PLMA Trade Show Booth & Pre-Show Campaign — 2026-04-05

Overview

Working session with Diana Henry (Didion) and the Asymmetric team (Melissa Cusumano, Michał Bielerzewski) to refine booth design messaging, plan the pre-show pull-tab promotion strategy, and flag urgent website and payment issues. Booth designs need to be finalized this week for leadership review, with printing targeted for the week of the 20th while Diana is out.

Attendees:
- Diana Henry — Didion (dhenry@didioninc.com)
- Melissa Cusumano — Asymmetric
- Michał Bielerzewski — Asymmetric

Key Decisions

• "Product Customization" replaces "Product Performance & Consistency" as the section header on the capabilities panel — cleaner, more relevant to the PLMA audience.
• "Supply Logistics" replaces "Transportation Capabilities" — shorter, more strategic-sounding.
• "Packaging Flexibility" proposed to replace "Packaging Options" — more dynamic language.
• Redundant copy (e.g., "bulk" appearing twice, repeated "granulation" references) to be removed; font sizes can increase once copy is trimmed.
• Booth layout confirmed as 10×20 ft with no sidewall on the aisle — this affects panel and podium placement significantly.
• Podium is lighted/electrical — if placed anywhere other than the left front corner, electrical routing must be planned in the floor layout diagram before vinyl flooring is laid.
• White drape backdrop (8 ft tall behind the booth) and a 3-ft Habsie half-wall are confirmed booth elements.
• Wood-texture background retained for panel designs for now; alternate textured background explored but felt inconsistent with the three center illuminated panels.
• Decision to investigate cost of additional illuminated panels vs. retractable/grasshopper banners for the side positions — if the price delta is reasonable, matching illuminated panels are preferred for a cohesive look.
• Pre-show pull-tab promotion will use a dedicated landing page with a form fill (lead gen) as the mechanism to participate — modeled on the prior Snackspo campaign page.
• "Fast facts" questionnaire to be developed for the sales team to capture prospect info at the booth.

Action Items

Hard deadline: Booth designs finalized this week → leadership review over the weekend/Monday → send to print the week of the 20th.

Booth Design Details

Physical Specs

• Size: 10×20 ft
• Backdrop: White pipe-and-drape, 8 ft tall
• Partition: 3-ft Habsie half-wall (white drape)
• Flooring: Wood-look vinyl (not carpet)
• Lighting: Three center panels are illuminated; podium is also lighted and requires electrical routing
• No sidewall on the aisle — affects which panels face traffic and where the podium/demo area should sit

Messaging Updates (Capabilities Panel)

Sub-copy to be simplified: remove duplicate "bulk," consolidate "granulation" references to one location, trim to two-word headers where possible for readability at 10+ ft distance.

Podium

• Two-sided; can carry different messaging on each face
• One side: QR code (links to landing page / lead gen form)
• Other side: consistent brand messaging
• Michał to update design in Miro (posted below banner comments)

Open Question: Side Panel Format

• Three center panels are illuminated and confirmed
• Side positions: illuminated panels vs. retractable banners — cost comparison needed before final decision
• If Didion plans to do more 10×20 booths in the future, the investment in matching illuminated panels may be justified

Pre-Show Promotion Strategy

Pull-Tab Campaign

Modeled on the prior Snackspo campaign ("Claim Your Snacks Pull Tab" page):
- Dedicated landing page on the Didion website
- Page promotes the booth (PLMA show, booth number TBD) and the pull-tab prize mechanic
- Form fill required to participate — captures prospect contact info and allows pre-scheduling of a booth meeting
- Bonus pull tab offered for scheduling a meeting in advance
- QR code on booth podium drives traffic to the page

Additional Pre-Show Elements

• Email graphics for pre-show outreach campaign
• "Fast facts" questionnaire — short intake form for the sales team to use during booth conversations
• Diana to finalize the theming/concept document before Asymmetric can begin design work on the landing page and email assets

Timing

• Diana out the week of the 20th
• Pre-show materials scoping to begin after Monday follow-up call
• Booth printing can happen while Diana is out, freeing the team to shift focus to pre-show collateral

Website & Payment Issues

Website 500 Errors

• Site is returning 500 errors (and at least one other error type observed)
• Melissa to identify the appropriate technical resource to investigate — not a design-team task
• Resolution may be tied to or accelerated by the payment platform migration

Square → PayPal Migration

• Didion switched from Square to PayPal for online payments in August (prior to this call)
• The golf outing sponsorship page still uses Square integration and needs to be updated
• A sponsor is already trying to sign up for next year — this is becoming urgent
• Diana had started researching PayPal WordPress plugins but hadn't acted yet
• Team to scope the migration as part of the broader website fix effort

Relevant Transcript Excerpts

On booth messaging philosophy:

"One banner can't tell the whole story… we need to get it there and then we can see and go, okay, what might be missing." — Diana Henry

On the pull-tab campaign mechanic:

"To be able to do any engagement with our pull tabs, win anything at all, to try to win, you're going to have to talk to us, and you have to fill out this form." — Diana Henry

On the payment migration urgency:

"I've got somebody already wanting to sign up for next year… I don't have my [stuff] together to say, here's the website page, you can go on now and order your sponsorship." — Diana Henry

On the booth design timeline:

"I want to get this, this week to leadership so that they can have the weekend and Monday or something like that to consider." — Diana Henry

Related

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• ^[2]