By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 9 min read
Short answer
To brief double-decker stalls accurately, answer thirteen questions on one page — the space, the dates, the goal with a figure attached, the audience, the contents, the must-have zones, the finish level, the brand files, the budget range and the approval chain — and send the identical text to every supplier. That is what makes two quotes comparable; a blank field is a gap the supplier must price, and they will price it safely rather than cheaply.
Key takeaways
- Send the identical brief to every supplier. Quotes are only comparable if they answer the same question.
- State one primary goal with a number attached. "Build brand awareness" and "book 40 distributor meetings" produce two completely different results at the same cost.
- Share the budget as a range. A supplier who does not know the band will either over-design and lose your week, or under-design and lose the show.
- Attach the exhibitor manual. Its rules on height, rigging and materials decide what can be drawn at all.
- Give product weights and power requirements. Without them plinths and sockets are sized by assumption and rebuilt on site.
- Name the approver and the decision date. The real timeline is usually your sign-off chain, not the workshop.
What a good brief is actually worth
Most exhibitors believe a quote is a statement about a supplier. It is mostly a statement about a brief. Given the dimensions, the dates, the specification and the outcome, any competent supplier arrives at a similar number; given "we need something impressive for the event next month", three will return three unrelated figures, and the gap between them is not skill — it is the different assumptions each one made to fill your gaps.
That matters commercially. Exhibitors, procurement teams and agencies who need a stall built on time, to drawing, and safely at the venue, and the complaint that follows a bad procurement round is almost always the same: the quotes were not comparable. They were not comparable because the brief did not fix the variables. For double-decker stalls the variables that move the price most are stall area in square metres and number of open sides, finish level (laminate, paint, veneer, acrylic, metal) and height, hanging structures and double-decker elements — and all of them are things only you can state.
The second reason to write it down is time. A brief with every field answered produces a concept and an itemised quote inside 48 hours. A brief with four fields missing produces a clarification email, a reply two days later, a second clarification, and a concept in week two — out of a lead time that was already 3 weeks for a stall this size. The brief is the cheapest week you will ever buy back.
A quote is mostly a statement about your brief, not about the supplier. Fix the variables and the numbers become comparable.
The fields, their reasons, and worked answers
Below is the whole template in one grid: the field, why it is asked, and how a complete brief answers it. The worked column follows a single exhibitor throughout — agricultural equipment manufacturer, selling to dealers and farmer producer organisations, with 18 sq.m (6 × 3 m) — so the answers hang together rather than being a dozen unrelated examples.
Use the middle column as a test. An answer that would not let you make the decision described is not yet an answer. That is the difference between a brief that produces a proposal and one that produces a question.
| Field | Why it is asked | Example answer |
|---|---|---|
| Company, brand and what you sell | Decides tone: the same budget produces very different work for a technical audience and a consumer one | Agricultural equipment manufacturer, selling to dealers and farmer producer organisations |
| Build-up, show and dismantle dates | This is the deadline everything is reverse-engineered from, including whether night-shift labour is needed | Build-up two days before; show three days; dismantle the final night |
| Who you want to reach | Sets how open or how focused the whole thing has to be, and from how far away it must read | Dealers, distributors and FPO office-bearers; heavy walk-in traffic in bursts |
| Brand assets and references | Print-ready files decide whether graphics can be produced at all; references tell the designer what you mean by words like "premium" | Logo in vector, brand guidelines, product photography; three reference images with a line on each |
| Budget range | Without it the first concept lands above or below your band and a revision round is wasted | ₹3–4 lakh, excluding venue charges and GST |
| Approvers and decision date | Reveals the real timeline, which is usually your approval chain rather than the workshop | Marketing head approves; sign-off within five working days of the concept |
| Stall area in sq.m | It sets the price, the staff count and the build weeks before any design decision is made | 18 sq.m (6 × 3 m) |
| Number of open sides | Each open side is another finished face, another lighting run and more staff — an island costs more per sq.m than an inline stand of the same area | One open side, inline |
| Height limit and rigging rules | Fixes whether a hanging banner, a brand tower or a second storey is even allowed, and whether the organiser needs structural calculations | 4 m maximum; no rigging from the hall roof permitted |
| Must-have zones | Each zone is subtracted from display area, so listing them is how you find out whether the space works | Open floor-level display, a standing counter, a shaded seating area and a document desk |
| Reuse intentions | Decides whether to specify a modular frame or a one-off build, which is the largest lever on cost per show | Another show within twelve months; tell us what can come back and what storage costs |
Keep every heading even where the answer is "none" or "advise us". A deleted line reads as an oversight, and an oversight gets priced defensively.
