EXHIBITING

ULTIMATEGUIDE

Mark r Powe�

by someone who knows

EXHIBITINGTO

THEULTIMATE

GUIDE

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Contents

Section 1: 9 Steps to Stress Free Exhibiting

Section 2:The 6.5 Secrets to Great Exhibition Graphics

Section 3:The Designer’s Guide to Maximising YourExhibition Stand Budget

Foreword

Since 1988 I have worked in the exhibition industry, firstly as a designer, then as a director of

MPD Creative Ltd overseeing all aspects of stand design and build. It’s been in the latter role that I

came to realise that many exhibitors needed guiding through the process of exhibiting. The industry

has its own language and many quirky ways that can take years to understand and navigate effectively.

With that in mind, a few years ago I began to write some

simple guides to help our clients through the process.

Originally they were three separate short books, and for

ease of reading I have kept the content in those main

sections so that the reader can more easily pick and

choose the most relevant bits.

The first part – The 9 Steps to Stress Free Exhibiting

- looks to walk you through the process from writing

the brief all the way through to after the show, with tips

and tricks to make exhibiting as easy as possible.

The second section – The 6.5 Secrets to Great Exhibition Graphics – gives you all you need to know to

understand the jargon filled world of graphics. You will quickly learn about file formats, different

materials used and avoid that blank look when someone asks you for a vector file.

The third and longest titled section – The Designer’s Guide to Maximising Your Exhibition Stand Budget –

began life as a tip sheet of quick tips that I’ve learned over nearly 30 years of designing stands to tight

budgets. It’s the main ways to keep a tight reign on your stand spend, without spoiling the final product

and looking cheap in front of your prospects at the show.

In writing this book I did of course have a vested interest. It makes my life easier when a client knows

what they’re doing; I spend less time having to explain and justify things, and the whole process runs

much more smoothly. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

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Contents

Introduction

1. Getting the brief right

2. It’s ready to send...How many and to whom?

3. How to send it out?

4. Time to choose

5. You’re the one! But you, you and you aren’t…

6. The lead-up to the show

7. The Build Up

8. During the show

9. Breakdown & Beyond

Summary

Sample Brief

9 Steps to

EXHIBITING

STRESSFREE

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Introduction

Exhibitions are a big investment. You want to make the most of the time and money you are putting into every show you attend. In this guide to exhibiting, I’m going to walk you through the process from writing the brief all the way through to after the show. The hope is that with a little thought about the right things, you can save time and money, make the whole process less painful and end up with a better stand that gives you a better return on your investment.

I’m writing this from the standpoint of having been an exhibition designer for 28 years and counting. For the last dozen years I have been both designing and project managing exhibition stands of all shapes & sizes across a wide range of industries.

I’ve worked with small SMEs through to large multinational household names on stands ranging from 3m2 up to 1,000m2+. In that time I’ve designed thousands of exhibition stands and have come to see that often, the client contact I am dealing with can get a little lost and bewildered with the whole process.

But that’s enough about me and what I’ve done; let’s get started with the thing that is so often overlooked: the design brief.

There is no ‘how to run an exhibition stand’ manual;until now! This is my attempt at such a manual – a step by step ‘what to do’ and ‘how to do it’

guide, drawn from those 26 years’ experienceand the day to day running of

MPD Creative Ltd.

Some of what you’re about to read maymake you go “duh! How obvious!” If it

does, great, you’re on your way to being your designers’ best friend. Bear with it

though, as you may just find a few little nuggets that you hadn’t thought of before, or even something

that sparks an idea to improve the way you already do things.

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Getting the brief right

Start as you mean to go on – write a good brief and not only will you get the exhibition stand that you want, but you’ll save everyone involved lots of time and hassle. I have seen many briefs that run to double figures page wise, with 90% of it telling me about the company history and the sales targets for the upcoming show. Right at the end, almost as an afterthought, you find the “nuts and bolts” of what the stand should be.As a designer, this is completely the wrong way around! There are certain things that you will need to tie down in your stand design brief to give any designer a chance to come back with what you want.

Budget

Often elusive, sometimes found up a sleeve or down the back of a sofa. On occasions made of rubber and able to stretch, the stand build budget can be an elusive beast.

It is though possibly the most important piece of information you can give. I have heardmany reasons for not disclosing the actual figure that a company has available to spend

reply: “Would you like a Ferrari Sir, or are you more of a Mini person?” Coming back with“Just tell me how much a car is will you!” isn’t really going to get you very far. You may not have a definite, absolute figure, but at least give us a clue!

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on their stand build. The most common misconceptionappears to be that “if we tell you the real figure,then you’ll spend it all!” This couldn’t be further

from the truth. In a competetive market, eachand every exhibition company will try and put

as much into each design as the budget willallow. If we don’t know what that budget is,

then we’re playing a guessing game right from the start.

Not disclosing a build budget with the brief islike going to a garage and asking

“how much is a car?” The car salesman may well

Not giving a build budget with the brief is like going to a garage and asking “how much is a car?”

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And asking for three designs - one at £5k, one at £10k and one at £20k is bordering on silly and certainly annoying, as it is essentially asking for three separate designs! A spread figure is fine – for instance £15k - £20k is a reasonable request. “We don’t have a budget”can be taken one of two ways: “we have no money” or “we have unlimited money”. If you mean either, just be honest and say so! If you keep it a secret you’ll either find companies declining to pitch, or they’ll be double your real budget and you’ll have to go back to the drawing board.

Size & orientation of the stand space

How big is your stand? Not just how many square metres, but the dimensions and the orientation. Just saying “we have a 30m2 space” is almost meaningless. You need to make it clear what the dimensions are, which sides of the space are open (next to an aisle) or closed (adjoining another stand) and which way around the stand is in the hall in relation to important things like the show entrance. This is best done by attaching a copy of the floor plan that the show organisers would have given you when you booked your stand space. In doing so the designer will be able to see your stand dimensions and your position in the hall relevant to the entrances, main aisles and large stands. This may have a bearing on designing and maximising the layout of your stand to the best advantage and is key information that many brief writers fail to include. If possible, include what is called a ‘technical plan’ – this is a floor plan of the stand showing where the service ducts are positioned in relation to your space. Service ducts, as the name suggests, are the ‘troughs’in the hall floor that the venues use to route power and other supplies to the stands. Manyvenues have services running through floor ducts, but some bring in power from overheadand drop the cabling to the stands from above. This ‘technical plan’ is a great help in planning the layout of the stand to accommodate electrical feeds and other incoming services. It’s especially useful if you want to avoid having a raised platform floor to hide cables. A raised floor will add £10 - £15/m2 to your stand costs.

Service ducts...are the ‘troughs’ in the hall floor that the venues use to route power and other supplies to the stands.

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Which show you’re attending; venue & dates

Blindingly obvious, but yes, I have had briefs when the client is not quite sure which show they’ve booked! “It’s in June…I think it’s the NEC…” Include the show name, venue and dates at the start of the brief.

Build up and break down days and times

Storeroom / kitchen: Single room or separate areas? What do you need to store in there? Do you require things like worktop & shelving, fridge, coffee machine, sink?

Seating: Enclosed meeting room or semi private screened area? Do you need open seating around the general stand area? Bar stools and tall tables or low dining height chairs & tables? Maybe sofas?

Bar counter: Are you serving refreshments? Do you want stools at your bar? Do you need a coffee machine or fridge at the bar area?

Including the build up and breakdown schedule will help your prospective stand designers cost and plan the project properly. It is something that can be checked later on down the line, but if you have

the information to hand, pop it in there.

List your physical requirements

Make a matter of fact list of what you need on your stand. We’re not talking aestheticsyet; we’re looking at the nuts & bolts of the

fabric of your stand. Such a list may includesome of the following considerations:

Reception desk: How many people are manning it? Do you want lockable & open storage?

