Your Stand

Your stand comes carpeted (beige colour) and with walling. If you have a stand in the French area (FRxx stands) then your carpet is white. Your stand has white, smooth plastic walls consisting of 1m sections held together by aluminium uprights. These form the divide between your stand and your neighbour(s).

Most exhibitors dress these with graphics, either full length or individual properties similar to what you would find in an estate agents window. If you wish to produce graphics to the entire visible area then these should be 2270mm x 945mm wide. To attach signs to the walls we recommend using velcro – both sides. We can recommend a UK based graphics company who can produce the panels for you and for a small additional fee, install, dismantle and store / dispose of them. You are also free to bring your own, but these will need to be removed after the show. Anything left after show close on Sunday will be considered rubbish and generally incurs waste disposal fees.

Exhibitor Manual

In the manual you will find order forms for your accommodation, furniture, electrics, TVs and anything else you need. You can bring your own furniture / TV if you wish.

Also in the manual are forms for the showguide entry, these need to be filled out to ensure maximum free exposure. You also have a nameboard form for your stands nameboard, this is then printed and assists visitors with finding you.

Couriers

If you are not bringing the items yourself, please make sure you use a reputable courier as deliveries to the NEC are often missed resulting in exhibitors missing key elements for their stand. These couriers also don’t work on Sundays! We have a freight forwarding company who are based at the venue with us. They can ship, receive and/or store your goods as well as ship on Sunday. The venue states that nothing can be left on Sunday evening, so pick up arrangements need to be made.

Stand / Backdrop Design

It is imperative that visitors know what you are promoting, where you are promoting and any special show offers you are offering. We see many stands where the artwork does not clearly say “what they do”. We recommend you create designs which answer: Who you are, where you are, what you do and why use you. These need to all be answered so that visitors walking the aisle can engage with you, without the need for you to approach them. If you can answer these questions you are “breaking down barriers” and therefore don’t need someone asking the visitors questions such as: “ever thought of buying in XXX?” or “Are you interested in new builds?” or “are you looking to buy with a mortgage”, or “considered your healthcare insurance when you move”.

Visitors

Our visitors do a lot of homework prior to getting to the exhibition meaning they generally know where they want to buy, what type of property they wish to buy and what their budget / time frame to buy is. What they don’t know is who to use to fulfil their dreams and this is where you can help them with clear and concise graphics.

Most people know where they wish to buy but this is often because they have holidayed there or know someone who lives there, this does not mean that someone looking to buy in Spain can’t also be told of the benefits of buying elsewhere.

Your Staff

Exhibitors tend to bring multiples of 2 staff meaning while one person is sitting down with a client the other is handing flyers (from the stand) to people walking by and asking them the above questions.

On larger stands, the exhibitor may have 4 tables and 12 chairs meaning 4 sales people can sit down with 4 couples at any given time. Please consider the size of your stand when ordering furniture, you want to maximise the space on your stand but keep it comfortable.

For smaller stands (9 to 12 m2) we recommend using stools and high tables to minimise the furniture footprint and maximise the number of people you can service at any given time. We recommend 2 sets for this stand size. Always cater for 3 seats per table (ensuring you account for couples).

A lockable cupboard and brochure rack are very helpful as you can hide valuables and extra flyers in the cupboard but also enable the more shy visitors to take a flyer from the rack without engaging in conversation. Most visitors are keen to engage but some simply want to collect information, sit down and listen to the presentations, grab a coffee, go through the flyers, then engage in conversations with a shortlist of exhibitors.

Televisions

TVs can be of great help but again, for the lesser known destinations. As previously mentioned, most people know where they wish to buy but for the more exotic, unknown or new areas being discovered, a rolling video of beaches, hills, fields, showcasing the area and the lifestyle will entice people to the stand.

Exhibitor Badges

Exhibitor badges need to be requested through the manual, these are then made available onsite for collection. These should be worn at all times.

Freebies

Most exhibitors will have some local sweets or delicacies for people to sample (no alcohol I’m afraid due to UK licensing laws). This is a good ice breaker but please consider hygiene and used wrapped sweets where possible (and ones which don’t require refrigeration). Pens, keyrings, golf paraphernalia and branded carrier bags are good give aways but not essential. Bags are the most sought after and there is nothing nicer than seeing visitors on trains and tubes with your branding on it.

Miscellaneous

Covid: There are currently no rules we have to abide to. Some visitors still choose to wear masks but it’s a personal preference. A bottle of sanitiser on the stand shows visitors that you are still aware and can in itself attract the more cautious buyers.

All this information, along with timings are in the manual. We can recommend stand builders, signage companies and we are only an email away if you have any questions.

For marketing related questions, please email: marketing@aplaceinthesun.com. 
For stand or logistical related questions, please email: operations@aplaceinthesun.com.