Your first trade show has a specific shape: a space contract you signed months ago, a thick PDF that arrived in your inbox called an exhibitor kit, a dozen vendors you've never heard of, and a vague sense that it's going to cost more than you planned. It usually does — not because the show is expensive, but because the process is built for people who've done it before.
This guide is the version of the process for people who haven't.
Who the players are
Show management / the organizer. Sells you the space, sets the rules, runs registration, publishes the directory. Your contract is with them.
The general service contractor (GSC). Hired by the organizer to build the show. Produces the exhibitor kit, provides furniture, carpet, labor, freight handling and signs, and runs the service desk. On most shows the GSC is the exclusive provider of material handling, cleaning and rigging — meaning nobody else may do them.
Exclusive vendors. Electrical, internet, catering, AV and sometimes cleaning belong to the venue or a contracted specialist. Separate order forms, separate deadlines, separate invoices.
Your own people. An exhibit house if you have one, a carrier for freight, an exhibitor-appointed contractor (EAC) if you bring your own install crew — and if you do, show management needs notice and insurance paperwork by a deadline.
How to read the kit
Don't read it cover to cover. Find three things:
- The Quick Facts page (every kit has one under some name): move-in and move-out dates and times, discount deadline, advance warehouse dates and address, show-site shipping address, carrier check-in deadline, service desk hours. These are your dates. Put every one on a calendar today.
- The vendor list: who provides what, and which services are exclusive.
- The rules: booth height limits, sightline rules, hanging-sign rules, what you can set up yourself, union jurisdictions.
Everything else in the kit is an order form.
What's already in your booth
Before you order anything, find out what the organizer's booth package includes. It varies by show and it's listed in your space contract or the kit. Common inclusions for a standard inline booth:
- Pipe-and-drape back wall and side rails (the metal frame with curtains)
- An ID sign with your company name
- Sometimes carpet — and sometimes carpet is required and not included
- Sometimes a table and two chairs
- Sometimes a wastebasket
- Occasionally a small electrical drop (rare; don't assume)
What's almost never included: electrical, internet, cleaning beyond the first night, furniture beyond the basics, lighting, any labor, any freight handling. And plan on paying material handling — at most shows, hand-carrying your own freight in isn't allowed.
Ordering carpet the organizer already provides is the most common first-timer double-spend. Ordering nothing because you assumed the booth came "furnished" is the second.
The twelve mistakes
1. Missing the discount deadline. Same chair, 20–50% more. The deadline is typically three weeks before move-in. Fix: order everything, including the maybes, before it; cancel the extras before the free-cancellation cutoff.
2. Budgeting shipping but not drayage. Your carrier delivers to the dock; the GSC charges, by weight, to get it from the dock to your booth and back. Two bills. Fix: calculate drayage from your freight weight before you ship.
3. Shipping five small boxes separately. Each one pays a minimum charge and special handling. Fix: consolidate onto one labeled skid.
3a. Assuming you can carry it in yourself. In most major halls hand-carry isn't allowed and you will pay material handling; the exceptions are decided per show, per city and per union. Fix: budget for material handling, and ask the contractor whether any exception applies before you plan around it.
4. Shipping to the hotel. Handling fees per package, storage fees, and then it still has to get to the hall. Fix: advance warehouse, using the label from the kit.
5. Shipping to the wrong address. The GSC's office is not the warehouse is not the venue. Fix: copy the label addresses from the kit exactly.
6. Scheduling labor at 1:00 p.m. on a Saturday. Overtime, double time, and a crew that arrives when the previous job ends. Fix: first call of the morning on a weekday; supervise it yourself.
7. Ordering power for lights only. The package drop runs the fixtures. The monitor, laptop and chargers trip it. Fix: total your watts, convert to amps, add headroom, order once.
8. Forgetting the exclusive vendors have their own deadlines. Electrical, internet and AV deadlines fall near the GSC's but on their own forms. Fix: one calendar row per vendor.
9. Sending graphics that get rejected. Low resolution, wrong scale, text too close to the edge — rush reprint at show-site rates. Fix: the pre-flight checklist, five weeks out.
10. Not labeling empties, or packing the show supplies into them. Empties go to storage with no access until move-out. Fix: pull everything you need, label every empty, early.
11. Not confirming dismantle labor. Everyone wants a crew at 4:00 p.m. on the last day. Fix: confirm the dismantle call when you check in the install crew on day one.
12. Missing the carrier check-in deadline. Freight is forced onto the house carrier at their rates, or sent back to the warehouse. Fix: the check-in time in the carrier's booking, on the dismantle crew's sheet, and on every staffer's phone.
The first-timer timeline
- Today: space contract in hand, kit opened to Quick Facts, every date on a calendar.
- 8–6 weeks out: booth decision (rent, own, hybrid), graphics started, EAC paperwork if needed, hotel booked in the official block.
- 5 weeks: graphics submitted and proofed.
- 4 weeks: freight packed, weighed, labeled; carrier booked to the advance warehouse.
- 3 weeks: every order placed at advance pricing — GSC and every exclusive vendor. Credit card authorization on file. Badges registered.
- 1 week: freight confirmed at the warehouse. Outbound carrier booked. MHA pre-filed. Post-show email written. Staff briefed with the show brief.
- Move-in: service desk, labor desk, freight count, weight ticket photo, electrical check, empties labeled, tech tested.
- Show days: walk the booth each morning, log disputes, rate leads.
- Last day: disputes settled before close, invoices collected, MHA per destination, carrier checked in, everything photographed.
- Week after: follow-up waves, invoice audit, breakeven check, lessons learned, rebook decision.
What first-timers get that others don't
Some organizers and contractors run first-time exhibitor programs — a contact before the show, a visit at the booth, a follow-up after. If you're offered one, take it. Ask the organizer whether your show has one, and ask whether they have an exhibitor education session before the show. These exist because exhibitors who have a bad first show don't come back, and the organizer wants you back.
But those programs are a person, and a person isn't there at 4:45 p.m. on the last day when the carrier hasn't shown up. The planner is built for the dates and the dollars that the programs don't cover: every vendor's deadline, every surcharge, every form, with a countdown and a reminder — on a phone, in the booth, when it matters.
Frequently asked questions
- What is included in a standard trade show booth space?
- Usually a pipe-and-drape back wall and side rails and an ID sign. Sometimes carpet (and sometimes carpet is required but not included), sometimes a table and chairs. Almost never electrical, internet, lighting, labor or freight handling.
- Who are the general service contractor and the exclusive vendors?
- The general service contractor is hired by the organizer to build the show; it produces the exhibitor kit and provides furniture, carpet, labor, freight handling and signs. Exclusive vendors — electrical, internet, catering, AV — belong to the venue or a contracted specialist and bill separately.
- What is the biggest mistake first-time exhibitors make?
- Missing the discount deadline, which is typically about three weeks before move-in. The same items ordered on site cost 30–50% more. Second is budgeting for shipping but not for drayage.
- Do first-time exhibitors get extra help?
- Some organizers and contractors run first-time exhibitor programs or pre-show education sessions. Ask the organizer whether your show has one. They help, but they don't cover every vendor's deadline or the dollars at stake.
More exhibitor guides
Every figure in this guide is a typical range. Your show's exhibitor service manual governs the actual dates, rates and rules.