An exhibit that dwarfs most houses.

• Author: Beck, Bill
• Position: Trade show display and exhibit designer and manufacturer, Omnicraft Inc.

The Omnicraft Inc. shops on West Ireland Road in South Bend are illustrative of the best of the trade show designer's art.

Omnicraft--its national sales manager calls it "the best kept secret in Northern Indiana"--designs and builds trade show displays and exhibits for multinational corporate clients. A prime example is an exhibit that was this year's Best of Show winner at the TABULAR DATA OMITTED National Association of Music Merchandisers annual conference in Anaheim, Calif. Peavey Music of Meridian, Miss., commissioned Omnicraft to build it a $500,000 display for the show, which Peavey considers to be the year's prime selling event.

Omnicraft built a two-story building for Peavey that encompassed 7,500 square feet and included five air conditioners, a studio and a sound room. Carpeted throughout, the building was considerably larger than most houses, and the structure had to comply with all local building codes and be signed off by an architect.

The display allowed Peavey to simultaneously demonstrate nearly all of its products, including microphones, guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, mixing boards and recording studio equipment. Dennis Hackbarth, vice president of Omnicraft, says the display's 24-by-36-foot performance room featured live rock bands using Peavey equipment, and the music also was fed into an adjacent room where the company's studio equipment was demonstrated. On the second level of the 50-by-90-foot exhibit were a dozen and a half offices, a conference room and a kitchen. A telephone system allowed communication throughout the display.

Charles Sausman...