The essential guide
Commissioning an exhibition stand design whether it be bespoke, custom, modular or system can be a fraut and stressful time unless you carefully select reliable and dedicated suppliers. Use this guide to help you through the complex decisions and questions that you are likely to have to make.
Selecting a supplier
Designer or Contractor?
There are three ways to procure an exhibition stand design project. They are;
. Exhibition stand Design
. Exhibition stand Design and Build
. Exhibition stand Contractor
The reasons for choosing a particular approach are dependent on the individual circumstances but as a guide here are some simple definitions
Exhibition stand Design
Undertaken by an exhibition stand design consultant or full service design consultant. The design consultant will work with the client to deliver the creative concept for the exhibition stand and will be paid an agreed fee for a measured deliverable. This will be either in the form of visuals, working drawings or a combination of concepts, working drawings and stand specifications. The client will then take the project pack and procure the contract, usually through a tendering process, managing all of the elements in-house.
Exhibition stand Design and Build
Also undertaken by an exhibition stand design consultancy or a full service design consultancy. The consultancy is usually selected through a pitch process (see pitch process) and is given the budget to deliver the agreed concept for an agreed budget. This should be headache free for clients as their involvement should be minimal and allows them to get on with the important task of marketing their company. The exhibition stand design consultants should offer the client progress reports on a regular basis and deliver marked stages for approval. The project management element is designed to hold the hand of the client through the whole process. After all, the consultancy should be used to this as they are involved in it every day.
Exhibition stand Contractor
Under certain circumstances some clients wish to deal directly with an Exhibition stand Contractor to deliver the entire process. In this instance the Exhibition stand contractor will use in house designers or freelancers to develop a concept and project management. It is fair to say that clients anticipate that this approach will be cheaper but this might be at the cost of creativity, marketing knowledge and attention to detail. An exhibition design consultant that is effective should be able to select specialist suppliers and deliver an exhibition stand design that is creative and cost effective.
Whichever process you choose, it is very important to find an Exhibition stand supplier that you can talk to, one that understands your needs and one that will exceed your expectations (or at least try to!)