Any ideas for hosting a tree booth at the county fair?

[NebClimber]

I am setting up a booth at the local county fair. The booth is indoors, for 4 days. I need some ideas to make the display a success.

Some ideas of my own:

Give away a tree trimming or removal valued up to $500. Each contestant for this prize will have to submit name, work they want done, etc. Drawing at end of fair will determine winner.

Give away a tree book. I am thinking about a neat coffee-table book. Any ideas?

Set up a game related to tree work. I have no idea what this might be. Any ideas? (e.g., "name that tree"; or set up a climbing line in the rafter and see if contestant can pull themselves up in a saddle).

ISA pamphlets on proper pruning.

Any other ideas or criticism of my ideas?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Whoa!

This is a new concept to me!

Hmmmm...

 

[treeman82]

Possibly a throw ball toss type deal? It shouldn't be TOO hard to contain, and it can be kind of fun. If you want to raffle off some work, possibly get a charity involved. Like that, you will be making yourself look good, plus getting word out about your company. Not to mention the fact that if you do a job for a charity, it would be a tax deduction. Have some pamphlets handy on a table nearby. Even if the work doesn't go to you, you would at least hopefully be effecting the way that work is performed in your locale.

 

[Dadatwins]

Kind of scared about the service giveaway also. What may be $500.00 to you may be no where near someone else idea. Maybe give away a free tree planting valued at $$$. At least the tree has a tangible value and you have a better idea of the labor involved. Would try to do planting at local school, church someplace visible. Like the idea of the throw ball toss if you have enough area to contain it safely and some one to retrieve it if it gets stuck. Might want to contact local ISA if member to get pamplets and such. Giveaway pens, magnets, keychains, anything with company name and phone #. Good luck.

 

[Ax-man]

I agree with Rocky 200%, DON"T I REAPEAT DON"T give away any of your labor and equipment.

We were in a trade show once and raffled a face cord of wood, the darn winner didn't need the wood but asked if we could do some trimming equal to the value of the wood, guess who got the short end of the stick on that one, good old Ax-man.

Just stick to the advertising promos as give aways, ISA phamphlets good idea, also.

I'd pass on the climbing part unless you have good insurance to cover a fall.

How about a kid's throw ball setup??

Dissected diseased wood specimens can be quite eyecatching, especially if you can get them sanded smooth and a litlle clear poly on them.

We also had a model of a house and high risk trees with defects showing how they could affect the property and buildings around them. We also had some photos of tree failures due to wind and other causes. Mrs. Ax-man gets credit for this one, we must have did a good job because we were offered a $100 for the model by a bank to display for Arbor Day, we sold the display with the stipulation that they couldn't tell the people the trees were high risk. LOL LOL back in the 80's people weren't into trees as they are now. A $100 bucks looked pretty good at the time because we were just going to throw it out after the show.

Just put your best foot forward and go for it Neb, it will be a an experience you won't forget or regret.

Larry

 

[trimmmed]

Forget the gimmicks and the "come ons" They will just produce lousy leads. Have a display that makes it clear, what you do, maybe some pics of your work, maybe video. Just be yourself and talk to folks, since no one will be bringing their tree in to the show, your focus should be on getting good leads, and setting up appointments. Wear good shoes, you'll be doin alot of standing.

 

[okietreedude1]

Ive been to a booth at a garden show. the guy had info from the ISA like 'how to hire an arborist', planting trees, pruning, insect/disease, the like. Also had a sign up for people wanting est.'s on having work done. He had a nice tree to give away and seems like the guy that won it ?????ed about haveing to take it home and plant it (his wife signed up and won).

I would make a nice looking display and mainly be available for questions. Great way for customer relations. tree samples, common insect problems, disease, etc.

good luck! and great idea.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Yeah great idea Steven, besty to giveaway not Free treework but free treeplanting--accentuate the positive!

Sure, what you want to to promo is your co. doing good treework, but you can do that with pamphlets etc. pm me if you want a shortterm loan of videos to show; I can prune Cass's pruning video and the preservation video etc. for you. then you can just bring a tv and invite folks to view a 5 min. on the topic they want to see.

Pens a good idea; $.20 ea., or notepads, best thing is to have a goodlooking tree on display (with action figures climbing? Ask TD about his use of them) for a lucky raffle winner to get planted in their yard.

