Exhibition stand checklist for Dubai trade shows

Trade show stands go wrong in predictable ways, and almost all of them are decided weeks before the show opens. Work through this before you commission anything.

Before the design

• The exact floor size, and which sides are open
• The height limit, and whether a second storey is allowed
• Whether the space is shell scheme or raw space
• Rigging rules, power supply and where it enters the stand
• Build-up and breakdown times from the organiser

Designing before you have the organiser manual is how stands get redesigned at cost.

Designing for the job the stand has to do

A stand that exists to generate conversations needs open sides and places to stand. A stand that exists to demonstrate a product needs a focal point and sightlines. A stand that exists for meetings needs a private area. Decide which one you are building before anyone draws it.

Graphics

• Your main message readable from across the hall, not from one metre
• Logo high enough to clear the heads of people standing on the stand
• Backwall graphics supplied at the right resolution for the system used
• Fabric or rigid: fabric travels and re-prints cheaply, rigid looks sharper up close

Backwalls, SEG fabric systems and media walls are printed in-house alongside the build. See printing services.

The practical things people forget

• Storage: somewhere to put bags, coats and stock
• Lighting: hall lighting is rarely enough
• Flooring: it changes how the stand feels more than most people expect
• Power sockets where the demo actually is
• Who strikes the stand, and where it goes afterwards

Build to reuse, if it makes sense

If you do three shows a year, a stand built to pack down and be re-dressed with new graphics costs less over a year than three bespoke builds. Say so at the design stage. See fabrication services.