Your Stand

Life Instyle is Australia’s only curated, boutique trade event for the retail industry showcasing emerging trends, brands, and products that are on the cooler side of style and design. With a strong commitment to creativity and originality, Life Instyle provides a definitive platform and inspiration filled sourcing experience for design-savvy buyers.

Life Instyle is committed to the continued quality and high standards of our events and its exhibitors which make us Australia’s favorite trade event for the discerning retailer.

In return we ask that you also commit to maintaining and building the excellence expected of Life Instyle by its community. Therefore, the Life Instyle team has developed the below list of standards and criteria from industry feedback (visitors, exhibitors, and Life Instyle creative advisors), to ensure that we all shine within the creative and professional experience Life Instyle buyers have come to love and expect.

All Life Instyle exhibitors must demonstrate a top level or high standard of business compatibility to their fellow exhibitors and to the buyers through the following four key areas:

PRODUCT

• Life Instyle is dedicated to presenting a balanced mix of fresh, unique, and contemporary products that reflect style, design, and innovation whilst avoiding the ‘mainstream’, with an emphasis on Australian design and manufactured and attracting buyers and trendsetters looking for products they cannot get at mass market exhibitions.
• Only brands/product ranges approved by Life Instyle can be displayed on exhibitor stands.
• Should you launch/acquire a new brand you must get approval prior to the event from your Life Instyle account manager.
• Selection is based on the premise that the product/brand/design is unique to the market and that no other exhibitor at that Life Instyle edition carries anything similar (this is subject to Life Instyle’s discretion).
• Plagiarism of other exhibitors’ products is not accepted and exhibitors are reminded of their signed terms and conditions where they assert that they own or license the IP to their displayed products.
• A minimum of 40% of products on the exhibitor’s stand must be new for that season/year to ensure buyers can see a level of variety and change amongst product offerings.

STAND DESIGN/BUILD & MERCHANDISING

• Any custom stands or stands with custom elements such as overhead structures must submit a plan for approval 6 weeks prior to arriving onsite. Stand designs can be uploaded via Task 7 in the Exhibitor Hub.
• Stand designs must be of a creative standard that reflects the Life Instyle experience and ensures the unique feel loved by the community who attend and buy at the event.
• Signage and branding must be of a professional quality and installation. Use of posters pop-up banners etc. is not permitted.
• Try to think outside the box when it comes to how your product is displayed – is there an alternative to traditional exhibition style furniture, shelves, tables or cabinets?
• The display must not be over-crowded with products and should have ample room for buyers to move freely and conduct business within the stand.
• Exhibitors must keep within the designated space contracted. Use of any surrounding aisle space to display products is not permitted. This is both a design criteria and a WH&S requirement.
• Products, props, shelving units etc CANNOT be displayed above the wall height to protect visibility for buyers across the exhibition floor as well as neighboring exhibitor sightlines. Height restrictions are strictly 2.4m against the back wall and 1.5m on the sides.
• The product should be merchandised to reflect the range and brand story to provide buyers with inspiration on how the product can be displayed in their own stores.
• Use of props is encouraged, as well as the services of styling/merchandising professionals if you are unsure of how to make the most of your stand.
• Stand designs must be updated each year to ensure the show does not become stale and that buyers feel as though they are experiencing something new every time. Exhibitors cannot use the same stand design for more than 2 shows in a row.
• It is essential to respect the venue. Any damage caused to the venue property, floors, poles etc. will be photographed and recorded by the organisers and/or the venue, and reparation costs will be on-charged to the offender.
• Failure to adhere to the above may result in having to make last minute stand changes on site (at the exhibitor’s cost). If you are unsure that your stand design fits within the above criteria, please contact a member of the Life Instyle team to discuss.

