Checklist for your first trade show: how to prepare your stand

To prepare your stand for your first trade show you need four things, in this order: the organiser's information, a design signed off in time, graphics and logistics planned, and a plan for build-up day. This checklist puts it all in order, phase by phase, from booking the space to breakdown.

Each show sets its exact deadlines in its exhibitor manual, so you will not find dates here: you will find what comes first and what can wait.

We do not cover how to design the stand or which type to choose either. For that, see our guides on how to design a trade show stand and types of trade show stands.

• Decide why you are going to the show: generating leads, selling, launching a product or building the brand. It shapes everything else.
• Set an overall budget covering the space, the stand, utilities, travel and staff. If you do not know where to start, see how much a trade show stand costs.
• Choose your location carefully: closeness to entrances and main aisles, number of open sides and who your neighbours will be.
• Ask the organiser for the terms of participation: what the space includes and what is charged separately.

This is the phase that saves the most problems later on. Ask for and keep:

• The exhibitor manual, with the technical rules, deadlines and forms.
• The hall plan showing your location and the exact dimensions of the space.
• The maximum permitted height and the conditions for hanging elements from the ceiling.
• What the space includes: a shell scheme stand, carpet or bare floor only.
• Which services are booked separately: electricity, water, internet, cleaning, hired furniture.
• Build-up and breakdown dates and times.
• Whether the stand design must be submitted for approval, and by when.
• How passes are issued for exhibitors and contractors, and how vehicle access works.
• Any insurance the show requires.
• A technical contact for questions.

Pass all of this to your stand contractor as soon as possible. Many build-up day problems are avoided simply by reading the manual properly.

• Write a short brief: objectives, what needs to fit (counter, meeting area, store room, products), budget and brand.
• Check the proposal against the real floor plan: dimensions, access points and fixed features in the hall, such as columns, if there are any.
• Sign off the design and quote with time to spare, so production is not rushed.
• Submit drawings to the show on time, if they are required.
• Book utilities, especially electricity, through the organiser's channels before the deadlines close.

For design decisions (layout, lighting, messaging), see our guide on how to design a trade show stand.

At a first show, graphics are usually what runs late, because they depend on several people in your company.

• Gather the files: vector logos, brand colours and high-resolution images.
• Keep copy short. Visitors read from the aisle, on the move.
• Check scaled mock-ups on the elevation of each wall, with real dimensions.
• Make sure nothing important is hidden behind a counter, a screen or a door.
• Do not forget the small graphics: counter front, product signs, floor vinyls.
• Give final approval before the cut-off date your contractor gives you. After that, any change costs time and money.

On the A4 Toner stand, for example, the graphics did not stop at the walls: four CMYK colour stripes run down from the corner column and across the floor, alongside a large-format backdrop. Pieces like these are also finalised and approved before production.

• List everything you are bringing: products, brochures, merchandise, screens, laptops, extension leads, cleaning supplies.
• Decide how each item gets there: with the stand, by courier or with your team. Check whether the show accepts deliveries before build-up and where they are received.
• Label boxes with your company name, hall and stand number.
• Plan a store room on the stand for boxes, coats and stock. If there is no room for it, it ends up on show.
• Organise your team: shifts, who looks after whom and how you will capture leads.
• Pack an emergency box: double-sided tape, scissors, a craft knife, cable ties, chargers, power strips and cloths. Something is always missing on day one.
• Apply for passes for your staff.

If you book the complete stand, your contractor handles the build-up. Even so, someone from your company should drop by before the opening:

• Bring your passes and the phone number of the build-up manager.
• Check the stand against the approved design: graphics, signs, furniture and lighting.
• Test the electricity: make sure lights, screens and equipment switch on.
• Set out your products and materials and put empty boxes in the store room.
• Take photos of the finished stand, clean, before the public arrives.
• Confirm exhibitor access times for the show days.

• Stick to the breakdown schedule. Many shows do not allow dismantling to start before the official close.
• Remove your products and equipment before the breakdown crew comes in.
• If the stand will be reused, make it clear what is kept and what is not.
• Follow up your leads in the following days, while they still remember you.
• Note what worked and what did not. It will help at your next show.

At Unical Graphic we have been designing, building and installing trade show stands since 1994. We take care of the graphics, production, transport and build-up, and go through the exhibitor manual with you so nothing slips through. We manufacture in Barcelona and install all over Spain.

If it is your first show and you plan to exhibit again, a modular stand is a good way to start: you can reuse it at the next ones. Request a quote or call us on +34 937 50 23 04.