Stand design
How to write an exhibition stand brief
Lokman Türkoğlu · Founder & Head of Design · 2 min read · Last updated:
Short answer
What goes into an exhibition stand brief?
A stand brief carries eight headings: the name and dates of the fair, hall and stand number, floor area and number of open sides, what you expect the show to deliver, the size and weight of the exhibits, how many people will work the stand, whether meetings are standing or seated, and what has to be stored. Add brand rules and a budget range. All eight fit on one page; if they do not, something has not been decided yet.
Nothing happens without the floor data
The first part of the brief is not open to discussion: the name and dates of the fair, hall and stand number, floor area, the length and depth of the space, and how many sides are open. Attach a copy of the organiser’s floor plan as well. You cannot decide on frontage without seeing where the neighbours sit.
Even with identical floor area, shape changes everything. Six metres by five and fifteen metres by two are both thirty square metres; their plans come out as opposites.
The constraints of the hall belong here too: columns, doors, fire cabinets, floor ducts, ceiling height. How these tie back to each stand type is covered on the stand types page.
Write the goal as a sentence
"Visibility" is not a goal. A goal sentence reads more like this: we want seated meetings with potential distributors from Europe, we want to show the machine running, we want a closed area where existing customers can be hosted. Those three sentences produce three different plans.
The goal decides how the floor is divided. Seated meetings hand a serious share of the area to tables and shrink the display. Showing a working product brings power, water, extraction and safety clearances into the plan.
Write the measure alongside the goal: how many conversations, from which countries, with how many people. After the show that line is the only honest yardstick you have. If you have last year’s figure, add it; starting from a number rather than a guess makes the design decisions easier too.
Brand rules and a budget range
If a brand manual exists, attach it: logo files in vector form, corporate colour references, the typefaces permitted, the clear space around the mark. When these arrive late, print files get prepared twice.
Stating a budget range does not weaken your position; it speeds up an accurate quote. With a range on the table the design is built inside it. Without one, both sides guess and time is lost at the presentation stage. The bottom and top of the range is enough; an exact figure is not needed.
The last line is about responsibility: who approves, who sends print files, who corresponds with the organiser. Three names. How our own team is set up is described on our about page.
Should we attach reference images?
They help, but write one line explaining what you like. "We liked this stand" is far less useful than "we liked the closed meeting room and the timber texture".
Can the brief change later?
It can, but a change after the technical drawing stage affects both schedule and price. Record any change on the brief itself, in writing.