What Makes a Custom Exhibit a Custom Exhibit?

Custom or Not a Custom Exhibit

Earlier this week, I sat in a lengthy build meeting for a $275,000 custom exhibit with the designer, account executive, detailer, project manager, multiple production leads, and Kevin. It’s a 20 x 40 mostly wood exhibit with a 30 ft. arch with compound curves, several retail-esque serving areas, raised flooring, and refrigeration displays for food. Plus, lots of subtle LED lighting. It’s for a March show. Perfect project for November, when there’s typically some slack time in our schedule.

If you saw the rendering (which I can’t share yet), you would say, “Now that’s a custom exhibit.” I told the AE that with his permission we’ll assign a kit number once it’s built and put it on Exhibit Design Search. I was joking. Kinda. But it prompted a conversation, which focused on whether assigning a kit number and entering it into Exhibit Design Search no longer makes it a custom project.

[IMO — It’s still custom. Whether the next client purchases it “as is” or it’s customized to their exhibit marketing goals.]

We’re Much More than Exhibt Design Search

At Classic Exhibits, we are often defined (or limited) by Exhibit Design Search, the trade show industry’s leading display database. And because EDS is kit-based, it’s easy to assume we are a portable/modular/hybrid manufacturer. And, we are… and we are not.

Easily 80% of what ships from Classic Exhibits is modified, customized, or custom. Which we encourage. In the current exhibit supplier landscape, there is only one, perhaps two, builders in our industry that do anything similar to what we do. Don’t misunderstand me. There are portable/modular suppliers. There are custom houses. But, there’s really no company with a national, non-franchise footprint that will supply, design, and build portable, modular, hybrid, and custom displays from tabletops to islands for an established distributor network.

Whether or not an order starts from a kit, everything is built to the specifications of the job. And when I say built, I mean built. We don’t pull a box from some shelf and ship it. Sometimes the display is a current EDS design, sometimes it’s inspired by an existing design, or more often than not it’s created by our Designers from your specifications and budget.

So I am confused (and I don’t want to be). When is an exhibit custom?

Now More Than Ever, the Term “Custom” is Fluid.

Is it based on materials, project dollar size, or who builds it?

Is it an original design, not one based on prior concepts?

What if it’s built from modular panels?

Does it matter as long as your client views it as custom?

And, here’s the tricky one, can a rental be custom?

I’d very much enjoy hearing your thoughts and definition. Thanks.

About Classic Exhibits

Classic Exhibits has been designing and building trade show exhibit solutions since 1993. We’ve been honored as an Exhibitor Magazine Find-It Top 40 Exhibit Producers and an Event Marketer Fab 50 Exhibit Builders multiple times. Along with numerous Portable Modular Awards. With over 250 Distributor Partners throughout North America, there’s a Classic representative closer by.

Contact us today whether you need a durable hand sanitizer stand built to last, a rental display guaranteed to attract trade show attendees, or a custom 30 x 40 exhibit with all the bells and whistles. We’re not just different. We’re better.

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Does Your Trade Show Exhibit Have To Be Clever?

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Who is Our Biggest Trade Show Competitor?

Recently, I’ve been on the road, visiting Classic Distributors in the Midwest and South. We chat about industry trends, new products, and challenges in their market. Occasionally, they will ask me about competitors. That’s a topic, to be honest, that makes me uncomfortable.

3 Essential Trade Show Marketing Questions

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What You Should Know about Exhibit Marketing

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With the rise of online meetings and ecommerce, business experts have predicted the death of trade shows and live events for 40 years. Yet, the benefits of trade shows and events have never been more important for businesses. There were over 13,000 separate events in North America in 2025 alone.

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