Over the past few months here at Inspire we’ve received many inquiries through our website regarding tradeshow displays. Unfortunately many of these opportunities have been taken off the table at the earliest stages of quoting, most often due to a lack of understanding of the total time and cost involved in creating a proper display – from the design to the printing to the selection and ordering of hardware.
To be honest, no matter how you look at it, creating a tradeshow display isn’t a cheap endeavor. Furthermore, unless you’ve been a part of the display creation and production process in the past, you probably don’t know the steps involved and how much time each one of them takes – and why should you?
Therefore, because of those two imposing factors, we’ve decided to demystify the process of creating a display; providing a clear explanation of the costs and time involved, no matter what option you choose.
We hope this article can help clarify various items for you as you look to create your display. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.
Display Planning / Display Space
Most tradeshow spaces have to be booked months, if not years. in advance. For companies that participate in many shows each year, this can almost be a full-time management job for internal staff. Spaces may vary from standard 10′x10′ booths to large displays measuring in the thousands of square feet.
Spaces are most commonly booked well before a strategy/design team, such as Inspire, is hired to design the booth, so the type of display that will be created is already somewhat predetermined by the space in which it has to reside in.
Where companies can get the most value out of participating in a large number of shows is by booking similar sized spaces and reusing the same display structures each time – rather than creating a new display for every individual show. Doing this requires careful planning on the part of the company to ensure they are in the right spaces at the right shows.
Display Structures / Options
Today’s tradeshows and exhibits are a complex jungle of displays and booths loaded with graphics, trusses, lighting, display screens and more – making it a very daunting task to decide how to properly showcase your company and its products and services through a display, while not spending a small fortune to do it.
While nothing in the world of tradeshow displays is cheap, there are many budget conscious options that can effectively deliver your company’s message effectively, time and time again if planned accordingly.
Design
When it comes to designing the look of a display–depending on its size and complexity–many factors have to be considered, such as your company’s overall brand and message, the strategy and reasoning behind your company’s participation in a particular show, and much more.
Just like all the other steps involved, the design aspect requires solid upfront planning in order to be effective and also avoid any unforeseen surprises once the final display is produced. Furthermore, because the final printed visuals are all very large in file size, it’s critical to have the entire look of the display created and mapped out before producing these large format graphics, as they can require extensive amounts of time and processing power to develop.
For small displays, working up a few low resolution composites before producing the final large format graphics is the standard process. For larger displays, rough 3D or artboard models built to scale are created first, with the low resolution graphics placed inside of them, so you can get an exact feel for what your tradeshow display will be like before it’s created, ordered and printed. In all cases, revisions to the display at this stage of development are very easy to do and avoid any future additional costs such as reprinting or hardware modifications.
Common Display Options
Banner Stands
Description
If budget, portability and flexibility are the primary concerns, a set of compact, well-designed banner stands is the best option. Banner stands can be designed as a set of individual standalone pieces or as one unit consisting of 3-4 stands together. Materials for banner stands vary greatly depending on their use (ie. indoor/outdoor).
Associated Costs
Depending on the type of substrate used for printing and the hardware chosen, a single banner stand can cost anywhere between $500-$1,000 each. Design costs (where Inspire comes in) are most commonly an additional $500-$1,000 each – depending on the complexity of the design.
Time Frame
Banner stands are most often stocked regularly by various supplies and can be ordered and printed fairly quickly. Design time can also vary, depending on how many stands need to be created and the complexity of the design itself. For a set of 3 banner stands, a minimum of 3-5 weeks is required, sometimes less.
10′x10′ Display
Description
If you’re most commonly displaying in a 10′x10′ space, then a 10′x10′ pop-up stand, including optional back-lighting and other options, that can easily be transported is the best solution. Original graphics can easily be replaced and reprinted for much less than the cost of replacing the entire display, providing the ultimate flexibility for using the it it many shows for years to come.
Associated Costs
Typically, printing and hardware costs for these materials is in the $4,000 – $6,000 CDN range, depending on how many additional components are added to the display. Design costs usually run between $2,000 – $4,000 CDN, greatly depending on the complexity of the content to be displayed.
Time Frame
Depending on what is chosen for hardware and where the booth is printed, as well as all the various factors involved in the design, the minimum time required for the creation and production of a 10′x10′ booth ranges from 4-7 weeks.
20′x10′ Display
Description
Doubling the size of the 10′x10′ display, a 20′x10′ option can involve a few more details and components as more creative possibilities are available, such as adding in shelves, screens, etc. Again, if the right configuration is chosen, the graphics can easily be updated and replaced and the display can be reused repeatedly.
Associated Costs
In general, the cost for a 20′x10′ display is usually double the cost of the 10′x10′ display, but can be a little more or less depending on the additional options chosen and the complexity of the design.
Time Frame
Depending on the design, printing and hardware factors for creating the display, the time required is a minimum of 6 weeks and usually falls into a 8-9 week period.
Custom Display
Description
A customized display is most often created for large tradeshow spaces. These displays involve a bunch of integrated components such as wall panels, columns, trussing, lighting, signage and more. Some tradeshows and exhibits work with chosen suppliers to provide these displays as fully loaded packages, that can be rented for that particular show, or purchased outright.
Associated Costs
The costs for creating and producing a customized display vary greatly depending on the space, design and hardware/printing chosen; easily running into the high tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Time Frames
In general, the undertaking of a custom display, especially for large spaces, is a long process. It’s advised that the design planning for these types of displays start 5-6 months, if not longer, before the show itself.
Conclusion
As you can see from the details outlined above, the process of developing a proper display is one that involves many steps and can incur substantial costs. However, with proper planning and strategy behind your company’s display initiatives, a solution that effectively delivers your message in an efficient manner, over and over again, can easily be devised; allowing your company to attain the maximum value from its exhibiting efforts.
Talk to us today to find out how we can help you with your display initiatives.
Tags: display, exhibit, large format, tradeshow, tradeshow display