Part I - Article Summary
Approaching the RFP – getting the most from previous show experience
Hold project review meetings, solicit staff input and document their comments
Make notes as to current successes and failures and future wants and needs.

Part II – Article Summary
Integrating your corporate identity into your design.
Integrating ergonomics into your design.
Integrating functionality into your design.
Anticipate and allow for the future.

Part III – Understanding the RFP Process
Work closely with your exhibit salesperson and/or designer
Document your wants and needs in writing
Written RFP – an inexpensive insurance policy

Work closely with your exhibit salesperson and/or designer. Listen carefully during your communication with the exhibit designer. You should get a very strong feeling from the designer or exhibit salesperson that they understand your wants and needs. They will probably ask questions about your requirements that you have not yet thought of. They will almost always uncover needs that you have not yet addressed. To reiterate, this is a complicated process. It will be very difficult for you to specify all of the aspects of a custom built corporate headquarters, and it is only with their help during this part of the process that you will get a really great exhibit built without a lot of frustration, modifications and the additional costs involved with refitting after the initial build.

Document your wants and needs in writing thoroughly and clearly. By creating a written record of your wants and needs, you are forced to consider aspects of the project in greater detail. You are also creating a tool for communicating your needs and thoughts to your prospective builder. The outline or RFP should allow you to logically communicate your wants and needs to everyone involved in the project both within your organization and to the exhibit builder or prospective builders being interviewed.

Written RFP – an inexpensive insurance policy. After the exhibit is built, if there is a gap between what you expected and what was delivered by the exhibit builder, the written RFP may be the clearest record of what you wanted and expected at time of delivery. Often the quote for the exhibit does not contain all of the detail that the RFP conveyed. So if some elements from the RFP are discussed but not addressed the RFP becomes the written record of what was communicated. We have found that in many instances the RFP could be referred to after the exhibit build to get modifications made to the exhibit for free, as these changes were specified in the RFP, and not attended to because of an oversight at the exhibit builder.

Coming Attractions! In our next edition, which you will receive in two weeks, we will discuss the trade show exhibit design process. This is the process by which your RFP is converted into an exhibit design.