Exhibition stand construction
Under fair construction means all activities that have to do with the construction of exhibition stands. This includes planning, design, assembly and dismantling, and often also storage. In a narrower sense, exhibition stand construction also only refers to the activity of the craftsmen who set up exhibition stands according to given plans.
Requirements for stand construction
Trade fairs and exhibitions
At design schools , trade fair construction is usually taught as an overarching subject of trade fair and exhibition design , because the creative work for trade fairs and exhibitions is very similar. The boundaries between trade fairs and exhibitions are fluid; there is often no linguistic distinction between them. However, if one looks at typical trade fairs and typical exhibitions, the essential differences become apparent.
Trade fairs are events at which branches of the economy give a comprehensive overview of what they have to offer. They take place regularly, are mainly aimed at trade and industry and serve to sell the products shown .
Typical trade fairs are order fairs , capital goods fairs and consumer exhibitions . Many exhibitors take part and present their goods, services or ideas in separate, differently designed exhibition stands. Trade fairs usually only last a few days.
Exhibitions are events at which individual branches of industry display their products; they are primarily for information and not for sales . There are exhibitions as:
a) general exhibitions, aimed at the general public
b) Specialized exhibitions, usually target industry and trade with a special offer
Typical exhibitions are, for example, art exhibitions in museums and didactic exhibitions on a specific topic. They all follow a uniform design principle. Often the flow of visitors is directed by control systems . Typical exhibitions are long-term. Temporary exhibitions last several weeks or months, permanent exhibitions several years.
Stand builders create short-term small exhibitions that have to compete with other small exhibitions in the immediate vicinity. In addition, many exhibition stands not only have the character of an exhibition, but are also intended to enable consultation and negotiations.
Organization of the exhibition stand
The fundamental decisions about participation in a trade fair, the budget and the deployment of staff should be made by those responsible for corporate communications, in non-profit organizations, those responsible for public relations . This has to happen half a year to a full year before you participate in the trade fair, as the demand at all the important trade fairs is very high. Short-term decisions only make sense at regional trade fairs.
The actual stand construction usually does not take place in the exhibiting company, but is done by independent designers , advertising agencies or specialized stand construction companies. Both specialists and generalists have their advantages and disadvantages: while exhibition construction companies have mastered all the details of exhibition construction, advertising agencies and freelance designers who also design other communication measures for the company can better classify participation in the trade fair in the overall communication. Ultimately, however, the cooperation between companies and designers is decisive for success.
The medium trade fair
Every medium has its laws. Trade fair construction can therefore take advantage of certain communication conditions.
- Trade fairs are events.
- People are not harassed by representatives, they come to the fair voluntarily.
- Trade fair visitors belong to qualified target groups. You are interested in the trade fair topics.
- Products can not only be described and illustrated, they can often also be exhibited and demonstrated.
- Trade fairs allow personal discussions.
These advantages are offset by disadvantages:
- Trade fairs are expensive.
- Visitors come to the fair highly motivated, but are then flooded with stimuli.
Trade fairs therefore offer many advantages for a lot of money. Sensible trade fair construction helps to create as many or selected public contacts as possible for this money.
Special features of the trade fair design
The general principles of communication design also apply to the design of exhibition stands. This usually has to be subordinate to the corporate design .
The manufacturers of assemblies from which exhibition stands are put together also have a share in the exhibition stand construction. Here architecture , interior design and industrial design become the prerequisites for communication design .
Aspects of industrial design
Most exhibition stands are not built conventionally, but are made up of prefabricated modules . These stand construction systems must have the following properties:
- transportable
- Can be assembled and disassembled in a few days
- stable
- reusable
- The system character must not come too much into the foreground.
- The modules must be combinable in so many ways that they enable individual design solutions.
- If no specialized craftsmen are to be employed, the system must also be easy to set up by laypeople.
Communication design aspects
Communication scheme for exhibition stands
When designing exhibition stands, it makes sense to assume four zones, according to which the task areas can be arranged from the outside to the inside.
- Orientation zone: In this outermost area, the public orientates itself what is offered at the stand and decides whether or not to enter the stand. Something has to be placed or take place there that arouses the attention of those who are really interested and entices them to find out more.
- Presentation zone: In the next inner area, the offer is presented in such a way that visitors can inform themselves about it. Consultants are available for initial questions.
- Meeting zone: In the rear publicly accessible area or in closed negotiation rooms there are seating groups for in-depth discussions.
- Functional zone: In the area furthest from the public there are closed function rooms with a kitchen, cloakroom, storage facilities, etc. a.
This conceptual division into four zones can be used for all exhibition stands. Their typical design is only possible from a certain stand size. A small stand of 4 m² must of course be limited to the orientation and presentation zone; the functional zone may be a box.
