Trade show booth checklist: everything to order and when

The expensive mistake at a trade show is not ordering the wrong backdrop. It is ordering the right one three days too late and paying for rush production, rush shipping, or going without.

Work backwards from the doors opening. Here is the list and the lead times.

Six weeks out: read the exhibitor manual

Every venue publishes one and almost nobody opens it. It contains the things that will otherwise ruin a Tuesday:

• Maximum height. Many halls cap booth structures at 8ft for a standard inline space, and back-wall height rules often differ from side-rail rules.
• Hanging rules. Whether you can attach anything to the pipe and drape, and whether that requires the venue's own labour.
• Fire rating. Some venues require fabric graphics to carry a flame-certification. If yours does not, it comes down.
• What is actually included. Some spaces come with a table, two chairs and a power drop. Some come with a taped rectangle on concrete.
• Material handling and drayage. Often the largest unexpected line item on the whole show.

Read it before you order anything. Two of the items above change what you order.

Four weeks out: the big-format pieces

The backdrop. An 8ft tension fabric display is the default for a 10x10 for good reasons: the graphic is dye-sublimated into stretch fabric, so it packs into a soft case, travels in a car boot, and comes out without creases. Vinyl backdrops crease on the fold and stay creased.

Design it assuming the bottom third is hidden. There is a table in front of it and people standing around it. Put the company name in the top third, large enough to read from across an aisle — as a rule, 3in letter height reads at about 30ft.

Table throw. Order it to fit the venue's table, not one you own. 6ft and 8ft are both common and the throw for one looks wrong on the other. Four-sided throws look tidier than three-sided ones; three-sided ones let you store boxes underneath.

Giveaway items. Anything imported has a lead time you do not control. Ask before you build a plan around it.

Three weeks out: banners, flags and apparel

Roll-up banners. Two, one at each end of the booth, works better than one in the middle. Order a spare graphic rather than a spare base — the cassette is the durable part and the graphic is what gets scuffed.

Feather flags. Check the height rule first. Many halls do not allow them indoors at all.

Business cards. Bring roughly double what you think. They go faster at a show than anywhere else, and running out on day one of a two-day show is a real cost. Our business card price guide has run sizes and stocks.

Apparel. Two pieces per staffer per day. Embroidered polos read as staff; printed tees read as promotional. If you want people to approach your team, embroidery is the right call — our decoration comparison covers why.

Two weeks out: the paper and the small stuff

The one-page leave-behind. Not a brochure. One 8.5in × 11in sheet, printed both sides, that answers what you do, who for, and what it costs. People collect paper at shows and read almost none of it — the piece that survives triage is the one that can be understood at a glance.

Lanyards and name badges. Names large enough to read while standing.

Back-wall signage. Confirm the hanging method with the venue before it is printed.

The things people forget every single time

• Power. Order it in advance from the venue. On-site it is expensive if it is available at all.
• An extension lead and a power bar. The drop is never where you need it.
• Gaffer tape, scissors, cable ties, a multi-tool. Something always needs fixing.
• A way to take payment or capture a lead offline. Hall wifi fails. A paper list works.
• Water and something to eat. Ten hours on concrete.
• Comfortable shoes. Not a joke — it is the single most common regret.
• A box for collected cards with a pen, so notes get written on the back while you still remember the conversation.

Booth layout that actually works

Keep the front open. A table across the full width of a 10x10 makes a wall, and people do not cross walls. Push the table to one side or use a smaller one, and leave a way in.

Stand in front of the table, not behind it. Standing behind a table is a service-counter posture and it reads as "wait to be served".

Give people somewhere to look. A screen loop, a product they can pick up, work they can handle. A booth with nothing to do in it is a booth people walk past.

After the show

Follow up within 48 hours, while they still remember which booth you were. The notes on the back of the cards are what make that message specific rather than generic, which is the entire reason to write them.

Ordering a booth kit in the GTA

We print backdrops, throws, banners and flags in-house and decorate the apparel in the same building, which means one delivery date and one invoice rather than four suppliers each blaming another.

• Trade show displays in Mississauga — hardware, graphics and lead times
• Banners in Mississauga — roll-ups, tension fabric and vinyl
• Printing and signage — the full large-format catalogue
• Custom apparel and workwear — staff polos and tees
• Packages and pricing — Full Surge at $6,999 includes a trade show kit: backdrop, table throw and two feather flags

Tell us the show, the booth size and the date. We will work the lead times backwards for you.