Call to ‘build up', not ‘break down' the exhibition industry

Allison maintains that build-up and break-down time allowances are getting tighter and tighter - and that is making things more and more difficult for stand builders.

Allison, who has many years' experience in the industry - 3D Design and its sister companies were formed 10 years ago to provide turnkey exhibition solutions to marketers on the African continent - said that it is becoming the norm for the build period for a show opening at 08h00 in the morning to begin at midnight, or one minute into the new day.

This gives the stand builders just eight hours in which to build what are often complex and large stands, install the electrics and other technology that may be used, and then tidy up before the doors open for business.

The tight time constraint also limit the number of stands any one stand builder can take on. For example, if it takes a team four hours to build a stand and a company has three teams, it can only take on six clients for a show that allows eight hours to build stands.

While it is only stand builders who are currently losing out on business because of the time constraints, Allison believes show organisers will start to lose clients in the longer term because of a ‘knock on' effect.

“When builders are given enough time to complete build up without rushing it means they have time to check the stands and ensure everything is perfect before handing over to the client, making certain that the client's experience of the show is a trouble-free one from the start,” he said.

“However, if the builder is late with build-up, the situation tends to snowball, tainting the entire show experience for the client, who will eventually decide it is not to return to exhibit again in the following year”.

Hence, says Allison, less onerous build-up schedules would benefit exhibitors and contractors, and make for a slicker, happier expo.

“The time has come for everyone in the industry to look at the ramifications of build-up/break-down policies. They are too stringent, and are breaking down the industry just at the time when we should be working hard to build [ourselves] up into a world-class exhibition destination,” he said.