The origins of the phrase ‘Floor plan? What Floor Plan!’ (Occasionally and only in times of greatest stress ‘Floor plan? What ‘bleep’ Floor Plan!’)
So, you might be asking, what is the big deal about a floor plan? Indeed, in the now immortal words of that lady referred to in the last article, “……………how hard can it be? You stick some tables in a hall, charge people to have a table and charge us to come through the door! Its’ a win-win situation.”
Hmm, well it is not quite as simple as that.
Having acquired a venue, the first thing one needs to know is how many stands can be fitted into the space. This determines the revenue the show could make if fully booked and when this is added to all the other costs such as advertising, printing, postage, staff, insurance, table hire, marquee hire, and a list of other bits that goes on forever, the cost of the stands can be calculated.
We do a site visit armed with a large tape measure and draw up a plan. We take measurements between every door, and mark the position of fire exits, power sockets, fire extinguishers and any other feature. Once back at the office, we convert this to a computer CAD drawing.
Once the room is drawn up with all the features in place, I usually start by fitting in just single, 6’ trestle tables, leaving gangways the size required by health and safety guidelines and a 2’ or preferably 2’ 6” gap between tables. The plan may be changed several times while we decide the best way to lay out the room, should the blocks run this way or that and so on, but the result is a nice, neat plan with the maximum number of single tables possible.
So, we have a nice, neat plan of the room with neat blocks of single tables. Booking starts and then the fun begins. Of course, only about half of the bookings want a single trestle table! We get bookings for doubles, L shapes, tables with couches, tents or just space for an exhibitors own stand. Next are requests for space behind the table for boards, banners or extra tables, or to get wheelchairs, pushchairs or scooters in.
Then we have the ‘extras’. All our terms and conditions and every bit of booking related paperwork states that the booking is for a single table (or double etc). In reality however, exhibitors bring extra tables to deepen the stand, small tables to add on the side, racks, rails, shelves and all manner of extra bits that they wish to squeeze in. In most cases we do our best to accommodate these and where we know about them, to work them into the plan from the outset, but the 2’6” gap between stands gets more and more compromised until it is not unusual for someone arriving towards the end of set up time, to be unable to fit in at all!
The next challenge is stand content. We limit the overall number of any type of stand, but hours go into making sure readers, jewellery and crystal stands are spread around the hall and not on top of each other. We do our best not to have readers side by side or directly opposite each other. If possible, not back to back either – although that can be hard to achieve on smaller shows. Likewise, jewellery will be as spaced out as it can be and any other stands that do similar things.
We then take into account personal preference – back to a wall, near the loos, not near the loos, near the café, not near the café, near the entrance, not near the entrance – in a darker part, in a lighter part – not near readers, not near therapists, not near noise, not near music – even not near a particular exhibitor or list of exhibitors!
Things are taken into account like leaving sufficient depth for back boards – they do not do well on corners of central blocks as they impinge on the stand at the end – readers will want chairs in front – does the gangway allow for that in that position?
Eventually after draft 14 or 15, we have a floor plan!
Then, someone cancels!
We usually manage to re-let the stand, but more often than not, it may not be for the same thing or it will not fit the space. Maybe the new exhibitor has a couch but the original one didn’t, so the replacement won’t fit where the first one was. We start to swap spaces. This has a ‘domino’ effect. You move one, then the one next door can’t stay there, so you move that one and again, the one opposite now has to move. By now we can be up to draft 20 or more. We have learned over time not to print the actual floor plans for our stewards out until the day before we set off, just in case of last minute changes
We used to print the plan in the show guide with a key. This was in the ‘good old days’ when we received very few cancellations. As the recession hit and cancellations and changes to stand size increased, we had to stop this as it caused more havoc than help! The guide goes to print about three or more months ahead of a show. The amount of changes that can occur in that time meant the plan could end up having no resemblance to the eventual lay out of the event. We still get visitors asking for that, but it is simply no longer possible.
So, we arrive at the show, we adjust the tables that the venue has set out, to take account of the latest draft of the plan. We juggle them about to get the right amount of space between, or as best we can, we put out the table names, the information sheets, the feedback cards and any other bits and pieces and then we are ready.
Exhibitors start arriving and before long, someone either won’t fit the space as they have something we didn’t know about or have forgotten about, or simply don’t want to be where we have put them and want to move. They feel cramped, don’t like the way the neighbouring stand is set up, don’t like the energies in that spot, want to be facing the door – all manner of things can mean an exhibitor doesn’t feel happy in the space allocated.
My instruction to the team is, that within reason, we do what we can to make everyone happy! My theory is if an exhibitor starts the show on a bad note, they are less likely to give off a positive, upbeat energy and so perhaps won’t have a good weekend. If we can do our best to accommodate what they are asking for, they will be much better placed to take advantage of the weekend. So, we adjust tables, move bits and pieces, move whole stands and generally try to be accommodating.
Sometimes though, someone can just be too unreasonable in their expectations, or more likely, arrive too late and so we are limited for options as much of the space is already set up. Then, reluctantly we have to say no. On occasion, by the time a show is set up, the draft of the plan that we are using (which by now can be number 28 or above) may bear very little resemblance to the finished show!
I must admit, there are times when I think those promoters who have a ‘this is it, take it or leave it – if you didn’t book it and didn’t pay for it, forget it’ approach, might actually have something! There was one famous occasion when we had moved about 12 stands and ended up with two readers too close together and no more time or space to alter anything anymore, when I threw the plan up in the air and said, “Floorplan? What bleep floorplan!” The team fell about laughing, particularly as most of them had never heard me swear, and it stuck! It is now the phrase often used if we get several changes on set up day and especially if it happens on the Saturday morning set up.
After all, “………….how hard can it be? You stick some tables in a hall…………..”
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