News

DEALER TRAINING & DESIGN SYMPOSIUM

Laarhoven Design will hold its next Dealer Training & Design Symposium on
Feb 1-2, 2007

SPECIAL OFFER: FREE Hotel Rooms for Feb 1 and 2, 2007. SPACE IS LIMITED. Register Now!

Dealer Training: Learn to sell all Laarhoven Design product lines against the competition, with an emphasis on using new products and fabric graphics to increase your sales. Attendees will also receive design ideas and tips, hands-on product training and a tour of the manufacturing and sales showroom facilities.

Design Symposium: A must attend event for designers who want to gain an in-depth understanding of designing with Delta Matrix and Elite. Guest speakers will share their tips and ideas on designing for larger products and how to close sales.

(Click here for a registration form)

May 8, 2006 (Atlanta, GA) - Laarhoven Design, Inc. has hired Rob Loughran to the newly created position of National Account Manager.  Rob will be responsible for managing and promoting the Laarhoven Design Dealer network.  He will also provide product and sales training to established and new dealers nationwide.

Many dealers will remember Loughran, who worked for Laarhoven Design from 1989 – 1992 in sales and from 1993 - 1996 when he was promoted to National Sales Trainer.   Loughran left Laarhoven to work in the custom exhibit side of the industry, where he worked at CDA South, Inc, Czarnowski Exhibit Service, Expotechnik, and most recently at Momentum Management.

“We are please to improve the service to our distributors by now going directly to them for requested specialized training,” said Robert Laarhoven, president of Laarhoven Design, Inc.  “Rob’s vast experience in the industry in both the portable modular and custom exhibits will be an asset to helping us achieve an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction.”

Laarhoven Design, Inc.is a leading manufacturer of custom modular and portable exhibit systems and graphics.  With over 22 years in business, Laarhoven Design systems are marketed through a nationwide network of dealers.  For more information, call 800-823-2223, or visit www.laarhovendesign.com



Visit Laarhoven Design at Exhibitor Show in Las Vegas, March 6-8, 2005

Visit us at booth #403 at Exhibitor Show, March 6-8, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. To receive a FREE V.I.P. guest pass that entitles you to admission to the Exhibit Hall, contact Pat Pino at 800-825-2223, ext. 136 or email: p.pino@laarhovendesign.com.

Laarhoven celebrating 20th Anniversary in tradeshow biz
May 17 2004

By Brooke Ross
For Exhibit City News

Busy on the floor at March’s Exhibitor Show in Las Vegas, Robert Laarhoven tore himself away from his booth to discuss another upcoming event-the 20th anniversary of his company, Laarhoven Design, Inc.
May 17 will mark two decades of business for the modular and portable exhibit systems manufacturer. What began with an unemployed college graduate in search of a job is today a successful manufacturing and distribution business with 250 U.S. dealers and approximately 80 employees.

To celebrate the occasion, Laarhoven, founder and CEO, plans to throw a party in July at his country club in Atlanta, Ga.
“You can’t be in business for 20 years without your employees, your suppliers and your customers,” he said. “I think what I’m going to say to everyone is ‘thank you.’”

Laarhoven Design opened in the U.S. in 1984, with the sole purpose of distributing the Lacet panel system. Robert Laarhoven’s uncle, Franz Laarhoven, had started the company in the Netherlands. After a post- college trip to visit his uncle, Robert expanded the business to the U.S.

“I saw what he [Franz Laarhoven] was doing, and he said ‘why don’t you do this in the U.S.?’ My uncle needed U.S. distribution,” Laarhoven explained. “And I needed a job.”

Laarhoven Design has since evolved from its humble one-product beginning. Today the company offers the Elite and Legend panel systems, tabletop displays, custom graphics, buying and rental options, and a variety of pop-up displays, including the 1999 introduction of Convertible, the world’s first modular pop-up display, and Maverick, the budget-conscious 2001 edition.

Atlanta is home to Laarhoven and its full service exhibit house, with more than 75,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space. Laarhoven Design clients include Coca Cola, Hitachi and Exhibit Works.

This year, Laarhoven Design will introduce a new product feature, dye sublimated fabric graphics. The company will incorporate the graphics into its exhibits, combining digital technology and imaging. The design will offer an alternative graphic solution that can easily be folded, rolled and professionally cleaned, with the end result making a lighter, more durable exhibit.

“We’re constantly innovating,” Laarhoven said.
In the economic aftermath of the 2001 U.S. terrorist attacks, Laarhoven Design gave clients a new, money-saving option.

Laarhoven describes the last half of 2001 as a time when clients opted to redesign graphics instead of purchasing new builds. He said exhibitors were closely studying the costs of tradeshows and monitoring their ROI.

But, coincidentally, right before the September attacks, Laarhoven Design introduced Delta Matrix, a custom modular system that could be bought or rented, a new option for clients wanting large exhibits.

Laarhoven said customers looked to the Matrix system as an alternative. The system was lighter and saved on drayage and installation costs, providing clients with a custom design on the show floor at a rental price.

“We had the right product at the right time in a bad economy,” Laarhoven said.

From day one, Laarhoven Design has worked to please clients. When Laarhoven was still learning the modular/portable industry in the early years of the company, he’d agree to a business deal, return to his office, originally based in New Jersey, and figure out what he’d just agreed to do.

“I was never taught this,” he said. “Not many of us went to school to be in the tradeshow industry.”

Laarhoven, now a seasoned veteran of the industry, still strives to make clients happy. For the last seven years, he’s held a special event the first day of the annual Exhibitor Show, honoring the companies that use Laarhoven products. The company hosts a special awards breakfast for both sales and design, recognizing clients that have come up with the most innovative uses of his products.

Laarhoven said it’s the company’s way of showing appreciation for clients’ hard, day-to-day work.

“Everybody loves recognition, and a lot of our dealers are small companies,” he said. “To be recognized in front of your peers is an honorable thing.”

The breakfast also includes a brief “state of the union” by Laarhoven as he reviews with clients the past year and the year ahead.

“Everybody’s so stressed at the show,” he explained. “It [the ceremony] is more to get together in a relaxing atmosphere before the show starts.”

But stress is a small price to pay for a job Laarhoven loves.

“After someone’s been in this business for 12 months, it gets in your blood and you can’t get out,” he said. “It’s show business, and I love it.”

For more information, call 800-825-2223 or visit www.laarhovendesign.com