Moving on up - 5 tips on how to move from your portable to a custom exhibit

We receive a lot of calls from exhibitors who want to make the jump from their draped table to a custom designed booth.  Some already have bannerstands and pop-ups but are looking to make more of an impact and stand out from their competitors.

But how do you go from this...........................to this?

10'x10' draped table

20'x20' custom exhibit

Here are 5 quick tips to help you plan your move from your portable exhibit to a custom designed booth:

1. Do some research

Go online and do a bit of prep work.  Look at exhibit houses in your area (or in the city you will be exhibiting), browse their gallery of work, check their capabilities to ensure that they specialize in custom designs, and make notes of design elements that you like - or don't like.  Don't forget to ask colleagues or friends who have exhibited because they may have an exhibit house they could recommend.  Choose two or three you would like to speak with and move on to step 2.

2. Make a wish list

I am a note taker and list maker - which brings us to my second suggestion:  Write down all the features you or your team would like to have in your booth and don't forget to highlight the must-have elements.  Some of the basic things your Account Manager will ask you about are:

• Booth size
• Seating
• Storage
• AV/Media
• Signage/Messaging 
• Presentations or Demos
• Flooring
• Anything else?

Writing down all the elements you would like to see in your custom designed exhibit will help your account manager and booth designer understand what is important to you and your team.

3. Get your facts straight

This part is not as much fun as the design wish list but very important when you are making a sizeable investment in a custom designed exhibit.  Think about and be prepared to answer questions on:

• SHOWS.  When is your next show?  How many times a year will you be using this exhibit?  Where do you exhibit? Do you exhibit in different booth sizes at different shows?
• BUDGET.  This is crucial because you are no longer looking at a $1000 to $2000 investment in your exhibit program - you might be looking at $30,000 for a 200sq ft booth [$144/$160 per sq ft  based on the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association's 2011 Economic Survey - average cost for an in-line/single tier island exhibit].
• SERVICES. Who will manage all the show services (orders, shipping, set-up, dismantle....)?  Will your team do this or do you want to work with a full-service exhibit house?

 4.  Ask questions

Once you have your exhibit house on the phone I know they will ask you for a lot of information. But don't forget  that you are also trying to qualify them.  Ask questions that will help you establish if you and your exhibit house are the right fit.  Like buying a house - you want to trust your real estate agent, you want to feel like they understand what you are looking for, you want to build a relationship when making this kind of investment.

Ask the exhibit house about their custom design work, the cities they exhibit in, the services they provide, their production capabilities, the design process, visit their facilities and you can even ask them to speak to a couple of their existing clients for some feedback on their work.  

5.  Make the jump

If you have found the one (or two) exhibit houses that you have a good connection with, tell them that you would like to kick off the design process.  This might involve an in-person meeting with the designer, a few concepts, and then a final design before you go into production - but your account manager should be walking you through each step of the design and build process.

Exhibitor magazine posts a lot of exhibitor success stories online (Case Studies By Company).  Even though they feature a lot of larger exhibits - you can read about exhibitor's innovative marketing plans, unique exhibits, and even find inspiration to make the leap to a custom designed exhibit.

Staging your home? Staging your exhibit?

I often visit the Houzz site and love looking at beautiful homes, but I often wonder how those owners keep their amazing spaces neat, tidy and free from clutter. Of course most of these houses had interior designers hard at work and it got me thinking about an article I just saw posted by Freshome Design & Architecture; it was about home staging and the impact on the sale of your property.

With Toronto's housing market booming the way it is - I have experienced first hand what a difference it makes to stage your house for sale.  I'm not only suggesting for you to clean your home but have a design savvy friend help you de-clutter your space, rearrange furniture, or even go out and hire a professional stager.  Home buyers will not be able to look past all the 'junk' at the beautiful woodwork, the great pot-lights, or the beautiful kitchen.

I believe the same applies to exhibits.  I started to think about what booths we have done where staging played an important role in making the product or messaging stand out.
 

I want to share two examples.  The first is Microsoft's 'Home' exhibit for a Future shop event in Whistler.  They had asked us to help create an environment, that not only provided some space for a trainer to talk to a few attendees, but also allowed them to showcase their products in a 'home' setting.   This booth was very different from our usual 'corporate' exhibits and even though we did not go the traditional route of building a small scale house - there was still a lot of staging going on!

