Where the budget difference comes from abroad

Freight, ATA carnet, customs

the three lines a fair abroad adds to the budget

Exhibition stand services

The lines that get added

Three lines exist abroad that do not exist at home: freight, customs and crew travel. Freight is calculated on volume and grows with distance. Customs covers documents, brokerage and guarantees. Crew travel multiplies directly by headcount.

The fifth line is insurance. Risks that sit inside an existing policy at home often need separate cover abroad: transit insurance, contractor liability and whatever policy the organiser requires. None of them is large, but without their own budget lines they arrive as surprises.

The fourth is accommodation, and it usually comes out larger than expected because fair weeks lift hotel rates. The build crew stays before the show and the sales team through it; the combined room nights deserve their own line.

None of this is the stand. Our pricing page states what the square metre rate covers; items specific to fairs abroad are budgeted outside it and shown separately in the quote.

The venue order forms

This is the part of the budget most often missed. Power connection, water, internet, furniture hire, carpet, daily cleaning, waste disposal, forklift time and empties storage are each ordered on their own form and priced separately.

Some of those items can be bought more cheaply outside the venue. Furniture, plants, hospitality stock and certain technical equipment usually price better with suppliers off site. But there are also items reserved for the venue’s own supplier, and the handbook is where that line is drawn.

The forms share two traits. First, deadlines: early and late order prices differ noticeably. Second, they are hard to unwind: a service ordered can be charged whether or not it is used.

So the order list is drawn up as soon as the design is fixed. How many sockets, what supply rating, how many square metres of carpet, how many chairs. Ordering before the design settles means ordering too much or too little, and both cost money.

Currency and payment terms

Fair timelines are long. The space contract may be signed a year ahead, the stand contract months ahead, and the payments fall as the show approaches. Rates move across that gap and the budget closes somewhere other than planned.

Close the budget against actuals as well. After the show, put planned and paid side by side and see which line moved. Built on that table, the budget for the second fair abroad carries far less guesswork than the first.

The simple protection is one currency in the contract and a written statement of who carries the exchange risk. The second is tying the payment schedule to milestones: a portion at design approval, a portion at the start of production, the balance when the stand ships.

Payments to the organiser usually run in the venue’s currency on its own calendar. Keep them separate in the budget; blended with the contractor’s contract, the cash plan stops working.

How much of the budget is freight?

It varies with distance, volume and mode. A stand pre-assembled and packed with volume in mind reduces this line noticeably.

Do state support schemes lower the budget?

Under certain conditions part of the participation cost can be covered. Applications run before the show, and the conditions should be checked against the current source.