Your Island Booth Needs Three Approvals Before It Ships. Here’s the Order.
A booth that is designed, built, and paid for can still be turned away at the dock. Show design approval, the exhibitor-appointed contractor form, and the certificate of insurance are three separate gates run by three different parties, each with its own deadline. Most late installs we see trace back to one of these three, not to fabrication.
Three approvals, three owners, one calendar
Our internal project tracker runs every booth through eight steps between design approval and show day. Three of those eight are paperwork, not production: design sent to the show for approval, show approval received, and EAC plus COI filed. They sit on the tracker because they are the steps that block everything downstream. A booth with no show approval cannot be ordered against. A vendor with no EAC on file cannot be let onto the floor to install it.
The three gates answer three different questions from three different parties. The show organizer asks whether your design is allowed in that space. The general contractor asks who is allowed to touch it. The venue and organizer, through the insurance certificate, ask who pays if something goes wrong. Averages from our 2026 project schedules show how tight the window is:
before show open. From here, design, approvals, graphics, and show services all run in parallel. There is no slack for a rejected drawing.
before show open. Design approval from the show has to land before this, or the booth gets built against a drawing the organizer may still reject.
before show open, usually against the advance-order discount deadline. Rigging and electrical orders depend on an approved design.
Averages across Pure Exhibits project schedules, 2026. Every show publishes its own dates in the exhibitor manual, which is the only source of truth; see how to read one without losing your mind.
Show design approval: will the organizer allow this booth?
Inline 10×10 and 10×20 booths rarely need it as long as they stay inside the standard line-of-sight rules. Islands, peninsulas, anything over the show’s height limit, hanging signs, enclosed rooms, ceilings, and multi-level structures almost always do. The organizer reviews drawings to confirm the design doesn’t block neighbors, violate fire code, or exceed rigging limits.
What to submit. A dimensioned plan view, front and side elevations with heights marked, a rendering, and a separate hanging-sign spec (size, weight, height to top and bottom) if one is in the design. Some shows want the fabricator’s name and the structural engineer’s stamp for double-decks. Your exhibit partner should produce this package, but the submission usually goes through the exhibitor’s portal login, so it has to be you or your vendor acting on your behalf.
Why designs get rejected. The same five reasons account for nearly every rejection we see: a back wall or tower over the height limit for that booth type; solid walls along an aisle on a peninsula, which breaks line-of-sight; an enclosed meeting room or covered area larger than the fire marshal’s threshold without the required documentation; a hanging sign above the venue’s maximum or too close to the booth edge; and a design that spills past the footprint once the graphics and counters are added. Every one of these is cheap to fix at the drawing stage and expensive to fix after fabrication.
Turnaround. One to two weeks is common, longer near a show. Submit at concept approval, not at final 3D. If the organizer wants a change, you still have time to re-approve internally before the build starts. For a look at what the design phase should deliver, see our booth design guide.
The EAC form: who is allowed to install it?
Every show has an official general contractor, and by default only that contractor’s labor may install and dismantle exhibits. If you want your own exhibit house to install your booth, the organizer needs to know in advance. That notification is the Exhibitor-Appointed Contractor form, and it is your form to file, not your vendor’s.
The deadline is early. Most shows close EAC filings around 30 days before move-in, and many will not accept a late one. Miss it and your vendor’s crew cannot be badged for the floor; the general contractor’s labor installs your booth at their hourly rates, from your drawings, on their schedule. That is the most common way a fixed-price install turns into an unplanned invoice.
What the form needs. Your booth number, the contractor’s legal name and contact, the work they will perform (install and dismantle, sometimes supervision only), and a certificate of insurance from that contractor naming the show, the venue, and the general contractor as additional insureds. Some shows also require the EAC to sign their rules acknowledgment. Your exhibit partner should hand you the COI and contractor details the same day you ask; if they can’t, that tells you something about how often they do this.
