By the Exhibition Stall Design editorial team · Updated 1 October 2026 · 13 min read
Short answer
The 15 questions worth asking a product launch sets 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.
- Ask what the quote excludes, never whether everything is included — the second question always gets a yes.
- Insist on approving dimensioned drawings rather than a render before fabrication starts.
- Put the same questions to three vendors and write the answers in three columns. The gaps do the work for you.
- Ask what the vendor would change about your brief. A supplier with no opinion is not reading it.
- Ask what your area can physically hold — at 36 sq.m the honest answer is about 11 visitors and 4 staff.
Reading the answer, not just asking the question
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 product launch sets 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.
Stage 1 — before you shortlist (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.
Notice that they circle one issue: ownership of the work. For event managers, corporate communication teams and agencies running conferences, launches, dealer meets and public shows, that is the single fact most likely to be discovered too late, and it is also the easiest to establish early if you simply ask directly.
01
1. 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.
02
2. Who will be my single point of contact, from brief through dismantle?
A good answer is a name, a role and a mobile number, plus confirmation that the same person is physically on site during build-up and show days. A bad answer is "our team" or "our coordination desk". Shared accountability is no accountability, and a contact who changes at handover means nobody carries the history of your decisions onto the floor.
03
3. Can I see photographs of finished projects at my size, from a show you can name?
A good answer brings on-site photographs with the show, the city, the stall area and the year attached, including shots of the stand occupied by staff and visitors rather than empty at handover. A bad answer is renders only. A render proves somebody can design; only a photograph proves somebody can build, and the gap between the two is where most disappointment lives.
04
4. 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.
Second stage — making the numbers comparable (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.
Nothing about product launch sets pricing is mysterious; the drivers are listed below. Quoted per launch. What you are testing is whether the vendor can put them in order for your brief specifically. If they cannot, the quote is an estimate wearing a number's clothes.
- Show duration and number of event days
- Equipment size and specification (screen size, projector brightness or drone count)
- Content creation and programming time
- Rigging, power backup and technician crew size
- Permissions, venue rules and rehearsal time
01
5. What would you change about this brief if it were your budget?
A good answer is an opinion: spend more on lighting, less on joinery, move the storage, drop the second message. A bad answer is "it's perfect as it is". A supplier with no view is either not reading the brief or not willing to risk the order by disagreeing, and neither of those helps you on the floor.
02
6. What is driving this price, and what would make it cheaper?
A good answer names the real drivers for your brief and then offers a trade: less custom joinery, a simpler finish, a reused frame, fewer graphic panels. A bad answer is a flat discount with no change to the scope. A number that drops on request without anything being removed means the first figure was padded, or the next one is thinner than it looks.
03
7. 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.
04
8. 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.
Third stage — turning a conversation into a contract (questions 9 to 12)
Everything here is about converting agreement into documents. Each question seals a gap that would otherwise open during build-up, when every remaining option costs money. The timing is the point: ask before the advance goes out, not after.
Design and price are already settled by now. What remains is authority and evidence — who may approve what, and what exists on paper when it matters. Unglamorous, and the reason most disputes never happen.
01
9. Will you dry-build the stand in the workshop before dispatch, and can I see proof?
A good answer is yes, with photographs or a video, panels numbered and circuits tested. A bad answer treats it as unnecessary. Where the first assembly happens decides whether build-up is assembly or problem-solving, and problem-solving in a hall costs hours you have not got.
02
10. What drawings will I approve, and by when, before anything is cut?
A good answer names dimensioned plans and elevations with finishes and lighting positions marked, and gives you a date for sign-off. A bad answer is "you've approved the render". A render is an impression; a drawing is an instruction. If what you signed has no dimensions on it, "this is not what we approved" is an argument you cannot win.
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 happens if you are late?
A good answer is uncomfortable but specific: here is the slack in the schedule, here is who we call, here is what we would do. A bad answer is that it has never happened. You are not really looking for a penalty clause — you are looking for evidence that somebody has thought about the failure case before being inside it.
Last stage — the week that decides it (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 an experience strong enough that guests film and share it, with a clear brand moment and a call to action timed in the show. 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. Who is on the floor during show days, and how fast can they reach my stand?
A good answer is a name, a location and a response time. A bad answer is a central number. Show-day problems tend to be small and urgent — a blown lamp, a loose panel, a screen that will not wake — and they only stay small if somebody is already in the building.
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.
