6 min read · Orlando, FL
The Orange County Convention Center is one of the largest convention centers in the United States, and on a busy week the International Drive corridor fills with tens of thousands of attendees walking miles of aisles. In that environment, a booth full of brochures disappears. A booth where something is being made — a custom shirt or hat printed on the spot, with the guest's name or the show's theme on it — stops traffic and gives people a reason to wait, talk, and remember you.
That is what a live print station does. Merch Troop brings real printing gear and a crew into your OCCC booth and produces custom merch in front of attendees, about two minutes a piece. The most versatile option for trade shows is live DTF printing — full-color, instant, and great for personalization, so you can print logos, sponsor lockups, and individual names without changing setups. We also run live screen printing, a live hat bar, and live embroidery, so the giveaway matches your brand instead of the other way around.
Why a live station wins booth traffic
Convention attendees are collecting swag all day, and most of it ends up in a hotel trash can. A garment printed to order in front of someone is different — they watched it happen, they chose the design, and it fits. That earned moment is what keeps people at your booth long enough for a real conversation, and it is why live printing has become a fixture of serious trade show and brand activation programs. With a standard station of 2 presses and 2 printers running up to 60 shirts per hour per press — 100+ per hour is typical across the station — you can keep a steady line moving through even the heaviest OCCC show hours.
Drayage, union labor, and load-in
Big convention centers run on rules, and OCCC is no exception. Plan for these early:
- Drayage: material handling moves your freight from the dock to your booth and back. Our gear is compact, but coordinate with your show's official contractor so our cases are tagged and routed with the rest of your shipment.
- Labor jurisdiction: some shows require in-house or union labor for certain rigging and electrical tasks. Our crew handles the printing; we work alongside whatever labor the show floor requires for power drops and booth build.
- Load-in windows: share your move-in date and time. We set up inside your scheduled window and tear down during the posted move-out so we are never the reason your booth runs late.
Send us your exhibitor manual or the show's key dates and we will fold all of this into the plan so there are no surprises at the dock.
Footprint and power
A live station fits in roughly a 10 by 10 ft area — easy to drop into a standard inline booth or an island, with room left for your own signage and reps. Power is the detail people forget: each station needs two standard 120V circuits. At OCCC you typically order electrical in advance through the facility, so build those two circuits into your booth's power order. Tell us your booth number and configuration and we will tell you exactly where the station should sit so it draws crowds into your space, not into the aisle.
Turnaround and sizing
Live means live. There is no waiting on a print shop and no reorder — attendees walk away wearing the merch the same hour they stopped by. We keep sizes from XS to 4XL on hand so nobody gets turned away, and because DTF is full-color and instant, you can run multiple designs from the same station without resetting between jobs. That flexibility matters on a show floor where one hour you are printing the show logo and the next you are adding a VIP's name for a private demo.
If your activation spans the wider region, the same crew can support a resort dinner in Lake Buena Vista or a leadership session in Lake Nona the next day — one team, one plan.
Getting a quote
Most events run $5,000 to $15,000 all-in, depending on garment choice, station count, hours, and how many pieces you want to produce. We travel nationwide from our home base in Fullerton, California, and for Orlando we fold travel and lodging into one clear number so there is nothing to reconcile later. Want to see the range first? Browse our pricing and recent work in the gallery.
Send us your show dates, booth number, expected booth traffic, and the look you want on the garment, and we will return an itemized quote within 24 hours. Request your OCCC live-printing quote or call (562) 614-4800 — and turn your next Orange County Convention Center booth into the one everybody talks about.