The template itself — copy, fill, send
Here is the blank form. Most lines are a word or a number. Fill it in once, send it unchanged to each supplier, and keep a copy, because it is also the document you will check the quote against at sign-off.
Do not describe the references, attach them — and annotate them. An unannotated image is ambiguous: the designer cannot tell whether you liked the shape, the lighting, the colour or the fact that it was busy in the photograph.
- Company / brand, and what you sell:
- Who buys from you, and who you want to reach at this event:
- Event name, city and venue:
- Primary goal, with a number attached:
- Secondary goal, if any:
- Elements you do not want:
- Brand assets attached (logo, guidelines, product photography):
- Reference images attached, with a line on what you liked about each:
- Budget range, and what it excludes:
- Who approves, and by when:
- How many suppliers you are briefing:
- Whether you need the quote itemised, and in what format:
- Stall / stand number, as allotted:
- Build-up dates and hours:
- Show dates and opening hours:
- Dismantle window:
- Stall area in sq.m, and dimensions if known:
- Must-have zones (demo, meeting, storage, pantry, seating, reception):
- Whether elements need to be reusable at a later show:
The same brief, written out properly
To show the difference between filled in and useful, here is the whole brief as prose. Six paragraphs, written by agricultural equipment manufacturer, selling to dealers and farmer producer organisations, each one specific enough that a supplier could start from it.
What is striking about a good brief is how little of it describes the result. The creative decisions are the supplier's to propose — the constraints, the outcomes and the contents are the parts only you know.
01
Who we are and who we sell to
We manufacture agricultural implements — rotavators, seed drills, cultivators — and sell through a dealer network, so our show audience is dealers, distributors and farmer producer organisation office-bearers rather than end users. Traffic comes in bursts around the show's seminar sessions. We exhibit every year and currently use a system stall, which we have outgrown.
02
The space we have been allotted
The space is 18 sq.m (6 × 3 m), one open side, inline, per the allotment paperwork. Height limit 4 m, no roof rigging. Build-up opens two days before doors; the show is three days; the stand has to be cleared the last night. Manual and portal login are ready to hand over.
03
What we need the stall to achieve
The primary goal is distribution: sign 15 new dealer agreements at the show and collect 300 contacts for the regional sales team to work through afterwards. That means paperwork — a desk where an agreement can actually be signed and witnessed — plus enough standing room for a group of four or five to look at an implement together, because dealers rarely visit alone.
04
Contents, weights and storage
A rotavator and a seed drill, the heavier at 320 kg, both needing floor-level display. Literature for about 400 visitors, bags and jackets for 2 staff, and a small lockable store, because we do not want stock on the display floor. Open floor-level display, a standing counter, a shaded seating area and a document desk. Nothing above 4 m, and we would rather not have a raised platform if it means a step our visitors have to cross.
05
Budget and priorities
₹3–4 lakh for the stall itself, excluding the space rent we have already paid the organiser, and excluding GST. We would rather spend on lighting and the hero product position than on a bigger structure. If anything in the design can be reused at our next show, say which parts and what storage would cost, because we expect to exhibit again within the year.
06
Approval, timing and who else is quoting
Our sales director decides, and he will be at the show, so an on-site walkthrough matters more to us than a long render review. Two suppliers are being briefed. Please be explicit about floor loading for the heavier implement and about whether a raised platform is advisable or something to avoid given how our visitors arrive.
