Exhibit Weight - specifying and designing to lower your trade show costs

We are currently involved with overseeing the building of two new trade show exhibits and the design of a third. As we are leading and managing these projects, a number of aspects come to mind with respect to exhibit design and design variables. With our current experiences fresh in mind, we would like to address the issue of exhibit weight as it relates to design, aesthetics and installation and dismantle costs at each show that you attend.

Exhibit design and how it effects exhibit weight
Just like in many other processes, there are often a number of different alternative materials that may be chosen to create a very similar aesthetic, using very different materials and construction techniques. Depending on the materials that are chosen to create the structure, shape and form of the exhibit, the exhibit weight will be greatly affected.

Choose Lighter Materials
Lighter materials can often be chosen in order to minimize weight with very little effect on the overall exhibit aesthetic. One of our favorites currently is the use of tension fabric structures. Tension fabric may cost more to create in some cases than similar sized solid panels, however the increased costs of fabrication in this case will quickly be out-weighed by the reduced running costs that these structures provide show after show. Creating an exhibit with partially elastic fabric along some portions of the inside or outside may not always be the obvious solution, but if you want to significantly reduce your costs, tension fabric structures should be considered and explored as an option even when they are not the obvious choice.

Tension fabric structures pack up very small and light and thus will also lead to a reduced requirement for packing and shipping boxes and crates over solid panels. With aluminum frames (like a tent) and soft light skin fabrics they are easy to set-up and mount to the rest of your exhibit structure with the proper hardware.

Specify light weight as a design criteria
Design can also be balanced to achieve a medium weight exhibit in the case where a heavyweight exhibit would normally be constructed. For instance, if your exhibit designers are told that weight is an important factor, they can balance the additional weight of a heavy weight material such as plexi-glass by using an equal amount of a light weight material such as aluminum, for an application that perhaps steel would normally be used for. Aluminum may be slightly more difficult to employ and thus more costly to manufacture. However, on the long term this additional cost of fabrication will be more than offset by the reduced costs of running the exhibit. In short, your designer must be told that weight is an issue. With this in mind, it should not be a problem for them to specify materials which will lead to a light weight or in rare instances where heavy materials must be chosen for the desired aesthetic, a medium weight exhibit.

Freight Handling
Why consider exhibit weight at all? Exhibit weight will affect many of your long term exhibiting costs. You will pay for freight handling in terms of units per 100 lbs. of exhibit weight. Freight handling will be the largest line item on your bill from the general contractor. By reducing the weight of your exhibit, you will reduce the number of 100 lb. units associated with your exhibit and consequently reduce your costs.

I & D Labor
Exhibit weight will effect the speed at which your exhibit is installed and the cost of that installation. Heavy exhibit panels and pieces will take more men to move into place and more time and effort to move them into place. Each of these "mores" will lead to additional money spent on the installation and dismantle of your exhibit at every show.

Exhibit Storage
Often you will pay for exhibit storage in terms of units per 100 lbs of exhibit weight. By reducing your exhibits weight, you will reduce your storage costs even if you take up the same amount of space in the warehouse as an exhibit of the same size that is stored adjacent to yours.

Transportation Costs
In general, you are billed for exhibit transportation in terms of the number of feet of truck that your exhibit fills, the trucks are limited to a number of pounds that they can carry. If you exceed this weight, your exhibit will need to be split among a number of trucks, and your shipping costs will consequently increase.