“Rules are made to be broken.” I think we all, at some point or another, look to our inner selves and wish we were a bit of a rule breaker. That’s why the “bad boys” are the heartthrobs in movies, why you get a small sense of pride as your rip those “do not remove” tags off your mattress, and why every now and then you just have to enter through the exit.
When it comes to your business, though, unfortunately we are not always able to risk breaking “the rules,” even if nominal. Depending on your business, you may have a strict set of protocols, guidelines, codes, or even laws that govern your daily operations and decisions. As tempting as it may be, breaking these rules is just not an option.
Although not as extreme, exhibiting is no different. There are definite industry conventions and principles that dictate rules (oftentimes strict and precise) for your exhibit and trade show experience.
Show Regulations
Your venue will have rules and regulations for your booth space including height restrictions, noise limitations, moving lights, blocking site lines, and general audience locations during presentations. These apply to your linear, perimeter, peninsula, and island exhibits. As most of these are standard with limited variations, Exhibit Edge designs and constructs all of our exhibits within industry standards — customized to both your company’s desires and the venue’s requirements.
Budget Guidelines
You must have a pre-determined budget for your exhibit and trade show venture and stick with it! In order to do this, you must have a full understanding of the scope of required expenses involved. The Exhibit Designers and Producers Association estimates an average of $110 to $250 per square foot, but this does not include all expenses such as insurance, shipping, storage, drayage, and more. Exhibit Edge will work with you to calculate all these necessary expenses, start to finish, to successfully execute your trade show exhibit within the parameters of your budget.
Rules of Design
There are three secret weapons when it comes to exhibit design that should not be ignored: drama, architecture, and metaphors. Incorporating intelligence and imagination, the drama in your exhibit should be simple, powerful, and effectively communicate your message. The architecture of your booth symbolizes the attitude, personality, and brand of your company. Perhaps a most resourceful way to relay your mission or messaging is through the implementation of metaphors throughout your exhibit. Creating metaphors can save you money, make you memorable, and efficiently represent an otherwise difficult or intangible product. Exhibit Edge’s design team will incorporate these rules of design into an exhibit which will stand far above your competition and fellow exhibiters.
These are just a few of many rules that should definitely not be broken throughout the exhibiting process. Fortunately, we can help you follow all these, help you to “bend” some of them, and end up with a superior product and successful exhibiting experience. Don’t worry, though, we’ll let you enter through our exits any time you want!