What that brief turns into
This is the output of the brief above, priced. 18 sq.m, structure costed at the bottom of the published ₹9,000–₹18,000 per sq.m band, everything else itemised separately, and a total that sits inside the ₹3–4 lakh range named in the brief. A budget field that produces a quote inside its own band has done its job.
What to take from this is the split, not the number. 48% is the build; the remaining 52% is graphics, lighting, flooring, furniture, freight and crew. Within a lump sum those six lines are invisible and interchangeable, so a brief that asks for itemisation is asking for the only thing that makes two quotes legible.
| Structure and joinery (18 sq.m × ₹9,000) | ₹1,62,000 |
|---|---|
| Graphics — fabric brand wall and product panels | ₹48,000 |
| Lighting — track, product spots and a backlit brand mark | ₹26,000 |
| Flooring, carpet and cable management | ₹21,000 |
| Furniture — counter, two stools, lockable store unit | ₹19,000 |
| Transport, both ways | ₹29,000 |
| Installation, supervision, show cover and clearance | ₹35,000 |
| Indicative total, before GST | ₹3,40,000 |
Illustrative only, using the published ₹9,000–₹18,000 per sq.m band for the structure line. Space rent paid to the organiser and GST are both extra. Your own figure will move with finish level, city, venue rules and how much AV is added — which is the point of sending a brief rather than reading a price list.
Exhibiting soon? Let's build your stall.
What happens to your quote when a field is blank
Here is the argument for the twenty minutes. A gap in a brief is not a gap in a quote; the supplier has to put a number against it either way. Guessing low exposes them, so they guess safe, and safe is more expensive. You pay for every field you did not fill in.
And you cannot see it happening. Nothing on the document says "priced for the worst case because the constraint was not stated". You see one number above another and read it as a difference in price, when it is a difference in guesswork.
| Field left blank | What the supplier has to assume | What it does to the quote |
|---|---|---|
| Primary goal | A general-purpose approach | Work that presents well and achieves nothing in particular |
| Who you want to reach | A broad, mixed audience | A broadcast solution when you needed an intimate one, or the reverse |
| Budget range | Mid-band, or the top of it | A wasted revision round in one direction or the other |
| Brand files | Artwork will be supplied later | Production slips to the end, where it is most visible if it goes wrong |
| Approvers and decision date | One reviewer, fast turnaround | Two rounds become four and the workshop or prep bay starts late |
| Stall area | Nothing can be assumed | No quote at all, or a rate you cannot compare against a total |
| Number of open sides | Usually the worst case — more finished faces | You pay for finished faces the position does not actually have |
| Must-have zones | Display only | Storage and meetings get added after sign-off, taking area from display |
| Finish level | Mid-band laminate | The stand is built as specified, and the specification was a word |
| Reuse intentions | A one-off build | Fixed panels instead of a frame, and no second-show saving |
Every row here is a reasonable response to missing information. That is the point: the cost is not caused by the supplier, and it cannot be negotiated away afterwards.
Suppliers do not punish vague briefs. They price them safely, which amounts to the same thing.
The double-decker stalls-specific lines worth adding
The core fields apply to any stall or event scope. For double-decker stalls there are a handful of additional lines that change the quote materially, and they are the ones most often left out because they sound technical. They are not — each one is a yes, a no or a number.
"Advise us" is a legitimate answer to any of these and will get you a recommendation with a number attached. Leaving the line out gets you an assumption instead.
- Finish level in words — laminate, spray paint, veneer, acrylic, metal — not just "premium"
- Flooring: carpet, vinyl, laminate or raised wooden platform, and whether cables run under it
- Whether elements need to be reusable at your next show, and who stores them in between
- Floor loading for your heaviest item, and how it will be moved into position
- Whether the venue has appointed contractors you are obliged to use for any trade
Mistakes that make a brief unusable
A brief fails in predictable ways, and almost none of them are about effort — plenty of unusable briefs are five pages long. What distinguishes the usable ones is numbers and outcomes rather than description.
