We were informed that the items had to be tagged and tested. I was just surprised at cost involved. In the past we’ve exhibited at AVCon in Adelaide and they cover the cost of testing and tagging and so I wrongly assumed that it wouldn’t be that expensive. I feel kind of terrible about complaining about it because we provided with expensive booth space for free however it’s also something people should definitely be aware of hence why I mentioned it.

With new and changing events (not just this type of expo or industry) it’s hard to find any feedback from the other side, because so often no one really shares their experience of what it was like to deal with organisers and logistics etc. Every time I have thought of PAX I have thought of how much my feet hurt….

Regarding testing and tagging – It probably would have ended up costing you the same back home unless you knew someone personally who could do it for you on the cheap, especially for that many items.
Contractors who perform testing and tagging charge generally based on the amount of items (not time) and offer a per unit discount if you get more items tagged at once. The good thing is that it is only needed once every 12 months. The bad thing is that would have been a requirement of the exhibition centre and probably should have been disclosed in their terms and conditions of hire (but may not have filtered down to you).
Lots of tiers of event management like that means sometimes information gets lost along the way, but definitely a great point to mention and great feedback for the organisers to make sure that information gets across to everyone. 🙂