Furniture Fair Fun
In 2004, I showed some of my designs at the Salone di Mobile, otherwise known as the Furniture Fair in Milan. This was an educational experience for me. This page is meant as a primer for anyone else thinking of displaying their work at a design show.

Getting prototypes built and finished properly takes time and resources, but since its probably a labour of love it will no doubt have your full attention. Its all the other non-product stuff that will drag you down.

How much time in advance should you start to prepare?
If you’re developing a product for the first time and need to make prototypes and refine the design further, then anything less than a year may well be too little. Typically, most shows involve juried selection with significant lead times. For example, for the Salone Satellite, photos or renderings of proposed work needs to be submitted by the 31st of August. Thats seven and a half months before the Salone starts. You may not find out if you’ve been selected right away. Best just assume you’re in and keep preparing!

What do you need for your booth aside from your work?

In no particular order…

Backdrop/Signage
The overal look and feel of your booth will be primarily set by the material on the walls. You can save money and leave this neutral or try and make an impact. Just make sure you don’t overpower the work you are showing. Consider integrating some kind of rubdown or other signage in your backdrop. Visitors should be able to look at your booth and see immediately who you are.

Flooring
When I showed at the Satellite, a very thin beige “moquette” (effectively temporary disposable carpeting) was included. This worked fine, but consider supplying your own if you want to differentiate yourselves and especially if you’re going to be using the same look for future shows.

Lighting
most booths will only have ambient lighting. This will probably not be professional enough. Most designers will typically add some halogen spotlights or similar to showcase their work.
tables, pedestals, props – depending on the nature of your work

Audio/Video
Some shows may let you get away with a limited amount of music, but in general this is frowned upon and will only end up annoying your neighbours. If you insist on music, keep it down!

Use of video is still quite limited, but expect to see more and more as the cost of LCD video projector lowers. Video is typically used to supplement the work on show and hence broaden the customers experience. You might show additional work either with video or a slideshow of photographs. You can show work in progress, either the process of sketching or prototypes being constructed. To prevent your projector being nicked (stolen), secure it inside some kind of home-made wooden box that is itself secured (screwed, chained?) to your booth.

Publicity – pre-show
Your work is important, but if you don’t do the extra PR planning you won’t get the necessary attention your work deserves.
Creating a press release is relatively simple and there are numerous online resources that can help you create and distribute it.
It may help you to maintain a mailing list of newspaper and magazine contacts. Note that editors and journalists always appreciate plenty of leadtime. Getting you story out early will give you an advantage over other designers.

Publicity – during-show
Generalising a lot, you will get 3 kind of requests for information during the show; most people will waste your time, they are simply collecting printed information from everyone with no real business context. A business card or small leaflet is probably the best way of satisfying these visitors without breaking the bank. If you think someone is a serious customer – a potential buyer, collaborator, or business person – have a box of full colour brochures that have photographic samples of your work with a personal bio. Finally, there will be a steady stream of requests for press kits from journalists. If you are not prepared, you can get away with collecting business card and emailing press kits out in the evening. If you want to be more professional, have a stack of properly labeled CDs on hand during the show. For a show like the Salone Satellite, 20-30 CDs should be more than enough for serious requests. These press kits should include high resolution product photos, a personal photo of yourself, in addition to biographical data, information about your work, web site address, etc.

Publicity – post show
What’s newsworthy for a press-release? Well, pretty much anything if you spin it well. You are going to do a prestigious show. That’s news. You just did prestigious show and were received with great acclaim and many/a few people are talking about you. That’s also news. Make the most of it… and hopefull you had someone take a few good pictures of you in your booth looking successful.

Other Stuff
Food – bring lots of snacks, even a cooler if you don’t want to pay for overpriced bar food
chair or stool – you are going to spend a lot of time on your feet, so a comfy chair would be nice

Tools and Stuff – a basic tool kit might be useful; plus sticky tape, extra pens, spare light bulbs, etc.
screen to hide stuff behind – if you’ve got a box of bits, a box of snacks, a box with business cards and leaflets, an extra curtain or screen at the back of your booth works well to hide the clutter.

Support
Help getting your stuff there – the logistics of this can be quite a pain. Being part of a team can make a big difference. Remember, you’re not just hauling your work to the showground. You also need all the lighting, props, and tools and supplies necessary for the duration of the show. The distance from the I.D.milano office to the Salone Satellite two years ago was only a few hundred metres. Even so, it was a major pain getting everything delivered and set up. The booth next door was occupied by an young Australian who’d had to lug everything a considerably longer distance.

Looking after the booth
If you don’t have a team or a partner, its extremely useful to have someone stop by to look after your stuff; let you get a spot of lunch, etc. One of the most frustrating things about showing solo at the Salone is that you get so tied up with your own booth, you lose the ability to check out the rest of the Fiera. Instead, you get to listen to everyone else telling you what great stuff is going on elsewhere.