A trade show may be your only opportunity to meet face-to-face with a potential customer.
Therefore, you need to make your exhibit count. It needs to be absolutely top-notch.
But this is only possible by following a linear, well-structured process from start to finish.
In this article, Mike Graziani, our Vice President of Design, breaks down the A to Z of our exhibit design process and what to expect if you reach out to us about creating your trade show exhibit.
Exploration
This is the initial phase of a project in which we’ll research and gather information about:
- The company
- Its needs
- Its pain points
- What they did and didn't like from previous exhibits (we don't want to repeat the same mistakes as their previous exhibit house).
We just let the client talk. We want to avoid interrupting them and just let them spill their guts, for want of a more eloquent phrase. By taking this stance, we’re able to quickly figure out what they’re looking for and where we fit into their goals.
It’s on us to do everything in our power to create a game-changing exhibit that cuts through the clutter with clarity and paints our clients in their best light.
Formulating concepts
Once we’ve had the initial meeting with the client to explore their needs and wants, we’ll start to formulate concepts.
Sometimes, we start off with sketches; other times we go straight to 3D renderings. The exact concepts we opt for depend on the scope of the project and the client’s requirements.
Normally, there's a back and forth that happens in that design process where we're revising the renderings and getting it dialed in.
From here, we go back and forth with the client regarding the design until we reach a point where the client is satisfied with it.
Estimating and engineering
Once the design is approved and finalized, it goes into our estimating and engineering group.
Sometimes, the estimating and engineering steps overlap with the formulation stage of the process.
For instance, we may pass a design to our estimating team before we show it to a client to make sure we're in the right ballpark for pricing.
There are instances in which we can develop a concept that is visually appealing but is significantly more expensive than the client's initial budget. Unfortunately, when we try to scale this concept back, we may lose certain attributes that made it appealing initially, as those attributes were reliant on the higher budget.
So, we might pass it to engineering and estimating to make sure we’re within budget.
But long story short, once we get through that, they start to break down our model and create fabrication-friendly files. That is, things that can be put into crates and will allow electricity cables and so forth to pass through.
We then send drawings to the client for approval, and the design goes into fabrication.
Fabrication
At this point in the exhibit design process, two things happen simultaneously:
- The structure starts to be built by our fabrication group.
- The graphics start to be finalized and printed by our graphics team.
We produce 95% of our graphics in-house. We print, trim, and finish all of the graphics that form part of your exhibit.
On top of this, our fabricators specialize in different types of structures. We’ve got fabricators who specialize in custom wood structures. We've got fabricators who work in metal and bending and welding. We've got painters who can create any kind of painting that you require.
You get the picture. Whatever specific need(s) you have for your exhibit, we can almost certainly help fulfill them.
Assembly
When the structures are built, this is where the assemblers come in.
They’ll essentially take those finished components and put them together on the show floor in the proper way, much like they would on the trade show floor. The only difference is that they're doing this in our warehouse.
They will apply the graphics to the components and get everything ready for the client preview.
Client preview and shipment
The client can come to our facility to see the final exhibit, or they can do so remotely via Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
Our team will then pack the booth up into crates, and, at this point, it’s ready for shipment.
Behind the scenes
It’s not just our designers who pull up trees to deliver a first-rate client exhibit. We also have an account management team that works tirelessly to help everything go smoothly with your project.
Our account managers do the necessary work to ensure that, when the booth is crated up, the shipping company picks it up at the right time. They make sure it's delivered to the right location and show floor number and that the necessary personnel are there, ready to uncrate it at the right time.
They then ensure all of these steps are followed in reverse order once the show is done and the components make their way safely back to our premises.
We also offer an exhibit management program (EMP). If, say, a client exhibits at five or six shows a year, they’ll enter our EMP once we’ve designed and built their exhibit.
As part of our obligation under this program, we make sure their booth gets to the proper shows when it's supposed to, in the condition it's supposed to.
This way, our client doesn't have to do anything with their exhibit beyond standing next to it at the trade show—we take care of everything else for them.
Our design philosophy
When we work with you, we’re coming into your industry as a layperson. If there's an eye-catching attribute to your product, we're going to make sure you know about it, especially if it appears that you don't yet know about it!
We may also need you to start at the beginning and translate certain industry jargon into plain English. If we’re unsure of something, we’ll question it, and this direct approach allows us to determine the best possible route when designing your trade show exhibit.
Also, sometimes people have looked at their product for so long that they're no longer excited about it. This is where we stress the importance of taking yourself out of your own person and looking at it with fresh eyes.
We need you to bring us up to speed and carry us along as much as possible. We'll fill in the gaps regarding branding, marketing, and messaging.
Reach out to us to create your trade show exhibit today
We’re happy to meet with you in person or online to discuss your requirements and see how we can help.
Our team members are like sponges. They’ll absorb as much information from you as they can so they can hit the ground running.
Send us a note here or call us at 800-343-2005.
