Getting The Most Out Of Your Trade Show Experience

Trade shows are the ultimate way to see best in the business! No matter if your there to see the best new thing or there to show the latest and greatest your company has to offer the experience should be fruitful and fun. Here are a few steps for visitors and presenters to get the most of your next trade show.

Step 1 ~ Don't Get Lost in the Crowd

 

Visitors ~ The bigger the show the tougher it can be to see everything you want in the time you have so first make a plan. All trade shows have a list of vendors and often a booth map so you can find them. Map your route so you catch everything on your list without having to go in circles!

Presenters ~ The bigger the show the tougher it can be to stand out from all the other vendors keep in mind making your booth pop and eye catching will keep people from passing you by! Bright colors, catchy slogans, & free hand outs are all great ways to keep the traffic coming.

Step 2 ~ Learn From The Experience 

 

 Visitors ~ Learn what you can so you take home some knowledge and not just freebies! Vendors are not just there to sell they want to educate their customers ask usage and benefit questions, grab literature for a later read, and pick their brain for future projects. This is your chance to get one on one time with the experts. 

Presenters ~ Learn from your customers! Getting face to face feedback on what customers need and want can be a real value to you when it comes to marketing, advertising, and new product development. If you show genuine interest in what they have to say they will so more interest in your brand and products!  

Step 3 ~ Getting Impressed and Making An Impression

 

Visitors ~ Give your time to vendors who are present, patient, and put in the time to impress you. If you walk by and the booth presenter is sitting in the corner on their phone and don't even bother to look up and say hi maybe they don't deserve your time. But the next booth presenter might be waiting for you to turn the corner, flag you down, and make the effort to draw you in. Those guys and gals are going to give the grand tour!
 
Presenters ~ Be present this is your chance to get one on one with your customers and make an impression that lasts from the show to the store. Stay off your phone start the conversation as they walk by and draw them in with your perfect and polished presentation. Make the impression that lasts from trade show to check out line!

Step 4 ~ Consider What The Booth Has to Offer

 

Visitors ~ Some trade show booths just want to give you a brochure a free pen and send you on your way. The best ones have hands on displays, informative videos, free product samples, and polished presentations. Give credit where credit is do, give your time to the vendors going the extra mile and your sure to get what you came for!

Presenters ~ Consider what will give visitors to your booth the most engagement, let them get hands on with the product your promoting when ever possible. When they can use your product and see for themselves the results its going to leave that lasting impression your looking for. Sending them off with a small free sample to try on their own is always a big help when it comes to seeing that return on your trade show investment in sale increases.

The best advise for your next trade show is to have FUN! 

 

If your having fun so will everyone else so be ready for busy hustle and bustle of the ever growing trade show experience. If your visiting take advantage of the games, draws, and hands on displays booths have to offer. And if your presenting the more engagement you offer at your booth the greater the impression and traffic you get. People love to touch displays, be dazzled with colorful visuals, and take home samples. The more you offer the greater the return!

Check out the Trade Show Reel from EZ Strip and see how they make a one of a kind experience for their customers! 

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Asbestos: The Ticking Time Bomb

 

 What Is Asbestos?

 

Turns out it's found naturally in rock and the fibers are extracted and then mixed with other things, like concrete. Asbestos is "wonderful stuff" when you consider its properties. It is strong, flexible and resistant to heat, weather and most chemicals. Asbestos is so versatile and durable that it found its way into thousands of products and places between the 1940s and 1980s. More than 3,000 products contain asbestos, but most people just think of it as being in the garage roof, or in their ceiling tiles. The reality is it gets used in all sorts of things, like in concrete to make it stronger or in pipe lagging because of its insulation properties. We even used to coat car parts with it, and make fire blankets with it because it’s flame retardant. The scary part is much of it remains in public buildings and homes today.