Do you need cable management / power for computers?

Make a matter of fact list of what you need...the nuts &

bolts of the fabric of your stand.

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Take photos of ideas orlooks that you would like

to incorporate

Flooring: Do you prefer carpet or vinyl? Do you want or require a raised platform floor? If so, do you want (or does the show require) disabled access ramp?

Displays/exhibits: Size, number, power requirements, weight…as much detail as possible please! (brochures and drawings/photos are a great help). If you not sure about exactlywhat is being displayed because it’s not been decided yet, or you have a new product launching at the show, estimate it, but make it clear that that is what you’ve done.

This is not an exhaustive list of possible things on your physical list, but it should serve as a starting point for you to make your own list for your brief. I’ve included a sample brief at the end of this section that you may want to use as a starting point or template for your own.

If you have a definite idea of how you want the stand layout to look, do a sketch and attach it to the brief. This can give a great insight into how you want things. It doesn’t have to be to an exact scale, or be a great work of art, but roughly in proportion helps!

The look/style

Once you’ve decided how much of what, it’s always a nice idea to say how you want it tolook. This can be as simple as “we want it to reflect our website” to tie in a corporate feel.

Maybe you have photos and/or visuals of previous stands, which you want the new oneto resemble. If you do, then include a note onthe things that you liked and that worked well

and also the things that had room for improvement.

Some clients take photos of ideas or looks that they would like to incorporate or follow from other exhibitions, or download pictures of ideas from the internet. As long as these provide definite direction, they’re a great help; much like a mood board when you’re planning a decorating project. Be wary of collating a huge jumble of disparate images though, as this has the opposite effect! Also, be clear with each image exactly what it isthat you like about it, or you may not get the result you were after.

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Colour scheme and graphics

So far we have what you want and the style / look you’re after. If we can tie down the colour scheme we’re almost there! It may simply reflect your logo or your website. You may have branding guidelines to follow. Maybe a previous stand hit the nail on the head and you want the same look and feel again. Include examples if you have a definite preference. If you’re looking for the designer’s input and some fresh ideas, say so.

For graphics, at the briefing stage there’s no need to tie down your exact graphic content,

the designers can drop them in to the 3D visual renders, giving you a better idea of what the finished stand will look like.

Anything else

Now is the time to tie everything we’ve talked abouttogether with some background info, show objectives, links to websites, brochures and anything else you think is relevant. Try to keep it short and concise – it’s a complete waste of your time writing four pages of company history, as the designer will skip over it like hot coals. If the company profile is relevant, then link to the website and save your fingers. Any designer worth their salt will reserach your company before starting to draw anything up. A website link, plus links to any relevant brochures is more than enough.

but if you have logos and maybe some generic content similar to what you’re going to want on the final

stand, then include that in the brief. They can be low resolution bitmap files for now

(jpeg/bitmap/png/tif) – the vector artwork* can follow on when you have chosen yourcontractor. (*see ‘The 6.5 Secrets of Great

Exhibition Graphics’ section for details onfile formats and more.)

Do specify what the main logo(s) are and whatprominence and relationship any sub logos

are to have on the stand.Armed with a few sample graphics and the right logos,

Don’t write 4 pages ofcompany history....a website link,

plus links to any relevant brochures is more than enough.

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It’s ready to send..... How many and to whom?

This is possibly the hardest question to answer. Obviously you should ask MPD Creative to tender, but you’ll want some other companies to compare us to. Unless you’re a first time exhibitor, or have fallen out with your previous stand build company, you’ll have an incumbent that you’ll be sending the brief to. Most companies get at least three quotes in; asking in four or five is not unusual. Any more than five is going to waste your time and that of most of the companies pitching for your work.

We recently had a brief land in our inbox that was copied to nineteen other companies. It wasn’t long before we were also seeing copied replies back declining to pitch against so many other companies. Some years back we won a job and then found out there were 24 other designs they had considered. That was for a £5,000 job.

Bear in mind that each design proposal costs upwards of £500 to be put together, so if you are asking a dozen companies to pitch for your stand, eleven of them will lose out.

They won’t have their own workshop, but will usually design and project manage the stand and ‘sub out’ the build. They will have suppliers for graphics, furniture, carpet etc... and pull everyone together to produce the finished stand, building in their costs and put it into the final price.

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The only result of this is to drive up costs in theindustry as a whole, as those costs have to becovered somewhere. So, between three and

five please, for all our sakes!

Choosing which companies you want to pitchfor your work can be a confusing business.

Let’s cover the main points to consider:

Agency or contractor?

An agency will have one or more stand buildcontractors that build the physical stands for them.

Choosing which companiesyou want to pitch foryour work can be aconfusing business.

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A design and build contractor will design and project manage as an agency does, but will have their own workshop and labour and construct the stand at their own premises.

So which is better?

You could take the Harry Hill approach....FIGHT! You may prefer a less bloody way ofdeciding though. Is one more expensive than the other? From my experience it’s all about personal preference and from a cost point of view there’s usually nothing in it. You may think an agency would be more expensive, but they have the ability to place a

be able to handle a big job. This is where an agency can be at an advantage, placing small jobs with small build contractors to stay competitive, and using bigger and even multiple contractors for jobs that require more resources.

A quick look at the companies’ portfolio and testimonials should tell you what you need to know. If you have a £200k custom build job to handout and you’re looking at a portfolio full of £2k system stands, then they probably aren’t going to cut the mustard. Testimonials should tie in with stand photos and any company should be able to give you a handful of names and phone numbers of existing clients for you to call and check out.

job with the best suited contractor, which often can workout cheaper than a company with their own workshop.

The agency has the advantage of not having theoverheads to cover when they are not busy

building stands. If the agency has a long standing relationship with their build company,

which is often the case, then the exhibitorwouldn’t even notice the difference.

Big, small or in between?

Is bigger better? Is smaller more beautiful? It’s horses for courses really. All companies will be

able to handle a small job, but a small company may not

any company should be able to give you a handful of namesand phone numbers of existingclients for you to call and

check out.

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How to send it out?

You’ve written your brief and chosen three to five companies to tender. Now what? Do you send the brief out by email or ask people in? The email route is more and more popular these days, as people seem to think it saves time cutting down on meetings. This is true initially, but speaking as a designer, there’s nothing like sitting down with the client to run through the brief. I can ask the questions that haven’t been thought about, read between the lines and sketch out ideas right there and then. This usually saves time later on in the process, as I’ve come closer to hitting the nail on the head first time.

A week before writing this, I had a prospectiveclient visit me at our offices looking to discussan upcoming show. When he sat down, he didn’treally know what he wanted. Once we’d tied downthe brief, we looked through some previous stand photosto settle on a prefered ‘look’ and half an hour later I had a drawn a layout and sketchvisual of “exactly what I‘m looking for!” That is the power of a face to face meetingwith a designer.

From the clients side, a face to face meeting – or at least a phone call – gives you the opportunity to see what the company’s representative is like and whether you think you’ll get on with them. After all, you’re going to be working with them over a period of months to deliver an important event – if you can’t stand to be in the same room as them, it may be best to find out before you give them the contract! There is a half-way house in this respect that is often used and that is to deal with the initial design stage by email and phone, then short list a couple of companies and invite them in before awarding the job. This can, in some cases, give you the best of both worlds.

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With an emailed brief where I haven’t met with the client before designing, I can

almost guarantee there will be more revisions to follow than if we had had a face to face meeting rightat the beginning of the process.

Email, phone & face to faceall have their pros & cons.

