By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 9 min read
Short answer
To brief product launch sets accurately, answer thirteen questions on one page — the venue and the surface or screen size, the load-in and show dates, the show pattern, the available power and rigging, the goal with a figure attached, the audience, what is being shown, the content plan, the redundancy you want, a budget range and the approval chain — and send the identical text to every supplier. That is what makes two quotes comparable.
Key takeaways
- One page is enough. A dozen fields, a budget range and three reference images beat a five-page document with no numbers in it.
- 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.
- Surface or screen size and the number of runs do more to the price than any creative decision. The crew bill often exceeds the hardware bill.
- Write "advise us" rather than deleting a field. A supplier cannot tell a deliberate no from an oversight, and prices the safer reading.
- Share the venue's power, rigging points and curfew. They decide what is physically possible before anyone discusses what would look good.
- Say who is producing the content, in what format, and by when. It is the longest-lead item on most AV scopes.
The quote is a statement about your brief
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. Event managers, corporate communication teams and agencies running conferences, launches, dealer meets and public shows, 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 product launch sets the variables that move the price most are show duration and number of event days, equipment size and specification (screen size, projector brightness or drone count) and content creation and programming time — and all of them are things only you can state.
The other return is calendar time, and it is larger than people expect. Complete brief: a proposal and an itemised quote in about two days. Incomplete brief: a question, a two-day wait, another question, and a proposal in the second week — from a schedule that still needs content made and a rehearsal run. Twenty minutes of writing buys back most of a week.
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
This table is the template. The left column is what to write; the middle column is the reason a supplier asks, so you can judge for yourself whether an answer is good enough; the right column is a worked answer from a complete brief — consumer appliance brand, running a dealer conference and a product reveal, working with a launch set with a reveal mechanism and a 6 × 3 m LED backdrop.
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 | Sets the design language, the technical register of the graphics, and whether the work should read as engineering-led or consumer-facing | Consumer appliance brand, running a dealer conference and a product reveal |
| Event name, city and venue | Determines freight, crew availability and the rules the design has to satisfy | Annual partner conference, hotel ballroom; venue confirmed |
| Load-in, rehearsal and show dates | This is the deadline everything is reverse-engineered from, including whether night-shift labour is needed | Load-in and rehearsal the day before; show as per the run order |
| One primary goal, with a number | This is the sentence the design is a solution to. Without it the work optimises for looking finished | Get the reveal filmed and shared by at least half the room, and brief 400 dealers on the new range |
| Who you want to reach | Determines sightlines, reading distances and how much of the scope is intimate versus broadcast | Regional dealers and distributors, plus trade press for the reveal |
| What is being shown or revealed | Fixes the hero position and everything that has to support it — loading, power, cues, sightlines | One hero appliance under a reveal, and a three-minute brand film before it |
| 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 | ₹7–8 lakh, excluding venue charges and GST |
| Approvers and decision date | Tells the supplier how many revision rounds to plan for and whether your dates are realistic | Marketing head approves; sign-off within five working days of the concept |
| Surface, screen or room dimensions | Everything downstream is sized from this: how many projectors or panels, and what processing they need | a launch set with a reveal mechanism and a 6 × 3 m LED backdrop |
| Content: who makes it, and in what format | If content is not ready, programming and rehearsal both compress — and rehearsal is what makes a show run | We produce it; confirm format, resolution and the last acceptable delivery date |
If a field genuinely does not apply, write "not applicable" rather than deleting the line — a supplier reading a shortened brief cannot tell the difference between "no" and "forgotten".
The template itself — copy, fill, send
Copy this into whatever you write in. Leave the headings alone — they are what makes two replies comparable — and send the same text to everyone on your list. Improving the brief between suppliers is the quickest way to end up unable to choose between them.
Attach your reference images and brand files separately rather than describing them. Three images with one honest line each — "this layout, not this colour"; "this lighting, we do not need the moving element" — are worth more than a page of adjectives.
- 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:
- What is being shown, demonstrated or revealed:
- Elements you do not want:
- 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:
- Anything the venue or organiser restricts that we should know about:
- Room, stage or surface dimensions:
- Load-in date and available hours:
- Rehearsal slot, and who will attend it:
- Show dates, running times and repeats per day:
- Available power at the position, and rigging points:
- Venue noise limit and curfew:
- Who calls the cues on the day:
- What must carry a spare (projector, server, radio channel):
What a usable brief actually reads like
To show the difference between filled in and useful, here is the whole brief as prose. Six paragraphs, written by consumer appliance brand, running a dealer conference and a product reveal, each one specific enough that a supplier could start from it.
