The Better Stands programme is aimed to unite and encourage exhibitors, along with their appointed contractors to move away from disposable, single use stands at events, in favour of re-usable or recyclable structures. 

A disposable stand/booth is a space only/raw space build that is used only once. They are typically constructed from poor quality raw materials onsite which are then demolished post show and sent to either landfill or are burned.

When we talk about disposable stands, we mean single use, disposable booths that are sent to landfill or incineration after single use at an event.  

Disposable stands create considerable environmental and safety issues onsite through the amount of waste generated, the heightened risks due to unsafe construction practices and the toxic impact of raw stand materials being used. Quality of finish is often also compromised due to working time pressures.

A non-disposable/reusable stand is constructed using materials designed to be used multiple times. There are almost endless variations of multiple use stands to suit every size and desired appearance and as the cost of these stands is generally lower than for disposable stands this helps to reduce outlay and provide a better investment.  

There are many benefits to the programme, these range from commercial opportunities through introduction of new product inventory, to customer experience, colleague wellbeing, and the rise of onsite Health and Safety standards.

• We know that travel and transport is the highest cause of event emissions globally. It is an area that needs a huge amount of attention and innovation in order to improve. 
• By piloting and promoting the Better Stands framework, we aren’t suggesting that the impact of travel and transport should be ignored. 
• After travel and transport, reports are starting to show that production materials are often the 2nd highest cause of emissions at exhibitions. 
• The Better Stands programme is one project, focusing on one specific area of the industry, aiming to support the circular economy and reduce waste by promoting and encouraging the use of reusable stands. 
• This is what the Better Stands programme is aiming to tackle. There are other industry projects and initiatives focusing on travel and transport.

Organisers within the Better Stands steering committee are aiming to develop a standardised approach to promoting sustainable stand builds at their events.

We understand that when implementing change to a way of working, it’s very important that all relevant stakeholders are regularly engaged and consulted. Therefore we will actively seek the knowledge and expertise of contractors throughout the Better Stands pilot. 

One of the fundamental reasons behind this collaboration of multiple organisers is to ensure that the supply chain has a single consistent framework to guide them when it comes to sustainable stand builds, and the subsequent requirements that will become part of the steering committee’s event guidelines in future.

Exhibitors must make their appointed stand contractor aware of the regulations that are in place for your event and brief them to design and build a sustainable, multiple use stand.

• Exhibition stands receive a Bronze, Silver or Gold rating for their overall reusability. 
• The contractor gets informed first of their stands rating post-show and is given an opportunity to provide feedback on the observations before it gets sent to the exhibitor. 
• Exhibitors get informed of the rating their stand build has achieved once the contractor has had the opportunity to review.
• We hope for the rating system to provide commonality of approach when considering sustainability as part of stand build and production. 

The programme is about materials and stand re-use, not how stands are built. Self-build stands will always feature highly at events as a way for companies to show off their brand, and can be sustainable. The programme is supporting further thinking on how these stands are built and re-used, not restricting them to system stands.

All organisers have their own communications processes, so this will depend on the organiser. However; this has already been raised within the pilot group and it is something we want to better formalise with input from ESSA members.

The Steer Co is made up of only event organisers because it is organisers that will be responsible for implementing the Better Stands programme at their events. We are aware that the implementation of Better Stands will impact contractors and therefore we are actively involving contractors from differing geographies in the pilot on a consultative basis. The advice and expertise of contractors is invaluable if we hope to achieve widespread adoption of the framework. 

Better Stands is ultimately a change management programme. As organisers we understand that change ultimately has to come from the exhibitors who are the shared clients between organisers and contractors. Through this programme we aim to educate and guide our exhibitors to make more sustainable choices from the outset and when briefing their contractors.

By the end of the 6 month pilot period we aim to have developed a full Better Stands toolkit of resources designed to support any exhibition organiser wanting to implement the programme. 

Many of the ‘pilot events’ trade after the 6 month mark, so it may be that more testing and development is required.

At the 6 month mark we intend to provide a public update on progress and clear next steps. 

The intention for the Better Stands ‘toolkit’ is to provide a guided and standardised approach to implementing the Better Stands programme that any exhibition organiser can easily adopt. From pre and post event comms support, training tools for onsite observations, to data collection templates, we hope to develop a full suite of resources to make implementation as easy as possible. The toolkit will be made up of 10 different organisers experiences and needs in terms of resources, hopefully providing the diversity required to ensure widespread usability. 

This is of course the long term goal for all steer co members, with some already achieving this. As a minimum, we will be communicating with our official contractors to let them know our expectations around waste-free features and will be doing our utmost to make this a reality for the pilot events.

In the interest of productivity, the Better Stands Steering Committee will remain closed to new members until March 2024, at which point the group will provide an update via this website on how and when new organisations can participate in the Better Stands programme. By that time we hope to have developed a full suite of resources, ready to support organisers to implement Better Stands at their events and we will actively seek further organisations willing to pilot the programme and provide constructive feedback. In the meantime, we encourage you to register your interest via our mailing list and we will be in touch as soon as we have more updates to share.