There are three types of Asbestos: brown, blue and white. Brown and blue asbestos are amphibole fibers, which means the fibers themselves are like needles. They’re resistant to everything, including water, fire, electricity and sound. For that reason they are mostly used in ceiling tiles, drywall textures, bath panels and have been sprayed on car parts. Both brown and blue asbestos were the first to be banned in many countries. White asbestos, Chrysotile, is best for weaving because its fibers are curly. That’s the fiber that’s used in concrete, what your garage roof is made of, you can find it hiding in your walls, and it makes up the vast majority of asbestos found today.

Exposure Concerns?

 

Evidence of the deadly toll the mineral takes on human health was mounting all along. The first documented case of asbestos-related death appeared in 1906. A 1918 document noted that asbestos workers were generally rejected as customers by the Canadian and U.S. insurance industry. By the 1970s, health concerns prompted some countries to limit use of asbestos or ban it outright, causing demand to wane. The most common result of asbestos exposure is a lung disease called mesothelioma. It attacks the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma). Once diagnosed, victims are generally given between six months and a year to live.

Mesothelioma is developing in waves. The first wave was miners, mill workers and ship builders, who worked in the post-Second World War asbestos boom times and came home caked with dust.
Now different sorts of workers are getting sick. They include people who work with asbestos products: carpenters, electricians, car mechanics, plumbers, caretakers and factory workers. Another wave is family members — “bystanders,” in medical parlance — who are dying from the equivalent of second-hand smoke: Victims include spouses who washed dusty clothes and children who snuggled with parents after work.

What's Being Done? 

 

The World Health Organization – which declared asbestos a carcinogen in 1987 – says all forms of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers, as well as asbestosis. It says the most efficient way to eliminate these diseases is to stop the use of asbestos. Many countries have follow suit from the European Union to the Persian Gulf, from industrial states like Japan to Africa’s developing economies, 61 nations have banned asbestos, according to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat.

Some nations exempt minor uses. Notable exceptions that still permit asbestos use are China, Russia, India, Brazil, Canada and the United States. Canada plans to ban asbestos use by 2018, in what many health advocates hail as a victory for public health, albeit one that is long overdue. Banning new production and use of Asbestos is definitely a step in the right direction, unfortunately it does not prevent exposure to the materials already in our homes and public buildings.

Best Line Of Defense?  

 

Education and caution! Best way to avoid exposure is to know how harmful exposure is caused. The most common source of exposure is from contaminated dust in the air that is breathed in. How is the dust created? Buy drilling, sanding, cutting or disturbing materials that contain Asbestos. Other than occupational exposure older home and building renovation can cause exposure to Asbestos.

If removal of materials that contain asbestos is the preferred option hiring a certified professional to complete the work is the safest choice. If DIY is your only option work safe. For some materials building over top instead of disturbing by removal is a safer option. For other materials that require removal like damaged drywall texture test before you touch!

Here is some more info on safe drywall texture removal https://ezstripblog.blogspot.ca/2016/11/popcorn-ceiling-removal-test-before-you.html  

If you like this article be sure to subscribe to the EZ Strip Blog for more great info and posts today!

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The ALL Purpose Remover You Need When Nothing Else Works!

Trying to clean up from a renovation, refinishing, painting, or home improvement project? Or maybe you just have a tough sticky messes that nothing seems to work at removing? EZ Strip has the remover you need when the tough removal jobs come your way! EZ Strip All Purpose Remover tackles the tough stuff with a skin safe fume free formula that cleans up with just water. Remove everything from paint drips and spills, varnish or stain drips and spills, glue/adhesive/tape residues, permanent markers and link, spray paint and over spray, tree sap, gum, decals and stickers, crayons, bugs and tar, road splatter, kitchen and garage grease, oil stains, and much more. EZ Strip is safe to use on most surfaces, may etch some plastics, not suitable for painted surfaces, works great on baked on paint like vehicle panels with no damage! Now you can remove just about anything from just about everything with a stay put cling gel and easy spray applicator. Get the results you need when you need it here are a few examples of how EZ Strip can work for you!

