By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 13 min read
Short answer
The 15 questions worth asking a mall activations vendor cover four things: who owns the work, what the price actually includes, what goes in writing before you pay, and who is in the hall during build-up. Judge the replies by shape rather than content — a name, a date, a document or a number is an answer, and anything that merely reassures you is not.
Key takeaways
- Get the project manager's name, the crew size and the build-up shift hours in writing.
- Put the same questions to three vendors and write the answers in three columns. The gaps do the work for you.
- Ask who physically does the work. Every other answer depends on it.
- Grade answers on specificity: a name, a date, a document or a number beats any amount of reassurance.
- Ask what happens after the show. Dismantle, clearing and storage are where unpriced costs hide.
- Ask what the vendor would change about your brief. A supplier with no opinion is not reading it.
How this interview works
Most vendor questionnaires fail for the same reason: they collect answers nobody knows how to read. Every firm says the work is in-house, every firm says the quote is all-inclusive, and every firm says their team will be on site. The useful skill is not asking the question — it is recognising, from the shape of the reply, whether the person answering has done this before.
Every question is therefore paired with its diagnosis. One test runs through all 15 of them — does the reply contain something verifiable? A strong mall activations vendor produces a name, a date, a document or a figure. A weak one produces confidence, which is not the same thing and cannot be checked.
Work through the stages in order. Questions asked at the wrong moment get the wrong answers — pricing questions before the brief is understood produce a number the vendor has to defend rather than revise, and build-up questions asked after signing produce whatever is convenient rather than whatever was planned.
First stage — is this firm worth briefing? (questions 1 to 4)
This is the filtering stage, and it is best done on the phone in twenty minutes. None of these questions needs your brief, your budget or your drawings — which means nobody can tune the answers to them.
Underneath, they all probe the same thing — whether the firm owns the work or brokers it. Written for large exhibitors, government bodies, export councils and multinationals who want a single accountable partner for the whole participation, this guide exists because that answer usually surfaces during build-up week, when it is far too late to act on.
01
1. Have you worked at my venue, and what are its rules on height, rigging and fire rating?
A good answer is specific about the hall — the height limit, whether rigging is allowed, what fire certification the organiser demands, and when drawings have to be submitted. A bad answer is "we work at every venue in India". Breadth is not the claim you need; one correct hall rule tells you more than a list of twenty cities.
02
2. Which parts of this scope do you buy in, and from whom?
A good answer names them without being pushed — nobody owns everything, and print, AV, furniture and freight are routinely bought. What you are listening for is whether the person knows their own supply chain. A bad answer treats the question as an accusation, which usually means more of the scope is bought in than they want to discuss.
03
3. Can I visit the workshop or studio this week?
A good answer is a day and an address. A bad answer is any version of "later" — nearer the show, after the order, once the design is approved. The request is routine for anyone buying something fabricated, so reluctance to host it is itself the finding, and you get that finding before spending a rupee.
04
4. What were the largest and the smallest stands you delivered last season?
A good answer is two areas and two shows, and it brackets your own stand somewhere in between. A bad answer is a range so wide it must be aspirational. Capability is size-specific: a firm that turns out neat small system booths may never have engineered a structure, and a pavilion specialist will price your small stand like a pavilion.
Stage 2 — while you are being quoted (questions 5 to 8)
With a shortlist briefed, the job changes: you are no longer assessing firms, you are making quotes mean the same thing. Buyers skip this stage because it feels like haggling. It is the opposite — a vendor with an itemised scope is protected from scope creep just as much as you are.
The cost drivers for mall activations are not a secret — they are the list below. Quoted per activation. A vendor who can rank those drivers for your specific brief is pricing the job. One who cannot is pricing a guess and hoping the variations cover the difference later.
- Total area and number of co-exhibitors
- Scope (design, build, AV, furniture, logistics, manpower, hospitality)
- Number of cities or shows in the programme
- Approval layers with organisers, embassies or departments
01
5. Are transport both ways, installation, electrical fittings and dismantle inside this figure?
A good answer goes line by line, yes or no, without hedging. A bad answer is a general "yes, everything's included" — which is the reply this question always draws, and the reason to put it as four separate questions. These are the four scopes most often missing, none of them is optional, and all of them get bought at show-week rates when they surface late.
02
6. What materials and finishes are you quoting, exactly?
A good answer names board thickness, the laminate or paint finish, and the fire treatment. A bad answer is "premium quality" or "imported finish". Specification is what the organiser's safety check examines, and it is also the only way to tell whether a cheaper quote reflects a better rate or a thinner board.
03
7. How many light fittings, and where exactly?
A good answer is a count and a set of positions — spots on the brand wall, track over the product, a backlit panel at the entrance. A bad answer is "lighting included". Hall lighting is designed for the aisles rather than for your stand, which makes the lighting count the line most responsible for whether the stand reads as funded or forgotten.
