Exhibiting is a project with an outside rulebook: the organiser’s exhibitor manual sets the forms, the service order deadlines, the shipping dates and what you may build. This free trade show checklist is for marketing teams, exhibition managers and founders taking a stand at an industry show. It runs from goals, budget and booking, through the manual’s deadlines, stand graphics, promotion, staffing and lead capture, to build-up, the show days, breakdown and the follow-up that turns badge scans into meetings. Three questions at the start add a custom stand build phase, an international shipping and customs phase and the sponsorship deliverables when your show needs them.
The Event Planning Checklist is written for the organiser: the team that books the venue, runs registration, builds the programme and hosts everyone. An exhibitor is one of that organiser’s customers. You do not choose the venue, the dates, the floor plan or the official contractors. You buy space, follow the rules in the exhibitor manual, and have a few days to meet as many of the right people as you can.
That changes what goes wrong. Organisers struggle with venues and speakers. Exhibitors miss early-bird service deadlines, ship freight to the wrong address on the wrong date, arrive without the insurance certificate or fire certificates the venue asks for, and come home with a pile of scans nobody follows up. The first decision is the type of stand, because it sets most of the work.
Seven phases run from goals and booking to the debrief after the show. Phase 3 appears only for a space-only custom stand, Phase 4 only when the show is outside your home country, and the sponsorship task in Phase 5 only when you are sponsoring or speaking.
Answer the scope questions first. They decide whether the custom build phase, the international phase and the sponsorship task appear.
Shown only when the scope answer is Space-only custom build.
Shown only when the scope answer to ‘Is the show outside your home country?’ is Yes.
The sponsorship task is shown only when the scope answer says you are sponsoring or speaking.
Exhibitor manuals set the real dates, and they differ from show to show, so treat this as the usual shape rather than a rule. Start the checklist when you decide to exhibit, then replace the gaps below with the deadlines in your manual. International shows and custom builds move everything earlier.
Goals set, the budget approved and the space booked. Good stand positions at popular shows are often rebooked by last year’s exhibitors before the show closes.
Stand designed and, for a custom build, plans submitted for approval. Forwarder appointed and carnet applied for if the show is abroad.
Services ordered before early-bird deadlines, insurance certificate sent, graphics approved and to print, invitations and meeting requests out.
Freight shipped to arrive inside the receiving window, badges registered, rota and travel booked, lead questions agreed.
Deliveries checked, scanners tested, daily huddles held, leads noted the same day, return freight labelled before breakdown.
Leads in the CRM and contacted, costs reconciled, results measured against goals and the debrief held while people remember.
Freight is where small mistakes cost most. Material handling is charged by weight, usually per 100 lb with a minimum, and freight that reaches the advance warehouse after its deadline can attract a late surcharge. Label every crate with the show, your company and stand number and the address in the manual, keep the bill of lading, and book the outbound collection before breakdown so nothing is left on the floor when the hall closes.
Scanning a badge is not consent to everything. When a visitor lets you scan their badge you usually become the controller of that data and must tell them how you will use it. Under UK rules, marketing email to a company address does not need prior consent, but you must identify yourself and offer an opt-out, and sole traders and some partnerships are treated as individuals who do. Some EU countries, Germany among them, require consent for business email too. Ask at the scan and record the answer.
Each task carries a due date offset from the day the checklist starts, and every task is assigned from the show team fields. Put the order confirmations, insurance certificate and carnet on their tasks, so the paperwork is in one place on build-up day.
The show budget and the stand graphics each stop at an approval step until the right person answers, so nothing is booked or printed on a figure or design nobody agreed. The approvals sit in the history with the quotes.
Run one template for every show, with dropdowns adding the custom build, customs and sponsorship work. Recurring schedules start the checklist for annual shows, and reports show which shows have overdue tasks.
The Event Budget Approval Checklist takes a large show budget through a fuller review, and the Post-Event Follow-Up Checklist extends the follow-up phase into content, surveys and ROI. Speaking at the show? The Conference Speaker Coordination Checklist shows what the organiser will ask you for.
A show is a campaign with a stand attached. The Campaign Launch Checklist and our guide to a marketing campaign launch cover the promotion around it, and recurring checklists keep a calendar of shows running to the same standard every year.
Start six to twelve months ahead for a major show, and earlier if you want a good stand position or are building a custom stand. The exhibitor manual sets the hard dates: service orders are cheaper before the early-bird deadline, freight has a fixed receiving window, and custom stand plans need organiser approval weeks before build-up. Shows abroad need extra time for a freight forwarder and an ATA Carnet.
It is the organiser’s rulebook and order guide for exhibitors. It lists every deadline, the forms to return, the official contractors for freight, electrics, internet and furniture, shipping addresses and receiving dates, build-up and breakdown times, stand height and construction rules, insurance requirements and fire safety rules. Read it as soon as you book and turn every date in it into a task with an owner.
A shell scheme comes with walls, a name board and usually basic lighting supplied by the organiser, so you add graphics and furniture. Space-only is bare floor: you design and build the whole stand, submit plans for approval, provide fire certificates and arrange build-up and dismantle. Shell schemes cost less and need less lead time; space-only gives you control over size, layout and brand.
You need one if you want to take display goods or demo equipment into a participating country temporarily without paying import duties and taxes. A carnet covers goods for exhibitions, commercial samples and professional equipment, which must come back out, usually within a year. It does not cover anything sold, given away or consumed. Carnets are issued through national chambers of commerce, with a security deposit or bond.
Usually, if you told them how you would use their details and you follow the email rules where they are. In the UK, B2B marketing email to a company address does not need prior consent under PECR, but you must identify yourself and offer an opt-out; sole traders need consent. Some EU countries, including Germany, require consent for business email, so record it at the scan.
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