1) The Learning
You are invited to engage with businesses in a range of industries and delve deep into what makes them who they are. To learn about their brand, their products, their services. Whether it is selling salt and pepper pots, making life more tolerable for those suffering with illness, making it easier for people to communicate with each other or designing clever software for use in schools to aid child learning, the variety of the things we learn about is fascinating.
2) Delivering Growth
The opportunity to be able to contribute to the growth of a business whether large or small, and in most cases with an SME, is a blessed thing. It is such a commitment to put yourself out there as an exhibitor, both in terms of initial investment and also just putting your business on show to the world and more specifically your own industry. Being exposed. Having that trust put in us to help deliver a return and faithfully represent all the values of an organisation is never taken for granted.
3) The Frequent High
If we were architects, artists, authors, film-makers, each individual project would be a labour of love, potentially years in the making. Our typical lead time is between 3 and 6 months, and we install between 150 and 250 projects annually. We get that wonderful feeling of opening morning, seeing a good number of completely different projects a year, all unique in their own way, come to fruition. Walking into an exhibition hall and seeing your work clean, bright, impactful, the values of a company taken live, their sales teams preparing to work and use the space you’ve created, the buzz of that never lessens.
4) The Challenge
Whether it be a competitive pitch or the delivery of an innovative design so that the integrity of the concept shines through in the build. Sometimes it is as simple as the challenge of getting goods from A to B or a last-minute demand from an exhibitor in another country, with 5 minutes to opening. Our work is taxing on the brain and you get used to solving problems. No sudoku or lunch-time crossword puzzle is ever required, our job is all about thinking, planning and adapting to changing circumstances.
5) Time is Precious
Is there any other industry where you come back from a Christmas break and suddenly it is June? Where did that go? Look back and BETT, Ambiente, ICE, Spring Fair, MWC, ITB, RBTE, Mipim, CV Show, Goodwood, to name but a few, they’ve all been and gone and you haven’t paused for breath. Almost like that long motorway journey and on getting home you think ‘how did I get here’. You learn to savour what time to reflect that you do get and value your down-time. Treat life with care otherwise it passes you by.
6) A Tangible End Product
Marketing people understand spreadsheets, design, digital and deal with content every day of their working lives. Even the most hardened, most demanding marketer however often softens when seeing their work turned into a tangible product that they can touch, smell, walk on and sit within. The smiling face of a client at that precious moment, the first very moment they see your work on site, at a job well done, that can be reward enough for all the months of preparation.
7) The Value of Teamwork
The delivery of our work needs a big team. From sales person to designer, project manager to carpenter, accounts clerk to receptionist, machinist, decorator, electrician, graphic designer, printer, graphic installers, drivers. Factor in the external teams involved in each project, the organiser of an event, the onsite service suppliers, the venue staff and, of course, the client and their team. If you see one of the carpenters taking pictures of their work, that’s special. The organiser of an event praising your values and approach to your work, that’s special. Any time that success relies on a team of people working together as seamlessly as possible and you pull it off, that is special!