When everything happens at once
There’s something about September in the exhibition industry. After the ‘quieter’ summer period, the diary suddenly fills up and before you know it, everyone is working towards a collision of multiple build ups in venues across the country.
For an exhibition contractor, it’s not just about having a busy order book. It’s about managing a large number of completely different projects through the design, production, logistics and installation stages, often at the same time and with zero room for movement in the programme. Unlike building a house or any construction project, we can’t change that open date.
One stand might be leaving the workshop while another is still being finished, with a third already being loaded onto a truck for an overnight delivery. Meanwhile, the project team are dealing with venue paperwork, loading slots, project changes and the inevitable last-minute details that come with live events. Oh yes, and the new enquiries coming through the door!
There is also a particular challenge that comes with managing multiple projects at the same time. Every single project must be handled with the same level of care, attention to detail, importance and priority. For every single client their project is *the* most important. We get it, we understand it and we must deliver it to our standard.
And quite rightly so. Our clients need to know that their stand is being looked after to the highest degree and that everything will be ready when they arrive at the show. What they don’t necessarily see is that, at the same time, the same project manager or production team may be coordinating several other stands, potentially at different venues and at completely different stages of the build.
That doesn’t make any individual project less important. It just means that behind the scenes there has to be a very carefully managed juggling act. Priorities can change throughout the day, resources need to be moved around, and communication between teams becomes critical.
For the client, the experience should still feel highly tailored, and that’s a neat, learned skill. They shouldn’t have to worry about what else is happening in the business – they just need to know that their project is under control. Making that happen when the whole industry is working towards the same deadlines is the biggest challenge that September presents.
And then there is the build itself.
Exhibition halls can change almost overnight. One day you’re looking at an empty floor; the next, hundreds of stands are taking shape, with contractors, electricians, AV teams, riggers, carpet fitters and exhibitors all working around each other to get ready for opening. The pressure is high because there is a very definite deadline. When the doors open, the stand needs to be finished, polished, hoovered, quality checked and ready for business.
But what makes a successful September doesn’t start in September.
It starts months earlier, getting designs agreed, materials ordered, production planned and installation schedules mapped out. The more organised everything is before the busy period begins, the more capacity there is to deal with the things that inevitably don’t go exactly to plan.
Because it won’t go to plan. It wouldn’t be a live event if it didn’t go exactly to plan!
A delivery can be delayed, a graphic can need changing, a component can arrive damaged, a client can make a last-minute request, a loading slot can move. On a busy show, a relatively small change can have a knock-on effect across an entire schedule. The ability to deal with those situations calmly is just as important as the original plan.
For us, September is less about just working harder and more about working together. Designers, project managers, production teams, logistics, site crews and suppliers all have a part to play, and good communication between them becomes critical when multiple projects are moving at once.
Ultimately, the visitor never sees any of this. They arrive on the first morning to a finished exhibition, ready to walk onto the show floor.
And that’s exactly how it should be.
