Firm a player in trade-show game

WHERE THERE'S A WILL ... : Willwork Exhibit & Event Services President William F. Nixon Sr., center, and General Manager David King speak with administrative assistant Karen Brousseau. The company survived a devastating fire in 2008, coming back stronger. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD
WHERE THERE'S A WILL ... : Willwork Exhibit & Event Services President William F. Nixon Sr., center, and General Manager David King speak with administrative assistant Karen Brousseau. The company survived a devastating fire in 2008, coming back stronger. / PBN PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD

Trade shows are an industry in and of themselves and no one knows that better than a company specializing in preparing and presenting trade shows, Willwork Exhibit & Event Services Inc., in Easton.
The company is unique for several reasons. Willwork not only survived a devastating fire in 2008, it came back stronger than ever. Employees designed and built a state-of-the-art structure to house the business’ national headquarters in south Easton, twice as big as the old place and large enough to house three of Willwork’s business partners in the trade-show and permanent-installation industry.
The company continues to run its in-house training program for employees and clients alike, Willwork University, and has developed proprietary software that can compile for clients data on the sales leads made at trade shows.
Business was a bit sluggish in 2008 due to the fire in March and the stock market crash later that year, but has since “bounced back,” said David King, general manager. A lot of trade shows downsized during the Great Recession, King noted, but now customers seem to be doing better and once again “are spending more on their trade-show presence.”
There’s been talk of virtual, online trade shows taking the place of actual shows that people must attend in person, but King is sure it will never happen.
“Nothing will ever replace the hands-on experience,” he said, “to let a customer see, feel and use actual products.” There are, in fact, so many trade shows offered on a regular basis across the country, that Willwork – headquartered in Easton – has offices in eight other cities from New York to San Francisco.
Willwork can organize and present an entire trade show for a client and/or work on a client’s installation with the goal of making a stunning impression. Services include installation and dismantling of equipment, permanent installations, preparing content, providing labor and filling audio-visual and lighting needs.
“Everything we pretty much handle in-house here,” King said, in an effort to provide clients with “one-stop shopping.” The company works with three in-house partner organizations: 4Productions, In4Med and Teamwork. Clients include small firms and Fortune 500 businesses, including AstraZeneca, Nike, Reebok, Google, Monster, Facebook, IBM and Covidien. King was on a business trip across country when he heard about the fire that gutted the Willwork building in March 2008. The fire happened after midnight on a Saturday and, by Monday morning, Willwork was back in business. The company arranged a temporary lease at a nearby building in the same industrial park, King said, and “a great team” of employees managed to set everything up within a mere 24 hours.
“A lot of workers in the trade-show industry are carpenters by [training],” he noted. It’s a point that helps explain why Willwork employees were able to design and construct a new building for the business.
King could not estimate what it cost to build a new headquarters, a project that took two years, but “we invested heavily” to make sure the 40,000-square-foot facility was state of the art because “we are a tech company as well.” The new building, opened in April 2010, features an industrial-themed interior, an open floor plan for easy interaction and as much natural lighting as possible. Flat-panel televisions, rich, wood paneling and a spiraling interior staircase are other distinctive features.
Two precautionary measures helped save Willwork from extinction. The company moved its electronic files to an off-site location about one year before the fire so, even though computers were burned to a crisp, electronic data remained intact.
And the company had excellent insurance coverage. King now preaches the benefits of having an annual insurance review. The company had its insurance coverage reviewed and upgraded also a year before the fire. “We were lucky we did that,” he said, “because if we didn’t, I don’t know what would have happened.”
In tough economic times, when many companies and governments are devoting added attention to training workers, Willwork is ahead of the game, establishing Willwork University nearly 15 years ago.
“We take great pride in it,” King said of the in-house training program that offers workers and clients hands-on instruction in the classroom, on the shop floor and on the exhibit floor. “We are consistently improving our curriculum.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Willwork Exhibit & Event Services Inc.
OWNER: William F. Nixon Sr.
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Trade-show and event industry
LOCATION: 23 Norfolk Ave., Easton
EMPLOYEES: 72
YEAR FOUNDED: 1988
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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