04
8. If I remove something from this quote, what does the total become?
A good answer is a revised figure within a day, because the quote was assembled from line items in the first place. A bad answer is a vague "we'll adjust" or a total that barely moves — the first means there were no line items, the second means the removed item was never honestly costed.
Stage 3 — before you sign (questions 9 to 12)
These turn a conversation into a contract. Each one closes a gap that otherwise gets discovered on the floor, when the only options left are expensive. Ask them before the advance leaves your account, because afterwards you are negotiating from a weaker position with a shorter clock.
Note that none of these is about design or price. They are about documents, dates and authority — the three things that determine whether a stand gets built as agreed or as improvised.
01
9. How are changes priced, and who is allowed to authorise one?
A good answer is a written variation, priced before it is executed, authorised by one named person on each side. A bad answer is "we'll adjust at the end". Verbal agreements made on the floor during build-up are the largest single source of post-show invoices nobody remembers approving, and one paragraph in the contract prevents all of them.
02
10. Can I see the production schedule, with dates on it?
A good answer is a schedule with drawing release, print, joinery, dry build, dispatch and installation on separate dates. A bad answer is a delivery week. The intermediate dates are the whole value: they are what let you notice a slip while it is still a week early rather than on build-up morning.
03
11. What insurance and site documentation do you carry?
A good answer arrives immediately, because any firm working regularly in exhibition halls keeps it to hand. A bad answer is a promise to check and come back. It is a dull question with a revealing answer — it separates contractors who work in venues every month from those about to find out what a venue requires.
04
12. What are the payment milestones, and what does each one release against?
A good answer attaches every instalment to something inspectable: a signed scope, approved drawings, the submission acknowledgement, a workshop dry build, handover of a working stand. A bad answer is a schedule of bare dates, or most of the money up front. Keep a meaningful balance payable after handover — it is what keeps a crew on the stand on show morning.
Stage 4 — before build-up (questions 13 to 15)
The last of them are asked a week or two before the show, when the build is done and the risk moves from production to logistics. Vendors expect design and pricing questions; far fewer expect to be asked for a build-up plan, which is exactly why the answers here are so informative.
What the show finally has to deliver is a participation plan where every touchpoint, from the pavilion entrance to the VIP lounge, is designed to move visitors toward a meeting. These questions test whether anyone has planned for the hours in which that actually happens, because a stand still being assembled at ten in the morning on day one delivers none of it.
01
13. What do you need from me, and by when?
A good answer is a dated list: artwork at final size, product dimensions, staff numbers, any samples to be displayed. A bad answer is "nothing, we'll handle it". Most build-up delays trace back to an input that arrived late, and a supplier who has not asked for yours has not planned backwards from the date.
02
14. What is the build-up plan — arrival slot, crew size and working hours?
A good answer is a time, a number of people, a shift pattern, and the hour by which the stand will be finished and cleaned before doors open. A bad answer is "we'll be there from day one". Build-up windows are short and shared with every other exhibitor in the hall, so a vendor without a scheduled slot is planning to queue for the loading bay.
03
15. When will the stand be finished, as distinct from when build-up ends?
A good answer is an hour, comfortably ahead of doors opening, with cleaning scheduled after it. A bad answer uses the organiser's deadline as the plan. Finishing at the deadline leaves nothing for the snag list, and every stand has a snag list.
Exhibiting soon? Let's build your stall.
The answers most likely to mislead you
Here are the ones where a plausible answer most often turns out to be empty. Every row applies the same test — is there anything in this reply you could check next week? Have it in front of you while you talk, not after.
| What you ask | A good answer sounds like | A warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| What is excluded | A written exclusion page attached to the quote | The phrase all-inclusive, with no list behind it |
| Can I see finished work | Photographs from a named show, with the stall area and the year | Renders only, or images with nothing attached to them |
| Who submits to the organiser | The documents, the person and the deadline | The organiser will let you know |
| What materials are quoted | Board thickness, finish and fire treatment, named | Premium quality, with no specification |
| What are the payment milestones | Each instalment tied to something you can inspect | A schedule of dates, with most of it up front |
| What will I approve before cutting | Dimensioned plans and elevations, by a stated date | The render you have already been shown |
| What do you need from me | A dated list of inputs | Nothing, we'll handle it |
Across every row, the good answer is shorter and more specific than the warning sign. Length in an answer to a simple question is usually a sign that the specific is not available.
The size question most exhibitors never ask
Add one question to the 15 above, because it sorts designers from order-takers faster than anything else: how many people fit in my stand at once? A mall activations vendor who has thought about the show can answer it; one who has only priced the joinery cannot.
