My name is Gary Gardner, founder of www.onlinetoolshow.com. I have a total of nearly 40 years experience in industrial sales; marketing, measurement systems, CNC controls and machine tools. The past 9 years I have been Vice President of Marketing for my own company; Dimensional Control, Inc./Spidercool, which I co-own with my son Steve.

Since I've been responsible for trade show participation in several of my career positions, including my own company, I know what trade shows need to accomplish for both the seller and the buyer. Since SpiderCool has been exhibiting at major industrial trade shows for the past 7 years, I am keenly aware of the costs, including booth space, transporting our machining center to and from the show, internal rigging, electrical, compressed air and miscellaneous services. Our company spends a total of over $8,000 for a 10' X 10' booth at the 3-day Eastec Show alone. It is worth noting that unlike most exhibitors we have no accommodation expenses because we are located within 25 miles of the show. Companies with larger booths can easily spend 5 to 10 times the amount we do on just one single show.

The co-founder of this website is Jim Mathieson, a computer engineer with 25 years experience in the information technology field. Jim has been a software consultant for most of his career, working at many large industrial manufacturers throughout the USA and abroad. As a consultant, he knows how important it is to market your company and its products in a cost-effective way.

www.onlinetoolshow.com was born out of our own personal need for more affordable marketing exposure and the realization that companies, like yours, have the same need.