MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convetion, Exhibition)

A new show will hit New York Metropolitan this October, entitled
‘Van Gogh draughtsman: The masterpiece’. The exhibition features over 100 drawings by the artist, some of which are series that have never been shown in their entirety before. Even though they are mostly pen and pencil drawings, viewing them you can sense they’ve been made by a painter bursting with color.

Among the highlights of the show are the drawings produced at Arles where Van Gogh lived in 1888. There’s a series of landscape drawings in reed pen, studies which culminated in the so-called second Montmajour series of six large views of the countryside in Provence. The drawings, made over three months, reveal a countryside that’s shimmering from the pages even though there’s no paint involved. Van Gogh drew these when he was staying in an asylum and it is the first time that the series is on show in its entirety.

Being an artist that strongly contributed to people’s idea of agony and passion that characterizes the modern art movement of which he was an early member, this show is a must for anyone wishing to take in the experience first hand. A total of 24 out of the just over 100 prints on show were made in April and early May 1888 when Van Gogh had decided to quit painting altogether. Some of the drawings turned out almost as paintings. The art world also goes berserk over Van Gogh’s drawings because they generally highlight such distinct phases in his work and life. Later that month, he drew a special series of seven views of the Abbey of Montmajour, also on show.

Van Gogh, who trained himself in the art of painting by starting out drawing landscapes, domestic scenes, people and portraits, tended to study objects intensely. He hardly ever commented on his drawings, and never gave value judgements, but it is said that he himself also agreed that although his later drawings substituted his paintings, he never blurred the line between painting and drawing. Critics say that even during his last days, the motifs of paintings and drawings were not mixed ever. Van Gogh experimented in his drawings with vantage points and the size of his paper. Each production is also said to have been made with sharply distinct ideas often illustrative of his innovative drive.

The just over 100 drawings exhibited are usually kept in safe vaults, away from daylight that would destroy them. Some of the works are on loan from the Paul Getty Museum, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, the Kunsthaus Z

Imagination is one of the most important considerations in producing eye-catching and appealing displays.
Don’t be afraid to do something different. The more distinctive your exhibition display, the more your customers
will remember it.

Have a Theme

Instead of using an ad hoc approach to the displays in your exhibition; you would be better served to establish
an overall theme that will unite your products. All displays of products need not look exactly alike, but
they should be compatible or blend in with each other.
This theme can go in many directions; its determined mainly by the products you want to sell and the customers
you are trying to attract.
Have you ever been to an exhibitor’s stand that really turned you off because the displays were random or
uncoordinated and made you not want to come back? Naturally, you want yours to have the opposite effect
and you want the look to be as distinctively yours as possible.

Planning & Preparation

Planning all the details of your display stands well as long before the event as possible is vital.
Find out the size of the space you have been allocated
Are there any restrictions on height?
Can you fix anything to walls?
Are any power sockets available on the space? If so how many?
Laptops for presentations if no power points available ensure you have adequate supplies of
battery cells ensure all are fully charged the day before.
Ensure you have sourced and purchased all equipment well in advance. Practice setting up your display,
make notes where you wish to display your key products, trying to emphasise their unique selling points to
your visitors. All personnel should be familiar with setting-up the stand, as this saves you valuable time on
the day of the exhibition.
It is important to remember that some venues have a fixed length of time in which you must have your
stands built. And at the completion of the exhibition, you may have a fixed time slot to pack your display
stand away, leaving your space in a tidy condition. Always check with the venue or organisers for time periods,
and whether it is your responsibility to remove any rubbish, etc.

Attention to Detail

Attractive leaflet and brochure displays are important tools in providing customers with vital and informative
details about your products and/or services.
You may consider the use of competitions to attract visitors to your stands. If so, then you could provide
competition boxes to submit slips in, or you may wish to have a box to collect business cards or suggestion
slips in.

Digital Displays

Incorporating movement into your display can increase your sales by as much as 317% (source POPAI).
Sound, film and pictures together – keep it simple.
What are the first thing new customers do when they enter your exhibition stand?
They form an impression of your company based on the atmosphere you’ve created. A Digital Screen presentation
on your company, products and services will say a lot about you.

Portable Display Stand Systems