Choosing the best exhibition stand contractor can be a challenge when there are so many options. How do you know the best stand contractor to choose?
Here are some things to consider when choosing:
- Do they have credibility?
- Do they design, manufacture and build everything in-house?
- Do they offer a modular solution to suit your busy exhibition calendar?
- Is their business model and exhibiting solution sustainable?
- Do they create unrivalled designs?
This guide will help you find the best exhibition stand contractor who will design, build and manufacture an exhibition stand that boosts footfall, generates leads and increases brand awareness.
- Do they have credibility?
- Do the design, manufacture and build everything in-house?
- Do they offer a modular solution to suit your busy exhibition calendar?
- Is their business model and exhibiting solution sustainable?
- Do they create unrivaled designs?
This guide will help you find the best exhibition stand contractor who will design, build and manufacture an exhibition stand that boosts footfall, generates leads and increases brand awareness.
5 Tips for Choosing the Best Exhibition Contractor
The biggest decision that you have to make when exhibiting at a trade show is choosing the best exhibition stand contractor. Why? Because there are so many of us, and we’re all good at different things. So how do you choose?
A good place to start is to attend an exhibition. Don’t go to an event with your business decision maker hat on, go as a future exhibitor. Look at the best exhibition stands. What is drawing you in? What features do you like? And what will be the best way to show off your brand and business?
Once you’ve identified these stands, have a chat with the teams about their suppliers. You’ll probably hear the same names cropping up time and time again. That’s how you can identify the best exhibition stand contractors that are worth working with. But what makes an exhibition stand contractor a cut above the rest?
Credibility
Your exhibition stand can either make or break your show. Crowds could flock to see what you’re offering, giving you ample opportunity to build relationships, increase brand awareness and generate leads. Or maybe you could turn up to your trade show and find that your stand is yet to arrive, doesn’t meet regulations or looks nothing like the mock-up that you were sold on. The results of which could be catastrophic. That’s why you need a credible exhibition stand contractor. Someone who you can trust and believe in to showcase your brand.
As we see in so many industries, there are suppliers operating who talk a great game but don’t deliver when it comes to your exhibition stand. Yes they’ll have a fantastic website with a few great images of stands, but you should always aim to see their work in person before committing to a project.
Our design studio features a showroom that is open to anyone interested in one of our exhibition stands. It’s the only way that we can show you exactly what we are capable of. All of our unique design features make an appearance, so you’ll be able to get ideas and inspiration before chatting with our design team.
The best thing about our showroom is that you can take the tour online. It’s not always easy to visit us in Poole, so just head over to our virtual showroom tour instead.
We want to make sure you’re happy with your stand before your get to your exhibition. That’s why we also offer a 100% pre-build promise. We build your stand in full, every single element, before your show. You are more than welcome to come and have a look but if not we’ll send you photos and videos of the finished product.
We do this so that you’ve got everything that you need to trust us to be the best exhibition stand contractor. Believe it or not, some exhibition stand contractors don’t offer these additional services. You don’t know what you’re getting until you arrive at the exhibition. That’s why it’s imperative you choose a credible supplier.
Say no to sub-contracting
The best exhibition stand contractors should handle the whole process in-house. It’s worrying how few clients want to know about our processes.
The reason we say that is because we’ve been building our reputation in this industry for over twenty years so we’ve seen every trick in the book. That includes the vast majority of contractors who sub-contract parts of the stand design and manufacturing process (or even the entire thing!).
We don’t agree with sub-contracting. You’ve come to us because you want us to design and build your exhibition stand. Why would we pay someone else to do that? If you want an exhibition stand designed, manufactured and built by Quadrant2Design then that is what you will get. We assure you that every step of the process will be taken care of in-house by one of our own experts.
The design team will work with you to formulate ideas and help you to portray your brand in the best way possible. The graphic and CAD designers will then create your exhibition stand, giving you a 3D render to approve before we go any further. We also do all of the manufacturing in-house, downstairs actually, so your stand is created right here. And our own installers who travel all over the UK and Europe to build and dismantle your stand.
This should be a really important factor when it comes to choosing the best exhibition stand contractor. You don’t want to be paying premium prices for your exhibition stand to be subbed out at a much lower cost or pay well over the odds so that everyone can “take a slice”
Make sure you speak to your contractor about their design, manufacturing and installation processes to ensure that you get the best quality stand at the right price.
