Large Format Printing Timeline: What to Order Before an Event

Count back from opening day. A six week ordering schedule for large format printing at UAE events, with lead times per item and the spares that save rush fees.

Large format printing is the part of an event budget that gets ordered last and blamed first. The banner arrives the night before, the colour is off, nobody has the frame. The fix is not a better printer, it is a calendar. Below is the ordering timeline we give event teams in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, counting back from opening day, with what each item needs from you and how long it takes to come out of our Ajman workshop. We deliver to all seven emirates and quote everything by WhatsApp.

Six weeks out: measure the venue before any large format printing

Every large format printing problem we see started with a size that was guessed. Get the venue floor plan and walk it if you can. Measure the wall behind the stage where the main event banners hang, the rigging points for hanging banners, the hoarding around the entrance and the window glass at the front. Note ceiling height, because a 3 metre banner in a 2.7 metre ballroom goes straight back in the tube.

Ask the venue three questions: what can be hung from the ceiling and at what weight, what can be stuck to glass and floors, and whether fire rated material is required. Hotels on the Palm and halls at DWTC both have rules, and the answers change which material we print on.

Five weeks out: brief the design once

Large format printing files are built at a quarter or a tenth of final size with vector logos and images that reach 150dpi at full scale. Brief the designer with the exact sizes from your venue walk so the file is not rebuilt later. Agree the two or three Pantone colours and send a printed swatch if brand colour is critical, since every screen in the office shows a different red.

Build one master layout and adapt it for each format. The same artwork becomes a roll up banner, a stage backdrop and a lectern panel without redesign. It also scales down to A1 posters for the corridors, which keeps the event looking like one brand rather than five suppliers.

Four weeks out: order the large format printing that needs frames

Anything with a frame goes first because frames are stocked in finite numbers and the biggest ones get booked for exhibitions months ahead. The step and repeat backdrop for the photo wall comes first. Next come the totem stands for registration. Pop out banners for an outdoor arrival area round out the list.

Four weeks also leaves time to proof a strip of the actual material. For a 6 metre stage wall we print a 50cm section at full size on the real fabric, so the client sees the skin tone in the hero photo under daylight before the full run.

Three weeks out: hanging banners and site branding

Hanging banners are the large format printing item that needs rigging approval from the venue and sometimes from the mall or landlord, so they sit here rather than at the end. Double sided fabric with a pole pocket top and bottom hangs flat without curling. Mesh is the choice for anything in a breeze or across a car park, because wind passes through it. For a perimeter, fence banners with eyelets at 50cm go up fast on crowd barriers. Our hanging flags fill high atrium spaces where a flat banner would look lost.

This is also the week to order window graphics for the venue frontage. Perforated one way vision film on the glass shows the event branding outside and stays see through from inside, and it peels off cleanly after the weekend.

Two weeks out: the portable units and the spares

Roll up banner units and X banners are the quick items, printed and finished within three working days. Directional foam board signs for toilets, prayer room, registration and the car park take the same time, and five A2 boards on stands cover a typical conference.

Order one roll up banner more than you think you need. One always gets left in a taxi or snapped by a trolley, and a spare that cost AED 180 saves a rush large format printing job at double the price the night before.

One week out: proofs, reprints and the reusable set

Every piece of large format printing should now be in your hands or in our dispatch bay. Check each piece against the floor plan and against the sponsor list, because a logo added late is the most common reprint. Turnaround for a single replacement panel is 24 to 48 hours from Ajman, so a Monday check leaves room before a Thursday opening.

Decide now which event banners travel to the next show. Mark them, store them rolled print side out in tubes, and keep the frames in their bags. A roll up banner reused five times costs a fraction per event of five one off prints.

The morning of the event

Large format printing is only finished when it is on the wall. Bring a kit: cable ties, gaffer tape, a spirit level, a steamer for fabric creases and a printed floor plan with every banner marked. Hang the hanging banners first while the room is empty, then the backdrop, then the roll ups once the furniture is in. Window graphics go on last so nobody leans on them while the adhesive settles.

Lead times for large format printing at a glance

• Roll up banner, X banner, foam board sign: 2 to 3 working days.
• Fabric backdrop, totem, pop out banner: 4 to 5 working days, frame subject to stock.
• Hanging banners and mesh: 3 to 4 working days plus venue rigging approval.
• Window graphics and floor vinyl: 3 working days plus a fitting slot.
• Single replacement panel: 24 to 48 hours.

Why the timeline saves money

Rush printing of event banners costs 50 to 100 percent more than standard turnaround, and most event budgets we see lose a fifth of the large format printing line to rush fees and reprints. Ordering frames at four weeks, banners at three and portable units at two removes nearly all of it. The banner printing page lists materials and sizes for each format. For the full set of stands and frames, see the standees and banners collection. Send your floor plan by WhatsApp and we will mark the order dates on it for you.

Related resources: See our standees & banners, events & exhibitions and backdrops pages for specifications, quantity pricing and design options across the UAE.