Hiring licensed massage therapists to provide complementary chair massage in trade show booths has been popular for some time. It’s a great way to attract foot traffic to a booth no matter what kind of business is being promoted.
There are some important things to consider before hiring a chair Massage company or individual massage therapist(s) to provide seated massage services.
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One of the first things you’ll want to determine is whether to go with an individual or with a managed service.
You may pay more to go with a company that supplies massage therapists for you, but you will also get some level of management capability to go with that.
If you choose an independent person, the price may be more negotiable, but there is a different level of accountability in this scenario which may not work to your advantage in the end.
Also with a managed service, you may be able to make special requests such as preferences for male or female therapists, and even making sure that the therapists assigned to your job will represent your company with a general image that you are comfortable with.
Here are some additional tips for trade show chair massages:
- You’ll want to be sure the provider is licensed and insured, and that any subcontractors the provider may be using are also licensed and insured. The facility may require that they be added as an “additional insured” on the master policy, so you’ll want to determine if this is the case well in advance if possible.
- Make sure that the convention center/ expo center will allow chair massage services before booking. We had a situation once where the morning of a scheduled job, the exhibitor discovered that for some reason that particular facility would not allow the services to take place at all, no matter what! As you might imagine this really threw the event manager for a loop as they had planned everything out assuming they would have this taking place.
- Do your research and make sure that the company or individual you’re hiring has a good track record working with other companies. Massage therapists can be flakey and the last thing you want is someone not showing up, or showing up looking unprofessional!
- Make sure to clearly indicate the uniform the massage therapist is expected to wear. Feel free to offer the therapist a shirt with your own company logo on it.
- Be prepared to make an advance deposit. The company or individual therapist is going to be setting the time aside for you and potentially turning down other jobs. It is reasonable for them to require a security deposit should something change on your end at the last minute. Body Well typically requires a 50% advance deposit that is non refundable after a specified date (depending on the size of the job).
Being mindful of these issues will help to ensure that your chair massage event goes off smoothly, and your seated massages will be a hassle-free asset to your booth!