MARKETING MATERIAL

• Exhibitors must have a logo.
• Exhibitor websites must be of professional production standards and updated regularly.
• Images for use in all Life Instyle publications including the Digital Look Book, Handbook, Online Exhibitor Directory, and Blog must be of a professional standard, either shot by a photographer or using a professional-level camera. Images taken on mobile phones or ripped from websites will not be accepted.
• Product images should be either styled/in-situ or deep-etched/on a white background.
• Images must be supplied as high resolution print files unless specified otherwise.
• No additional branding or text is to appear on submitted images unless it is part of the actual product itself.
• Exhibitors must use new images for each event. Repetition of images from a previous issue of the publication will not be accepted.
• Life Instyle has the right to refuse images/artwork that do not meet the above standards.

CURATION PROCESS FOR CURRENT EXHIBITORS

• The retail and design communities come to Life Instyle to source fresh, new or bespoke products and it is important to both you the exhibitor and us that we ensure the brand offering meets these needs. To enable this, the curation process listed below has been implemented to measure exhibitor suitability and eligibility.
• All stands will be photographed at each event edition for review against the Life Instyle standards and criteria above and to assess whether the exhibitor continues to be eligible to exhibit at future events.
• Should there be any concerns regarding suitability/eligibility the exhibitor will be notified by email and /or phone call to discuss the areas for review.
• The exhibitor has the right to reply in writing within 2 weeks of communication.
• Taking into consideration the exhibitor response, further assessment will be made (where appropriate by an external committee) and the final decision of suitability to exhibit at future editions will be communicated by the LIS team no later than 2 weeks from receipt of the exhibitor’s email. Life Instyle reserves the right to waive any of the criteria stated in the exhibitor standards and criteria document at its discretion and/ or amend or reject any product or service which is inconsistent with the exhibitor standards and criteria document.
• The decision of the Life Instyle curation team once communicated to the exhibitor is final and is not subject to dispute. All exhibitors must accept that exhibiting at one event does not guarantee a stand at future events if they have not satisfied the curation process.
• In the instance that an exhibitor does not satisfy the Life Instyle standards and criteria or the exhibitor decides that their commercial objectives have become more focused on a mainstream audience the Life Instyle team will be happy to facilitate a transition to the Reed Gift Fairs.

EXHIBITOR CONDUCT

• To promote a professional business environment that welcomes the community and enables connections and business to be conducted, stands should be manned during all open hours of the exhibition.
• At the end of each day, we ask exhibitors to conclude their business as soon as possible after the show closes. We need to ensure all visitors and exhibitors have vacated the premises to ensure the security of the exhibition. 
• All items that you require for exhibiting must be delivered before the show opens or after the show closes each day. Please note that RX staff will not sign for deliveries
• To ensure that visitation is not diluted with personal shoppers, cash sales of display stock are only permitted on the last day of the event. Come 4 pm on the last day, the venue will become a work site and no access will be given to buyers after 4 pm to pick up purchased products. Please arrange alternate pick-up or delivery plans for these buyers.
• Exhibitors are not permitted to dismantle stands, remove merchandise or access the storage areas until the official closing of the show at 4pm Tuesday evening.
• Each exhibitor’s stand contains valuable property and private commercial information; therefore for security and privacy reasons please wait to be invited on to another exhibitor’s stand before entering.
• If you are also a buyer, please make this known before you enter another exhibitor’s stand.
• At no time can an exhibitor remove material from another exhibitor’s stand.
• Common courtesy and professional conduct towards fellow exhibitors are expected. This includes but is not limited to respecting the intellectual property/copyright of other exhibitors’ products and not engaging in slander or defamation. Whilst Life Instyle does not take responsibility for this, court orders or injunctions will be upheld and allegations will be reviewed as part of the ongoing curation process.
• The photographing of exhibitor stands or products by both visitors and fellow exhibitors is not permitted without the advanced approval of the stand owner. Visitors are advised to seek exhibitor permission first before taking photos, even for use on social media etc.
• Life Instyle is a trade environment. Exhibitors are discouraged from bringing their children to the show both for health and safety reasons and as they may disrupt exhibitors and visitors from their business transactions.
• Audio/Music broadcast from your stand must be played at a level acceptable to your neighbouring stands.

