Exhibitor manual

The manual is where hundreds of exhibitor questions get answered once instead of hundreds of times — in theory. In practice, its quality decides a large share of your operations team's workload in the final month. A clear manual with a deadline checklist up front produces exhibitors who order power on time and send stand designs for approval when asked; a 120-page PDF assembled from last year's version with the dates half-updated produces a support inbox on fire and a build-up day full of surprises. The content that matters most: hard deadlines (with what happens when they're missed), stand construction rules by booth type — heights, rear-wall finishing, rigging — the traffic schedule for move-in, and the order forms with prices, since late-ordered services at penalty rates are a recurring exhibitor grievance. Modern practice replaces the PDF with an online exhibitor hub where forms are submitted, deadlines tracked, and completion status visible to both sides; the operational gain is real, mostly because you can see who's behind and chase them before it's critical. The honest nuance is that nobody reads the manual cover to cover, and designing as if they will is the common mistake. Structure it for lookup, not reading: checklists first, deadline calendar second, reference detail last.