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GENERAL LAYOUT

CLIENT

PROJECT

VENUE

DATES

SCALE

HALL

STAND No

DESIGNER

VERSION No

DRAWING DATE

DRAWING TITLE

plan view

ORDAMO

GREAT HOSPITALITY SHOW 2017

NEC BIRMINGHAM

23 - 25 JANUARY 2017

1:20 @ A1

9329MP310_01_17

Citibase | 101 Lockhurst Lane | C

oventry | CV6 5SF

tel: +44 (0) 2476 231 841 | email: info@mpdcreative.co.uk

CCopyright MPD Creative Ltd. All rights reserved. No use,

adaptation or imitation without prior written permission.

front elevation

reception counter

by client

screen #1

screen #2

window

V3 table

V3 demo areaheader over to take V3

header over with lighting

Marine blue Eco Cord carpet direct to hall floor

2000

mm

3900

mm

3000

mmR

500

mm

screen #1

screen #2 window

2000

mm

6000 mm

2500 mm

100

mm

V3 table

by client

150

mm

V3 unit weight: 25kg.

Bottom of soffit to be

18mm plywood for fixing.

A

A

B

B

section A-A

R900 mm

R800 mm

End wall and soffit

light grey paint finish.

Dark blue end capping.

Dark blue internal

capping to window.

section B-B

Ø205 mm

R40

0 m

m

800 mm

2000 mm

100 mm

1850 mm

1000 mm

100 mm

Walls in gloss white pvc.

Time to choose

But maybe not just yet. So, you may like more than one of the designs and there may be elements of the ones that you don’t like that much, or are well over budget, that you now realise you want to incorporate in to the final design. At this point you may want to narrow the field down, asking one or more of the companies to enter into a second round of design revisions before making a final decision and awarding one of them the stand building contract.

Most companies will be ok with submitting a second design whilst stillat the tender stage; a few won’t be. If it’s ‘down to the last two/three’ then be honest with them. There’s nothing worse than spending time and money on designs and meetings and then finding out you’ve lost the job. Even worse if you’ve done several sets of drawings and then find out you were never in with a chance in the first place. So feel free to ask companies to enter into a second or even third round of design revisions, but please be open with them about exactly where they stand so that they can make an informed choice as to whether they want to invest in the time to

To help choose a final winner in your stand tender race, many companies will employ a checklist that they score the designs and companies against. You may look at costs, value for money, practicality, creativity of the design, likeability of the company representative; you can even give a score out of 10 for each and tot up the total.

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proceed. Also, make sure you’re specific with what you want changing and what budgets need to be met. Don’t keep

asking for the Ferrari if you’re on a Mini budget!

I have to mention at this point one big cardinalsin that happens all too often – the “can you

do someone else’s design for less money” question. It’s unfair, unethical and potentially a court case waiting for you if the third party

that you steal the design from finds out.And that’s what it is - stealing. Don’t go there.

Don’t even be tempted. I’ll assume it never even crossed your mind!

Don’t keep asking forthe Ferrari if you’re on

a Mini budget!

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You’re the one! But you, you and you aren’t…

Go on, give the successful company a call and break the news. It’s way better than getting an email and you can progress to the next stage straight away then. But before you do, remember to let the companies that weren’t successful know too. It’s only good manners after all – they had the courtesy to do designs for you, maybe even visit you on more than one occasion, so at least let them know and don’t leave them hanging or chasing you for news.

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Many companies will ask for feedback.“Why didn’t we get the job? What did

the company you chose do better than us?” As a designer it’s good

to get some feedback, but it’s only useful if it’s honest and constructive, so

“We thought your design wascrap” is going to hurt!

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This may help you; it may not. It’s something to consider though.

You now have your final designs and quotes in, possibly revised, hopefully some there that you like and are on or around your budget. You may have a favourite. You’ve scored them against your checklist, maybe even passed them around the office and had a vote. So, how do you now make that final choice?

Sometimes it’s just blindingly obvious. One company has come back head and shoulders above everyone else with a design that works, looks great and is on budget – easy choice. Sometimes it’s a close call between all of them – not such an easy choice. When it’s the latter, what do you do? The pressure is on. There’s lots of company money riding on your decision; maybe your reputation and/or a promotion may hinge on it. Possibly a P45 in the offing if it goes really wrong! It may sound a little unscientific, but for those times when it seems a toss of the coin is the best way to choose, I’d always suggest going with your gut feeling. It’s usually the right one. But when all is said and done, the choice is yours, however you come to it.

The lead-up to the show

If you’ve gone through the design process in plenty of time, you should now have at least a couple of months before the actual show. Don’t get complacent now; that time will soon disappear. The sooner you get certain things organised and in place, the fewer last minute panics will ensue. As early as possible, you need to get to sorting out the following:

Final design tweaks

You should be pretty much there, but there may be a few areas that need tweaking. Get

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these tied down as soon as possible, so that your stand builder can get final working drawings done and into

the workshop in plenty of time. Make sure you have a written sign off on a final design and specification, so that you know what you’re

getting and your stand contractor knows what you’re expecting. Don’t leave things

as a verbal understanding; at least drop them a quick email and get them to respond to

confirm. This will give both parties clarity and you’ll have some comeback if you turn up on

site and the units you expected to be laminatedwhite are painted black!

The sooner you getcertain things organised

and in place, thefewer last minute panics will ensue.

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if you do decide to respond to a feedback request try and make it constructive but kind! “We thought your design was crap” is going to hurt! “We chose someone else as they did x, y & z that you didn’t” will hopefully help them improve next time.

You now have your design sorted and your stand builder chosen. What now?

If your graphics and/or colour scheme have changed, or you’ve made physical changesto the design, you should get a revised set of drawings from your contractor. It’s a goodidea to have a final ‘this is what we’re building’ design that you can sign off.

the appointed show electrical contractor to organise the order and positional

drawing required for the installation on site. There will be a deadline for orders – usually 4 weeks before the

show. Any orders placed after this date will usually incur a late order surcharge of 20%.

That sneaky cof fee machineWILL trip your power andcost you a lot of money!

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Organiser submissions

The show organisers will request final stand plans, risk assessment and method statement for your stand build. These should be done by your stand builder and the organisers will set a deadline for these to be done. Whilst this is usually flexible to some degree, make sure these get done as soon as the design is finalised, or you may find restrictions being put on what you can and can’t do over and above the standard show regulations.

One thing to remember, if your stand build has parts that are above 4 metres in height, or is deemed ‘complex’ due to raised platforms or 2nd levels, the stand will need to be signed off by a structural engineer and will need structural calculations and drawings. This usually means that the plan submission deadline for such stands is earlier than for those stands under 4 metres in height. Again, your contractor will sort this for you, but you must give them enough time to do so.

Electrics and venue services

We’ll mainly talk electrics here as the other services are less common. Usually the stand builder will include all the power requirements in the quotation and will deal directly with

This includes orders placed on site, so don’t appear on the morning of the show with a coffee machine not previously mentioned and expect not to have to order and pay for extra power to run it, because here’s what will happen: The fuse board WILL trip. You will have to explain to the site electrician why and they will most likely have a computer reading showing you tripped the circuit breaker at 3kw over what you’ve ordered and paidfor. The next thing you’ll hear is “so that’ll be £500 before we turn you back on please! And it’s a 5% surcharge for credit cards.” The same applies for kettles, hoovers and

Given a full list they can then calculate the most cost effective way around ordering the power and

ensure you don’t have problems on site. If you have given a full and truthful list of everything

to be plugged in on your stand, then if the power is tripping, it’s not your problem to

sort out. If however you have switched exhibits or bought a kettle without telling

anyone, it’s most likely your fault that the fuse board resembles a game of Whack-a-mole!

A little known fact is that power consumption to every stand is metered by computer at most UK venues

Power consumption to everystand is metered by computer

at most UK venues

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anything else that would usually make your electric meter at home spin around like anexited child on a roundabout. If it’s on the list of things you’ve told your stand builderthat you’re bringing and there’s nothing else plugged in that’s not on that list, then callthem and get them to sort out their problem. If you haven’t told them about somethingand it all went dark when you plugged it in, then it’s most likely your problem.

