Your company would like to take part in a trade fair for the first time? You are responsible for the next customised exhibition stand? Especially when entering the world of trade fairs, it is easy to be overwhelmed or have difficulties finding the information you need without existing contacts. As your experienced Partner in exhibition stand construction, SYMA takes care of the entire planning and construction of your exhibition stand. However, you should make some basic decisions internally before the first consultation; In this article, we will show you what this is all about and what key data is required for planning an individual exhibition stand is required.
Time frame for the customised exhibition stand
From the very beginning of the trade fair project, it is important to plan enough time to avoid potentially stressful errors in advance. Depending on the size of your trade fair stand, planning can proceed more slowly or more quickly: The first consultation should be scheduled between 6-12 months before the start of the trade fair. Trade fair dates are usually fixed well in advance and stand bookings can also be made with the trade fair organiser some time in advance. As soon as you have collected all the information mentioned here, but at least 12 weeks before the trade fair, nothing stands in the way of the first personal briefing and consultation with our sales staff; The customer’s goals and wishes are analysed and a project plan is drawn up step by step; The conditions of the booked stand location at the trade fair on site, all the information provided by the customer and the budget earmarked for the trade fair construction are transformed into an initial concept for the trade fair stand by the SYMA trade fair architects and designers.
This initial concept is presented to you and, following your approval, serves as the basis for detailed planning and a detailed cost breakdown; SYMA should have final clarity on the order at least six weeks before installation so that everything can be completed on time; Elements such as print-ready graphics, for example, must be sent to SYMA no later than approx. three weeks before assembly; The first day of stand construction at the event location is always taken as the reference time for this plan. Depending on the size of the exhibition stand, assembly begins 2-8 days before the actual start of the exhibition; To ensure that the above-mentioned deadlines can be met without any gaps, it is all the more important to collect all the important basic data for your customised exhibition stand right at the start.
Stand booking with the trade fair organiser
Most and most important of this information is obtained by deciding on the trade fair at which you wish to exhibit and registering your stand with the respective organiser; This means that the core facts of time and place are fixed. When you book, you are allocated an exact place in the respective exhibition hall (or can select a select stand). This pre-selection provides Exhibition architects valuable information they need for the design, such as:
- Position in the hall
- Size of the footprint of the stand
- Movement flows of trade fair visitors in the hall
- Lighting situation
- Type of stand (head/row/island)
- Hall height and building regulations
You determine the size of your exhibition stand in advance when you book the stand space; SYMA plans and designs a representative exhibition stand using this basic data and your information from the briefing; There are no limits to the design, materials or furnishings, apart from your budget; In order to make even better use of the stand’s floor space, the stand can of course be extended by one storey in height within the framework of the technical and structural specifications.
Budget for the exhibition stand
The budget for building the exhibition stand only covers part of the total Costs for a trade fair. For the initial consultation, it is important to have already broken down the budget and to know the financial framework for the individual exhibition stand; It never hurts to factor in a small reserve cushion so that you can react flexibly at any time; The more requirements and wishes are defined in advance, the less need there is for subsequent changes;
Functions of an exhibition stand
Before the exact design can be worked out, it must first be determined which functions your customised exhibition stand should fulfil; Is a reception area required for addressing and providing initial information to interested parties? Would you like a bar or catering area? Do you need a stage or other presentation areas? Are there any exhibits that require a particularly large amount of space or special connections? Are separate meeting rooms planned? All these factors are decisive for the first visualisations. If you need help answering these questions, try to keep the objective of your trade fair presentation in mind.
Trade fair objectives
To clarify the objectives of your trade fair presence, you only need to ask yourself one question: What exactly is the reason why you are taking part in this trade fair?
Depending on the size of the company, this is a personal or economic question that must be clarified before planning; The common objectives can be roughly broken down as follows:
- New customer acquisition
- Customer care
- Representation in general
- Reputation building or image promotion
- Presentation of product innovations
- Observation of the competition
- Market analysis
Of course, a website can also pursue several goals at the same time, but you should focus on one of the goals and derive the further functional and design decisions from this.
Storytelling and design ideas
If the trade fair objectives and required facilities are clear, our trade fair architects can create meaningful and breathtaking ideas based on your CI and company philosophy; If you already have a story in mind that you want to tell your stand visitors, it’s important to share it with us right from the start; This enables us to take up these ideas and harmonise them with the objectives and requirements; Good storytelling benefits from the fact that every little detail at the trade fair stand is aligned with this narrative. Don’t hesitate to tell us your dreams and ideas – our experts have already brought the most unusual stories to life;
At first glance, all the points discussed here may sound like a lot of decisions and painstaking preparatory work; Basically, most of these key data result from the following three aspects:
- Stand booking (time & location information)
- Budgetplan
- The aim of the trade fair appearance (and thus the functions of the trade fair stand)
Do you already have all this information? Then you can easily and quickly arrange your personal consultation appointment with our SYMA teams in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria or Switzerland here. Together we create the perfect, customised plan for your individual exhibition stand;