Yes dissected samples with codit lines shown also good display.

 

[a_lopa]

im having a stand at a big garden expo over here,im taking out my chipper tipper and grinder to put on display,going to tip small amount of good quility chips to get orders for chips and spruk how good they are. but mainly to show gardeners the usefulness of quik brush disposal,stump removal to people that otherwise wouldnt get it done,there my main objectives any tree work is a bonus.its an outside event and ive asked to be put next to a tree, there are ash trees out there about 40' ill run a lifeline up and set a pulley in top with work line for a quik demo or to show,but after being in this buis for a while you could go out there and talk tree care all day and make little difference,

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by aussie_lopa
you could go out there and talk tree care all day and make little difference,

True. Tha's why Steven's looking for ideas on what to show, not tell.

If you talk tree care like you mean it, and with good displays like codit and pictures of healthy trees and data on how livable it is around trees (and unlivable without), you will make a difference.
How about a display of a soil profile, showing healthy roots and symbionts in good soil, and urban soil as a contrast?

If tree care to you is just a low-profit distraction from your main goal of removals, which you get from feeding on people's fear of ants, for instance, then you're right, you will make little difference.

Steven, a TV is a magnet to people, can you put one in, or better yet above, your booth?

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Those are pretty good (of course); and prolly the way it should be done in some form. Let me further lend, thoughts on tree planting (that prolly could be played up a lil'more at the time of the 'event of planting' for another boost....)for prize(s); rather than removal or altering a tree.... As far as sellable image; with a lil'L.U.C.K. ; the joy of the growing tree would that you gave and nurtured would be more noteworthy than were one once stood, or was trimmed off of something. If, you did the same on succeeding years, you might mention name(s) of previous winners. If you gave away tree plantings, you might list all, or picture, give location; this would be more impact i think in all ways. Even if it had to come down in 30 years, somehow it would be more note/news worthy that you gave away it's planting etc. perhaps. Enthusiasm; that can be incited by different options taken, would be the yeast, (seeds sown) that raises the dough??

i just got my Sherrill order with the $8 Doc Shigo "Tree Basics"; that i would think you would want to have a few copies of this lil'book chained down to counter! Full 8x10, 5x7 pix/drawings in a light 30 pages. Seems made to order. Prolly everyone here can afford one of these, get stuff out of it, show it around, even make a sale(s) etc. A great lil'booklet showing draiwngs we've grown with, microscopic slides etc.

Also, a Sherrill Right/Wrong T-Shirt might be in order! $3 tree planting guide has good pix too! As well as the inside of their 2003 cover with Tree Care cartoons!



High School Talk Presentation Ideas

 

[Reed]

I started out my treatment regimens for disease after four years of watching my test sights, at a Herb fest and a following Green Fair. Rented a booth and placed before and after pics on top of the table, on green felt, under plate glass.

I also brought six pet Bonzai trees for effect and show...a live oak, a Sitka Spruce, a paper birch, an Asian hemlock and a couple road side cedars I cleaned-up nicely. Great effect.

I would suggest you contact the local Bonzai society or the local store that sells them, offer to present their card alongside the sample trees they might loan you..it would do them great for business. Also attracts a lot of attention towards your booth and stimulates questions about trees. Go from there. Don't forget to add spice with ropes coiled and hanging, your carabiners, and maybe a few pics of yourself rescuing a squirrel puppy.

Good luck and execise patience - there are some dicks out there. Kiss the babies, and don't stare at the breasts of the wives while talking to the husbands!!

 

[a_lopa]

Guy, good tree care starts with, 1 being competitive, if your not you wont be working on the tree anyhow.2 being able to do the lot. fine pruning/removals,big trees3 then do good tree work,all the time.buy the sound of some of your coments if you find big tree work difficult, its never too late to learn it might remove the chip off your shoulder.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Today i showed the lil'booklet "Tree Basics" around to some 'civilians'.

The large pictures and drawings, and the few directive words for your attention's to be focused to point; draw you in to a different world. The simple, logical philosophies backed up by microscopic analysis and forensic surgery; with the reader in a front row seat for the ride. The way it cleanly blows up former beleifs can be disarming, almost mesmerizing to leave the mind open for more, that they might have missed.

