FREE Exhibition Planning Template
Master exhibition project plan timelines with our intuitive exhibition planning template project plan Gantt chart template.
Start with template
Why use our Exhibition Planning Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?
Get started with our Exhibition Planning Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.
Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.
No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.
Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.
Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.
Headache-free collaboration and sharing.
Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.
How to use Tom’s Planner’s exhibition planning template to build and share your exhibition project.
Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.
Step #1
Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Exhibition Planning Template.
Step #2
Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.
Step #3
You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Exhibition Planning Template based on your project description.
What is an exhibition planning template?
Exhibits come in all shapes and sizes. There are art exhibits, museum exhibits, trade shows, and other events that fall into this category. And they all require in-depth planning if you want to see success. If you’re a seasoned exhibit planner or exhibitor, then you know well just how tight those deadlines can be and how many moving parts must be managed in even a modest event. If you’re new to the world of exhibition planning, here are a few words to live by:
You need an exhibition planning template.
Event planning is an art, but exhibition planning takes things even further. This is particularly true if you’re planning the entire exhibition. However, even exhibitionists can benefit from having the right planning tools.
Ramp up your planning abilities with an exhibition planning Gantt chart
An exhibition checklist template can offer some value. However, no two exhibitions are the same. You deserve the ability to customize your strategy for each event, as well as for your entire annual exhibition strategy. Whether you’re attending the event as an exhibitor or you’re putting together an exhibition, Tom’s Planner offers the flexibility, customization, and planning capabilities you need.
When to use an exhibition planning template
When it comes to your event, an exhibition planning Gantt chart will play a central role in several different phases. These can include:
Project Planning:
Whether you’re planning your exhibition attendance schedule or putting together an exhibition yourself, you’ll find the right planning tool allows you to assign tasks, track progress, verify step completion, and more.
Resource Allocation:
From booth design and fabrication to venue booking and vendor selection, you must allocate resources correctly. An exhibition planning Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner is an invaluable tool here.
Communication:
Communication is essential throughout the exhibition planning, development, and delivery. Both exhibitors and exhibition planners will need to communicate with team members, stakeholders, partners, and other stakeholders.
A well-thought-out exhibition planning template can help ensure that your event is all that it should be. Tom’s Planner delivers the customization capabilities that you need to plan any exhibition experience.
Who should use an exhibition planning template?
Depending on the nature of your exhibit, as well as its scope and scale, a broad range of people may need to utilize your exhibition planning Gantt chart, including:
Exhibition Designers:
Exhibition designers are responsible for creating directional tools and graphics that help event attendees navigate through the exhibition space. They will need to sync their efforts with other team members, track progress in exhibition planning, and more.
Project Managers:
Project managers are responsible for guiding the exhibition from the planning stages through delivery and wrap-up. They will need to communicate with stakeholders and team members, assign tasks, and track task progress.
Education Specialists:
If you’re planning a museum exhibition or an art exhibition, education specialists can inform design teams on how to improve the audience experience, as well as educational outcomes.
These are just some of the people who may need access to your exhibit planning template. Tom’s Planner can easily be shared with those who need to be in the know.
Start with templateTop three pitfalls to avoid when planning an exhibition
Make your exhibition all it should be by avoiding these common mistakes:
- Not Having a Backup Plan
Things go wrong, but too many people fail to plan for these eventualities. Depending on the situation, this could mean not getting your venue, or failing to book the right exhibitions for your business.
Solution:Both exhibitors and exhibition planners should have backup plans in place. For instance, choose more than one venue in case there’s a booking problem.
- Not Having an Adequate Budget
Exhibiting requires cash. You’ll need to pay for the booth space, the booth design, handouts, and other collateral, and much more. Not having an adequate budget could mean a promising event fails to deliver the return you need to see.
Solution:Make budget planning a central part of your preparations. Use figures from the previous year as your base, not as your totals.
- Failure to Market
Exhibition planners must get the word out about their event. Without marketing, few exhibitors and attendees will know about your event, leading to a reduced ROI.
Solution:Your marketing team should be kept in the loop from the very beginning, an adequate marketing budget should be set, and stakeholders should be on board with the need to market the event.
What does an exhibition planning template include?
Your exhibition planning Gantt chart will vary in terms of what it includes depending on whether you’re an exhibitor or an event planner. Here are some of the things you should be able to plan:
- Exhibition Plan
What’s the purpose of the event? Who will support you in planning and setting up? Do you have a theme? What resources are available, and have you allocated them correctly? These details should be planned using your exhibition plan template.
- Budget
Whether you’re exhibiting or hosting the event, you’ll need to work on budget-related matters. That includes estimating costs, locating funding sources, categorizing your expenses, getting quotes from vendors, drafting your overall budget, and planning for all contingencies.
- Venue
If you’re putting on an exhibition, you’ll need to nail down the venue. That process includes researching options, checking availability, visiting the site, verifying site capacity, determining accessibility for the venue, comparing costs, and planning logistics.
- Marketing
Both exhibitors and exhibition planners need to plan for marketing. Planning for this can involve identifying your audience, developing branded materials, setting up your social media channels, partnering with media, creating an email marketing strategy, and planning promotional events.
- Exhibit Design
Exhibitors will need to plan their booth design, but exhibition planners will need to set standards here. Exhibit design includes space planning, material selection, graphic design, lighting design, creating interactive elements, prototyping, and more.
- Type of Exhibition
Exhibitions come in all shapes and sizes. You’ll need to tailor your planning to the type in question. For instance, if you’re planning an art exhibition, the checklist will be very different than what you would need in a museum exhibition planning template.
These are just some of the things that you’ll need to plan when it comes to your exhibition. Tom’s Planner can help.
Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines
1. Plan a Year at a Time
If you’re an exhibitor, you’ll need an accurate plan in place as early as possible. That plan should include a full year’s worth of exhibitions. This ensures that you can reserve space at each, get your booth designs completed on time, and arrange for travel and accommodations.
2. Stay in Communication with Municipal Authorities
Exhibition planners need to work hand in hand with municipal authorities to plan their events. Stay in communication with them so that you can get your permits and authorizations handled promptly.
3. Secure Your Venue Ahead of Time
Book your venue as far ahead of time as possible. This is particularly true in urban areas that see many exhibitions and large-scale events during the year. Waiting even a little too long could mean missing your ideal venue.
4. Have a Backup Plan
Exhibitors should plan alternative events in case their application is too late for their first-choice exhibitions. This allows flexibility and ensures that you can still exhibit your products, services, art, or educational materials.
Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel
| Excel | Tom's Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | License required | Free version available |
| Learning curve | Hours | Minutes |
| Create your first Gantt chart | Hours | Minutes |
| Making an update in your chart | Several minutes | Seconds (drag & drop) |
| Sharing charts with others | At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx | Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion |
| Look & Feel | Messy | Clean, polished and professional |
| Dependencies |  |
 |
| Filtering |  |
 |
| Zoom in/out | |
|
| Automatic Legend | |
|
| AI-assist | |
Let our AI assist do the work for you |
| Export to image or pdf | Requires workarounds to export | One mouse click |
Join 122,447 customers and have your first Gantt chart live today!
The free Personal account allows for only one chart. Professional and
Unlimited accounts, allow for multiple charts and allow you to print, export and share your charts
online. For more details click here.