Move-in has a month of lead time and a warehouse to absorb mistakes. Move-out has a few hours, a hall full of exhausted people, and a clock that ends with your freight on a truck you didn't choose. Everything in this guide is about the clock.
What has to be true before the show closes
You have a carrier booked. Booked a week ago, with the show name, your booth number, the venue's marshalling yard address, the move-out schedule and the carrier check-in deadline in the booking. A carrier who learns about the check-in deadline on move-out day is a carrier who misses it.
You have a material handling agreement ready. The MHA (some kits call it an outbound bill of lading) is your contractual agreement with the GSC to move your packed freight from the booth to your carrier — or back to their warehouse for pickup, if that's what you elect. It says what's leaving, how many pieces, where it's going, on which carrier, and what the contractor should do if that carrier doesn't show. Nothing leaves the hall without one. Many GSCs now accept it online in advance; if yours does, file it before the show and update the piece count on move-out day. One MHA per destination. Shipping some pieces home and some to the next show is two forms.
You have labels. Outbound labels for every piece, with destination, piece count and your company name. Mixed destinations get visibly different labels.
Your empties are labeled and you know where they are. Empty-container labels went on during move-in. If you bought priority empty-return labels, you'll get your crates back first; otherwise expect to wait for them in the order the hall is cleared.
The move-out sequence
- Nothing comes down before close. Early dismantle is enforced by show management and can cost you your booth position next year.
- Empties come back. Have your dismantle crew scheduled for when the crates realistically arrive, not for the moment the floor closes. A crew standing around waiting for empties is a crew on overtime doing nothing.
- Pack, label, count. Piece count on every label, matched to the MHA.
- Turn in the MHA at the service desk (or confirm the pre-filed one). Keep a copy — a photo is fine.
- Carrier checks in by the deadline. The carrier checks in with the GSC at the marshalling yard (or at the dock, depending on the venue) and gets called in when your freight is staged. Your job is to make sure the carrier is there before the published cutoff.
- Photograph everything packed and labeled before you walk away. If a piece goes missing in transit, this is your evidence of what left the hall.
- Leave the space clean. Abandoned materials are discarded at a fee.
Forced freight
This is the move-out penalty that hurts most, and it's entirely avoidable.
If the GSC has your freight staged and your carrier hasn't checked in by the published deadline, the GSC doesn't wait. The freight is "forced" — and the MHA is where you chose what that means: rerouted on a carrier of the contractor's choosing at that carrier's rates, or returned to the contractor's warehouse to wait for your pickup. Either way you lose control of the cost, and the re-handling charges are added on top.
How it happens: the carrier was told "move-out is Thursday," not "check in by 2:00 p.m. Thursday." Or the carrier was late and nobody at the booth knew to call. Or there was no MHA, so the freight wasn't released, so the carrier left.
How it doesn't happen: the check-in time is in the carrier's booking, on the dismantle crew's instructions, and in the phone of every person on your team who'll be in the hall that day. The planner sets a carrier-check-in alarm on the move-out date for this reason.
Accessorials on the way out
When you fill out the outbound form — yours or the GSC's — there's a list of shipment options: liftgate, inside delivery, residential, pad wrap, do not stack, air ride, delivery appointment. Every one of them is a charge. Tick the ones you need, know what they cost, and expect them on the carrier's invoice. "Residential" in particular: shipping a crate to someone's garage because the office is closed on Saturday is a surcharge, a liftgate, and sometimes a redelivery.
The storage decision
Before move-out, decide where the booth goes next. The options, roughly cheapest to most expensive on a per-show basis:
- Straight to the next show's advance warehouse, if there is one inside the next month. One shipping leg, no storage.
- Back to your own facility. Cheapest storage, if you have the space; you pay freight both ways.
- To your exhibit house. Professional storage, handling, inspection and repair, for a monthly fee plus in/out handling.
- The GSC's storage program, where offered. Convenient for a multi-show season with the same contractor; check the fees and the retrieval lead time.
- Self-storage. Cheap monthly, but nobody inspects it and you handle every pickup.
The decision isn't move-out day's problem. Make it when you book the outbound carrier, because the destination is on the MHA.
The return-freight edge case
If a show is cancelled after your freight has already shipped to the warehouse, material handling has usually already been incurred for what's been received, and the GSC will typically offer to return the freight anywhere you choose using their transportation service. It's worth taking — your own carrier picking up from a contractor's warehouse often means waiting-time and re-handling charges. Rare, but expensive when it happens, and it's a line on the planner's checklist for exactly that reason.
Move-out in one sentence
Carrier booked a week early with the check-in time, MHA per destination filed or ready, empties labeled, crew timed to the crates, everything photographed, nobody packing before close. Do that and move-out is a long afternoon instead of an invoice you'll be disputing for a month.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a material handling agreement (MHA)?
- Your contractual agreement with the contractor to move your packed freight from the booth to your carrier — or back to their warehouse for pickup, if you elect that. It states what's leaving, piece count, destination and carrier, and what to do if the carrier doesn't show. One is required per destination; freight with no MHA is held or returned at your expense.
- What is forced freight?
- What happens when your carrier doesn't check in by the published move-out deadline: the contractor reroutes your freight on a carrier of their choice or returns it to their warehouse for pickup, whichever you elected on the MHA. You pay those rates plus re-handling.
- When should I book my outbound trade show carrier?
- About a week before the show closes, with the show name, booth number, marshalling yard address and the carrier check-in deadline in the booking.
- Can I start packing before the show floor closes?
- No. Early dismantle is enforced by show management and is a common reason exhibitors lose their booth position the following year.
More exhibitor guides
Every figure in this guide is a typical range. Your show's exhibitor service manual governs the actual dates, rates and rules.