Almost nothing here is a design instruction, and that is deliberate. Describe the problem precisely and you will get a better answer than you would have specified.
01
Who we are and who we sell to
We sell consumer appliances through a dealer network and hold one national dealer conference a year. This year we are launching a new range at it, so the evening session has to work as both a trade briefing and a press moment. We have run the conference before with a basic stage and screen; we have never attempted a reveal.
02
The venue and the show pattern
A launch set with a reveal mechanism and a 6 × 3 m LED backdrop, one press evening, one rehearsal, 400 guests. Available power, rigging points and the venue's curfew all need confirming on a recce, which we can arrange in the next week. Load-in and rehearsal are the day before.
03
What success looks like on the night
The primary goal is shareability: we want at least half the room filming the reveal, and the footage usable for our own channels afterwards. Secondary is comprehension — 400 dealers have to leave understanding three things about the range. The tension is that a dramatic reveal and a clear product briefing want different lighting and different pacing, so the run order matters more than the hardware.
04
The elements we cannot do without
What has to happen: one hero appliance under a reveal, and a three-minute brand film before it. The elements we cannot do without are reveal moment on cue, a presenter with a lapel microphone, playback that cannot fail, and a photo position for press. Content is ours to supply and we will confirm the format and aspect ratio with you — tell us the last date you can accept final files and still rehearse properly.
05
What we intend to spend, and on what
Budget ₹7–8 lakh for the production itself; venue charges and tax are separate. If the figure comes back high we would sooner reduce the scale than reduce the crew or the rehearsal time. Please quote line by line.
06
The decision
Our marketing head and the national sales head approve jointly, and the content is still being written, so assume the final film arrives late and tell us the last date you can accept it. We are briefing two suppliers. Please quote crew and rehearsal as separate lines — we want to understand what we are paying for on the day versus beforehand.
From brief to itemised quote
This is the output of the brief above, costed. A launch set with a reveal mechanism and a 6 × 3 m LED backdrop, one press evening, one rehearsal, 400 guests, itemised element by element, landing inside the ₹7–8 lakh range the brief stated. Quoted per launch. Treat the shape of the breakdown as the transferable part.
Look at the proportions rather than the figures. The set fabrication line is 37% of the total; the remaining 63% is content, rigging, power, crew, rehearsal and freight. Crew and rehearsal are the lines exhibitors most often try to cut and most often regret cutting, because they are what make a show run rather than merely exist.
| Set — fabrication, reveal mechanism, paint and finishes | ₹2,85,000 |
|---|---|
| LED backdrop and video processing | ₹1,65,000 |
| Lighting rig, control desk and the reveal state | ₹88,000 |
| Audio — PA, playback and radio microphones | ₹62,000 |
| Technical crew, operators and a show caller | ₹76,000 |
| Content, programming and rehearsal | ₹44,000 |
| Freight to the venue and back | ₹50,000 |
| Indicative total, before GST | ₹7,70,000 |
Illustrative only. Launch sets are quoted per event against set complexity, screen size, rehearsal time and crew. Venue charges and GST are extra.
Exhibiting soon? Let's build your stall.
Why filling it in is worth twenty minutes
This is the section worth reading twice, because it is the answer to "does it really matter?". A supplier cannot leave a gap unpriced. Faced with a missing field they either assume the cheaper case and risk losing money, or assume the safer case and carry the cost in the number you receive. Most assume the safer case, which means every blank field you leave is quietly paid for by you.
The invisibility is what makes it expensive. Assumptions are never itemised, so two quotes built on opposite guesses look like a straightforward price difference — and the one that guessed your way is indistinguishable from the one that is genuinely cheaper.
| Field left blank | What the supplier has to assume | What it does to the quote |
|---|---|---|
| Primary goal | A general-purpose approach | Budget spent on looking impressive rather than on the one thing you came to do |
| Who you want to reach | A broad, mixed audience | Sightlines and headline sizing pitched at the wrong reading distance |
| Dates and times | A comfortable schedule | The quote expires the moment real dates arrive, and rush labour appears later |
| 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 |
| Surface or screen dimensions | Nothing can be assumed | Either no figure, or a day rate that tells you nothing about the total |
| Show times and repeats | A single run | The hardware is right and the crew bill is wrong |
| Available power and rigging | The conservative case | Either an unnecessary power line, or a rig the venue will refuse |
| Venue noise limit and curfew | Standard hours | Rework on site, or a show that has to end earlier than announced |
| Who calls the cues | The supplier will | Cues that work in the prep bay and not on the night |
None of these assumptions is a supplier behaving badly. Each is the only rational response to a gap. The fix is on your side of the table and takes twenty minutes.
