For a major trade show, start 16 to 20 weeks before opening day. Aim to approve the booth design by week 9, lock graphics and order show services between weeks 8 and 5, and spend the last four weeks on freight and confirmations rather than changes. For a custom build, give yourself closer to six months. We can turn a rental around in four to six weeks and a custom booth in eight to twelve when we have to, but a short schedule takes choices away from you. The point of starting early isn't to do everything early. It's to make each decision before the next step needs it.
The weeks below count back from opening day. Your exhibitor manual sets the real deadlines, so once you have it, swap in its dates.
20 to 16 weeks: decide what the booth is for
Confirm the show, your booth number and your size, whether that's a 10x10, a 10x20 or a 20x20 island. Then settle the budget and the one thing the booth has to do. Meetings, demos, a product launch and raw lead volume each want a different floor plan, and you can't design for all four.
Make a list of what has to fit: products, screens, storage, a counter, somewhere to sit. Pick your builder, and name one person on your side who approves things. Booths get late when three people approve and none of them agree.
15 to 13 weeks: write the brief
Send your builder the brand files, the messages you want people to walk away with, and the specs for any product going in the booth. Mark where demos happen, where meetings happen, where storage goes and how people should move through the space. Note any power, internet or hanging sign you'll need, because those turn into show orders later.
This brief becomes the reference everyone checks against. If it isn't written down, it isn't in the booth.
12 to 9 weeks: approve the design
Review the floor plan, the sight lines from each aisle, where the reception point sits, where the demo goes and which graphic people see first. Ask whether the layout actually serves the goal you set at week 20.
Check the quote against the drawing at the same time: the booth package, the graphics list, installation and dismantle, the shipping and who supports you at the show. Approving here leaves the last two months for building, not redesigning.
8 to 7 weeks: lock graphics and anything that plugs in
Approve final graphic copy and files. List every device and what power it needs, and mark the power drops on the floor plan. If anything hangs from the ceiling, the drawings go to the show now.
Late graphic changes and late power changes are the expensive ones. They hit the build and the show orders at the same time.
6 to 5 weeks: order show services
Electrical, internet, rigging and cleaning come from the show's own contractors, not your builder, and they're priced lower before the early-order deadline. Read the drayage rules and rates while you're in the manual. If your builder works the show as an exhibitor-appointed contractor, its paperwork and insurance certificate are due around now too. Book lead retrieval and register your staff.
None of this is in a booth rental price. Budget it on its own line.
4 to 3 weeks: plan the freight
Decide between the advance warehouse and direct-to-show delivery. The manual gives both windows, and missing a direct-delivery window is a bad morning. Confirm labels, carrier and return freight. Approve the last proofs, close out the punch list, and train your booth staff on the demo and on how leads get handed off.
Shipping to the venue and drayage inside it are two separate bills. Plan for both.
2 to 1 weeks: confirm, don't redesign
Track the freight into the receiving window. Put the confirmations, floor plan and every service contact somewhere your on-site team can reach on a phone. Confirm the install crew's call time and move-in access, and brief the booth team on who does what on opening day.
A new idea this week goes on the list for the next show.
Show week
Installation and dismantle, I&D, is the labor that puts the booth up before opening and takes it down after close. Before the doors open, walk the booth: structure, graphics, lighting, screens, product placement, storage access and the finishes facing the aisle. Run every demo on the show's power and network, not the office's. Do it while the service desk and the install crew can still fix things.
During the show, look at lead quality every day, keep the demos running and send problems to one contact.
The week after
Make sure the empty crates come back and the booth packs out against its inventory. Check the outbound labels and carrier. Write down anything damaged or missing, while people remember. Send the hot leads to sales right away, finish the rest of the follow-up within the week, and compare the results with the goal you set at week 20. That note is the start of the next show's brief.
Questions people ask us
How far ahead should we start planning a trade show booth?
Sixteen to 20 weeks for a major show, closer to six months for a custom build. We wrote up the six-month schedule we ran for Kingston at KBIS 2026.
What's the shortest turnaround?
About four to six weeks for a rental and eight to twelve for a custom booth. It can be done, but fewer design options survive the schedule.
When should show services be ordered?
Around five to six weeks out, before the show's early-order deadline. The exact date is in your exhibitor manual.
Is shipping the same as drayage?
No. Shipping gets the booth to the venue. Drayage moves it from the dock to your space and back, and the show bills it separately.
Artsolute Media Group (AMG) has designed and built more than 500 trade show exhibits since 2009. See the work or get a quote.
Calvin Yee
Co-founder, Artsolute Media Group
Author of the AEDM exhibition design method. M.S. Exhibition Design, Cal State Fullerton. Building trade show exhibits since 2009.