Making a stand: From paper to reality

With just five days to go until the B2B Marketing Expo opens its doors, Smart Display is almost ready to unveil its very own stand design. As an established exhibition contractor, the process leading up to showtime is familiar territory to Smart Display, but that’s not to underestimate the planning and preparation that goes into each and every stand build.

Having already spoken to sales manager Ben Rose and creative director Nathan Hesslewood about briefing in and designing a stand respectively, this week it is the turn of Emily Day. As a project manager within the production team, Emily is responsible for making sure that every element of the stand design becomes reality on site and it’s no easy task, as Emily explains.

When does production get involved?

We first find out about a new job at the handover meeting, where the sales staff will handover the proposed design which has been approved by the client. At that stage as the project manager, I am now responsible for making sure that everything that has been agreed between sales, design and the client becomes a reality. I look at the technical drawing and get to grips with it, looking at all the elements and taking note of anything that needs to be custom-built for that particular job. And in the case of the Smart Display stand, there are a lot of elements to take into account.

What happens next?

We start to arrange the production of the elements that we need for the stand to come together. The basic structure is all hired so that is all readily available, but this stand has elements such as living wall that goes over a door, so that needs flagging up to the workshop at this stage. I’ve just been speaking to installations about some custom-built counter tops that we need in January, so we do work far in advance for bespoke elements.

Then we look at things like the electrics. Without giving too much away, there is a lot of LED lighting on the Smart Display stand, so getting the electrics ordered and in place is paramount.

There is some custom flooring on this stand which needs ordering so that we can cut it here and ensure it can be easily pieced together on-site.

How involved does the client have to be?

Obviously this job is in-house so it is a bit different but usually, contacting the client is the first thing I do. We take care of everything on their behalf and fully project manage the entire process, but I like to keep my clients in the loop. They don’t want to approve their stand design and then hear nothing for two months. And there are some aspects that we have to run past them, such as optional extras and any costs for electrics or rigging.

What about the event organiser?

We aim to contact the event organiser within 24 to 48 hours of the handover because it’s essential that we get the relevant exhibitor manual. Every exhibitor manual is different – I have literally never seen two that are the same – so we have to go through that as soon as possible and action what needs to be done on behalf of the client. This includes the mandatory forms for things like risk assessment, and ordering optional extras such as electrics and rigging. If something is over 4m in height, we need to supply structural calculations from a qualified exhibition architect to make sure that the stand is safe, and we have to supply electrical drawings and make sure that that distribution boards are in place for the power.

Do you go out on site to see the finished stand?

I like to get out to see the majority of my clients and hand over the stand the day before doors open. That is a nice part of the job, because it’s nice to see what you have been working on become a reality, and serve the purpose that the client had in mind.

Next week with one day to go until doors open, we will catch up with installations manager Alex McGrath to find out what happens on-site when the stand is ready to be built. If you have an event coming up, talk to us about how we can create your perfect exhibition stand #wemakeevents