Page 22 - EXHIBITION BOOK - BOOK 1 Before!_Neat

CHAPTER 7 GOOD & BAD STAND DESIGN!

Stand design and layout is a very personal thing and what’s good for one company may not work for
another. It’s important that you give some real thought as to what you are trying to achieve. The whole
reason you are exhibiting is to meet potential customers, so the key marker is that you make the stand
inviting and accessible. You can have a lovely looking stand and lots of product but if it’s an obstacle course
for your visitor to get onto the stand they simply won’t! When thinking about writing this section I thought
about putting in lots of lovely pictures of stands highlighting what is good and bad…. I decided against this
as what I consider to be good or bad may be completely the opposite of what you think. Good and bad is
objective…. also, if you take two stands that are the same, one may be brilliant for a service business that
has no physical product but may be a disaster for a company who need to show lots of products and demo
the product. Rather than tell you what is good and bad, it may be better for you to consider these simple
questions about your stand and what you are trying to achieve…

Q. How much actual wall space for graphics do you need
Q. What colours and graphics are the right fit for our brand
Q. Where is the key point of our stand that people will see walking down the aisles
Q. What stand decor do we need and how do we make it simple
Q. How can we position everything so that our open sides are inviting for visitors
Q. Where on the stand can we position our personal materials/brochures etc
Q. Is our company name clearly visible from 15 feet away
Q. Is the stand number clearly marked on our stand for the visitors
Q. Is their a clear metre around any free standing units we have on the stand
Q. Have we put our brochure stands clearly in reach of visitors
Q. If we are using a raised floor, is it clearly finished and accessible for visitors

At the end of the day the stand is the first thing your visitors see so you want to ensure it’s:

Presenting the right perception of your company
Uses the colours that best represent your message
Is clearly inviting and accessible for visitors
Has a simple layout with little clutter
Is comfortable for your Exhibition team to manage and work on
Has lots of open space
Enough but a limited amount of furniture

One area which you should also give good thought to is the whole area of lighting. You need to ensure that
your graphics and any physical product are well lit up. I would recommend using just one colour lighting. I
have seen many stands trying to utilize lots of different colour lighting and this doesn’t generally work.
Think about the key areas of the stand you want to focus on and ensure the lighting is right to really show
off your product or graphics. I have found over the years that many companies put on too many lights on
the stand and it can be a bit over powering. Depending upon where you are in the hall the ambient lighting