An exhibition stand is everything that fills a booth space: walls, counter, storage, signage and floor. We build ours on modular aluminium frames with printed fabric, so the same kit does next year’s show.
An exhibition stand is the fitout you bring to a booth space at a trade show. The organiser sells you bare floor, or floor with a plain shell scheme, and everything visible after that is yours: back and side walls, a counter, somewhere lockable to put bags and stock, overhead signage and often the floor covering. The words expo stand, trade show display and exhibition booth all describe the same thing.
Made by Melbourne Trade Signs, a large-format print and signage company on Unit 6/43 Orbis Drive, Ravenhall VIC 3023, in Melbourne’s west. Printed in-house and installed Australia-wide. Phone 0415 743 691.
Terminology first, because the industry is inconsistent: exhibition stands, trade displays, expo booths and trade show stands all mean the same thing — the built display you occupy at a trade show. Companies that build them are variously called exhibition stand builders, display companies or stand contractors. We design, print, build and install them, which is the whole job rather than one slice of it.
The useful way to think about a stand is cost per show rather than cost per build. A modular system costs more the first time and almost nothing after that, because the frames stay in their cases and only the printed skins change. A custom build looks better and photographs better, but it is generally a single-use structure. Which one is right depends on whether you exhibit once a year or six times.
We fabricate the graphics and pack the systems at Orbis Drive in Ravenhall, so what arrives on site has been dry-built here first. That step catches the missing bracket before it becomes a problem at 7am on a bump-in morning. Our own crews install interstate as well as around Melbourne, which matters because most stands are built by people who did not pack them.
A stand is an assembly of parts, and each one has a spec worth checking before you commit. These are the elements we quote on and the questions that come up around each of them.
| Element | Typical spec | Options | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall system | Extruded aluminium frame, 2.4 m tall | 3 m or 3.5 m where the venue allows | Shell scheme walls are often only 2.4 m, so taller needs approval |
| Wall graphic | Tension fabric, silicone-edge inserted | Rigid panels, or fabric with a blockout backing | Fabric ships folded and reprints far cheaper than rigid does |
| Backlit walls | LED edge lighting behind a light-diffusing skin | Full wall, or a single lit panel as a feature | Backlit artwork needs lifting in the shadows or it prints muddy |
| Counter | Frame with printed wrap, roughly 950 mm high | Lockable door, internal shelf, curved front | A lockable counter is the only secure storage most stands have |
| Hanging sign | Circular or square fabric banner over the stand | Two, three or four sided | Rigging is venue-controlled and always needs prior approval |
| Flooring | Interlocking foam tiles or laid carpet | Raised platform with an edge ramp | Concrete floors are punishing over three days on your feet |
| Transport | Wheeled road cases with foam inserts | Cases that convert into counters | Case volume drives freight cost more than weight does |
Check the floor plan before ordering. Booth depth, which sides are open, whether a pillar sits inside your space and where power lands all change the build. Send us the plan and we design to that, not the nominal size.
Most stands are assembled from the same handful of components in different combinations. Knowing what each part does makes it much easier to work out where the budget should go.
Extruded profile that bolts together into walls, arches and towers, with fabric inserted into a groove around each panel. The frames are the expensive part and they last for years. Reconfiguring the same kit into a different shape for the next show is normal practice, not a compromise.
Timber, laminate and fabricated elements built to a drawing for one show. It gives you shapes a modular system cannot, and finishes that photograph better. The catch is that it is heavy, expensive to freight and generally does not survive being pulled apart, so treat it as a one-show spend.
A printed polyester skin with silicone beading sewn to the edge, pushed into the frame groove so the surface pulls drum tight. No visible fixings and no glare under venue lighting. The skins fold into a bag, which is why reprinting for a new campaign is cheap.
LED strips inside the frame throw light through a diffusing fabric. It is the single most effective way to stand out in a hall lit evenly from above. Artwork needs preparing differently: shadows lift and dark colours go flat, so we adjust files rather than printing them as supplied.
A counter does three jobs. It gives staff something to stand behind, it carries branding at eye level, and it hides the boxes. Specify a lockable door if anything valuable stays overnight, because a booth is not a secure space once the hall closes.
A fabric banner suspended above the stand, visible from anywhere in the hall. It is the best money you can spend in a big room. It is also the most regulated: rigging is done by the venue’s contractor, needs approval and weights in advance, and is not permitted at every venue.
Interlocking foam tiles, laid carpet or a raised platform with an edge ramp. Beyond appearance, this is a comfort decision. Three days standing on bare concrete is genuinely punishing, and stand staff who are sore stop engaging with people walking past by the second afternoon.
