Hand-Carry Policy

Material Handling, also called freight handling or drayage, is the movement of your freight from the loading dock/carrier or Advance Warehouse to your booth and back to the loading dock/carrier at the close of the show. Drayage includes delivery of the materials to your booth, the handling of empty containers to and from storage, and removal of your material from the booth for reloading onto your outbound carrier. GES is the official handling contractor for IAAPA Expo 2024.

In some cases, exhibitors are permitted to “hand-carry” their materials to their booth without the use of GES handling. Please see below if your materials can be classified as Hand-Carried.

Hand-Carried Definition

Exhibitors driving their own privately-owned vehicles (POV) or rental vehicle and not needing assistance, such as the use of loading docks, forklifts or labor, may hand-carry their own display and materials to and from the trade show floor from designated POV loading areas as long as they can comply with the following guidelines.

Items Permitted for Hand-Carry

Materials on a two-wheel dolly.
Materials on a four-wheel furniture dolly.
Product such as a go-kart, if it is rolled in one at a time.
The product itself is on wheels.
The product is rolled in by ONE person.
If using the loading ramp space, must be complete within 30 minutes.

Exhibitors must use the exhibiting company's permanent full-time personnel to hand-carry equipment. Any additional labor should be arranged through GES.

Boxes or containers used to bring in hand-carried material are the exhibitor’s responsibility to store during the show. If stored in the booth, unsightly items must not be visible to attendees. GES will store empty containers if you use GES material handling.

Items NOT permitted for Hand-Carry

Anything in a crate.
Anything motorized.
Crates on wheels.
A large number of boxes or materials stacked on a dolly or non-GES cart that could be a safety hazard.
Large pieces of equipment or product that require multiple people to move.
Anything that would potentially block the doors into the hall to move-in.
Anything deemed by the freight supervisor as unsafe.

If you need to use a motorized equipment or pallet jack, you will need to order labor from GES.

Self-Unloading

GES will establish loading dock space for the loading and unloading of exhibitors’ privately-owned vehicles (POVs) or rental trucks (U-Haul, etc.) to facilitate this process for those exhibitors who do not require contracted drayage service or freight moving labor assistance.

Please review the Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Instructions.

There will be a limited number of ramp areas available for exhibitors desiring to load or unload themselves and you must be able to be finished in 30 minutes or less. You will receive a time stamp when you arrive at the OCCC and will be monitored to ensure your vehicle has been removed within that time frame. If you are unable to load or unload within this time period, GES freight handling will take over at the exhibitor’s expense. NO EXCEPTIONS.

In order to self-load or unload, your materials must fall under “Hand-Carried”, as detailed above.

Privately owned vehicles (POV) approximately 22 feet in length can deliver or pick-up directly to the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC). These vehicles will be dispatched from the POV holding lane to the receiving area based on ramp availability. No vehicle may be left unattended at any time in the unloading area.

All other vehicles, van lines and common carriers must check-in at the GES Marshaling Yard to be assigned a number for unloading and loading based on driver check in time, target time, and booth number.

Please refer to the Schedule to determine when you are permitted to move-in.

Carload POV Express

To help with exhibitors carrying in their small exhibit material during move-in, GES offers Cartload Service for a small flat fee to or from your booth. Your materials must be delivered from a POV in the POV loading area. Each cart will handle a load approximately 2 feet wide x 6 feet long x 3 feet high, up to 8 boxes, up to 200 pounds in freight weight. There is one cartload allowed per booth.

Mobile Equipment

For safety purposes, GES personnel must be used for display vehicle placement of large display pieces that must be towed or driven into position. Flat rates or hourly charges will apply for this service, as a substantial savings over drayage rates.

Please refer to Material Handling-General Information for additional information or contact [email protected].

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