Site electrics are ordered and supplied by the kilowatt (kw). Usually the smallest sized socket you can order is 500w; with the largest being 3kw. Special connections to machinery are quoted as needed. To make life easy all round, find out what wattage your exhibits and any equipment you’re planning to take to the stand takes and give the list toyour stand builder. If you are unsure what power your exhibits or other equipment (such as a coffee machine) are using, just take a photo of the legend plate (the technical stuff on the back or bottom) and email it to your contractor. They will be able to work out from this what power you will need to order for each item. They will sort out what they need for lighting and anything else that they are supplying.

now, so if you under order power for anything, it will be noticed even if it doesn’t trip the circuit breaker. Yes, I agree, exhibition power is too expensive, but neither of us have a way around it and for now, we have to live with it. So be as honest as possible and give as accurate a list as you can to your contractor.

One other service that’s slightly different to the others is lifting. If you have heavy

exhibits and/or deliveries that require a forklift or a crane, this will need to be booked in advance or you will incur

surcharges and/or a long wait on site. At worst (but rare) you won’t be able to offload

and your delivery will be sent away from the venue.

‘Plenty of time andaccurate information’

is a good maximto remember

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Other services include water & waste (if you want a sink and running water), compressed air, wired internet and TV aerial connection. Again, the same rules apply. Plenty of time and accurate information, or you’ll incur surcharges and headaches.

Stand Graphics

Graphics are a potential minefield. So much so that the next section is dedicated to graphicsto cover this topic on its own in more depth. Basic rules are right file format, right size and enough time. If you’re reading this and have an urgent graphics question, then skip ahead a few pages.

Furniture

The details of the furniture should be tied down in the final design. Most stand building companies will carry a small stock of their own basic furniture and will hire in anything they don’t have from a specialist exhibition furniture hire company. There’s a great range of furniture to choose from with these companies, but be aware that the more unusualdesigner ranges will add to the costs. This may well be worth it to add the finishing touch to your stand, but if you just want somewhere to sit for a few minutes to chat with a client and the type of chair doesn’t affect your design scheme, then basic may be best.

Site schedule

This is very important and often overlooked. Your stand builder will have a schedule for when they are building on site; quite simply you need to know when the stand will be ready for you to come and put your stuff on it. If you have equipment that needs

The Build Up

If you’ve communicated properly in the run up to site, then this bit should be stress free! Turn up on site at the agreed time to see a finished stand, drop off any product and supplies, sign off the stand and go to the hotel for a relaxing evening meal and an early

7night. That’s how it is every show, right?

There’s a multitude of reasons why a stand build can run late, so during the build check in with

your stand builder to see how things are going to plan. They may ask you to arrive

later than planned, which isn’t ideal, but better than you standing around waiting for the stand to be ready. On the other hand,

if you are running late, let them know, as they may well have people waiting around for you that

could go on to other jobs. If they’re expecting you at 10 in the morning and you’re not going to be

there until 2 in the afternoon, call your stand builder and tell them.

The sooner you getcertain things organised

and in place, thefewer last minute panics will ensue.

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installing or items that your contractor is helping to install or mount, having a schedule to work to is critical if you don’t want to be hanging around waiting. So communicate with your stand builder and arrange the best time to do things. If you have a large stand, don’t expect to just turn up on the first afternoon and see a finished stand, unless that’s what you’ve arranged of course! Things take time to build, so agree realistic timescales for the structure to go up before you arrive to dress your stand. There’s nothing worse than trying to build an exhibition stand with a client hovering around trying to do their bit before it’s ready. You just get in each other’s way and things take twice as long.

So, in the lead up to the show the key word is communication. Make sure you and your stand builder both understand each others’ expectations and that you both know about anything that will affect timings on site. It may be a simple ‘we’ll be there on Thursday at noon with our brochures’ conversation, but make sure it’s a conversation you have.

During the show

Point 8 originally began with the next paragraph, but something happened a fewweeks ago that just had to go in front oflights tripping on the first morning. The client shall remain nameless to save their blushes,but if you’re reading this Andrew, then yes, it’sabout you! And that new, never-before-thought-about-because-it-seemed-too-obvious little nuggetof advice is: turn up on time. Preferably before the show opens and certainly with enough time to set up your stand before the visitors beginwandering past it wondering what you’re selling, as there’s nothing to see. Yes, it didhappen and no, you don’t want it happening to you.

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certified electrician to install the sockets and connections, then they and you will be at the

mercy of the official electrical contractor’s schedule, along with every other exhibitor.

This can be rather frustrating at times as they can seem to move with the urgency of a tortoise on Valium, but your contractor has no control over when your electrics are

installed or when they are turned on. All they can do is get the stand ready for them to be

installed as quickly as possible and then ask nicely that they get a move on. So if you’re waiting around for

Electrical contractorscan appear to movewith the urgency ofa tortoise on Valium.

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There are also some things that are out of your stand builders control that can affect the timings on site. Electrical installation is the main one of these. Unless you have arranged to book a ‘mains only’ connection with the venue and your contractor has a qualified and

power and you feel like shouting at someone, go to the electrical desk in the hall and do it there! Actually, shouting at anyone won‘t help speed things along, but asking very nicely just might.

Other things that can be delayed are lifting and the other services (water & waste, air etc). Your contractor should have the contact details and copies of the orders on site to chase up any relevant orders that haven’t arrived or are incomplete or wrong.

Breakdown & Beyond

As with build up, have an agreed schedule, so everyone knows what needs to happen and when. If you need a hand with packing away, or need to order lifting services for large exhibits, have it pre-bookedand arranged. After several days on your stand, you may not want to stay for a few hours more packing away and loading up your stand contents. Most contractors will happily take things like boxes of brochures and product back with them for you to pick up

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If you want to keepyour stand for future

exhibitions, then tell yourcontractor before they

put it in the skip!

If you have any stand related problems such as lights tripping or something has broken orfallen down, tell your stand builder straight away and they will come and rectify the issue. Don’t keep it to yourself and moan about it later asking for compensation, as you may find someone pointing to some small print in their terms & conditions that mention notifying them of issues when they happen. If anything is wrong, you must give them a chance to put it right. Hopefully nothing like this will happen, but if it does, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone.

Assuming all is well with your stand, the open period of the show should see you just concentrating on what you’re there for and nothing else. One thing that may come to mind is reusing the stand. Often during a show it becomes apparent that the stand works great and you start to think about the next show. If you have thoughts of reusing the stand at future exhibitions but haven’t spoken to your stand builder about this, please tell them before the show finishes. How the stand is dismantled will be different for a reusable stand compared to one that is destined for the skip. If you’re not sure, but think you might want to reuse it, say so, as your stand builder may be able to keep it for a week or so while you decide. Either way, don’t say nothing and then expect it to be available to reuse at a reduced cost in six months’ time!

Contractors generally don’t keep things unless theyare asked to do so, or the items are already stock items. Most bespoke stand fitting is destined for the skip unless they’re told otherwise.

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later. Just make sure you’ve told them and let them know roughly how much to expect; don’t just drop it on them at the last minute! If your contractor is out of town and issuddenly faced with six pallets of brochures that won’t fit on the van, then you’re going to have a problem!

Communication and organisation are key. Breakdown can be mayhem in the halls, so have a plan of action and let all concerned know what it is. This will reduce the stress considerably.

Summary

If you’ve got this far, congratulations! You should be well on the way to a stress free show next time around. I’ve tried to cover most eventualities in this part of the book, but as every exhibition stand is different, there’s bound to be something that crops up that isn’t covered here. And that brings us to the key thread that runs through the whole process; communication. Keep quiet and the problems will multiply. Communicate well and often and solutions will appear to any problem.

The next three pages contain a sample design brief for a ficticious company. It outlinesmost of the usual things you should be considering and including at the initial briefingstage to give prospective designers a good chance of creating something you’ll like. Use it as a template or crib sheet, and you won’t go far wrong.

