Exhibitor Field Guide First-show checklist, in order
First-show checklist, in order
Exhibiting is a deadline problem wearing a marketing costume. This page is the timeline, in the order the deadlines actually arrive.
Dates below are relative to show open, and every one of them yields to the dates printed in your show's own documents. The single most useful thing you can do with this page is transcribe it into a dated list the day you sign, then update it the day the services manual appears.
At contract signing
- File the contract, floor plan with your booth number, and the organizer's contact sheet in one shared folder that outlives any one person's inbox.
- Book hotel rooms from the show block and refundable flights for all staff, including setup and teardown days. Event-week hotel inventory disappears early.
- Write down what a successful show looks like in numbers — the measure you set in choosing a show — so the post-show review has something to review against.
- Start the budget structure with the numbers you already have.
Three to four months out
- Decide build strategy: rent, buy, or hybrid, per rentals versus buying. Get quotes with crated weight stated in writing.
- Check the show's display rules before approving any design, per booth design. If your design needs organizer approval, find that submission deadline now.
- Brief graphics, with the type-size and proofing discipline from graphics and signage.
- Order promotional items and printed material — quantities from expected traffic, not optimism.
When the services manual publishes
Usually sixty to ninety days out, and this is the busiest hour of the whole project.
- Read it end to end once. Extract every deadline into your dated list.
- Place advance orders: electrical, carpet or flooring, furniture, cleaning, internet, rigging if any, labor if any. The advance-versus-floor price mechanics are in show services.
- Note the advance warehouse opening date, deadline, and address, and your direct-ship target window, from shipping and drayage.
- Book your freight carrier with the target information in writing. Order lead retrieval at the advance rate and configure qualifiers, per lead capture.
- Register booth staff for badges.
Two to three weeks out
- Ship crated freight to the advance warehouse; confirm receipt in the contractor's portal.
- Run the staff rehearsal from staffing the booth: the one-sentence answer, the disengage, the capture routine. Publish the shift schedule.
- Write the follow-up sequence now, while there is time to write it well.
- Confirm every order in writing: a one-page list of order numbers, services, and delivery dates to carry on site.
What to pack
A show kit, in a case you carry rather than ship: box cutter, gaffer tape, zip ties, scissors, multi-tool where badge rules allow, extension strip for back-of-booth charging, spare phone chargers, cleaning wipes, trash bags, first-aid basics, printed copies of every order confirmation and the freight paperwork, spare "EMPTY" labels, and a marker. Someone will need every item on this list, usually within the first hour of move-in.
Move-in day
- Arrive at the start of your window. Find your freight; if it is missing, go to the service desk immediately, not after lunch.
- Check ordered services against your confirmation list — power live, carpet correct, furniture present — and dispute discrepancies at the desk the same day, while correction is a floor order away rather than impossible.
- Label empty crates with EMPTY stickers and your booth number so they are stored and returned.
- Photograph the finished booth from several angles, and photograph the condition of rented items.
Show days and teardown
Each morning: fifteen minutes early, stock check, lead device charged. Each evening: sync and back up lead data — never let it live only on one device overnight.
At close: nothing comes down before the official closing minute; show managers notice. Photograph the booth before packing, photograph packed crates and their labels, and keep the material handling agreement and carrier paperwork copies. Empties return slowly — plan for hours, not minutes. Before leaving the hall, photograph your empty space. Those photographs are your evidence for damage claims, missing-freight claims, and rental disputes, and they cost nothing to take.
Published