The EAC form is the one document where a good vendor cannot save you. You have the portal login. If it isn’t filed by you, it isn’t filed.
Venue labor rules also vary by city and hall. Union jurisdictions decide which tasks an EAC crew may perform at all. See union labor at trade shows and what to expect at move-in.
The certificate of insurance: who pays if something goes wrong?
There are usually two certificates in play. Your contractor’s COI travels with the EAC form. Your own exhibitor COI is a separate requirement in most exhibitor contracts, and it is the one companies forget because the exhibit house never mentions it.
What shows typically require. Commercial general liability of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate is the most common floor, with workers’ compensation and, where vehicles are involved, auto liability. The certificate must name the show organizer, the venue, and often the general contractor as additional insureds, with the exact legal entity names the manual specifies. Coverage dates need to span move-in through move-out, not just show days.
Why certificates bounce. Wrong entity name on the additional-insured line, a policy that expires mid-show, a certificate issued to the parent company when the exhibiting entity is a subsidiary, or a missing endorsement page. Each bounce is a round trip to your broker, which is why the COI should be requested the week the EAC form is filed, not the week before move-in. For the broader coverage question, including whether to insure the exhibit itself, see trade show exhibit insurance.
The order that never bites you
Run the gates in this sequence and each one feeds the next. Run them in parallel from a standing start and you spend the last three weeks refiling paperwork.
- Read the manual for the three deadlines the week you sign the space.
Design submission, EAC, and COI dates go on the project calendar before a concept exists. In our tracker they are pre-filled from the show’s dates so nothing depends on memory.
- Submit the design at concept approval, before final 3D.
Plan, elevations with heights, rendering, hanging-sign spec. Keep the height, footprint, and enclosed areas conservative on the first submission; adding later is easier than arguing.
- File the EAC form the same week, with your vendor’s COI attached.
Don’t wait for design approval; the two are independent. Confirm receipt through the portal, not by email.
- Request your exhibitor COI from your broker with the exact entity names copied from the manual.
Ask for move-in through move-out dates. Forward it through the portal and keep a copy in the project folder.
- Only after show approval is received, lock final 3D and order rigging and electrical.
Hanging-sign and power orders reference the approved drawing. If approval changed the design, the orders change with it.
- Bring printed copies of all three to move-in.
Badging desks and floor managers ask for them more often than you’d expect, and portal access on a hall floor is unreliable.
Does a 10×10 or 10×20 booth need show design approval?
Usually not, as long as it stays within the standard line-of-sight rules, typically an 8-foot back wall and 4-foot side walls beyond the first few feet. Anything taller, anything with a hanging sign, or a ceiling or enclosed structure changes the answer. Check the booth-type rules in the manual rather than assuming.
Can my exhibit house file the EAC form for me?
They can prepare it and often complete it in the portal if you share access, but the show treats it as the exhibitor’s filing. The exhibitor is accountable for the deadline and for the contractor’s conduct on the floor. Treat it as your task with vendor support, not a vendor task.
What happens if I miss the EAC deadline?
At most shows the official general contractor installs your booth using their labor at their rates, and your exhibit house may be limited to supervision or barred from the floor. Some shows accept late filings with a fee; many don’t. The realistic fix is to avoid the situation, which is why the form sits on our tracker as a dated step.
Is the exhibit house’s COI enough, or do I need my own?
Both. The contractor’s certificate covers the crew doing the install and accompanies the EAC form. Most exhibitor contracts separately require the exhibiting company to carry its own general liability and to name the organizer and venue as additional insureds. Your broker can usually issue that certificate within a few days if given the exact entity names.
One project manager tracks all three gates.
Every Pure Exhibits project runs on an eight-step tracker that includes show design submission, approval, and EAC plus COI as dated steps. You get the drawing package, the contractor COI, and the deadline reminders; you keep the portal login. One fixed price covers design, fabrication, graphics, shipping, install, and dismantle.
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