Exhibition Timeline: Eight Weeks Backwards

Most problems in exhibition preparation are not caused by difficult work but by work that started late. And what governs the whole schedule is not the show date — it is the date the design is approved. Every day of delay at that point shifts intact into production, which has no room to absorb it.

Here is the eight-week countdown we use on booth projects, along with what most often slips at each stage. Adjust the length to the scale of your stand; the sequence stays the same.

Week 8: lock the basic facts

Nothing needs drawing yet. What you need is certainty:

• Stand number and size, and how many sides open onto the aisle.
• The organiser's exhibitor manual — it contains the maximum construction height, material rules, the load-in schedule and the power order form.
• The deadline for submitting your design to the organiser for approval. This date is frequently missed, and the penalty can be your structure being refused on site.
• Your objective for attending, stated in one measurable sentence.

If you can only do one thing this week, find that exhibitor manual. Nearly every surprise on site comes from a rule written there and never read.

Week 7: brief the contractor

Send a complete brief and ask for an estimate. A good brief saves a full round of revisions; what belongs in it is listed in the twelve things a booth brief must contain.

If you are approaching several vendors, send exactly the same brief to all of them. Different briefs produce quotations that cannot be compared.

Week 6: design and estimate

The first proposal arrives: plan, elevations and 3D renders, with a cost breakdown. What to check at this stage is not colour but the things that are expensive to change later:

• Does the visitor flow make sense, and is the entrance genuinely open?
• Where does the team's storage go?
• Is the brand name readable from across the aisle?
• Is the height still under the organiser's limit?

Week 5: design approval

This is the most important date in the entire schedule. Once approved, shop drawings are produced and materials are ordered. A change after this point is no longer a design question — it is a question of material already cut.

Make sure everyone with the power to say no has seen it before approval is given, including the person who normally only comments a week before the show.

In the same week, submit the design to the organiser if they require approval, and order power to match your total demand.

Weeks 4 to 2: production

Fabrication runs in the workshop. On your side, three jobs run in parallel and are often forgotten because everyone is "waiting for the booth":

• Final print files. Full resolution, actual size, text locked. This is the number one cause of delay at this stage.
• Printed material and merchandise. Brochures, business cards, uniforms and giveaways have their own production queues, and they are no faster than the booth.
• Your plan for capturing contacts. Forms, scanners or a registration link — together with the person responsible for following up.

Week 1: checks and briefing

The structure is finished and should be trial-assembled in the workshop before it travels. A trial assembly finds the panel that does not fit while there is still a machine next to it — not once you are in the hall with four hours left.

On your side: brief the booth staff. Who greets, what the opening line is, where contacts get recorded, and who to call for technical questions they cannot answer.

Load-in day

The structure is transported, loaded in and installed within the slot the organiser has allocated. Bring your exhibitor documents, a packing list and basic tools for on-site adjustment. The details are in our load-in and load-out guide.

Show days through load-out

During the show, the thing to protect is that the booth still looks like it did on the first morning: graphics unlifted, every light working, storage closed. After the show closes, dismantling usually has to finish by a stated hour, and venues charge for running late.

What most often slips

• Design approval waiting on one person who is travelling. Name a deputy up front.
• Print files held up because pricing text is not final. Agree early that prices are not printed on the wall.
• Power under-ordered because only the lights were counted, not screens and demo equipment.
• Nobody assigned to receive deliveries on load-in day.

Questions we get asked

What if I only have three weeks?

Still workable, with consequences: material choices narrow to those that need no drying time, and design revisions have to be capped. Tell us the date as it really is from the start — we would rather decline an unrealistic deadline than accept it and fail.

When should power be ordered from the organiser?

As soon as the design is approved, because that is when the number of light points and devices becomes fixed. Many organisers charge a higher rate closer to the show, and some cap the total power available per hall.

Does Narvex attend during the show?

Yes. Our crew installs before the show opens, attends during it, and dismantles afterwards — as set out on our exhibition services page.

Starting your own countdown

Send your show dates and venue name through our contact page and we will send back the countdown for those dates — including the design approval deadline that is still safe.