You finally found the perfect event to showcase your products, secured your booth space, and now need to build (or fit) your exhibit to the available space. Many times, clients come to us without fully understanding the unique layout options and booth types various shows offer, and consequently find their vision needs a bit of tailoring to meet the requirements. While each show and location is different, here are the basic types of exhibits and what makes them unique.
Island Exhibits
Island Exhibits are designed to stand out on the show floor, offering maximum impact because these spaces are typically the least restrictive. This booth type offers fantastic access to your products and services with access from all four sides of the space, and usually allows for taller floor structures, typically 16’ high, as well as the option for hanging signs. The versatility of the space creates the most flexibility for presentation areas, meeting spaces, lounges, workspaces and more. While this space is generally the most expensive to procure, it gives you the opportunity for the biggest impact on the show floor.
Peninsula Exhibits
Peninsula exhibit spaces offer three open sides and a shared back wall to your adjoining neighbor’s booth. Generally slightly more affordable than an Island Exhibit, this space still allows multiple points of entry and large areas for branding, technology, product demos and much more.
However, the rules and regulations of this type of space differ widely from show to show, often imposing strict line of sight rules, such as no structures taller than 4’ high along 5’ of the aisle perimeters. It’s good practice to check your space restrictions with every show, but with peninsula spaces it’s an absolute must to understand the show’s imposed limitations before you secure the space. This will ensure your exhibit components will comply before getting too far along in the planning process. If you already have built an exhibit, certain restrictions may mean leaving some of your properties behind or retrofitting, which can sometimes be more costly than going for the island space.
Inline Exhibits
Inline Exhibits are by far the most common type of space available at most shows. Excepting an inline corner space, they are typically only open on one side, allowing for direct front access to your products and services. Typical show regulations mandate an 8’ height limit, and often that is only in the rear four or five feet of the space. While this is a significant restriction of space usage from an island exhibit, the rules and regulations from show to show tend to be more consistent than those of peninsulas, which vary widely as noted above.
Even with limited access, exhibitors with inline spaces can still bring their brand to life with custom graphics, product displays and casual seating areas. A good exhibit design will strive to create dynamic dimensionality, maximizing the space usage rules where possible.
Because shows can place many of these types of booths in a line (hence the name), it should be noted that these tend to be the most affordable booth type as well.
Connect With Experts
No matter what type or size exhibit you need for your next show, our team can bring your vision to life in any space and provide valuable guidance and advice on how to best strategize exhibit usage and implementation while keeping in adherence to the show regulations. Reach out to us today to discuss your upcoming show needs.