If i had a booth with walls, for $16 i would consider buying 2 copies and neatly wallpapering the walls, as the cheapest attention getter, a mind opener, and maybe a large part of the goal achieved of getting message across of new science to follow and have mind open to.



i think that Guy is coming to some realizations and trying to share them and bring others along, not shirking work. One of the better threads i always thought was the epiphany where Brian (aliias Rocky, alias TreeClimber165, alias...)goes to Split-Tails/cords etc. The moment of change is always different, and cataloging that for others to read as they look at, and enter the same gauntlet of learning curve, can show you made it, issues you tumbled with. Rather than, "i jumped across, why not you?" as a constant message.

Also, as you catch more and more of the no spiking, painting etc. green religion; a certain amount of guilt for past Eviler-that-Tom-Daze can set in i think. i value the twilight between the 2 shifting positions as one advances being better lit, some of the way shown in many places i have seen it here. Sometimes it makes me realize, i could learn that too.

Edit; while wearing one of the Right/Wrong tree care shirts(Sherrill Only?), it is pretty cool. If you are looking at the bizness sense of it; let this be your differentation from the rest of the tree services in the back of your mind if ye must. And just on the front side, tell the clean truth simply well without distraction. Perhaps you 'd end up with people more concerned about trust than money or something. Might be worth a try! The books would make good coffee table books/prizes as they take you into a different world, disproving fallacies etc.

Or something like that
:alien:

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by aussie_lopa
if you find big tree work difficult,

Aussie, big removals are physically difficult for my weakened system (leukemia, loss of lung power, old age), but still possible. I just bid and got 2 removals from a consulting job today, ~20" dbh, both will need some rigging.

Your 1,2,3 works for you; great. My priorities are the reverse--your #3, Doing good tree work, is my #1. Your #'s 1 and 2 are irrelevant to me. I don't need to price very competitively because I am good and my clients know that. But all companies are different.
I won't touch a stump grinder, or "do it all" because I don't want to. I don't do big removals because mainly I hate to see the earth losing another one. The 2 removals I got today( 1 dead, 1 defective), I also sold planting replacements; the client understood my company policy to cause no net loss of trees.

Aussie you never did answer what AU ants do that makes you sell removals just because ants are in trees. When you answer that one, the chip will come off my shoulder.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Ants are the least worry concerning tree care.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

At the suggestion of another company in a trade show, I did some $20 off coupons. The only one I got back was from somebody who was already a customer - a twenty dollar loss.

If you do more than one apsect of work - like landscaping too - don't add it. Keep the booth to one aspect, unless they ask.

The ISA brochures sound fine.

 

[a_lopa]

black ants that live in and under the tree over here, create a warm house for themselves and give the tree bad footing.which i have told before on AS.as far as my 1,2,3 i dont have to chase work myself, but i dont let a job just go by either in 30 yr old with plenty of fuel left in the tank.i only do good tree work where ever i go,thats why i can only work for myself.i was only saying i wouldnt spruk tree care all day as im over that, people that want to know why will ask.on the other hand if a client want something done that isnt in the theres or the tres best interests ill tell them and basically say its a stupid idea,i havnt alot of patience.in twelve years ive worked for many tree cos from one man operations to 60 towers 260 employee line clearing money making machines.

 

[a_lopa]

guy,i never sell any tree work as you keep putting it.if you know anything about psycoligy people want to buy not be sold

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by aussie_lopa
black ants that live in and under the tree over here, create a warm house for themselves and give the tree bad footing.
lopa. the only previous words from you on this were "black ants will live in the tree creating themselves a warm hollow,not good.i cut down a perfectly healthy euc today smooth bark up around 30ft in one limb was a hollow of these buggers only a ft long.".
How do you know the ants created the hollow? Maybe they just moved in?? And how risky did that hollow make the tree? Do you have any scientific studies you can refer me to explaining this warm house/bad footing theory?

"i wouldnt spruk tree care all day as im over that

Translation, please: what does "spruk" mean?" Sounds like German "sprechen" which means "speak".
How did you get over that? It gets frustrating not getting the message through, true, but is that a reason to just stop, and make doing good tree care your #3 priority in your business?