Sample Exhibition Brief

Company Name: ExhibitCo

Company Contact: Mr Smith. Tel: 01234 567890 Email: mr.smith@exhibitco.com

Show name: The Exhibition Show

Show venue: NEC Birmingham

Build up: May 1st/2nd/3rd / open days: May 4th – 6th / breakdown days: 6th (from 4pm)/7th (8am – 6pm)

Hall & stand number & size: Hall 1 / stand A1 – 10m x 10m, open 2 sides (see attached plan)

Stand build budget: £15k - £20k (nearer £15k is preferred, but we will entertain options that add value up to a maximum of £20k)

Stand requirements

Flooring: We have in the past had a raised floor to get power to our exhibits. We are fine with having a raised floor again, but if there is a way to get power to the exhibits without a raised floor, we are open to suggestions.

Due to the weight of the machines we usually have a cord carpet. Again we are open to suggestions.

Reception area: A reception counter positioned on or near the open corner to seat 2 x staff. We will require both lockable and open storage in the desk for literature & giveaways. There will be 1 x laptop for data capture, so we will require a power socket somewhere in the counter. Stools for stand staff and also for visitors.

Storeroom: In the closed corner of the stand (other options considered) to have worktop, shelves, fridge, coffee machine, brochure storage, coat hooks.

Seating: 1 x enclosed meeting room for 6 people. Semi enclosed area for 12 people (3 sets of 4 with dining height tables)

Bar counter: We require a small bar serving the hospitality area and also acting as a 2nd reception at the rear of the stand. This will be staffed by 1 staff member and will have a fridge for cold drinks and storage shelves. We would like 2 – 3 bar stools also.

Exhibits: 2 x machines (see attached brochures). Machine 1: 2m x 1m x 2m high.Machine 2: 1m x 1m x 1.5m high. Both machines require power as per the brochure spec. Both are usually displayed against a wall to hide the rear of the units.

Audio visual: 1 or 2 42” screens to play our promotional video.

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Graphics / colours: The main logo will be the ExhibitCo logo (attached) with the machine brand names having 2nd billing around the display areas. We would like a predominantly white background to give a fresh feel, with the blue and red of the logo used sparingly, similar to our new website.

Brochures: We would like A4 brochure holders for our general brochure and show offers dotted around the stand at suitable points.

Show objectives

We will give rolling live demonstrations to visitors with the running machines. Those interested in finding out more will be taken to the seating/meeting areas for further discussions.

Other information:

We would like the stand to feel open and welcoming, with a minimalistic feel to the stand structure. We would like to use the maximum 4 metres height to display the main logo. Good lighting to the exhibit areas is very important. If possible, the basic stand offering should be around the £15k mark, but if you have ideas that take it up to the £20k please itemise these as options.

We have attached some images of stands that we liked from the last show we attended, with the things we liked about them noted on each image.

The stand must be completed for the morning of the 3rd May to allow set up of the exhibits.

Relevant links:

Main website: www.exhibitco.co.uk

Exhibit information: www.exhibitco.co.uk/machines

Company newsletters: www.exhibitco.co.uk/newsletter

Timing

Brief to designers: 1st November.

Designs required back by: 20th November.

Decision to be made by: W/C 1st December.

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Attachments

• Hall plan• Machine brochures• ‘Stands we like’ images• Logos• Latest newsletter

For questions and further information please contact Mr Smith on the details at the top of this brief.

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Exhibition graphics can be a minefield. What to use, when to use it, what can be reused, what file formats do you need for artwork…it can be like opening the bonnet of your car – if you don’t know what you’re looking at, you don’t have a clue where to start.

I’m about to give you a basic grounding in graphics, from what’s what to explaining file formats, so the next time your stand builder asks for a vector file for your vinyl cut logo, you’ll know why and you’ll know what to give them. Don’t panic! It’s not that difficult.

Firstly, we’ll cover the different types of exhibition graphics and what they’re best suited to.

1. Your optionsThere are several ways to put graphics on your stand. What you go for will depend on cost, the content and the finished look you want. So what are the options and when should you use what?

Graphic panels

There are 2 types: direct to foamex prints and prints that are laminated and mounted to foamex. Both have their pros and cons.

Direct to foamex prints are around half the cost of mounting a laminated print to a foamex board, which is one of their biggest attractions, but you have to be careful with them if you’re planning on reusing them. The image is printed directly to the board on a flatbed printer, which means that the ink has no protection from bumps and scratches. Whilst the ink usually is polymerbased, so will stand a fair bit of wear and tear, if you drag something sharp or rough

Secrets of

ExhibitionGraphics

The

GREATGREAT

Foamex Top Tipfoamex has a maximum sheet size of 3 metres x 2 metres, so anything larger than that will have to have a join in it somewhere. It also comes in a variety of thicknesses; the most common used for exhibition graphics are 3mm and 5mm. 3mm is usually used for upto 1m x 1m sized panels, as after that it gets a bit wobbly! 5mm will hold its shape better at bigger sizes. Both will bend, but if you’re looking to go around a curve, on a wall or a desk for instance, 3mm will bend far easier and follow the curve better.

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against them and they’ll need replacing. Direct prints do however have a very good colour vibrancy compared to laminated prints, so colours really pop. Laminated prints are printed onto a self-adhesive substrate that has a clear laminate applied (satin or gloss) and is then stuck down to a foamex board. They will take a few more knocks than a direct print, as the laminate protects the printed surface, but they’ll come in at around double the cost, as you’re paying for the print, the board, the laminate and the extra time it takes to put it all together. The laminate can, in comparison to a direct print, dull the colours slightly, but reuse life is extended.

Often for exhibitions your graphic content will change by the time the next show comes around, so direct to foamex prints will save you money. If however your graphics will be having half a dozen or more outings before they will need updating, the more expensiveoption may save you money in the long run.

For fixing your panels you have two main options: pinning or velcro. Pinning is the quickest, cheapest and easiest way, where a pin gun is used to pin the graphic to the wall or unit using small metal pins (usually 15mm long ‘brad nails’). It provides a solid fixing, but if you’re looking to reuse, be aware you will have small holes in the panel afterwards. When pinned, a panel should be fine for 2 – 3 uses, but after that it will begin to look tatty as the pin holes increase in number.

Velcro fixings will not leave any pin holes, but will cost more in time and money to fit. It will also slightly space the panel off the wall. For reuse, velcro is the way to go to keep your images in pristine condition. As anextra precaution when using velcro, always put the ‘furry’ side on the graphic panel and the rough side on the wall. That way, if the velcro rubs against theprinted face of another panel in storageor during transport, it won’t scratch theimage, whereas the ‘hook’ side will.

You can also create graphic areas by having posters on walls, or even foregothe foamex panel and stick a print directlyto the wall. I’ve not described either of these options here, as neither give a very good finish and I’d advise avoiding bothwhenever possible!

Vinyl Graphics

These are self-adhesive ‘cut out stickers’ you can use on walls, counters and pretty much anything else that they’ll stick to. Ideal for logos and text, the advantage of vinyl graphics is that they don’t have a background like a panel does, so you get nice clean lines. These are produced on a vinyl cutting machine which literally cuts out the shape of the graphic from a roll of vinyl. The bit you don’t want to see (the background) is ‘weeded’ out and

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Velcro Top TipIf you do go for velcro and you're mounting your own panels, always buy your velcro before you get to site and source it from somewhere that sells it by the 25 metre roll (a quick internet search will give you plenty of options).

Never go to the nearest stationary or DIY store - you'll end up paying way over the odds for it.

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then an application tape is applied to make sticking it where it needs to go easier. You will need to provide a vector file to produce vinyl graphics (see ‘file formats’).