Modularity
It is very rare that a business only attends one exhibition. Some businesses have a favourite event that they like to attend year-on-year and others attend a few industry-specific events per year. Either way, you should never choose an exhibition contractor based on just one show. You need a supplier who has a solution for every show on your exhibition calendar.
That’s why you need to work with an exhibition stand contractor that offers you a modular solution. A modular exhibition stand is made up of different modules or elements that can be linked together to create different sized and shaped structures. This means that you have the freedom to exhibit at as many shows as you want.
A modular stand is reusable. You can easily install and dismantle it at each show. This makes it the ideal solution for repeat exhibitors. Other stand suppliers that don’t offer modular solutions will tell you that your stand can be reusable, but it’s more than likely that that won’t be the case.
Without the different modules creating your stand structure, your stand wouldn’t be reconfigurable. This means that you wouldn’t be able to exhibit at multiple shows unless you had a floor space that was the same size and orientation. Modular exhibition stands are the only option for a business looking to make the most out of their exhibition calendar.
The Prestige Events System is the world’s most versatile portable solution to exhibiting. Its unique Swiss design is the quickest build out of any exhibition stand system currently available. The structure is designed for modern day exhibiting, with the ability to integrate unique design features to attract crowds and showcase products.
We have exclusivity of the Prestige Events System in the UK so if you want to know more you can email us at designteam@quadrant2design.com or call us on 01202 723 500.
Sustainability
At CONFEX 2021 you couldn’t help but notice the huge focus on sustainability. Every exhibitor, stand, freebie and piece of marketing literature were advertising their sustainable qualities. And this isn’t a passing trend.
Everyone, has to start considering sustainability when it comes to business practices. This means thinking about how you are impacting the environment, community and economy and how you can minimise any negative effects.
Unfortunately, for a long time the events industry used build and burn structures. These were custom built exhibition stands, designed and built for the purpose of one show. They are still popular options for some exhibitors, and you’ll come across many active exhibition stand contractors still pushing this outdated concept.
Custom built stands are created using unsustainable materials that harm our environment such as MDF, PVC and glues. They are built quickly, in high-pressure situations, putting the community of labourers at risk. And finally, at the end of the show they are torn down and tossed into a skip. No part of these build and burn stands offers a sustainable solution to exhibiting.
Custom modular stands provide you with the best of both worlds. They are a reusable, reconfigurable and look great (as long as you choose the right supplier). Although not built from compost, they aren’t destined for the skip.
This should definitely be a high priority when choose your stand suppliers. Ask about materials and manufacturing processes to fully understand what you are buying into. We’re confident that you’ll be impressed by our sustainable exhibition stands.
Design
All of the above sounds great but you also have to think about what you want in an exhibition stand. I’m going to take a guess and say that, as long as you end up with a fantastic looking stand that helps you achieve your exhibiting goals you won’t be too worried whether your contractor is using sustainable materials and sub-contracting parts of the process.
Possibly one of the most important things from a client’s point of view is the design. Obviously, everyone wants an eye-catching stand. The more people it lures in the better. But we aren’t all highly skilled graphic designers.
If you wander around a trade show floor you’ll see examples of good design, but you’ll also see examples of bad design. Bad examples include stands with:
- poor lighting
- too much text
- inferior image selection
- lack of visual hierarchy
- ineffective colour combinations
A good designer will steer you in the right direction and take note of what you like and don’t like before producing the end result. You’ll be surprised how technical it can be to design large format graphics like our stands, that’s why we put together this guide.
Before you choose best exhibition stand contractor, make sure you have seen a portfolio of designs and finished projects that they have worked on. Show them examples of stands that you like and explain what kind of features that you are looking for. Feel free to use our gallery as a reference.
Wanting a great design is why so many people choose a custom modular exhibition stand. You get all of the perks of using a modular solution as well as floor-to-ceiling graphic panels that are also reusable, reconfigurable and look great. No other exhibiting solution offers eye-catching design using sustainable materials at a reasonable cost. This is definitely something to consider when you’re looking for an exhibition stand contractor.
Summary
Hopefully, this exhibiting guide has given you some advice and helped you on the way to finding the best exhibition stand contractor.
They should:
- Have credibility
- Not sub-contract
- Offer a modular solution
If you’re still not sure who to work with then the best thing you can do is ask around. At the next trade show you attend ask about the exhibition stand contractors. If you hear the same name crop up a few times then it is probably worth checking them out. You can always use review sites like Trust pilot to see what other people are saying about them.
For further advice call us on 01202 723 500 or email designteam@quadrant2design.com.