Top Industry Supplier Award goes to SmartSource

The most innovative and distinguished suppliers in the Trade Show & Meetings industry are selected to receive the Top Industry Supplier Award from Conventions.net. It’s no surprise that the Nation’s largest Computer and AV rental company was selected to receive this award, but nonetheless SmartSource Rentals is proud to be recognized for outstanding contributions and positive impact within the Trade Show and Meetings industry. The Conventions.net Top Supplier Award is the only one of its kind within the Trade Show & Meeting industry for suppliers.

SmartSource has been heavily involved in providing high quality Computer and AV rental equipment and technology solutions to trade shows, meetings, conventions, expos and countless similar events for decades. We have a huge depth of experience among all our staff and a reputation for doing whatever it takes to meet the unique needs of clients leading up to an event, on the trade show floor or meeting room, and afterwards with pickup and teardown.

A large majority of companies, vendors, and small businesses continually come back to SmartSource year after year to handle their meetings and trade show rental needs. These businesses know they can depend on SmartSource in any city, for any size show, for any amount of time. They know that SmartSource owns their own tradeshow rental equipment, has additional items or replacements nearby in one of their 22 locations, and has professional techs with real trade show and meeting experience to help get the equipment setup and running on time and up to spec.

Another advantage to renting Computer & AV equipment from a National leader like SmartSource Rentals, is the ability to provide the same equipment and solutions to every show a business attends throughout the season or the year. There is a major relief in knowing one company has the ability to provide the same order, setup, or equipment to 50 shows around the nation or just 5 shows around the same area. Working with one point of contact who is familiar with an order and can replicate that order anywhere you need it, can save precious time, energy, and money. Nobody wants to keep track of five different companies, five different sales representatives, and five different sets of equipment when they have the same need for their meeting or trade show. This is why businesses and companies continue to choose SmartSource, and this is why SmartSource was awarded the Top Industry Supplier Award from Conventions.net!

If you’re not happy with your current rental provider, or are looking for ways to save money or improve on your existing rental agreement give us a call and see how we can help. 800.888.8686 or fill out our rental quote form.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Webinar Series 2 - Social Media Marketing Shift

Register now FREE - Session 3: Thursday, August 27, 1:00-2:00 EDT
Proven Strategies for Stimulating Traffic and Loyalty

Summary Of  Session 2:
Thursday, August 20, 1:00-2:00 EDT

The Great Marketing Shift: Leveraging “Pull” Social Media Strategies to connect Buyers and Sellers

Harness the Power, MTO Webinar

* The effectiveness of community, content and conversation
* Supporting purpose and passion
* Six rules for viral marketing
* Easy-to-use relationship tools

Speaker:
RD Whitney, CEO, Tarsus Online Media
Through his 19-year career, RD has become an expert developing online and offline communities that bring buyers and sellers together. He has deep knowledge in creating paid content models. RD has an impressive track record of building, growing and acquiring media assets to maximize value for investors.

Summary on the webinar:

This webinar is still available online here and had some great comments and information from RD Whitney on this great marketing shift relating to social media that is going on right now. Customers today are expecting everthing to be available to them whenever they choose to look for it, and companies need to realize this. Social Media is adding a new element to the already search centric world that connects Buyers/Sellers online.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Dual Post Stand

Sometimes the practical items can be the most important factor in your trade show rental experience. With all the high tech HDTV Plasma Monitor Rentals, Touchscreens, and LCD Displays, it can be easy to forget the simple things - like where you are going to put your monitor & how it will need to be mounted in relation to your booth.

One of the most common ways to mount your LCD Rental or Plasma Display at a Trade Show is with a dual post stand. SmartSource usually provides a 72″ dual post stand with most of our larger monitor rentals, along with an optional shelf that can house a laptop, computer, or DVD player. These dual post stands are a simple and space-saving way to get you monitor raised up off the trade show floor so attendees can view it, as well as allowing you some freedom to position around your booth wherever it is most effective. Dual Post stands have a heavy secure base and will support most large monitors.

A 42″ monitor and a dual post stand can fit in a 10 x 10 trade show booth along with a table and enough room left over to interact with attendees on the trade show floor. If you have a larger booth you can even consider multiple monitors on multiple dual post stands in different areas around the booth to maximize your impact.

SmartSource stocks thousands of monitors in all kinds of types, sizes, and brands. We have extensive experience in installing, mounting, & connecting these monitor rentals to your laptop, DVD player or other video signal.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Apple Mac Pro 8-Core Tower

Two Quad-Core processors & upgraded memory (8GB) make these Apple Mac Pro Towers some of the most powerful Mac Pro Rentals available.

Simply put, these new Mac Pro Towers from SmartSource Rentals are AWESOME, and like every Apple Computer, they are as beautiful as they are powerful. Inside these towers are two Quad-Core Intel 2.8GHz processors that combine to produce 8 times the processing power of a single CPU! SmartSource has also upgraded the memory to 8GB, allowing these machines to handle just about anything you could ever want to do!

