I had the unique experience of being a judge for the best design in the EuroShop show for EXHIBITOR Magazine.

17 Exhibit Stands entered the competition. 10 judges gathered Sunday morning to get the list of instructions.  Several of us walked through the show together with our clipboards. Russ Fowler from Derse, Mitchell Mauk of Mauk Design, Matt Hubbard from Exhibit Works, Tom Yurkin from Freeman and me, Debra Roth from Pink Powered by Moss, traveled, viewed and judged the entries. We had questions which to answer on scoring 1-10 and the highest score won.

I wanted to explore some of the things I thought about while judging this type of event.

To begin with –

•   Do you know what this company does from looking at the products?

•   After you hear the pitch did you need to hear it to know the intension?

•   Judging/scoring points – Calibrating, re-calibrating as you see what you are looking at going forward you may need to go in and change the range of numbers for each entry.

•   I remembered from other shows I have judged that I prefer to use a larger spread – in other words give out your 8’s, 9’s and 10’s but do not be afraid to give out 1’s, 2’s and 3’s if you feel someone has really missed the mark.  This way you really affect the tally.

•   Take notes as you go – photos as well. You are looking at a lot, so you should be able to go back and see how the first impressions hold.

•   Look first and gather your thoughts. Do listen to the rep talk about the intensions of the company and the design. Speak with your colleagues after scoring.

A fun experience was had by all and CONGRATULATIONS to all the award winners!

Listed here:    EXHIBITOR Magazine – Euroshop Awards

The jurors:

• Dirk Bachmann-Kern, principal, Bachmann.Kern & Partner, Solingen, Germany
• Russ Fowler, senior director, corporate creative, Derse Inc., Milwaukee
• Matt Hubbard, president of Exhibit Works, a division of EWI Worldwide, Livonia, MI
• Rainer Mauer, head of architectural design, Uniplan GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne, Germany
• Mitchell Mauk, principal, Mauk Design, San Francisco
• Debra Roth, director of design and creative events, Pink Powered by Moss, New York
• Nico Ueberholz, principal, Ueberholz GmbH, Wuppertal, Germany
• Tom Yurkin, creative director, Freeman, Dallas

The winners:

Best of Show – Small Exhibit
Holtmann GmbH
Location: Hall 10, Stand A54
Design: raumHOCH
Fabrication: Holtmann GmbH + Co. KG

Best of Show – Medium Exhibit
Burkhardt Leitner Constructiv GmbH
Location: Hall 10, Stand A64
Design: Ippolito Fleitz Group
Fabrication: Burkhardt Leitner Constructiv GmbH

Best of Show – Large Exhibit
Umdasch AG
Location: Hall 12, Stand C62
Design: Syndicate Brand & Corporate Design AG
Fabrication: Zeissig GmbH & Co. KG

Honorable Mentions
Wit Design
Location: Hall 10, Stand A26
Design/Fabrication: Wit Design

LG Hausys Europe (HI-MAC)
Location: Hall 13, Stand E75
Design: Yasmine Mahmoudieh
Fabrication: Holzwerkstatt Dreyeckland

Atelier Dambock Messebau GmbH
Location: Hall 9, Stand G56
Design/Fabrication: Atelier Dambock Messebau GmbH

Aluvision
Location: Hall 9, Stand D37
Design/Fabrication: Aluvision

Read more and see more photos at the EXHIBITOR’s 2011 EuroShop Microsite

Tags: culture, Design, Exhibit, Exhibits/Trade Shows, fun, visuals

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