CANVASSING

• It is a requirement that all business is conducted on your stand.
• Promotional staff are not allowed to walk the halls or give out any promotional material; they must remain on your stand at all times. 
• No pamphlet drop can be done outside of the contracted exhibiting space.

STAND SUB-LETTING

• No exhibitor is allowed to sub-let or allocate space on their stand to another company without prior consent from Life Instyle.

Life Instyle reserves the right to waive any of these criteria at its discretion and/or amend or reject any brand, product or service that is inconsistent

with the above standards.

To download a copy of the Exhibitor Standards & Criteria please click here.

It is compulsory that all exhibitors complete a declaration of agreement to the above standards and criteria via Task 12 in the Exhibitor Hub by 1 February 2024.

If you have a Space Only stand, please submit your stand designs and plans via the Custom Stand Task in the Exhibitor Hub and declare if you are using a stand builder, the process is the same as before however it is now supported by our RX Global central team in the Philippines.

The reply email address [email protected] noted in the emails you will receive is part of RX Australia, please rest assured any correspondence you send to this address will still make its way to the RX Global Australia Operations Team.

All stand approvals are still confirmed by RX Australia Operations and as always, we are available to discuss this process with you.

If you have a Space Only stand or plans to modify a shell scheme you need to ask RX for approval to use a Supplier/Contractor. A Supplier/Contractor is defined as any company (other than the official exhibition contractors) that an exhibitor wants to use inside the exhibition hall, before, during and after the show. 

What does Space Only Mean? 

Space Only is the term used when an exhibitor has only purchased the bare concrete floor space. Walls, signage, carpet and lighting are not provided by RX. The exhibitor or a contractor will design and supply a custom made stand.

All ‘Space Only' structures must be approved by RX at least four weeks prior to the start of the move-in. Construction onsite will not be permitted without prior approval (please see below on how to gain approval).

• Please consider sustainability and the environment in the design planning.
• Hire as many components as possible, furniture, av, use modular build units, use digital or reusable signage, look at products that have a full life cycle and come from and can be recycled. Consider using local suppliers, products & labour to minimize the logistical impacts
• Please consider accessibility in the design planning to allow for disabled access to the stand.

WALLING

• Exhibitors must provide their own walls. No reliance can be placed on the surrounding stands providing your walls. You must not use the adjoining walls in any way if you stand is joined to another.
• All space only stands must provide walling to a min 2.4m high and ensure the stand built is structurally sound.
• Stand walls that sit on the aisle way must not exceed 6m in length and must have a minimum 3m break/gap for access to the stand to ensure safe traffic flow is maintained across the show. Walling along the perimeter of your stand is subject to approval by RX Operations to ensure line of sight and access is maintained; or the walls are required to sit 1m into the stand space and have the 1m depth between the stand boundary and the wall dressed in the exhibitors brands or products.
• The dimensions and position of your stand will be marked out with tape to show the boundary of your stand. Do not build outside of this perimeter.
• RX will not supply any signage for ‘Space Only' stands. Exhibitors are required to provide their own sign showing their stand number.

HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS

• If your stand is over 2.4m in height:
  • The exhibitor behind you will then be notified by RX and if there are no issues the height of your stand will be approved.
  • It is your responsibility to dress the back of the stand in a clean black or white painted finish panel and at no time can there be attached signage looking over or intruding on other exhibitor’s stands. A minimum of 1 metre clearance from the rear or side neighbouring wall must be met for signage or banners sitting higher than 2.4m. 
• Approval will not be granted to stands over 4m in height until a safe work statement (JSA) indicating the safe work practice of installation/dismantle is supplied and approved by the Venue and RX Operations Manager.
• If your stand includes rigging (hanging banners); the bottom of the banner must be a minimum of 5 metres from the ground and at least 1 metre above the wall height and 1m from the boundary of adjoining stands. Rigging over aisles ways is not allowed unless prior approval form the RX Operations Manager (Rigging heights not applicable for GPCE Sydney and Life Instyle. Please refer to the specific stand design guidelines for that show).