Wheeled road cases with cut foam so each part has a home, which is what makes the second build faster than the first. Some case designs convert into a counter with a printed wrap, so the transport does a second job rather than sitting empty behind the wall.
Building, mining, agricultural and industrial shows where the product is heavy and the stand has to work around it. These builds usually want a strong back wall, plenty of open floor, and a counter positioned so it does not block a forklift line. Modular is almost always right here, because the same companies exhibit at several shows a year across different states.
Conference exhibitions where nothing physical is on display and the stand competes on presence alone. Backlit walls and a hanging sign do the heavy lifting, because there is no product to draw an eye. Keep the wall copy to a headline and one line under it, since nobody reads a paragraph while walking past. Seating for a conversation matters more than display space here.
Trade and public shows where sampling happens at the counter and the queue itself is the marketing. These stands need bench space, bins, water access if the venue provides it, and a floor that can be wiped down. Position the counter so the queue forms along your own frontage rather than across the neighbour’s. Printed cups and consumables come from our sister company Packlabb.
Careers expos, community shows and regional field days, often with several departments or member organisations sharing one space and one budget. The practical need is modularity within the stand itself, so one wall section can carry different branding to the next and the whole kit can be split between two smaller events later in the year. Printed literature racks and a lockable counter usually matter more here than a feature wall does.
Stand artwork is large, viewed from a distance and cut up by frames, counters and doorways. Setting it up properly matters more here than on almost anything else we print.
Send us the floor plan and your brand files and we will produce a stand layout to work from, including which graphic sits on which panel. Reviewing that early is far cheaper than discovering the problem on the hall floor.
Exhibition work is deadline work, and the deadline is the show. We build the stand here first, photograph it and then case it, which is why we ask for artwork earlier than you might expect. Tell us the show, the hall and the bump-in window when you enquire. Collection from Ravenhall, delivery around Victoria, and freight to any capital, usually direct to the venue loading dock.
A typical single booth build is a back wall, one or two side walls, a printed counter with lockable storage, and the cases everything travels in.
Flooring, lighting, a hanging sign and any screens are quoted separately, because whether you need them depends on the venue and the neighbours. Power, rigging and furniture hire almost always come from the organiser rather than from us. We will tell you which parts of a quote are ours and which you need to book through the show.
That is the point of a modular system. Frames and cases stay in storage between shows and only the printed skins change.
A reconfigure is normal too. The same wall sections that make a 3 × 3 m back wall will make a run along a 3 × 6 m space, or split into two smaller stands for separate events. Custom-built elements are a different story, since they are cut to fit a specific layout and rarely survive the trip back apart.
Yes, always. Rigging is controlled by the venue and organiser, and at some venues it is not permitted at all.
Approval usually needs the sign dimensions, its weight and a rigging plan submitted well before bump-in, and the work itself is done by the venue’s appointed contractor at their rates. We build the sign to whatever the venue specifies. Ask the organiser about hanging rules before you commission one, because the answer occasionally changes the whole design.
A modular 3 × 3 m stand goes up in about two hours with two people, once the graphics are on site and the space is clear.
The variables are access and the queue at the loading dock, not the assembly. Bump-in windows are set by the organiser and can be shorter than you expect, particularly at multi-hall shows. Send us the schedule with your enquiry. If it is tight, we will pack the stand in the order it needs to be built rather than by component.
Choose modular if you exhibit more than once a year, and custom if this is a single high-profile show where the look justifies the spend.
Modular systems reskin cheaply and travel in cases designed for repeat use. Custom builds give you shapes, materials and finishes a frame system will not, and they photograph better, but they are heavy, expensive to freight and effectively disposable. A common middle path is a modular structure with one custom feature element in it.
You reprint the fabric skins and keep the frames, which is usually a small fraction of the original cost.
Silicone-edge graphics unzip from the frame, fold into a bag and go in the post. Nothing structural is touched. This is the strongest practical argument for a fabric system over rigid panels or a printed laminate finish, both of which mean rebuilding the wall itself. We keep your panel dimensions on file so a reprint drops straight into the existing frames.
Only need the graphics, or an urgent reprint for a stand someone else built? See exhibition printing.
The photo point that often sits beside a stand, using the same tension fabric system on a straight or curved frame for press and sponsor photography.
See the detail →Hemmed and eyeletted PVC banners at any size, welded on our own gear — fences, walls, events and shopfronts.
See the detail →Printed feather, teardrop and bow flags with pole kits and a base to suit the ground — the outdoor half of most event setups.
See the detail →Browse the full list on our A–Z of everything we print, or see how this fits into signage in Melbourne.
Send the floor plan, the booth size and the bump-in times. We will work back from the show and quote in two business hours.