Topic: hanging things above a stand · Who needs this: anyone whose design has a sign, a banner or a light rig off the floor
Rigging is the part of a stand that visitors notice first and exhibitors plan last. It is also the part a venue is most likely to refuse, and refusal usually arrives at the worst possible moment — on site, with the truck already unloaded.
What counts as rigging
Anything suspended from the hall structure rather than supported from your floor: a hanging sign, a banner, a lighting truss, a ceiling raft, a fabric ring, speakers, screens. If it is held up by the building, it is rigging and it needs approval.
Things standing on your own floor are not rigging — even if they are tall. A four-metre tower bolted to a weighted base is a structure, judged under different rules.
The five questions a venue will ask
- What is the total weight, and how is it distributed? Not an estimate. Rigging is signed off on numbers.
- How many suspension points, and where? Halls have fixed rigging grids. Your points must land on the grid, not where the drawing wanted them.
- What is the height to the underside? Most halls cap how low a suspended element may hang, and many cap how high it may reach above the stand.
- Who is doing the rigging? Many venues insist their own appointed rigger does the work. You order it; you do not do it.
- Is it inside your stand footprint? Nothing may overhang a neighbour or an aisle.
The drawings you will be asked for
- A plan showing suspension point positions with dimensions from two stand edges
- An elevation showing height to underside and overall top height
- A weight schedule per point and total
- A structural calculation or a statement from the fabricator for anything unusual
This is why rigging is designed at the drawing stage. Adding a hanging sign to a finished design means re-issuing all four documents.
Why a suspended element is worth the paperwork
Height is the only way to be seen from the far end of an aisle. A stand reads from three metres; a suspended sign reads from thirty. For a stand in a row rather than an island, it is often the single highest-return item in the build.
At interzum Cologne we hung a halo sign above a 76.5 m² stand for Durian Laminates. At SIMAC Tanning Tech in Milan it was a suspended fascia box over a slatted ceiling raft. Both were drawn, weighed and approved before a panel was cut.
When rigging is refused, and what to do instead
Refusals are usually one of: the hall has no grid above your stand, your points fall outside the footprint, the weight exceeds what that grid section carries, or the order arrived after the deadline.
The fallback is a self-supporting gantry — a portal or tower carrying the sign from your own floor. It costs more in material and takes longer to build, but it needs no rigging approval at all. Designing the gantry as an option from the start is cheap insurance; designing it in a panic on site is not.
Deadlines
Rigging orders close early, typically three to six weeks out, and late requests carry a surcharge where they are accepted at all. Treat the rigging deadline as the real design deadline for anything above head height.
The same logic applies to your electrical connection — suspended lighting draws power, and both orders go in together.
How we handle it
Rigging is drawn, weighed and submitted as part of the venue paperwork on every project, alongside floor loading and electrical declarations. Clients are not left to negotiate with a rigging desk in a language they do not speak.
Send us the stand details and tell us what you want in the air.
Related: How we build · Where to save money on a stand · Documented projects
Part of the exhibitor guide series. Start with the technical manual checklist — eleven things with deadlines attached.