The Brief
The first stage in the process of designing a trade show booth or exhibition, is receiving a detailed brief from the client. As part of the brief, the client provides a short summary about the company and / or the product, the messages and the areas they want to emphasize in their booth or the exhibition. It is recommended at this stage to attach materials from previous years, insights and key conclusions from recent experiences. In addition, it is important to address other aspects that need to be taken into account in order to create an accurate and consolidated brief. Sometimes the client does not exactly know what are the needs, what can be improved and changed, and in general what will be suitable for the current year. This is where Unicas productions comes into the picture with in-depth preliminary research aimed at creating a broad, consolidated and accurate brief that takes into account all the parameters for success.
Research
Exhibition design includes background research on the nature and characteristics of the exhibition and in depth look at other participants. The research process puts an emphasis on understanding how to create a striking visitor experience in the space, in relation to competitors and with accordance to the nature of the brand’s activity. Based on the data collected, the creative team comes up with ideas for interesting human interactions around the main messages and goals of the client’s brand and / or product. The team also searches for inspirations, references for booth design, and plans and creates possible concept definitions. The concepts that take shape reference architectural design, branding and spatial design, but mainly focus on a memorable human experience with impact. Experience that deepens the connections and emphasis the message. At the end of the research and development process, a comprehensive presentation is submitted with several concepts. The client chooses a design-experiential approach that most accurately suits their goals in a precise and meticulous manner tailored to needs and budget.
Design and Planning
In the third stage of exhibition design, the creative team approaches the detailed architectural planning and the production team builds the budget, timeline and carries vendor tenders. Once all plans are set, they are sent to service providers and construction contractors for quotations and budget validation. At this point, together with the client, a contractor is selected for executing all project construction aspects. Selection of additional suppliers takes place in parallel to complete other necessary project components. For example: furniture and decoration, booth branding, visitor gifts, communication services, photographers, catering and more.
During the research stage, the creative team comes up with ideas for interesting human interactions around the main messages and goals of the client’s brand and or product. A critical stage for differentiating yourself from your competitors.
Assembly Stage
The booth is assembled a few days before the opening of the exhibition in a gradual manner and with accordance to the set schedule, after the production team has verified feasibility with all relevant members. At this time, the construction and operation team works on the big and small details to ensure that the visitor experience will be perfect. During the assembly and supervision days, lighting, electricity, furniture and decoration suppliers are integrated to jointly create the right spatial experience tailored for participants, visitors and representatives. During assembly, meeting regulatory standards and specific professional standards is required in each country and exhibition. These requirements are intended to ensure that the booth will function properly during all days of the exhibition and comply with organizers’ safety regulations. These actions include preliminary care and ongoing maintenance to optimally maintain the booth and visitors within it and prevent malfunctions that would detract from the experience.
Dismantling and Packing
At the end of the exhibition, there are several actions required to professionally and orderly close out the project. First, separation and dismantling of all remaining structural components is required. The team manages the clearing of contents differentiating between what can be recycled, donated, returned to the client and what requires waste disposal. After the entire dismantling and de-construction process is complete, the team conducts a final accounting and concludes engagements with every vendor who worked on the project in order to close out the budget post-event and learn from what was done.
Lessons Learned
After the dismantling stage, the team conducts an internal post event analysis session where all information is collected. Since the project is carried out with several factors, in most cases it is necessary to hold meetings with additional members before meeting with the client. The team submits the post event analysis document at the end to the client’s project manager in order to improve the existing infrastructure and adapt it to additional projects in the future. It can be said that after this analysis phase the project is completed, although in some cases there are additional follow-up actions such as sending newsletters, photos, reminders and other communication activities in the customer journey that sometimes take place months after the exhibition ends.
In Summary
Choosing an event production company to lead the process of planning, designing and producing a booth for an international exhibition is an important and critical step for success. At Unicas Productions we believe in an orderly work process alongside courteous and professional service experience, always with a smile and a strong desire for mutual success.