The sums are these: 10% of the area to storage up to 18 sq.m and 15% beyond it, 5% to a meeting corner — 20% if meetings are the point of attending — and the rest to display. Display divided by 2.5 gives simultaneous visitors; total area divided by 9 gives staff on duty.
Why it matters: footfall expectations and stand capacity are usually set by different people who never compare notes. If your campaign is built around a volume of visitors the stand cannot physically hold, the constraint is the stand, not the marketing — and that is a conversation to have at briefing stage, not on day one.
| Size booked | Usable display | Storage taken | Staff | Visitors it holds | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 sq.m | 7.6 sq.m | 0.9 sq.m | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 18 sq.m | 15.3 sq.m | 1.8 sq.m | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 24 sq.m | 19.2 sq.m | 3.6 sq.m | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| 72 sq.m | 57.6 sq.m | 10.8 sq.m | 8 | 23 | 5 |
| 100 sq.m | 80 sq.m | 15 sq.m | 12 | 32 | 5 |
Same arithmetic as the stall planner: staffing is area ÷ 9 with a floor of 2, and the lead time runs 3 weeks base, +1 from 24 sq.m, +2 from 54 sq.m, +2 for premium finishes and +2 for a second storey.
Answers that should end the conversation
Some replies are not warning signs to weigh up — they are conclusions. The first group below are the failure modes specific to mall activations; if a vendor's answers point at any of them, you have learned what you needed to learn and the next call is to the second name on your list.
- Too many vendors with no single point of accountability
- Inconsistent branding across co-exhibitor booths
- Budget overruns from scope that was never itemised
- Delayed approvals that compress build-up time
- A refusal to name the workshop or studio, or a visit that is always possible next month
- A deadline on your decision that belongs to their cash flow rather than your show
- Every question fielded by the salesperson and none by anyone who builds
- Fabrication offered without drawings for you to approve first
- Reference images that cannot be tied to a show, a size or a year
- An advance requested before any scope document exists
- A delivery week offered in place of a dated production schedule
Every vendor sounds the same until you ask who is in the hall on build-up morning.
After the interview
Write the answers down as you receive them, in the same order, for every vendor. Three columns on one page does more for the decision than any amount of discussion, because a missing answer looks exactly like a missing answer once it sits next to two filled cells.
Then invert the exercise. Start from what the show has to deliver and ask whether these answers add up to it. A vendor can pass every question and still have no view on your outcome; that is a competent contractor rather than a partner, and worth knowing which you have hired.
- What the vendor needs from you, and by when
- The show-day backup plan and who is on the floor
- The build-up arrival slot, crew size and shift hours
- Who does the work, and the address where it happens
- The material specification, including the fire treatment
- The project manager's name and mobile number
- The payment milestones and the deliverable behind each one
The next step
Send all three vendors the same brief and the same questions: show name, city, dates, stall area, number of open sides, budget band, and two or three reference images with a line on what you liked about each. Identical inputs are what make the replies comparable, and how quickly and precisely a vendor answers before you have paid anything is the best available preview of how they will answer during build-up week.
We answer all of them in writing. Design is free with every confirmed fabrication order, fabrication happens in our own workshops, we prepare the organiser drawings and the approvals, and one project manager stays on the job from brief through dismantle.
Frequently asked questions
Is it reasonable to ask to visit the workshop?+
Entirely. It is a routine request for anyone buying a fabricated product, and the reaction to the question is informative even before the visit happens.
What is the best question to catch a sub-contracted build?+
"Can I visit the workshop this week?" A firm that owns production answers with an address and a day. Anything that defers the visit — after the order, nearer the show, once design is approved — is the answer by another route.
Should the answers be in writing?+
Yes. Scope, inclusions, exclusions, drawing dates, milestones and the named site contact all belong in the quote or the contract. A verbal answer is a recollection, not a commitment.
How long should this take?+
About a thirty-minute call for the first stage, then one document request each at quoting and signing. Set against a build that needs 3 weeks or more, it is the cheapest hour in the whole project.
What should I ask about the venue's rules?+
Ask for the height limit, whether rigging is permitted, the fire certification the organiser requires, and the date drawings must be submitted. Specific knowledge of one hall beats a claim to work in every city.
What if a vendor refuses to itemise the quote?+
Treat the refusal as the answer. Without line items you cannot compare two quotes, remove scope you do not need, or tell the difference between a cheaper vendor and a smaller scope.
What should I ask about dismantle?+
Who does it, whether it happens inside the organiser's window, what is cleared, and where the reusable frames and graphics are stored afterwards. Unpriced dismantle is where deposits and penalties surface.
Which question matters most?+
Who physically does the work. It decides who controls quality and who controls the date, and every other answer — pricing, drawings, site crew, backup plans — depends on it.
Mall Activations near you
Our crews deliver mall activations in every major Indian city.