FLOORING

• Space only stands will be provided with bare concrete floor. All space only stands must provide a floor covering that meets event WHS requirements. If you do not wish to have flooring, please seek approval from RX Operations. To request carpet tiles, please contact the official stand build contractor.
• Rugs, cane mats, vinyl or linoleum flooring, tread plate sheets, 5mm clip flooring and carpet tiles over existing carpet all need to have edges taped down to the existing carpeted surface. A 50mm heavy duty tape or gaffer type tape is advisable.
• Access must be available for power supply to the distribution board located from the pit on some stands, this must be factored into the design of a stand with flooring of any type.

RAISED FLOORING

• All raised floors, steps and ramps within exhibits are to comply with the relevant sections of the Building Code of Australia. Any raised floor sections must be clearly distinguishable from areas of the surrounding floor space.
• All raised floors up to 115mm will require a suitable and clearly distinguishable ramp from the main exhibition floor. The ramp must be of a gradient no less than 1 to 3 and must be contained within the contracted stand space. Ramps cannot protrude into the nominated aisle way.
• All raised floors with a height greater than 115mm but less than 190mm from the main exhibition floor level or surrounding platform will be regarded as a step. Although ramped edging is not required, the stand will require a ramp in accordance with the Building code of Australia for disabled access.
• The raised floor sections or ramps must not contain sharp or dangerous edges and must not cause a trip hazard.

RX is a founding signatory to the Net Zero Carbon Events pledge. This commits us to reduce our greenhouse emissions by 50% by 2030 and to be net zero by 2050. In fact, RX is on a faster trajectory than the rest of our industry as our parent company RELX, signed the Climate Pledge committing us to be net zero by 2040.

You can learn more about what net zero means to RX in this short video: NET ZERO EVENTS - YouTube

RX has introduced a Sustainable Criteria for Custom Stand Designs to raise awareness and promote exhibitors with custom stands to use sustainable alternatives in their stand design and build. The criteria will form a questionnaire that reviews each component of an exhibitor’s custom stand, such as the build materials and signage used and their outcome after the event. We will also take into consideration where the stand is made, freight transportation and labour hire to gain a broader representation of the stand’s environmental footprint. Based on your answers in the questionnaire, you may be asked to make modifications to your design. 

To support us in our sustainability goals, please consider the following in the design planning of your stand:

• Hire as many components for the stand as possible including furniture, av, and use modular build units.
• Consider using digital signage and make any printed signage non-event-specific so that it can be used multiple times.
• Consider using local suppliers, products and labour to minimise the logistical impacts.
• Reduce the need for printed materials by using QR codes to download information and replace the need for business cards by utilising RX’s lead scanning mobile app Emperia.
• Use products that have a full life cycle that come from and can be recycled.

We are pleased to share that RX is implementing the following sustainable initiatives that you can participate in, at the event:

• Water Refill Stations will be placed near the hall entries and cafes. Bring your own reusable drink bottle and refill it at one of our water refill stations throughout the day. Interested in sponsoring this initiative? Talk to our sales team today.
• RX promotes the use of “reusable cups” onsite to reduce waste. We also install washing-up sinks so attendees can clean and reuse their cups at participating venues. Discounts on hot beverages are available for those using a reusable cup at participating venues.
• RX Operations are working with venues to provide additional waste streams and better signage. If you require a particular waste stream for your stand, please contact RX Operations.
• Post-show donations – many venues offer the ability to donate furniture and products to charity after the event. Please contact RX Event Production if you are interested in donating.
• RX includes Carbon Friendly food items on all of our café menus via a cloud icon and CF (Carbon Friendly) next to the specific items.
• QR codes will be used for onsite registration, removing the use of paper forms, counters, and labour.
• RX is transitioning all shows to use digital guides, books, and media partner publications to replace printed materials.
• All RX lanyards are Plant-based, made from plant silk, and use 65-70% less carbon.
• RX offers sustainable stand packages for exhibitor upgrades. Talk to your Sales Manager for more information.
• All exhibitors and contractors must use LED lighting only. The use of Halogen lights is now banned.