The second example I found (and we can't take any credit for the staging!!!) is from Mucci Farms. 

The first set of images were taken after our installation crews set-up the booth:  you have the carpet down, the exhibit structure up, the lighting, graphics, AV and rental furniture ready for the show.







You can see from the 'before' and 'after' that the booth is fairly plain until all their produce is showcased throughout the space.  The greenhouse vegetables are so vibrant in colour and the Marketing Coordinator did a fantastic job incorporating their product into the staging of their exhibit.   Cushions, vases, bowls, and other accessories were used to complete the look.

 I guess staging is not strictly for your home anymore!

If you want some tips on styling or staging your home (or even exhibit) - you can read the article "Why Home Staging Could Give You The Edge in The Property Market"

Renting an exhibit - still a popular option

I have this conversation a lot with clients: Why should they rent their exhibit? 
Because it makes sense. 
Not for every exhibitor and not at every event - but in many instances I see our clients benefit from renting instead of buying their exhibit.

We created this advertising piece below (it was a double sided card - so the text below is the back). It summarizes the key reasons for choosing a rental booth.

In essence - it's about flexibility and making your show budget go further.
At least that is how I like to look at it.  

Gone are the days when Marketing Managers had 'unlimited' trade show budgets like in this custom exhibit with intricate mill work at the 1893 Chicago World Fair.

1893 Chicago World Fair - Michigan Exhibit (Source:PeriodPaper)

Today we are still focusing on cutting costs, economical solutions, minimizing expenses, and maximizing your show R.O.I.s (while still trying to impress your attendees with an amazing booth!)


We have seen many clients go from a 600 to a 200 square foot space, and vice-versa.   This may be a result of changing Marketing budgets and because they invest in different sized spaces at different shows.  Add another dimension, that these shows don't happen every year, and now what do you do with a booth purchase that only fits the space for one of your four events?


Almost all our clients change their exhibit from one event to the next.  Even if it's just adding seating or a meeting room, changing the layout, enlarging the storage room, or changing the size - you can always make improvements to your booth and I like that a rental exhibit gives you this type of flexibility.

Unless you know that you will be using the same booth, in the exact same configuration for at least 4-5 shows, consider a rental exhibit.  If there are some core elements that can be used at every event and in every size configuration look at a hybrid solution (a combination of custom purchased components + rental components).  Hybrid solutions give you a little more customisation and unique elements within your rental exhibit.


A lot of our exhibits are a mix of custom elements (purchased) and rental components, like this 20'x20' exhibit we designed for Pure Hothouse. The glowing pedestals, dimensional lit letters, and graphics were custom/purchased components and most of the structure is rented.  That is why you can also see a 10'x20' concept in which a combination of custom components and rental structure is used.  For the 10'x20' they only rent the exhibit structure they need instead of carrying the cost of the full 20'x20' version.

I am sure we will come back to this rental discussion over the lifetime of this blog and even though I can appreciate that a rental exhibit is not the right fit for every company I think renting a custom designed display will continue to be a popular choice.

Setting up Microsoft's 'Shadow Box' booth

I am excited to share the installation video of Microsoft's 'Shadow Box' exhibit!  
This video was filmed using time lapse and took almost 1600 photos in a span of ~ 8 hours. Two 10'x20' custom designed walls made up this 20'x20' booth.  Although the columns in the venue made it difficult to find a good spot for the camera - we were able to capture the set-up of one of the walls.  It took a crew a full day to install the carpet, exhibit structure, signage, lighting, AV and one day later it was all dismantled again.  If you every wondered what it takes to set up an exhibit here is an example:
Microsoft 'Shadow Box' exhibit Installation

Microsoft Canada's 'Shadow Box' Booth

I was just able to get some photos from our newest build - we call it Microsoft Canada's 'Shadow Box' exhibit.  These images are from a recent Future Shop event that took place in downtown Toronto.  Our crew set up this custom designed exhibit in a day (I should have a video of the installation up by next week). The walls are about 10' high and 20' wide.  The white panels are a high gloss laminate - while the back-walls were inspired by "shou-sugi-ban" a japanese wood burning technique http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/2323908/list/-Shou-Sugi-Ban--Is-Setting-the-Siding-World-on-Fire. With only 3 weeks to design and build this booth - everyone was excited to see it come together.