If a vinyl graphic is applied to a counter unit or similar that’s to be reused, often they won’t need replacing if taken good care of. If they are applied to a wall (usually a wrapped or painted panel) then they will need replacing every show to allow for refurbishment of the wall covering. This especially applies to where a vinyl graphic spans a panel joint, as the graphic will at least have to be cut to get the wall down. So wall vinyls really are a one use only graphic.

Cut out Lettering & Logos

An alternative to vinyl lettering that adds an extra dimension to the overall look. Any text or logo with a defined shape can be done as a cut out graphic. Cut to shape with a cnc router, usually from foamex, perspex, metal or mdf, they can be fixed directly to a wall, fascia or counter, or set off the wall using spacers.

They can be made from foamex or perspexthe same colour of the graphic, or vinyl applied to the face to match. Mdf versions can be painted. These are a great way of adding an extra dimension to graphics, literally making them stand out more. They can also be reused if a little care is taken when taking them off at the end of the show.

Banner Graphics

Usually printed to pvc or canvas (’artex’) material, although semi-transparent voile and other material is used on occasions, banners are the go to solution for BIG images. You can hang them from a structure, fix them to a framework, or wrap a complete wall with them.

Up to half the price of graphics panels, they can be printed up to 5 metres wide - even wider with a welded join. If you want a whole wall of image, the banner is the cheapest and

and easiest solution.

If you’re wrapping a wall, reuse is difficult due to the way it had to be fixed with staples around the edge. If you’re hanging or fixing to a frame with an eyeleted banner though, reuse is easy, but make sure you roll them up around a tube to store and don’t fold them, as folding them in storage will cause them to crease and wrinkle, ruining them for next time.

There are dif ferent grades of banner material & similar to the gsm weights you get with paper, the heavier material will give you a better finished image, but will be slightly more expensive. Also, the printer that prints the image can, like your of fice printer, print at dif ferent qualities, laying down more ink (more expensive) for a best quality print. If your banner is sitting up at 4 metres in the air, best quality usually isn't needed, but it's worth getting a sample done if the banner is going to be at eye level and in a prominent position on your stand.

Banner Top Tip

Visually, the difference between a pvc banner and an artex (canvas) banner is not huge.Pvc has a slight shine to it that can reflect lighting in an exhibition hall and make some partsdifficult to read, whereas artex has a matt finish much like the canvas you see on everydayphoto prints. The one big advantage artex has over pvc is that it doesn’t stretch when it gets warm.

Often, especially in the UK, it will be cold in the halls during the build up period. When apvc banner is fitted it will be stretched as tight as possible across the wall panels and lookgreat at the time. Then comes the morning of the show and the heating goes on. The temperature jumps 15 degrees and the banner warms up, causing it to sag and ruckle.

This is the main reason why artex isbecoming the banner material of choicefor many exhibition contractors, despitethe fact that it is around £5 per square metre more expensive than pvc, as it doesn’t react to the heat like pvc doesand once fitted well, doesn’t sag and move with temperature changes.

Other Materials

Foamex panels, vinyls and banners are the three main solutions for exhibition graphics, but not the only ones. We touched on voiles earlier – printing on to a muslin type material that gives you an image that is see through. These can be used to screen areas where you want to have privacy, but don’t want to completely block off the view.

With a flatbed printer, any material up to two inches thick that will accept ink can be printed on.Glass and perspex are common materials to use for this – direct prints to glass, usually printed in reverse on the back of the glass as you view it, look very sharp and ooze quality when done well.

Technology is moving constantly and new materialsand ways of printing onto them are being developed all the time. If you want something out of the ordinary, speak to your stand designer and ask them for ideas.

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Smooth edges to a curve? Probably a vector file.

ZOOMIN!

Blurry edges to a curve?It's not a vector file!

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2. File formatsThe bane of any graphic man (or woman)’s life! A 10kb jpeg off your website cannot be blown up to 5 metres wide without looking like a backdrop for the next Lego movie! You also can’t cut a vinyl graphic from it. Let me explain why.

Vector vs raster

A raster file does not have dreadlocks and listen to Bob Marley. A raster file is made up of pixels, much like a TV screen. Resolution (image quality) is measured in dots per inch (dpi). The physical size of the image also has a bearing on the quality and what you can ultimately do with it.

In contrast, a vector file is made up of vectors (you don’t say!); these are plotted paths – lines and shapes that have a definite start and end and as such can be scaled up to any size without losing quality or definition. Vector files can also be put straight into a vinyl cutting machine or cnc router to produce cut out lettering and logos, as the cutter follows the paths in the file.

So, how do you tell the difference?

You can tell instantly (with one exception – I’ll come on to that shortly) by the file name. If it ends in .jpeg, .bmp, .tif, .png or .gif, then it’s a raster file, made up of pixels. If it ends in .ai, .eps or .pdf, then it’s *usually a vector file.

*The Adobe Illustrator files (.ai & eps), and Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Files (.pdf)are files that can be either vector or raster format; or even have elements of both in the same file. The problem comes from the fact that you can turn any raster image into anai, eps or pdf format, but doing so doesn’t magically change it into a vector file!

For a file to be a vector file it must be a vector file to begin with. The easiest way (though not fool proof) to check is to pick an area with a curve and zoom right in. If it still looks like a smooth curve, it’s likely it’s a vector file; if you can see the pixels stepping around the curve, with some blurring around the edges, it’s a raster file converted to a pdf / ai / eps.

Only very occasionally will we see a .ai, .pdf or .eps file that is not a true vector file. Usually, if it’s any of those three, it’s a vector file, but the pdf is the culprit 90% of the time.

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If you’re in any doubt about whether you’ve got the correct file format, either ask yourdesign company that originated the files, or send them over to your exhibition contractorfor them to check (in plenty of time, please!).

3. What do I need for what?So, now you know the difference between a vector file and a raster file, which should you use for what?

Images

Raster files are fine for images, but be mindful of the quality. The Goldilocks Theory comes in handy here: not too big, not too small… To be on the safe side, 300 dpi should be fine for most things. If it’s a really big final print – for a large banner for example – you could go as low as 72 dpi, but only if the physical image size is close to the final print size.

If your artwork is half or quarter size or less, go for a higher dpi. Again, an easy quick check is to enlarge it on screen to the size it will be when printed. If it starts to pixelate (you can see squares and not a smooth image) then it may be too low a resolution. Send it over to your printer or stand contractor to check if you’re unsure, but give them time before you need them to come back with any issues (we’ll cover timing at the end).

Vector files can also be used to print image files and if available are always the preferred choice. A vector file for an image may have parts of it (usually the picture bit) that are raster images, but any logos, text or patterns will be in vector format. If these have been professionally produced, the raster parts of the file should be of good enough quality to scale them up to a decent size (A4 up to A1 for instance), but again, it’s worth checking them as described earlier.

Vinyl graphics

Vector files every time please! As described earlier, the machine that physically cuts the shapes in the vinyl needs a path to follow and that information is found in the vector file. Now it is possible to create a vector file from a raster file, provided it is of high resolution, by a process called ‘outlining’ (where specialist software can plot the vectors from the raster image) but you don’t always get exact results. It’s also possible to ‘print & cut’, where the image is printed, then the outline cut either by the same software that outlines, or by hand (if it’s a simple shape). Both options produce less than perfect results and take more time to do than just whizzing a vector file through the vinyl cutter.

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Cut out Lettering & Logos

As with vinyl graphics, vector files are needed for the cnc router to follow the paths to cut out the shapes. Again, hi res raster files can be outlined, but for cnc work this isn’t advisable as it can create less than optimum results.

It’s common place to provide larger images in half, quarter or even 10th size, providing they are either vector format or high dpi. This is to keep the file size down for sending or uploading, or in the case of very large wall graphics, the fact that Adobe Illustrator has amaximum artboard size of 5750mm.

