In its’ recently published Health & Safety Guidance for the Exhibitions Industry, the Exhibition Services & Contractors Association (ESCA) make this recommendation for appropriate in-booth social distancing:
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, ESCA is recommending individuals maintain physical distances of 6 feet from others when possible. This is equal to 36-square-foot square or 28.3-square-foot circle per person. The formula to use to calculate persons per sq foot is total sq footage/36 sq feet = Occupancy. (If you have a large portion of unusable space or space with large displays, subtract that from the total available sq footage.)
The formula means that a 10’ x 10’ booth should not be occupied by more than 3.5 individuals. Show organizers will be challenged to meet this important recommendation. As a practical matter this means that any physical addition to the booth space will further reduce the number of individuals who may occupy a booth concurrently. It may be that the traditional standard 10’ x 10’ booth may need to be replaced with a larger standard booth such as 10’ x 20’ in order to safely accommodate more attendees and staff.
SMT Expo, offers two booth systems both of which are able to accommodate full-color graphics imprinted onto the ExpoKnit® fabric thus eliminating the need to install pop-ups or free standing graphics that would materially reduce precious booth space. Because of the ease of installation, exhibitors could also have several different imprinted messages crafted so that marketing messaging could be replaced by an exhibitor several times during a show. It only takes a minute or two to completely replace either or all back and side walls. One of the two imprinted graphics systems also offers back-lighting that results in a near 3-dimensional depiction of the marketing messaging.
Not only do the SMT booth systems support the ESCA social distancing recommendation, they also provide show organizers with a potential new and powerful revenue stream. Exhibitors could also conceivably save expense by utilizing the imprinted graphics of the SMT Expo system instead of paying for free standing graphics that need to be shipped and erected and then dismantled.
Scott Lebwohl, Founder and Executive Vice President of SMT Expo says, “We are delighted to be able to offer the exhibition industry with systems that are able to support new and somewhat challenging Covid-19 recommendations. We are pleased also help restore a bit of financial stability to an industry that has been seriously impacted by the pandemic.”