A quick reference for the call
Some answers sound fine and mean nothing. The rows below are those cases side by side with what a real answer looks like. It works best as a call sheet; reading it afterwards is reading it too late.
| Ask this | Good reply | Bad reply |
|---|---|---|
| What if something fails mid-show | Spares on site and a named person in the building | Nothing has ever failed |
| 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 is on site at build-up | A name, a crew size and the shift hours | Our team will be there |
| Who submits to the organiser | The documents, the person and the deadline | The organiser will let you know |
| What happens after the show | Dismantle inside the organiser's window, elements into storage | No answer, because dismantle was never priced |
| What would make it cheaper | A scope trade — simpler finish, fewer panels, a reused frame | A flat discount with no change to the scope |
| What are the payment milestones | Each instalment tied to something you can inspect | A schedule of dates, with most of it up front |
The good column is almost always the shorter one. That is the quickest heuristic in this guide — specifics are compact, and reassurance needs room.
The capacity question worth adding
There is one more question worth adding, and it is the quickest way to tell whether a product launch sets vendor designs for a show or just quotes for square metres: ask what your area can physically hold. The arithmetic is simple enough that a vague answer is a choice rather than a limitation.
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.
This is where a lot of disappointment comes from. A stand that cannot hold the traffic the campaign promises will look like a marketing failure on the day, when it was actually a sizing decision made months earlier by someone looking at a different spreadsheet.
| Area | Display space | Storage | Staff needed | Capacity | Weeks to build |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 sq.m | 7.6 sq.m | 0.9 sq.m | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 12 sq.m | 10.2 sq.m | 1.2 sq.m | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 24 sq.m | 19.2 sq.m | 3.6 sq.m | 3 | 7 | 4 |
| 36 sq.m | 28.8 sq.m | 5.4 sq.m | 4 | 11 | 4 |
| 72 sq.m | 57.6 sq.m | 10.8 sq.m | 8 | 23 | 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.
When the answer is the decision
A few answers settle the matter rather than add to it. The product launch sets failure modes come first, because those are the ones that cannot be fixed on site. The rest are procurement signals, all of which appear before any money has moved.
- Under-specified equipment that looks dull in a bright hall
- No rehearsal or technical run before doors open
- Missing backup power or spare units
- Content not built for the actual screen or surface size
- A delivery week offered in place of a dated production schedule
- Fabrication offered without drawings for you to approve first
- No answer at all on dismantle, clearing or storage
- An advance requested before any scope document exists
- A material specification that says premium and names nothing
- Every question fielded by the salesperson and none by anyone who builds
- A deadline on your decision that belongs to their cash flow rather than your show
Specifics are short. Reassurance needs paragraphs.
Turning replies into a decision
Keep one page with the vendors across the top and the questions down the side. You are not scoring eloquence — you are looking for the empty cells, which are invisible in a phone call and obvious in a grid.
Then read the set backwards, from the outcome to the answers. You are not buying a stand; you are buying a result at a show, and the questions only matter in so far as they predict it. A vendor who answers everything well and cannot discuss what the show has to achieve is a builder rather than a partner — useful, but you will have to supply the thinking yourself.
- What the vendor needs from you, and by when
- The project manager's name and mobile number
- What the quote excludes, in writing and signed
- The date on which you will approve dimensioned drawings
- The dismantle plan, and where reusable elements are stored
- The payment milestones and the deliverable behind each one
- The show-day backup plan and who is on the floor
Ask all three at once
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.
Put the list to us and you will get written answers to all of it. Our own workshops, free design with a confirmed fabrication order, organiser drawings and approvals prepared for you, and a single project manager from the first brief to the last panel out of the hall.
Frequently asked questions
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.
When should I ask about build-up?+
A week or two before the show, once production is finished. Ask for the arrival slot, the crew size, the shift hours and the hour the stand will be finished and cleaned — not the hour build-up closes.
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.
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.
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.
How do I know if my stand is the right size?+
Ask the vendor what it can hold. At 36 sq.m the arithmetic gives about 28.8 sq.m of display, room for roughly 11 visitors at a time and 4 staff on duty. If your footfall expectation is far above that, the constraint is the stand rather than the campaign.
What should I ask a product launch sets vendor about pricing?+
Quoted per launch. Beyond the figure, ask what drives it, what would make it cheaper, which lines are excluded, and what the pre-tax total is. A vendor who can rank the drivers for your brief has priced the job rather than guessed at it.
Should I ask about things that could go wrong?+
Yes, and the quality of the answer matters more than the content. A vendor who describes the slack in their schedule, the spares they carry and who they would call has thought about failure. One who says nothing has ever gone wrong has not.
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