• (Two) Quad-Core Intel 2.8 GHz processors
• 8GB Memory
• 16x DVDRW Optical Drive
• 512 MB video card - ATI Radeon HD3870
• 320 GB hard drive
• 802.11 g/n wireless

Apple Mac Pro Rentals put the processing power you need at your fingertips without having to spend the thousands of dollars it would cost to purchase an upgraded machine. At the time of this post, the cost to purchase a comparable Mac Pro is over $5,000 dollars! Rent this Mac Pro from SmartSource and save!

SmartSource stocks thousands of Computer & AV Rentals nationwide available for business or event rentals. Be sure to check out our full selection of rental equipment including MacBook Pro Rentals, Imac Rentals, and PC Laptop Rentals.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Social Media Webinar Series

The first of three Social Media webinars sponsored by SmartSource was a big success last week and there are two more coming up fast so be sure to register now! If you are wondering how Social Media can help out with marketing your business, want to learn more from some hands on experts, or just see what all the buzz is about, then these free webinars are a great resource to help you learn. Sign up now and starting getting involved in one of the fastest growing new phenomenons on the web.

• Register for Free Webinar Thursday Aug 20th - The Great Marketing Shift: Leveraging “Pull” Social Media Strategies to connect Buyers and Sellers

• Register for Free Webinar Thursday Aug 27th - Proven Strategies for Stimulating Traffic and Loyalty

The first webinar in this series has also been posted online if you registered but could not attend or just want to review the information that was presented in more detail. You can check it out here.

The first webinar in this series touched on a variety of topics including the social media landscape, tools available, best practices and more. Here at SmartSource we are just getting started with social media but have already found it to be a great resource for communicated with other people who are involved in a lot of the same things we are involved with, or with people who are actively looking for our products and services.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Digital Document Library

A Digital Document Library allows users to browse through a collection of documents much like you might browse for a book in a bookstore. When a user comes across a document they’re interested in, they simply click or touch the screen to retrieve it in a way that is most convenient to them – Download to USB stick, Email, Print on Demand etc. This empowers users to gather information they are looking for in a format most convenient to them. It also allows the company, business, or sponsor providing the Digital Document Library to gain relevant information on the user browsing their documents – either by scanning a badge, business card, or having the user manually enter their information on screen. User information is stored in a secure database along with data on which documents were requested. This information is available after the event in a report for follow up and analysis.

Digital Document Libraries from SmartSource Rentals are quickly becoming a popular way for companies, businesses, and sponsors to distribute information at trade shows, conventions and other similar events. A Digital Document Library can deliver different kinds of electronic documents in a variety of ways - download to USB stick, print on demand, email/upload on demand, etc. Visitor and attendees at tradeshows are able get information they need in their preffered format, and companies are able to gather relevant information on the users requesting their documents. Digital Document Libraries from SmartSource Rentals can run on any desktop PC or Laptop, and are often used with an Interactive Touch screen Kiosk or touch screen monitor.

Digital Document Libraries require some lead time to configure depending on the depth and scope of the documents. Most companies and businesses already have information in digital format that just needs to be added to a library. SmartSource Computer & AV Rentals provides complete Digital Document Library Solutions Nationwide, as well as computer and interactive touch screen kiosks and PC’s to display the library. For more information, visit our main Digital Document Library page.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Robert Lind’s article in MPIGNY Metrolines

Robert Lind wrote an article that was recently published in MPIGNY Metrolines Magazine regarding sound quality and venue location. This article originated on his blog and gives some good advice on what things to take into consideration as you work with a sound vendor for your next event. These often overlooked steps can make a huge impact on the success of your next event and ensure that your audience hears what the speakers have to say. Congratulations & thanks goes out to Robert for writing the article and having it featured in Metrolines!

The Greek Shall Inherit the Earth
By Robert Lind, SmartSource Computer & Audio Visual Rentals

There is a very funny scene in Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” where Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount, and the characters in the back have trouble hearing him. Instead of “the meek shall inherit the earth,” they think he says the “Greek,” and proceed to get into an argument as to “who is this Greek?” and “why does he deserve to inherit the earth?” As a meeting planner, how many events have you been to where you couldn’t hear the speakers? Meetings are about transmitting a message to the audience. If your audience can’t hear the message, what good are great speakers?

Rather than going into a technical explanation of what makes good sound
and how to get it, I’d like to give you a few ideas to take along with you
when you talk to your sound vendor. With these, you might be able to
improve the sound at your next meeting or event.

Sound systems are designed with three factors in mind:

-The size of the audience–People absorb sound. The more people
in a confined space, the louder the sound system will need to be
to compete with not only the absorption from the audience, but
also the general crowd noise.

-The physical space –Acoustically speaking, there is a large
difference between providing sound in an all-glass atrium and in an
outdoor amphitheater. Although those are extremes, knowing the
size of the room, including the ceiling height, is a good start. It
would also be helpful to know about wall and floor coverings.

-The ambient sound levels–Once again, I would supply two very
different sound systems to a meeting in an office vs. a meeting on
an airport runway. What is the background noise level with which
the sound system will need to compete?

The best idea, of course, is a site inspection. Taking the extra time to walk the venue with your audio vendor will benefit you immensely. At the very least, you should take the time to speak with your audio vendor, making sure all these important sound factors are understood.

Popularity: 4% [?]