this event.  Hardly any visitors arrived and the vendors ended up trying to sell their services to each other.  Most vendors flew in from out of state, and had to pay for event, airline tickets, hotel, and rental cars.  Fortunately, we are local.