All will be well in the end, Stand Building

In 2015, we visited AGRI-show held in Kigali. From the tour of the showground area, it was clear to us that quite a lot of exhibitors were struggling to  find the best way of presenting their products. This inspired me to design an e-course about this issue called: Improve your exhibition stand. I started designing the course in 2015 with Ariane Umurerwa, who was working with us at that time, but we didn’t manage to complete it. One reason for this was that we could not find a partner to collaborate with us on using the course. Designing such a course is one thing, but finding learners to do the course is another challenge.

However, I strongly believe that even half-finished projects will one day find their end-users – the learners! In the end, all will be well. Recently, the Private Sector Federation started their own training centre,  the Imanzi Business Institute. Some friends are managing the institute and they approached Three Mountains to collaborate on some e-learning courses. To kickstart this, we decided to refresh and complete the exhibition stand course. The course is now out for everyone to access and make use of, and it will also appear on the Imanzi Business Institute’s website shortly. Learners will first do the e-course and, in addition, we will offer hands-on training days where exhibitors practice building and managing a exhibitor’s stand. Each exhibitor will receive feedback on their performance.

Exhibitions are not being held at the moment due to the COVID 19 pandemic, but we are hopeful  that when the COVID 19 virus has been adequately contained, we will be able to enjoy being with more people again. As a “group animal”, I miss being with crowds of others. Human contact is necessary for the soul. For my soul. Without places to go and things to do together with other people, life is a bit bleak. But, all will be well in the end.

For those who are already keen to prepare and improve their exhibitor and stand-building skills, please go ahead and do the e-course at: www.threemountains.academy/modules/improve-your-exhibition-stand. It’s for free, with no strings attached!

Gerry van der Hulst