Layout for exhibition stands
When designing on the computer, the wall of an exhibition stand looks exactly like a sheet of paper. Nevertheless, the layout for a trade fair stand differs significantly from that of a book page or a poster . All elements that are not just decoration but should be consciously perceived by the visitor must be approximately at eye level (approx. 170 cm). The maximum upper and lower limit is the reach height (from approx. 230 cm to approx. 80 cm). There are only very conspicuous elements above the reach, which are intended to create a long-distance effect beyond the limits of the exhibition stand. There are sometimes descriptions for exhibits or the like below the reach . Such texts must lie on an inclined desk or horizontally so that they can be easily read from above.
In trade fair construction, font sizes are sensibly not measured in points, but in centimeters. A rule of thumb is that 1 m reading distance requires 1 cm font size.
Objects and Actions
Objects and actions have a special meaning in communication design for trade fairs. Texts and pictures can also be found on exhibition stands , but concrete objects and actions are easier to remember.
Objects can be the offered products that the visitors can touch and try out. Enlarged or reduced models of the products are often very memorable .
Actions that involve visitors are better remembered than pure demonstrations.
Arrangement of the exhibition stands in the room
As in a city with rows of houses, streets, squares and individual buildings, most exhibition stands are arranged in rows. In between there are corridors and action areas. Large exhibition stands often stand individually.
Standards
The arrangement of the exhibition stands in the room results in four classic standards, which differ in the number of pages open to the public:
- The row stand or passage stand is open on one side and borders the neighboring stands on three sides.
- The corner stand is at one end of the row and has two open sides.
- The head stand results from the merging of two neighboring corner stands. It has three open sides and a back wall.
- The island stand or also called block stand stands individually. In theory, it can be designed to be open on all sides; in practice, one side is often closed by functional spaces.
- The floor stand has several floors. As a rule, there is an additional covered floor that can be used for different purposes.
Depending on the different contact options, areas for island stands with the highest square meter price are rented and areas for row stands with the lowest. However, row stands can also be combined in such a way that the audience's attention is more captivated. This can be achieved either by including the aisle between two or more opposite row stands or by creating a connection between two hall aisles. Floor stands also offer the option of expanding the space by adding another floor - for example, as a retreat for personal customer meetings, as an additional presentation area or as a storage area for marketing equipment such as displays, flyers / brochures or promotional gifts.
Stand construction
Conventional stand construction
Exhibition stands are only built conventionally if modular systems offer too little design freedom for very individual solutions. In this way, buildings that look very independent are created from wood , plastic , metal and other materials . As a rule, conventionally built exhibition stands are more complex.
System construction
Most exhibition stands are composed of prefabricated modules . They offer so many possible variations that individual designs are possible within the limits of the respective systems.
Four basic principles can be identified in the large number of systems offered.
The support profile
The load-bearing elements are vertical support profiles made of aluminum , into which horizontal frames with turnbuckles and wall panels can be hung. The profiles, which are open on eight sides, allow outlets at 180 °, 90 ° and 45 ° angles. Round rooms can also be built with curved frames and flexible wall panels.
The cross section of the Octanorm profile is shown in the lower left quarter of the illustration .
The knot
The core of this system are nodes with 18 connection options for bars and columns. The nodes enable diagonals not only in the area, but also in the room. This means that well-stiffened frameworks can be built, and unusual shapes are also possible.
This system is offered under the name M12 by MERO-TSK.
The lightweight panel
The load-bearing elements of the lightweight construction panel system are the wall panels themselves. They are put together with clamp connections or nodes at a 180 °, 90 ° or 45 ° angle. The original type of this system is called Leitner 1 .
Stand construction with truss systems
In addition to prefabricated modules, exhibition stands can also be assembled from individual truss sections. This has the advantage that the same components can be used for every conceivable form of a trade fair stand. At the same time, it is possible to use trusses that were not used for the construction of the trade fair to build structures such as trade fair furniture and seating areas. The erection of an exhibition stand with truss systems can usually be carried out by the exhibition staff themselves. Thanks to standardized, precisely fitting production, such truss constructions can also be reassembled and changed as often as required.
Flooring
There are many options here, ranging from wooden floors to carpets, vinyl floors and plastic flooring panels . Ultimately, almost all floor coverings that are also used in the private and commercial sector can be used for exhibition stands. By using a sub-floor construction (so-called double floors ), connections or cables can also be laid under the floor covering. The organizers are legally required to provide slip resistance, which must be evidenced by the value "DS" according to DIN EN 13893: 2003 or at least R9 according to DIN 51130. In addition, floor coverings must also have fire protection certification according to DIN EN 13501-1 with flame retardancy (from Cfl-s1; formerly B1).
