Sustainable Exhibiting

Custom Modular Exhibition Stands Offer an Environmentally Conscious Exhibiting Solution

Natalka Antoniuk of UK's Quadrant2Design offers the following perspectives on applying sustainable solutions in the trade show industry and explains how custom modular exhibition stands provide an eco-friendly option for exhibitors.

Anyone who has attended a trade show has seen dynamic designs and distinctively branded experiences across hundreds of trade show booths. Yet, many of these exhibition stands are damaging to the environment and potentially harming a brand’s reputation among eco-conscious prospects.

Traditional "build ‘n burn" exhibition stands or "custom-builds" do not offer a green solution to exhibiting unless you’re willing to throw your entire marketing budget at one.

If money is no issue, you can splurge on a recyclable hemp exhibition stand. Or, you can try a sustainable exhibit produced with cardboard, honeycomb board or other materials that are certified by the Rainforest Alliance. Yet, these stands are only good for one-time use. They are not durable and cannot be reconfigured. In addition, the limited design options available with these materials means you’ll struggle to have your booth stand out in a crowded exhibition hall.

Sustainable Business Practices

It's important to note that sustainability isn’t just about environmental impact. By definition, sustainable business practices involve recognising the effect your business has on the environment, economy and community – and then doing what you can to improve it.

Improving sustainability, in terms of the exhibition industry, comes down to:

Promoting an economy that exists to support society
Creating a working environment where staff and visitors feel safe, healthy and ultimately happy
Utilising materials and processes that reduce the depletion or degradation of natural resources and improve long-term environmental quality

Eco-Friendly, Cost-Effective Exhibit Solution

Having a sustainable exhibition stand doesn’t have to cost a fortune or lack design features. Achieving sustainability, as described above, can be accomplished with a custom modular exhibition stand that enables you to have great design, flexibility and sustainability – at an affordable price.

These stands do not generate the same amount of waste as most other types of exhibits. With their ability to accommodate different booth sizes and configurations, they have the potential to be used more frequently and for more years. Plus, they are lighter and easier to transport than other exhibit options that require heavy truck transport, which adds to the carbon footprint.

Constructing custom modular exhibition stands requires no use of power tools.

Once on-site in an exhibition hall, constructing a basic exhibition stand or custom-build usually requires power tools. If you have ever been to an exhibition build-up day, then you understand how manic the environment can be.

In terms of sustainable community practise, using dangerous power tools in a busy setting with lots of people and distractions produces a high-risk working situation. In contrast, the lightweight framework of a custom modular exhibition stand enables it to be set up easily and efficiently, without the use of any power tools. This emphasises the stand's further sustainability, as it provides installers with a much safer and healthier working environment.

Other Benefits of Custom Modular Exhibition Stands

Custom modular exhibition stands allow you to create shapes and design elements that would have only been available on a custom-build. The framework is constructed using interchangeable modules. This gives you the potential to design your exhibition stand for a certain floor space at one show, and then completely redesign it for the next one.

Examples of environmentally sustainable custom modular exhibition stands

In terms of design, you can let your imagination go wild. A custom modular exhibition stand offers a seamless graphic finish making it the ideal solution for large format graphics and essential branding messages. A custom modular exhibition stand also can incorporate product showcases and integrated audio-visual elements into the design.

The design oucomes are so effective that you would be forgiven for mistaking any of these stands for an expensive custom-build. Custom modular exhibition stands create fully branded, high-impact settings that your future customers can experience. Most important, the exhibition industry has a realistic solution to sustainable exhibiting with custom modular exhibition stands.