You will never see "we assumed the worst case" on a quote. You will only see a number that looks expensive.
The product launch sets-specific lines worth adding
Beyond the standard fields, a product launch sets brief benefits from a few specific additions. They get omitted because they read as engineering questions, but every one of them is answerable in a word or a figure, and each moves the price enough to be worth the sentence.
Where you have no view, say "advise us" — a supplier will happily recommend, and will price the recommendation. What they cannot do is price a blank.
- Screen size and pixel pitch, or projection surface dimensions and ambient light level
- Who is producing content, and whether it exists yet in the right aspect ratio
- Whether a technician is needed through show hours, and when the rehearsal can happen
- Whether items are hired by the day or for the full show, and who carries damage risk
- What has to be lockable or removed overnight, and who is responsible for securing it
How briefs go wrong
There is no correlation between the length of a brief and its usefulness. The effective ones are short and full of numbers; the ineffective ones are long and full of adjectives. The list below collects the ways briefs fail, roughly ordered by cost.
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?
The second worst is a different brief to each supplier. It feels efficient to add detail as you learn what to ask. It guarantees that the quotes you receive cannot be compared, and you will end up choosing on the basis of presentation rather than scope.
- Asking for a "best price" instead of an itemised quote against a fixed scope
- No named approver, so revision rounds expand until production is squeezed
- No surface, screen or room dimensions, which makes the quote arithmetic impossible
- No budget range, which produces either an unaffordable concept or an under-designed one
- Describing a look instead of a job — adjectives in place of audience actions
- No word on content — who makes it, in what format, by when
- Logos supplied as a low-resolution image lifted from a website
- Deleting fields that do not apply, so the supplier cannot tell "no" from "forgotten"
- Reference images with no explanation of what you liked in them
- Not sharing the venue's power, rigging and curfew limits, which decide what is possible
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 launch. What comes as standard: free design with a confirmed fabrication order, in-house production rather than a sub-contractor chain, the organiser paperwork prepared and filed for you, and a single accountable project manager from brief to dismantle.
- Press and photo zones
- LED and projection
- Reveal mechanisms
- Show-calling support
Frequently asked questions
What should a product launch sets brief include?+
The venue and the surface, the dates and show times, the goal and the money — then the audience, what is being shown, who is producing the content and in what format, what has to carry a spare, your brand files, and the name of whoever signs it off. One page covers all of it.
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?+
Short enough to read in two minutes. The useful brief is a list of answers, not an essay: the scope, the dates, the goal, the money, the contents, the approver. Company background can be one sentence; everything a supplier needs in order to quote fits on a single page.
What if I do not know the answer to a field?+
Say so explicitly. "Advise us" is a useful instruction and will get you a recommendation; a missing line gets you an assumption, and assumptions are priced for the worst case. Keep every heading in the document even when the answer is "none".
Why do show times and repeats matter so much?+
Because crew is often the largest line on a short show. Hardware is hired for a period, but technicians and operators are paid by the day, and a setup that runs four times a night for two nights needs a different crew plan from one that runs once. It also decides whether equipment can be reset between runs or has to hold its state.
How quickly will I get a concept back?+
A complete brief usually returns a concept and an itemised quote within 48 hours. An incomplete one returns a clarification email instead, and that exchange typically adds two days at the front of a schedule that is rarely generous.
Do I need to specify equipment in the brief?+
Describe the room and the result, not the model numbers. Dimensions, ambient light, audience, show pattern and redundancy requirements are yours; translating them into a projector count or a panel pitch is the supplier's job, and it belongs in a named equipment schedule you approve.
Does this template work for product launch sets as well as for a plain stall?+
Yes — the core fields apply to any scope. For product launch sets add the extra lines on this page, which cover the variables specific to this kind of work: screen size and pixel pitch, or projection surface dimensions and ambient light level, how many times the show repeats per day, and the total number of event days and who is producing content, and whether it exists yet in the right aspect ratio.
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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