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Better Stands

Moving towards a more sustainable exhibiting experience

Better Stands at CPHI

From Barcelona to India, China to North America, each edition of CPHI creates thousands of exhibition stands. They’re a great way for you to meet clients face-to-face, promote your brand with eye-catching designs, and bring a taste of your company to the show floor. We’re proud of being the place where the pharma industry makes these invaluable connections, but we’re conscious that the ‘single use’ nature of many stands creates a lot of waste.

This is why we’ve introduced our Better Stands Programme. We believe that we can work with our exhibitors and your contractors to eliminate the waste from single-use, space-only stands. And we can still deliver world-class designs that have a second life after the show closes its doors.

Sustainable design

Why ‘Better Stands’?

Say no to old-fashioned, single-use stands

We’re moving away from disposable, single-use stands. They’re space-only builds that are used only once. They’re constructed onsite, often from poor quality material, demolished post show and sent to a landfill or burned.

Say hello to modern, reusable stands

Instead, we’re switching to more sustainable stands, where all the core elements can be reused. This will reduce waste and improve the ease, safety and sustainability of CPHI. You get a better exhibitor experience, reduced costs and a stress-free build and breakdown. What's not to like?

Built for the future

The Better Stands vision

Our aim is to eliminate all disposable stands from our events by 2030. We know it’s an ambitious goal, and that the journey to sustainability doesn’t happen overnight! To help us get there – and bring our exhibitors and contractors with us on the journey – we’ve introduced different tiers of Better Stands for space-only stands. We’re recommending all space-only exhibitors work towards achieving at least Bronze status in 2024, so now is the time to speak to your contractor about making the switch to a sustainable stand solution.

Bronze

Reusable:

• Stand structure & walls

• Platform

• Furniture & equipment

• Lighting

Silver

Reusable:

• Stand structure & walls

• Platform • Furniture & equipment

• Lighting • Fascia & overhead signage

• Rigged structure. • Ceiling

• Display facilities

Gold

• Stand structure & walls

• Platform. • Furniture & equipment

• Lighting. • Fascia & overhead signage

• Rigged structure. • Ceiling

• Display facilities

• Graphics & decorative items

• Floor covering

All space-only stands are independently verified at the end of the event to determine their level.

“The Better Stands programme provides exhibitors with a range of benefits, including a sustainability focus with long-term benefits and impact, compliance assurance, cost savings, and access to innovative designs. It’s a great way to contribute to a greener exhibition."

Silvia Forroova

Director of Partnerships & Sustainability – Pharma

Benefits

You can help lower CPHI’s carbon footprint

Cost savings & efficiencies

Huge opportunities for cost savings compared to disposable stands, with significant waste reduction and safer working environments

Showcase your brand

Keep your designs and customisations while showing your own commitment to sustainability. All you have to do is meet material regulations

Ready-made solutions

Work with stand contractors who are familiar with Better Stands and can offer readily available solutions

Where to get started

1 Your contractor builds your stand from reusable components used at other events

2 Your contractor builds you a modular stand that you can store and reuse again

Join us in moving towards the future of events

View stand options

FAQs

Some of your most common queries answered.

Why did you create Better Stands?

We know that disposable stands create significant environmental, health and safety and wellbeing issues onsite at our events. Across Informa (CPHI’s parent company) in 2019, we saw that disposable stands/booths equated to over 80% of our total waste generated at events. Proactively addressing this practice globally, at individual events like CPHI, is key to creating a more sustainable events industry.

What is a disposable stand?

When we talk about disposable stands we mean single use, disposable booths made from raw materials onsite, such as chipboard, particleboard or low-density fiberboard (LDF). The quality of finish is often also compromised due to working time pressures.

What is a reusable / non-disposable stand?

A non-disposable/reusable stand is constructed using materials designed to be used multiple times. For example:

• Frame and fabric

• Wood stock panels

• Aluminium modular

• Cardboard flat pack

• Exhibitor owner OR rented

• Plus many others!

There are almost endless variations of multiple use stands to suit every size and desired appearance. The cost of these stands is generally lower than for disposable stands, helping reduce outlay and provide a better long-term investment.

How do I know if my stand is Bronze, Silver or Gold?

All stands at CPHI Barcelona will be independently verified to determine which level they have achieved. Better Stands exhibitors will receive certification following the verification to confirm the level they have achieved.

What about shell scheme or MSD stands?

These are already compliant with our sustainability measures. Better Stands is targeted at space only builds, which historically create the most waste.

What else are you doing to make CPHI more sustainable?

We aren’t just asking our exhibitors to consider sustainability – we are working hard to become a more sustainable brand. You can find out more about what we’re doing at our events here, or keep up with industry sustainability updates through CPHI Online.

I have a question that hasn’t been answered here

Please contact [email protected] or get in touch directly with your account manager to discuss exhibiting more sustainably.

About CPHI

CPHI has been uniting pharma professionals for over three decades. Through multi-channel events and digital platforms, we engage and create opportunities for the global supply chain 365 days a year.

About CPHI

CPHI has been uniting pharma professionals for over three decades. Through multi-channel events and digital platforms, we engage and create opportunities for the global supply chain 365 days a year.