Book a Tampa event six to ten weeks ahead. Press time isn't the constraint. Getting the gear across the country from Fullerton and the crew onto flights before load-in is.
How far out, by type of event
- Convention booths, Gasparilla weekends, stadium days: book at the ten-week end. Those dates crowd hotels and freight schedules across Tampa.
- Parties, launches and company nights: six to eight weeks is usually plenty. Once we have the venue and a headcount, the plan is set.
- Anything inside six weeks: ask us. The answer depends on the freight, and plain art on standard blanks improves the odds.
- Seven days before: the art is locked and we order the blanks.
What speeds things up
Get us the load-in rules early. Tampa Convention Center schedules freight through marshalling, and hotels bring vendors in through service entrances at fixed times, so the freight can't be booked until we know them. Final art and a headcount that stays put help just as much.
Date moved? Tell us two weeks ahead so we can move the freight with it.
The short answer is on booking lead time, and costs are on pricing. When you have a date, send it over.
Tampa planning
Summer dates need one more thing
From June through September, storms roll across the bay most afternoons. Any outdoor station needs a tent with weighted legs or a room to move into, and that's far easier to arrange with the full booking window.
We're a Fullerton crew, so for Tampa the gear crosses the country as freight and the printers land a day early to build. Each station takes roughly a 10×10 space on two dedicated 120V/20A circuits.