Everything about exhibiting compresses toward the end. The stand runs late, graphics change, and content - commissioned last - absorbs the squeeze.
This is a timeline built backwards from the show date, and what remains possible at each point.
Twelve weeks out: decide what the stand is for
Before content, before design, settle the objective. Lead generation, a product launch, a repositioning, or presence in a market where absence is noticed. Each implies different screen content.
This is also when to confirm screen sizes and positions with the stand designer, because those numbers drive everything downstream.
Possible at this stage: everything. Custom 3D, a filmed shoot, anamorphic work, a full content system across all screens.
Eight weeks out: concept and screen schedule
With stand drawings available, map every screen to a job and agree the visual direction.
This is when to get technical specifications from the screen supplier - native resolution, pixel pitch, processor and accepted formats. Content built without them is content that gets reworked.
Possible at this stage: most things. 3D and filmed material are still comfortable; a large anamorphic piece starts getting tight.
Six weeks out: production
Script, storyboard, filming if required, animation. This is the longest phase and the one that suffers most when earlier decisions slipped.
If approvals are slow in your organisation, this is where that shows up. Building approval rounds into the schedule is more useful than assuming they will be quick.
Possible at this stage: motion graphics, editing existing material, adapting content from previous shows. New 3D or a shoot is now difficult.
Three weeks out: refinement and mastering
Content gets reviewed at something close to real scale, adjusted, then mastered to the exact resolution and codec each screen needs.
This phase is routinely underestimated. Mastering several screens correctly is real work, not an export.
Possible at this stage: revisions to existing content, re-mastering, playlist changes. New content is not realistic.
Build week: delivery and testing
Files go to whoever runs playback and get tested on the actual hardware, on the actual stand.
This is when processor incompatibilities and scaling errors surface - the problems that cannot be found on a laptop. Being present or reachable during build is what separates a problem fixed quietly from one discovered on opening morning.
Show day: monitor and adjust
Content that ran fine in testing can behave differently after eight hours. Knowing who to call, and having source files available for a quick change, is worth arranging in advance.
If your show is closer than this timeline allows, the conversation is worth having anyway - what changes is scope, not whether something good is possible. See exhibition stand video content.