Banners. A hanging banner over your stand is an effective way to flag your location to visitors from almost anywhere in the hall. To be effective it needs to be big. I would say a minimum of 3 yards high x 2 yards wide. A lot depends on the size and location of your stand. They should be hung facing the main flow of traffic and if you are in the center of the hall the banner should be printed on both sides.

The banner should be made from flameproof vinyl but check the manual or with the organizers for any regulations or specification that may apply.

The banners should have sleeves along the top and bottom edged. These should be big enough to accommodate a length of 1.5” square timber. This will keep your banner flat. You should have eyelets fitted on the top corners for fitting.

An effective design is to have four banners hung on a box. If you extend the timber battens by 6 inches on each side these can be tied with cable ties to form a cohesive structure.

Check around for the best price. Truck sign writers have all of the equipment to do a great job and will often charge you a lot less than a specialist banner maker.

Be aware that there will be a charge for hanging the banners and they will need to be delivered to site early. These are usually hung before the carpet goes down. I would prefer to take these onto site myself and personally supervise the hanging.

Floor covering. Check to see what is included in your package. If you are happy with the standard floor covering provided by the organizer then fine. If you want to lay your own covering I suggest you use a specialist contractor. It needs to be taped to the floor using special low tack tape. This will hold the floor covering down and can be easily removed after the show.

Carpet tiles are worth considering because they can be easily adjusted to suit your stand.

Trade dinner / awards / party. Many shows also host a dinner or party in the evening. Details will be in your exhibitor manual. If you are going to attend are you going to book a table and invite customers and suppliers along as your guest? If so book early and get first choice of tables. It’s usually nice to be somewhere near the front... where the action is.

If you have any chance of winning an award, make sure you have a brief acceptance speech prepared.