5. How do I send it?The days of scanning photographic negatives on a special machine to be ableto make large format copies are a thing of the past. As are the days of the ‘Ilford Copy’, where the artwork would bephysically made as a collage, with the typedone with rub down lettering (’Letraset’)and then the finished piece photographed- hence the term ‘camera ready artwork’.

In the age of digital artwork, you’ve now got several options when it comes to getting your files to your stand contractor.

If you have them ready and you’re meeting with them, you can transfer them to a USB drive (or even a CD if you’re feeling all ‘retro’!) and hand it to them. You could also do the same and post it. Both are a bit ‘old school’ these days in the face of all the new fangled technology!

4. Size matters!Yes, it really does! We’re talking the correct size here. If you ask your stand contractor, they should provide you with a ‘wall development’ – a straight on view of every wall and graphic area on the stand, showing dimensions of all the required graphics. From this, you can arrange for the artwork to be supplied to the correct size needed to print or cut from.

If you don't have an artwork department, or someone you outsource your graphic design to, and you need to create artwork for the stand, then your stand builder should be able to arrange that for you.

If it's a simple collage or cropping of images, it's likely to be a free service, but if it starts to become a full blown graphic design job, expect to be charged a fee for doing so.

Time is money: the odd 5 or 10 minutes are often given freely, but when it runs into hours and days people usually ask for payment!

Artwork Top Tip

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If your files are small enough - typically no more than 10mb - you can simply email them. If they total more than 10mb, split them into chunks and send several emails. For largerfiles you can use a file transfer site (FTP) such as WeTransfer, then you can upload them and email a link for them to be downloaded.

Many companies now use Dropbox – an instant file sharing system. It’s free up to a certain usage size and one of the easiest way of transferring and keeping track of your graphic files. You can install Dropbox for free – just google it and follow the instructions.

Another free and easy way to share your files is by using Google Drive, which works in a similar way to Dropbox. There are other options too, but at the time of writing, email, WeTransfer, DropBox and Google Drive are the easiest ways of sharing your files with your stand builder.

6. TimingIt’s the key to comedy and to getting the graphics you want! Sending your artwork files to your stand contractor the day before the show opens (yes, it does happen! It wasn’t you, was it…?) gives no time to address any issues that may arise. It also doesn’t give anyone time to check the finished product, so what’s on the file is what arrives on site.

were half a dozen typos; things we would have usually picked up if the artwork hadn’t been so late that the ink was barely dry by the time it got put up.

“Yes” I replied, “there are quite a few typos on YOUR artwork!” When time is so tight that it’s a case of ‘print it NOW or you don’t have it’, proof reading at our end is the first thingthat goes out the window. Even worse is the late artwork that’s the wrong format, or justblindingly obviously wrong, or worst a corrupt file that the printer can’t open. In those circumstances you may just find that it really is just too late and you have to go the first day of the show without that all important graphic despite your contractor’s best efforts.

Complaining on site that an image isn’t quite right when you only sent it 24 hours before will usually result in someone pointing a finger, and it will most likely be at you. I once had artwork for a very important graphic - right behind the reception counter - arrive during the build up. We got it printed same day, but on the morning of the show the client turned to me and exclaimed “There’s a typo on that graphic panel!” On closer inspection, there

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So with that in mind, once you have appointed your stand contractor for the show, start organising your graphics as soon as possible. Aim to have them all sorted and the artwork ready and over to the stand builder at least two weeks before the show build-up begins. This will give them time to iron out any issues with the artwork files (which of course you won’t have if you’ve read this far!) and enough time for them to check the finished graphics and make sure thateverything is ok before they go to site.

6.5. What next?

So, now you know what’s what and when to do it, there’s no excuse for a graphics panic at your next show! THE best piece of advice I could offer anyone regarding their exhibitiongraphics is this: If you’re not 100% sure, then ASK. There’s no shame in admitting you don’t know everything. I will often ask our printer for his suggestion for a particular jobdespite the fact I’ve been dealing with graphics for nearly 30 years. The simple fact is thatmy printer knows more than me, because they deal with it day in, day out, and they’re bang up to date with the latest techniques, materials and technology.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to every possible scenario or type of graphicsavailable, but armed with the information here you should have all you need to deal with99% of things you’ll come across when organising the graphics for your next stand.

6.5a. The DIY Approach

More of a P.S. this one. If you’re going to fit your own graphics, please don’t go down the pub first. And bring a tape measure. And your glasses if you wear them. This picture isnot photoshopped; it’s a real stand at quite a big show at the NEC. If it was your standplease give me a call - I can give you the number for a graphic fitter who has his ownspirit level and is tea total...

Timing Top TipThere will always be last minute additions and changes. Maybe you're launching a new product and the information won't be ready until right at the last minute, or you're doing a photo shoot for a new catalogue the week before the show and you want to use those images. If this is the case, let your contractor know so that they can be prepared. If they know what's coming, it's far easier to deal with and that bit of communication can head of f any potential issues before they arise.

Contents

1. Keep it Simple2. Recycle3. Finishes4. Fancy Furniture5. Know Your Graphics6. Size Matters7. Where Are Your Service Ducts?8. Reusing & Space Booking9. How Much Do You Like Coffee?10. Paper Cups11. Flooring Options12. Distribution Blocks

Money saving tips & tricksthat every exhibitor should know

TO

THE

YOUR EXHIBITION STAND BUDGET

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1. Keep it Simple

This may seem blindingly obvious, but the more complicated the stand design, the more it will cost. Something like a curved detail on a reception desk can add hundreds of pounds to your stand bill. Add a similar detail to multiple units and you could be adding thousands.

A maxim I learned in my first week as a designer was ‘curves cost’. Keeping to simple shapes and going for a minimalistic ‘less is more’ approach is essential if you’re on a tight budget.

2. Recycle

Need a reception desk? Does your stand contractor have an existing one that would do the job instead of having one specially built? The answer will almost certainly be yes and in

doing so you’ll most likely save £500 or more by reusing a counter that already exists. Desks and counters are the most common things that are kept and reused by stand contractors. They will often keep bespoke stand features too, so it’s well worth asking “what have you got in stock?” as you may just get a great purpose built feature from afancy stand at a knock down price!

3. Finishes

We recently had a client insist that their 6 tyre display units were spray painted. That added £700 to the cost of the stand. With units and counters, spraying is more expensive than laminating, which is more expensive than painting with emulsion.

When it comes to walls, wrapped panels are cheaper than painted panels, which are cheaper than laminated walls. Your stand designer should be able to recommend the most cost effective way of achieving the look you’re after without compromising the overall look of your stand.

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4. Fancy Furniture

Simply put, simple furniture costs less than fancy furniture. Take a look at any furniture catalogue and you’ll see the basic ranges half the price of the ‘designer’ ones. You’ll also find that many contractors will have a small stock of their own furniture that they will use on stands at a discounted rate. So if you just want somewhere to sit and the style isn’t critical to the look of the stand, go basic.

5. Know your Graphics

Graphics can be costly, but if you plan things right you can save a lot of money in the long run. Vinyl graphics applied to a wall can’t be reused,

but a logo applied to a foamex panel can be. A 3D cut out logo may cost more initially, but may last half a dozen shows or more.

How you mount your graphics will also determine their lifespan too. Use of Velcro and stand-off fixings will keep graphic panels damage free compared to pinning them to the wall, which will leave a fresh set of pin holes each and every time.

The previous section ‘The 6.5 Secrets of Great Exhibition Graphics’ is a great resource when it comes to your stand graphics - hopefully you‘ve read that bit first!

6. Size matters

We’re talking panel and sheet material sizes here. The biggest cost of any exhibition stand is the labour; keep the hours down in the workshop and you keep the overall cost down.