How It Works

 

Remove Markers, Tape Residue, Paint Splatter, and Sticker Residue

    

Remove Nail Polish, Stain and Paint Drips, Oven Grease, and Stickers

Remove Graffiti

 

Visit the EZ Strip website today for more detailed removal info, great project ideas, and where to buy today at EZstrip.ca 

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Thinking Green with Eco Decor: Furniture & Suface Refinishing

Time to change the look in your home? Sometimes a small change like a new piece of furniture or surface refinishing can make a big impression. Unfortunately new furniture and surface refinishing  comes with environmental impacts we may not always feel comfortable with. Now there is a new option to make decor changes without leaving a big foot print on the environment! Furniture and surface refinishing may not be the first thing that comes to mind when your thinking green but EZ Strip has made a new line of water soluble biodegradable strippers that work great, are so easy anyone can use them, and they're not hazardous to you or the environment. Now you can safely transform stairs, window and door trim, existing or used furniture into something amazing without the worry of buying new or having to use harmful chemicals. Watch EZ Strip in action and get your decor groove on!

Refinishing Stairs

Stripping Stain from Wood

Furniture Refinishing

   Stripping Paint & Stickers

For more info on EZ Strip removal products, where to buy, and project ideas visit EZstrip.ca today! We only make environmentally friendly products because we care. Want to change your decor with your green thinking cap on EZ Strip's got your covered!

Lead Poisoning: The Ongoing Fight For Our Children

Have we been MISLEAD to believe lead poisoning exposure risks are not as serious as we think? Over 80,000,000 homes were built and painted before lead was banned in the US in 1978. Here is a link to one moms fight to expose the real struggles US families are facing now Mislead-Americas-Secret-Epidemic. This is not just an American problem either paints manufactured in Canada could contain as much as 50% lead by dry weight and they did not restrict the amount of lead added to interior paints until 1976. Even then, the restriction permitted a lead concentration of 5000 parts per million, an amount 8 times as high as the US restriction of 600 parts per million established in 1978. Follow this link for a very informative timeline of lead regulations in Canada and the US Lead Based Paint Problems.

The Truth 

There is NO SAFE LEVEL of lead for small children under 6 and renovations across North America continue to happen without proper lead removal certification causing potentially dangerous lead exposure to everyone in the area. By 1990, a growing body of international research, including US and Canadian research, demonstrated that lead was harmful to children's developing brain and nervous system. Media reports began characterizing lead poisoning as an endemic problem rather than as an isolated concern. By 1991 stories of children who had been poisoned not from eating paint chips, but from ingesting fine particles of dust started to surface. The burning, sanding, and scraping of lead paint produced fine lead particles that clung to surfaces, including children's fingers.

So What Can We Do? 

It may seem hopeless but in reality there are steps you can take to get involved. Renovate right, test surfaces painted prior to 1978 before removal projects start, test kits are easy to use and available at your local hardware store. Here is some more helpful info for your renovation EPA Renovation Guidelines. Taking control of your own renovation projects is a great start to a healthy home. If you see an unsafe removal project in progress report it! Follow this link to report violations in the USA lead-based-paint-complaints-tips-and-violations For more info on lead in Canada follow this link health-canada-reduce-your-exposure Together we can make North America a safer place for our young children! 

Thanks for reading! If you liked this blog post be sure to check out our other posts here http://ezstripblog.blogspot.ca/

Paint Stripping with Methylene Chloride: The Silent Killer

Methylene chloride is a common solvent used in industry and consumer products, such as paint strippers and aerosols. It has caused extreme skin burns, acute poisonings some even resulting in death and is considered a workplace carcinogen. Despite serious health hazards and the availability of cost-effective safer alternatives, high concentrations of MC are still used in workplaces and in consumer products. Numerous poisonings and deaths have been reported over several decades among workers and consumers using furniture strippers or other products containing MC in unventilated areas. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Household Products Database lists 27 consumer products containing MC, most common are paint strippers with concentrations greater than 50 percent. Methylene chloride has been banned from paint strippers (paint and graffiti removers) in the EU. Despite widespread recognition of harm, MC is still Not Adequately Regulated for consumer use in North America.

