TO TELL THE BOOTH

TO TELL THE BOOTH

By Anthony Stoeckert

It wouldn’t be an Expo without booths.

Among the highlights of every BCA Expo are the booths where companies in the billiard and home recreation industry offer demonstrations of their new and most popular products. These booths are where connections are made and where the industry meets to interact with current and potential clients.

The Expo is all about bringing industry professionals from around the country together for a showcase of cutting-edge products, the best equipment and essential services. The booths that serve as various companies’ home base during the Expo help people meet up and fulfill the goal of learning about new developments, generating leads and strengthening existing relationships.

“The BCA Trade Show is the perfect place to show new and existing customers our level of quality of our products and what sets us apart from our competition,” says Wes Bond of Koda Sports. “Networking and socializing at the show always help with strengthening new and old relationships. This is a great opportunity to get to know your customers better, which is invaluable when working with them throughout the year.”

Dan Bourget, owner and managing partner of Olhausen Billiards, says that Olhausen’s goals with its booth are to stand out, make a splash, promote American-made products, and team up with other American companies.

“Once again, we hope to band together with other manufacturers that feel being made in America is a big part of their mission,” Bourget says. “Some of the best companies in our industry will be high-

lighted in our main booth. At Olhausen, we don’t feel like we are in competition with the other American-made manufacturers, we think win-win.”

For many other companies that require long lead times to manufacture and ship long distances, this show is about writing orders.

“Although we love writing orders, we don’t need massive commitment at the show,” Bourget says. “We love to meet our dealers as well as, share our vision, get their feedback and continue to build relationships. We are more than happy for our dealers to place orders during the year. We can respond quickly from our factory near Nashville, Tennessee with product that is custom configured in one of a hundred ways for that particular customer.”

DESIGNING THE

PERFECT BOOTH

A good booth should catch people’s attention, draw them in, and offer them a fun and interesting way to learn about your company, what it offers and how you may be able to team up and improve both of your businesses.

Nick Baron, president of Brunswick Billiards Group, which includes Brunswick Billiards, Cue & Case Billiard Accessories, and American Heritage Billiards, says the Expo, and its booth, gives it a perfect forum for celebrating Brunswick’s 180th anniversary, as well as its products.

“We will be rolling out several new commercial pieces; the Gold Crown 7, the Tournament Elite Bar table, and

a line of commercial pool room furniture,” he says.

He adds that one of Brunswick’s key goals for the Expo is to strengthen its existing relationships.

“The show is really the only time we see some dealers in person,” Baron says. “We love new faces and new entrants into the billiard world, but really seeing our existing dealers feels great, and I always leave feeling like we just left seeing old friends. Deals are always being done, some small, some major.”

At last year’s Expo, Olhausen showcased some of its cutting-edge designs and capabilities, including gold foil highly carved tables, lipstick red and gloss black designs, and pastel-colored outdoor products.

“We even featured a whiskey barrel themed shuffleboard and a pool table with a built-in safe called the Sportsman; it was really an attempt to show our creativity and extensive capabilities,” Bourget says.

Visitors to Olhausen’s booth this year can expect the company to highlight a broad range of mainstream products, from its competitively priced, all American-made line of products, all the way to its highest-end, custom-designed, oneoff “Olhausen Unlimited” series.

“We will show how we make it easier for dealers to sell to designers and commercial accounts using our new ICON series of customization friendly products and collateral material,” Bourget says. “The range of offerings and customization capabilities, coupled with reasonable prices and lead times, will be a game changer for the industry.”

For 2025, Koda's Wes Bond has expanded its booth, so that it can spotlight its new cues, and also give people a preview of some products before they are released.

“We will be featuring new cue lineups for Xcel, Koda, K2 and Bull Carbon, as well

as our highly anticipated Bull Breaker and Bull Jump cues, which will be on display before their release dates,” Bond says. “We will also be showing our new Outdoor/Indoor Foosball table, new Lucite Foosball Table, new 7’ Clash Steel Commercial Pool Table in Shadow Black and much more from cases to accessories.”

GETTING CREATIVE –AND INNOVATIVE

Design expert Allison Snow, CMO at Streampoint Solutions, says your booth’s design should reflect the style of your company’s products. For example, she notes that billiard tables have two iconic looks – classic and modern, and a billiard company’s booth should reflect whichever style their products fit.

“This will be a big design decision that depends a lot on your brand,” Snow says. “If your brand doesn’t dictate which, lean into classic dark wood, vintage textures, and dim lighting for a sophisticated vibe.”

A sophisticated vibe also conjures images of leather chairs, and muted lighting. With the right touches, your booth can capture that aesthetic.

“Leverage the iconic look of billiard tables like felt textures, green, blue, or red, wooden finishes, and leather accents as a foundation for design,” Snow says. “If you opt for modern, lean instead into the sleek, neon-accented designs with bold colors to create a contemporary, dynamic feel.”

You can also incorporate color schemes and the look of numbers from billiard balls into your design.

“Use oversized, stylized versions as props, lighting fixtures, or your booth’s signage,” she says. “Reflect the clean lines and geometric patterns of billiards – triangle racks, diamond-shaped table pattern, or the placement of balls on the felt in your booth layout, graphics, or materials.”