Exhibition Tip of the Week #10 - How To Choose The Right Exhibit Company

Trying to figure out what kind of exhibit company to use can be a daunting task for many newcomers to the exhibition industry and for companies who are looking for a new vendor. Many don’t know the full range of services provided by a full service exhibit house or understand how they differ from those offered by a project management company. Read on to find out what their differences are to decide which one is right for you.

A full service display and exhibit company is typically made up of various departments such as design, sales, account management, operations and production. Each provides the required inputs to give clients a complete and flawless show experience. The benefit with this type of exhibit company is that it is capable of designing a custom exhibition stand in-house as well as constructing, installing and dismantling it at your exhibition. Some even provide storage solutions if you plan to reuse the stand at future trade shows and exhibitions. You can also ask them to source and develop promotional products that you can hand out to event attendees.

Another benefit of a full service exhibit company is that they source products straight from suppliers and effectively help you control costs by cutting out the middleman. This ultimately provides more output for the same input dollar spend. In addition, having everything under one room means that the exhibit company can keep an eye on every detail and every step of the process from design to build. This allows them to be in complete control of the entire process, which ensures your final stand will be of the highest quality.

Hiring a full service exhibit house also allows for much more flexibility should there be any last minute surprise changes or repairs to the stand. This is because you will have direct access to the designer and manufacturer who are designing and constructing the display stand.  This direct access enables a simple communication structure that puts the client in touch with the people who are actually doing what needs to be done in the construction of an exhibition stand.  

In contrast, the services provided by a project management company are fairly limited. They tend to outsource most of the operations involved in the design and construction of a stand, such as graphics, design, production, setup, dismantling and storage as they do not have in-house departments that are capable of carrying out these functions. This will raise the cost of building an exhibit due to extra management fees that needs to be paid to external companies as well as a middleman who must be paid for their services. For example, if a project management company subcontracts labor for the setup and disassembly of your exhibit, you could be billed an extra coordination fee on top of the labor cost. The outsourcing of design and production services may incur a markup of cost. This means that the management company may charge a price higher than the cost of goods or labor in order to earn a profit. However, if you plan to hire an exhibit stand and only need project management services, go with a project management company, as it will be a cheaper option than a full service exhibit company.