There are many different systems for raised floors. They are made from wooden constructions individually to the size of the stand. Modular systems made of different materials are reusable, but limited to standard sizes and shapes for exhibition stands. Exhibition stands placed outside, such as a folding tent or the like, are often equipped with a non-slip floor made of plastic panels, which does not leave the stand boundaries, but nevertheless fills the entire interior of the stand.
The visible floor covering is either applied directly to the hall floor or to the raised floor. Materials that can be installed quickly, such as carpet , CV flooring and laminate, are particularly suitable here . Wide standard designs are available in the manufacturers' collections. More unusual stands use individualized floors, which are created using digital printing. Here carpets and photo floors (digitally printed CV floors) are the most common floor coverings. Carpets have the disadvantage that they get dirty easily and their fibrous structure means that they cannot be printed brilliantly. Photo floors are now produced in a photo-realistic way using LFP printing processes. Individual floor coverings can be integrated into the stand design as advertising space to increase visibility and thus visitor frequency.
lighting
A factor that is often underestimated in exhibition stand construction is the right lighting for one's own exhibition stand. When creating a professional lighting concept for trade fair construction, a distinction is made between the lighting of surfaces, people, objects, pure decorative lighting, as well as display and background lighting. With the help of display lights, advertising messages and banners can be specifically highlighted. Effect lights such as moving heads or floodlights with colored foils illuminate the exhibition stand and offer the possibility of moving illumination. Lecterns, products or other exhibits can be illuminated using point lighting. For this you need so-called profilers or PAR lights. Floodlights, Fresnel lenses or PC spotlights - attached to the floor or the exhibition stand itself - ensure uniform surface lighting.
Suitcase displays
There are a number of mobile exhibition systems that can either be folded, plugged or screwed, can be transported by one person, can be set up quickly and enable a reasonably serious presentation . Such displays do not belong to the stand construction systems in the actual sense, but should avoid stand construction. With them you can erect a wall or several walls with striking design elements in a small standard stand without great effort and thus present, advise and negotiate in a professional atmosphere.
Briefing for the exhibition stand construction
A briefing is a checklist of the most important questions that must be answered before participating in the trade fair. Without this information, stand builders cannot sensibly design an exhibition stand and exhibitors cannot sensibly plan their participation. The key points of the briefing also provide a good overview for laypeople.
- basic facts about the exhibitor (profit / nonprofit, industry, market position, turnover, number of employees, etc.)
- Corporate goals
- What should be achieved by participating in the trade fair?
- Which innovations / products should be presented?
- Definition of the company's target group and trade fair visitors
- Which competitors are taking part in the fair?
- Communication measures of the most important competitors
- critical documentation of previous trade fair appearances
Trade fair dates
- Name of the fair, place and date
- Position of the hall in the exhibition center and description of the stand location
- Booth number
- Booth size
- Standard
- open entrances to the fair and the fair hall
- Parking spaces and parking tariffs
- Recording of visitor flows
- Placement of the competitors
- Stand construction instructions from the trade fair organizer
- Construction and dismantling times
- Number of stand personnel, dedicated line
- Lighting conditions, supply lines, structural features in the exhibition hall
- Should the booth be used once or several times?
- Requirements for furniture and equipment
- Functional requirements such as B. separate rooms for meetings, storage, kitchen or similar.
Exhibits and actions
- List of exhibits and their description
- Which exhibits should be shown in action?
- Presentation of the actions on the exhibition stand
- Use of audiovisual media
- Special events such as press conferences, customer events, guided tours for special groups or kick-off events
- Company message (motto?)
- Corporate design ( colors , fonts , logo , etc.)
- Motto of the trade fair appearance
- Does the company appear outside of the exhibition stand during the fair? ( Advertising , participation in events, etc.)
budget
- Exhibition budget
- Stand construction budget
literature
- Joachim Falcke: Design of exhibition stands . Munich 1994, ISBN 3-8307-1245-6
- Ingrid Wenz-Gahler: Exhibition stand design. Temporary marketing and architecture event . Leinfelden-Echterdingen 1999, ISBN 3-87422-622-0
- Ingrid Wenz-Gahler: Big Ideas for Small Stands. Small exhibition stands really big . Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2002, ISBN 3-87422-648-4
- Karin Schulte (editor): Flying buildings. Temporary Buildings. The exhibition stand as a conceptual task. German English. Ludwigsburg 1997, ISBN 3-929638-18-5
- Jan Lorenc, Lee Skolnick, Craig Berger: What is exhibition design? A specialist and textbook for temporary architecture. English. 2007, ISBN 2-940361-66-5
- Timo Michalik, Stefan Imfeld: Making a good floor - Successful Floor Marketing . German English. Kaarst 2018, ISBN 978-3-00-055410-0
Web links
- Link catalog on the topic of event planning : Trade fairs and congresses at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )
