We are thinking of exhibiting at some point next year at the IT exhibitions in London. I know the cost of the exhibition, but what other costs would we likely be looking at?

Primarily, our stand would need to include:

2 tables, each with 3 or 4 chairs for us to demonstrate the software
Some brochures for people to take home
3, maybe 4 large billboards

Does anyone know what the average price is from a graphic design company for this?

the exhibition will normally provide the table and chairs and the shells if they are using them, plus electrics and wifi where available, though the latter can be charged as extra sometimes.

All you need are the pop up stands which can be as little as around £80 to a couple of thousand for the really large ones, but thats excluding the graphics. So when you know the size of your popup, you can get quotes for the graphics.

Likewise, brochure design depends on how many pages, what size, etc.

PM me for a name I can recommend you.

Hi Paul

The costs vary on show to show, as does what's included in a shell scheme. You will normally get walls, carpet, a couple of power sockets and maybe a table and 2 chairs included in a package. Anything after that is extra. Most venues will hire you extra tables, brochure holders and anything else to dress you're stand but it all costs above you space booking.

If you go for something like the large pop-up systems for your graphics which make a wall about 3m long and 2.5m tall you're looking at about £1000 each (excluding artwork). An alternative is to use the recoil units which are about 800mm x 2m which'll cost about £80 each.

I project manage exhibition stands but unfortunatly the custom built ones but If can help drop me a PM.

Good luck
Vaughan

Thanks for the replies. Does anyone know if wifi is available at the exhibitions normally? Our software is an online package, so would be pretty worthless if we couldn't demo it!

I'd recommend Exantia.co.uk for banner stands. The price is good, but the quality (and speed of turnaround) I've yet to see beaten! And I've made a lot of banner stands in my time...

As for design, well, there's a lot of designers on here - why not try PMing some? Or put a note in jobs available asking for quotes?

We probably won't be looking for any of this until Winter at the earliest. Software is still in development, and we are going to the IT exhibition at Twickenham in Sept to spy on the opposition. Was just after rough costs really rather than a concrete quote.

I'll certainly keep it in mind nearer the time though.

Wfi is normally available and if it's not you can buy a hardwired connection. Costs vary by a huge amount depending on the venue and organiser. I've just bought a wifi connection for a customer for an exhibition in Manchester which cost us £200 for the event. Hardwired connections are always alot more expensive but are more reliable.

If you want to do some research try and get an exhibitors manual for a show you'd possibly attend and the costs will be in there. You can sometimes just find them on the show website to download. If you can't find any let me know and I'll track you one down or send you an old copy we have from a previous show.

Regards
Vaughan

Just a word of warning - if there is free wi-fi or shared wi-fi it will probably be used by a lot of people and therefore unusable for a slick demo of your product.

Consider a dedicated connection or demo-ing your product offline.

What's the software? out of curiosity

It's also very hard to get a return on your investment at an exhibition - I'd think long and hard about the number of leads you need to generate and how many will convert to sales.

Just a word of warning - if there is free wi-fi or shared wi-fi it will probably be used by a lot of people and therefore unusable for a slick demo of your product.

Consider a dedicated connection or demo-ing your product offline.

What's the software? out of curiosity

It's also very hard to get a return on your investment at an exhibition - I'd think long and hard about the number of leads you need to generate and how many will convert to sales.

The software info site can be found here: mycasetrace dot info (don't want Google to pick up the link from here).

That was the reason for trying to find the costs really, if the number of leads means we barely break even from the show then there isn't much point. The exhibition we are looking at has over 2,000 legal buyers so would be an ideal market.

Only had a quick look but I can see the appeal.

Out of interest:

is your strategy to market it to the IT professionals in legal firms for them to take it to the head of the practice?

or

are you marketing to the end users with a view of them wanting it so badly they will take it to their bosses and the IT personnel?

or

going straight to the head of the practice so they see the business benefit?