Have you ever seen the fire marshal hold a flame to your exhibit? Scary feeling isn’t it? The fire marshal means business – do you remember when you could smoke in the entire convention center? Think about that – a disaster in the making. We still see groups, usually from foreign countries that hide inside their meeting rooms and smoke. Remember the halogen light problems in Las Vegas? Those lights heat up to scorching in a matter of minutes and are no longer allowed at many convention sites. The fire regulations are really a good thing – your exhibit must be entirely fire retardant according to the rules of your particular show in the exhibitor manual. If you have fire extinguishers or hoses within your booth space – you cannot block them – you can see this on the floor plans and it is marked as FHC for fire hose cabinet or FA for fire apparatus.

As an exhibit house our biggest problem seems to be ceilings. Ceilings are common outside of our country and thus in great demand amongst our foreign clients. Based upon the venue that you are located there will be a strict code set by both the fire marshal and the structural engineer for that facility. Depending upon the size of the ceiling or two story structure there may need to be additional fire alarms or firefighting equipment. Assuming that you will get an okay just doesn’t make it happen, the safety of all of the exhibitors and attendees is always first. Work with a reputable exhibit house or design firm and take the time to make the first call, early on, to speak to the fire marshal. This is imperative!