‘Stock panel’ walls usually exist in 2.44m, 2.74, 3m & 3.9m heights and 0.5m and 1m widths. If you insist on a wall height of 3.5m, then every wall panel will have to have a ‘make up’ made and fixed to it = time and cost. Make them 3m and they come straight off the shelf. Specify a run of walling that is 4.8m long and the 0.8m panel will have to be made new.

3.9m stockwalls

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When it comes to counters & units, most will be made from timber battens and mdf. Mdf (medium density fibreboard) comes in 8’ x 4’ and 10’ x 5’ sheets. Want a counter 3.2m long? It will need a join somewhere and extra labour time to join it. Need 10 display plinths and ask for them 700mm x 700mm? If they can be 600mm x 600mm then you can maximise your material usage with less waste and save money.

7. Where are your service ducts?

Knowing where the service ducts are before you design your stand can save hundreds if not thousands of pounds. Service ducts are the channels in the venue floor through which power cables and other services are routed to the stands. At the end of your incoming mains cable will be the mains box and fuse board.

Usually you’ll look to hide these away in a storeroom or inside a unit. If you know where the service duct is positioned on your stand space, you can design the stand so that the storeroom or unit is positioned over the duct, thus avoiding a great big ugly mains cable running across your stand. The alternative to having the cable on show is to have a platform floor, which will add up to £15 per square metre on to your stand costs.

So, my advice is always find out where the service ducts are before you start to design the layout.

8. Reusing & space booking

A good way to save money on a custom build stand is to reuse the components (or the entire stand) at future shows. This is a great idea in principle, but if you book varying sizes, shapes and orientations of stand space, it can be difficult to cost effectively reuse existing components.

Keep this in mind when designingthe initial stand - if sites vary, make it in smallmodular sections that can be easily reconfigured for each different space. Also keep it in mind when booking your space - if youcan keep the orientation and shape the same orsimilar each time, you’ll save money in making new and chopping about existing stand kit.

9. How much do you like coffee?

Thinking of having a coffee machine on you stand? You may want to think again if money is tight. A domestic coffee machine such as a Tassimo or Nespresso needs a 2kw socket to run it; which means a coffee cost of nearly £300just to turn it on.

service

ducts

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“Ok, we’ll use a kettle instead!” That’ll be a 3kw socket: almost £400. “We’ll just not say anything and plug it in then!” Not the best idea! Power consumption is metered by computer and when the fuseboard trips, which it will, the electrical contractor knows exactly how much by.

We recently had a client not tell us they were planning to run a commercial coffee machine on their stand and they plugged it in half an hour before the show opened. The first we knew about it was a panicked phone call along the lines of “The power’s gone out and they’re saying its £500 to turn it back on!”

It transpired that the £500 was for a 3kw socket that the electrical contractor knew they needed, as the computer showed a 3kw surge over and above the power they had booked and paid for had tripped the circuit.

The moral of the story? Be honest with what you’re intending to use.

So, in short, coffee costs, due to the power needed to run the kettle or machine. Cold drinks are the cheaper option. If you want them chilled, a standard fridge will run from a 500w socket (around £100), leaving money spare for a trip to Starbucks a couple of times a day during the show.

10. Paper cups

If you’re planning on serving drinks on your stand, be it tea and coffee, wine and beer or soft drinks, you’re going to need something to serve them in. If you go for traditional crockery and glasses, you’re going to need to wash them up, which means having a sink, which needs a water & waste connection.

At a UK venue this will cost around £700, plus the cost of installing the sink unit. That will pay for a lot of paper cups and plastic glasses, with a bit left over for a bin to put them in and probably enough to put £500 behind the bar on the last night of the show to celebrate all those sales!

You can have cups in company colours, brandedsleeves, different shapes and sizes... there’s a fantastic cost saving choice out there. So unless you really need high end hospitality to uphold your company reputation, paper cups really is a no brainer.

11. Flooring options

Have you ever walked around a show and noticed what quality of carpet is on each stand? No? Not many people do, which is why the majority of exhibitors tend to go for the cheaper options and either save the difference or spend it on other areas of the stand.

Cord carpet is the cheapest option and when laid properly looks absolutely fine.

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Velour carpet comes in around twice the price of cord. Do always go for the polythene covering during build up though. Skimp on that and you risk having a very dirty, uncleanable carpet that will ruin your stand image.

Want a wood plank floor instead? It may be £4 a square metre at the local discount store, but add on the cost of laying it and that could treble or more. The cheapest option is a wood plank effect vinyl flooring. The quality of wood effect vinyl is very good these days and the choice of colours and patterns is vast. Cost wise you’ll pay around the same as velour carpet and about half the price of a ‘cheap’ wooden floor.

You can of course also get a huge variety of plain and patterned vinyl floorings other than wood effect at the same cost; from bright primary colours to a steel chequerplate, the choice is almost endless.

12. Distribution blocks

This is a bit of a trade secret that I shouldn’t really be sharing, although if you’re a client of mine you’ll probably already know and have benefited from this little trick. Let’s say you have a TV screen, a laptop, 10 LED floodlights and a showcase to plug in, plus you’d like to charge your phone at lunchtime. How many sockets do you need?

The electrical contractor would say five 500w sockets, which would cost you around £500. I’d say one. Let’s add up the power: The TV and the laptop draw around 80w each. The LED lights another 240w and the showcase another 30w at most (if the lights are LED). A phone on charge can almost be ignored power wise. That’s a total of around 430w. But if you order a 500w socket, whilst you can plug a 6 gang adapter in (you’re allowed to with a socket up to 500w, but not 1kw – 3kw) all your plugs may not reach your adapter and the one thing you’re not allowed to do is ‘daisy chain’ adapters. So how do you get around the rules?

We do it using the same ‘plug & play’ system that the electrical contractors use to wire the stands, but with one clever little addition that they rarely use: the 3 way distribution block. One plug into the contractor’s socket, fed into a 3 way distribution block, then up to 3 feeds out of the block, with a double socket on the end of each (and an adapter from those if you wish!).

Connectors are rated up to 10 amps (2.5kw) and the distribution blocks up to 20 amps (5kw). As long as you are not using more power than the original socket is rated at (in our example, 500w) then it’s perfectly safe and within the rules. Plus we can run each and any of the 3 feeds from the distribution blocks to anywhere on the stand with extra pre-wired leads.

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More convenient, lots of money saved and they can be used with up to a 3kw socket to run multiple items. The trick is in the planning: find out what the wattage power usage of each item you’ll be using is (it’s on the ‘legend plate’attached to all mains electrical items) and plan your power order accordingly.

Summary

It’s the little things that matter, and thoselittle things can add up to quite a substantialsaving when you put them all together. The ageold maxim ‘look after the pennies and the poundswill look after themselves’ is very true when itcomes to your exhibition stand.

It is possible to produce a great looking stand without needing a second mortgage if you have the right approach and the right company towork with. Your stand designer and buildershould be able and willing to work with you tosave money wherever possible.

About the Author

I’m Mark Powell and I began as a junior designer

way back in 1988, when visuals were drawn by

hand and coloured in with magic markers!

I began a freelance design career in 1990 that

would eventually become MPD Creative Ltd.

Over the years I’ve designed for clients such as

Peugeot, Miele and Mercedes Benz, as well as

dealing with stands, clients and budgets of all

shapes and sizes.

I design and project manage exhibition stands on

a daily basis. My aim with this book is to lift the

viel on the exhibition industry for the benefit of all

concerned. Why? A knowledgable client is far

easier to deal with than one who isn’t. I believe

that in sharing my experience we’ll all have an

easier life, and better exhibition stands that give a

higher return. If our clients make more money,

then they keep exhibiting - it’s a win - win!

If you’d like to know more about how we do things

at MPD Creative Ltd, just drop us a line or give me

a call. I’m always happy to help.

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my best‘serious face’

L i s t e n D e s i g n D e l i v e r

Tel: 02476 231 841 | email: info@mpdcreative.co.uk

website: www.mpdcreative.co.uk