Exhibitor Field Guide Booth design rules, before the drawings
Booth design rules, before the drawings
Booth design has a creative half and a regulatory half. The regulatory half is not in the designer's portfolio; it is in the show rules, and it vetoes drawings that ignore it.
Every show publishes display rules, usually adapted from industry-standard guidelines, in the exhibitor services manual. Read them before anyone sketches anything. A booth designed first and checked later gets redesigned, and redesigns close to a deadline are where budgets go to die.
Height and line-of-sight, by booth type
The rules scale with booth configuration, which is why they belong in the same decision as booth space.
Inline and corner booths typically cap at eight feet of back-wall height. More restrictive still is the line-of-sight rule: in the front half of the booth, structures above roughly four feet are usually prohibited, so you cannot wall off your neighbor's visibility. That tall banner stand you planned to put at the front corner is very likely non-compliant — more on that in graphics and signage.
Peninsulas get more height but often must keep the back wall's rear side finished and logo-free, since it faces someone else's booth.
Islands commonly allow the greatest height, sometimes to a stated limit like sixteen or twenty feet, subject to organizer approval of drawings. Multi-story booths require engineering certification everywhere they are allowed.
Exact numbers vary by show. The manual's numbers are the only ones that count.
Hanging signs and rigging
A sign suspended from the ceiling is a rigging job, and rigging is one of the most controlled activities in any hall. It is usually restricted to island and peninsula booths, must be ordered through the show's rigging contractor by a deadline, is billed by labor crew and equipment time, and in most buildings only the contractor's riggers may touch the ceiling. The sign also usually has to arrive early — often to the advance warehouse — so it can be hung before booths are built beneath it. If a hanging sign is in your concept, price it through show services before you commit to it, not after.
Flooring and lighting
Most US shows require exhibitors to cover their floor; concrete is not an option. You either rent carpet from the contractor, bring your own flooring and pay freight and installation, or rent padding and carpet as a package. Flooring is heavy, and weight is money in drayage terms — a factor when comparing owned flooring against rental.
Hall lighting is designed to light aisles, not booths. Booths that look bright in a warehouse mockup go flat under convention lighting. Booth lighting means ordered electrical service, and electrical has its own rules: power comes from the electrical contractor, cords under carpet generally must be laid by their electricians, and everything has an advance-order deadline and a higher floor price.
What show rules prohibit
The prohibitions are mostly about neighbors and safety, and they are enforced. Common ones: sound above a stated level or speakers aimed across the aisle; activities that cause crowds to block aisles; distributing anything outside your own space; helium balloons; open flame; and vehicles without specific approval. Materials must meet flame-retardant requirements — fabric, drape, and wood elements may need to be certified or treated, and fire marshals can and do pull non-compliant material off the floor. Ask your fabricator for flame-certification documentation up front.
Accessible design
Booths are spaces open to the public, and accessibility is both a legal obligation and a straightforward design input. The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design are the reference: in practice, that means raised flooring gets a ramped edge rather than a bare lip, demo counters include a lowered section, aisles inside the booth stay wide enough for a wheelchair to turn, and interactive screens are reachable from a seated position. Retrofitting accessibility after fabrication is expensive; specifying it in the first drawing costs almost nothing.
The approval step
Anything beyond a standard inline setup — height near the limit, hanging signs, multi-story, enclosed rooms — usually requires submitting drawings to the organizer by a stated deadline. Treat that submission as a gate in your schedule, and put it on the first-show checklist timeline with everything else.
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