Top of the list is describing the look rather than the job. Adjectives do not constrain anything, which is why every supplier can agree to them and still produce something you did not want. Name the behaviour instead: what should someone do, and where should they be standing when they do it?
Close behind is the brief that evolves between suppliers. Learning from the first conversation and improving the second brief feels like diligence; it destroys the only thing that made the exercise worthwhile, which was comparability. Update everyone or nobody.
- A different, improved brief sent to each supplier, destroying comparability
- Asking for a "best price" instead of an itemised quote against a fixed scope
- Product weights and power requirements left out, so plinths get rebuilt on site
- No area or open sides, which makes the quote arithmetic impossible
- Reference images with no explanation of what you liked in them
- Three goals of equal weight, which means the result has to compromise all three
- No budget range, which produces either an unaffordable concept or an under-designed one
- Deleting fields that do not apply, so the supplier cannot tell "no" from "forgotten"
- Not sending the exhibitor manual, which contains the rules the design has to obey
- No named approver, so revision rounds expand until production is squeezed
Send the brief and get a quote
Paste your filled brief into our enquiry form, or email it with your brand files and reference images attached. A complete brief comes back as a concept and an itemised quote, usually within 48 hours; an incomplete one comes back as questions, which costs you both a day.
Quoted per project; ideal for 72 sq.m and above. We design free with every confirmed fabrication order, build in our own workshops, prepare and file the organiser drawings, and put one named project manager on the job from brief to dismantle. If your dates are tighter than the brief suggests is comfortable, say so in the brief and we will tell you honestly what is achievable.
- Structural engineer sign-off
- Safe staircases and railings
- Glass meeting rooms upstairs
- Organiser approval handling
Frequently asked questions
Should I share my budget with suppliers?+
Yes, as a range. Without it a supplier either designs above your band — which costs you a week and ends in a redesign — or below it, which costs you the show. A range is not a negotiating position; it is the constraint that makes the first concept useful.
How long should the brief be?+
One page. Around twenty lines, most of them one-word or one-number answers, with brand files and three annotated reference images attached separately. Length is not depth — a five-page brief with no dimensions, dates or budget in it is less useful than four lines that have all three.
What if I do not know the answer to a field?+
Write "advise us" or "not applicable" rather than deleting the line. A supplier reading a shortened brief cannot tell the difference between a deliberate no and an oversight, and will assume the version that is safer to price — which is the more expensive one.
Why does the number of open sides matter so much?+
Because it changes how much of the stall has to be built, not just how it looks. One open side means one face to finish and a back wall you can hang graphics and storage on; four means four finished faces, four lighting runs, nowhere to hide cartons and more people needed to cover the perimeter.
What does a brief like this cost to deliver at 18 sq.m?+
The example here comes to ₹3,40,000 before GST at 18 sq.m, with the structure at the bottom of the published ₹9,000–₹18,000 per sq.m band and everything else — graphics, lighting, flooring, furniture, freight, crew — on its own line. Space rent and tax sit outside that figure.
Do I need to specify finishes and materials in the brief?+
Describe the level, not the product code. "Laminate on the walls, spray finish on the curved element, fabric for the brand wall" is a useful brief; naming a specific laminate is the supplier's job in the finish schedule. Insist on that schedule before approving anything.
What is the single most important field?+
One sentence describing what has to be true afterwards, with a figure attached. Everything else is a constraint; this is the brief. Without it a supplier can produce something buildable, compliant, on budget and completely beside the point.
Does this template work for double-decker stalls as well as for a plain stall?+
Yes — the core fields apply to any scope. For double-decker stalls add the extra lines on this page, which cover the variables specific to this kind of work: finish level in words — laminate, spray paint, veneer, acrylic, metal — not just "premium", overall height, and whether anything hangs from the roof or sits on a raised platform and whether a second storey or a mezzanine is wanted, which changes the engineering entirely.
Who should write the brief internally?+
Whoever will own the approval. The common failure is a brief written by marketing without sales, or by sales without the people who have to get the product to the venue, and the gaps surface as change requests after sign-off. Collect the comments first, publish one brief.
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