The Problem

Methylene Chloride vapor is absorbed quickly by the lungs at low concentrations that you cannot smell. Filter and respirator cartridges don’t protect you from MC vapor. Instead, you need a full-face supplied air respirators that people just don't use or have access to! This leaves you vulnerable to harmful and cases where MC is used in tight spaces deadly vapors.

A few weeks ago, a 21-year-old man tragically passed away after being overcome by chemical fumes while refinishing a bathtub. The young man was working for a small painting business in Tennessee.  His death is currently being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), but is suspected to have been caused by methylene chloride exposure.  If confirmed, this would add to the dozens of reported deaths caused by the chemical’s use in paint stripping products over the past several decades.

The Solution

Safe alternatives are available! Finding a reliable replacement for Methylene Chloride based strippers can seem daunting but there are a few tried and true water based strippers using new removal technology that do not pose the same risks MC based strippers do to you and the environment. Our recommended choice is EZ Strip strippers and removers. With a longer set time you can remove the hazardous aspect of stripping coatings along with the concern for environmental impact when using EZ Strip. Visit EZstrip.ca for more details!

Proposed changes are in the works to help protect consumers! The EPA has proposed stricter regulations for Methylene Chloride including the proposal to prohibit the manufacture (including import), processing, and distribution in commerce of methylene chloride for all consumer and most types of commercial paint removal, and to prohibit commercial use. These changes could however takes years to be finalized.

Using safer alternatives is the smart choice for coating removal to protect yourself and others around you. Do not risk harmful or deadly exposure when stripping paint and varnishes by using methylene chloride based products. Let products like EZ Strip do the work for you safely! Learn more about EZ Strip! 

DIY Home Update: Painted Popcorn Ceiling Removal

In 4 easy steps you can remove that bumpy lumpy impossible to clean texture off your ceilings with EZ Strip Popcorn Ceiling Remover! No matter the layers of paint or type of texture popcorn, swirl, stomp, etc., if it's on your ceilings or walls drywall texture has never been easier to remove yourself!

Here's how it works...

Here are few tips for each step to help make the process easier!

First APPLY EZ Strip Popcorn Ceiling Remover this can be done with a wide paint brush or roller.

Some agitation sprayers do work but the product is a thick gel so it sticks to ceilings so airless sprayers do not work.

Make sure you apply a thick even coat of product anywhere the product is missed the texture will not soften!
 

Second COVER with plastic and LET SET, a thin roll of painter's plastic is perfect for this and a second pair of hands doesn't hurt either. Plastic will keep the product wet and working during your set time.

If the product dries out it stops working so get it covered as soon as possible for best results.

Set times can vary but an overnight or 12 hour set time is the most common for easy removal.

Third is to SCRAPE once material is softened. Be sure to find the right angle and use a wide scraper (at least 6 inches).

Catch the material in a plastic lined painter's tray for easy clean up material should scrape off easy you can lightly spritz with water as you scrape to help. Be careful to not use too much water or you can damage the drywall!

Scrape along the tape seems you do not want to remove these or too much of the material keeps them together just the textured material on top!


Last step is to WIPE surface clean with water. Use a damp white clean cloth not too saturated as too much water will damage the drywall.

Wipe surface clean of any remaining product and let dry out completely before patching and painting.

Remember that texture could be hiding imperfections in the drywall or you may gouge the surface during scraping so be prepared for touch ups before you paint!

Smooth ceilings and walls are just around the corner! Now you can get there on your own with a little knowledge and some elbow grease. Work in manageable sections, do the prep before you start. Put up plastic anywhere you don't want stripped, protect your walls (if not what you want stripped) and floors! Make sure you have all the tools you need before you start.

Hiring a contractor or renting complicated sanding equipment can be expensive and messy! EZ Strip Popcorn Ceiling Remover gives home owners the chance to take back their ceilings with a low VOC dust free option from EZ Strip!

Update Your Home Today! Find Where To Buy EZ Strip Products @ EZstrip.ca