EXHIBIT INNOVATION ROUNDTABLE
Talking trends, strategy, managing costs and sustainability with evergreen Fab 50er Hill & Partners
Top trade show trends. Enhancing experiences. The engagement process. Embracing A.I.
These were just a few of the topics discussed during this month’s Fab 50 Exhibit Innovation Roundtable with the team at Hill & Partners. It’s clear that while the fundamentals of trade show experiences remain evergreen, the industry, well—it’s changing.
Fortune 1000 companies continue to lean into exhibit partners to not only enhance the booth experience they activate at shows around the world, but now those brands are pushing for fresh creative, enhanced impact and, more and more, sustainability.
We jumped into industry changes, evolving trade show experiences and how attainable sustainability is given the realities of ecofriendly costs. We talked about common mistakes too many exhibitors are still making and went deep on the topic of “time and space.”
EM: Mike, how do you describe your company?
MIKE VALLONE: We like to say We Create Spaces™ and Places Completely About Your Brand™, but for us, it’s more than just a tagline. It reflects our commitment to designing immersive brand environments that genuinely capture your identity. We achieve this through a collaborative process where Our People Become Your People™. Our team integrates so seamlessly with yours, you might even find yourself on our holiday party guest list.
Whether it’s a small exhibit or a global brand activation, we bring the dedication, creativity, and talent of our designers, strategists, and problem-solvers to every detail. We are not just a vendor. We are your creative partner, your go-to team for late-night brainstorms, and your dependable “we’ve-got-this” resource. No matter the challenge or time zone, we show up ready to deliver with passion, professionalism, and a bit of fun along the way.
EM: What types of things do your clients say about you?
SEAN PULERA: It’s probably best communicated through their words:
“There is a difference between agencies that can execute and those that can elevate, Hill & Partners is the latter!”
-VP of Marketing
“It felt so great to have another “Me” there.”
-Event Marketing Manager
“I hate to admit this, but my team is absolutely blown away with you guys. Honestly. Thank you.”
-CMO
“Thank you for another successful show. It continues to get better and better!”
-Head of Corporate Events
“The best part of our experience was when we arrived on Wednesday our booth was finished while everyone else was building until Friday. We could have started meetings on Thursday if we wanted to.”
-VP Marketing
EM: What unique offerings does your company offer clients?
LAUREN WOOD: Just about anyone can design and build a trade show booth. From massive organizations to the Mom & Pop shops—they can all do it and probably do it well. What makes Hill & Partners different and what we bring to the table that no other organization can is our people. We’ve got a team of unique, highly trained and passionate folks. We are extremely selective in the hiring process, because our onboarding is industry, culture and training intensive. As a result of this and the ongoing development for all of our employees our people truly take on our client’s needs as if they were their own. They thrive in the chaos, deadlines and details of every project while also creating a calm and relaxed environment for our clients.
EM: How are you helping clients save money and/or time?
MICHAEL MCMAHON: Have you ever heard the phrase, “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast”? Or perhaps the phrase, “You either have time or money”? They have both been coined to consider an approach that a team of people can follow to achieve a high level of success in the highest percentage of circumstances.
Our engagement process is built around a disciplined approach to each opportunity, with clear intention to avoid simply reducing projects to budget and perhaps a cost per square foot. Event location, timing, and client expectation play a role in every project, and require thoughtful expectation management on the low end, and implementation challenges on the high end. Every project opportunity is unique through our lens. We avoid the practice of “treating” each cost with a proposed money-saving solution in advance, because we may lose sight of our client’s primary intentions. In a good plan, there are always options to realize some savings as long as the vision and mission for the project remain intact. Our proposed partnerships on any single project or program are priced to save time and provide a favorable value for the complete Brand Environment experience.
We save clients time through oversight of the entire life of the project, often six or more months, so they can stay focused on their priorities, confident that every detail is being expertly managed.
EM: Sean, what program from the last 12 months are you especially proud of and why?
SEAN PULERA: This may come as a surprise but I am most proud of our commitment to hiring and development of our team. Taking a proactive approach to hiring so that we are hiring for the need before the need arises has positioned us well to work in the best interest of our customers. It can’t stop there, development and training is very different than onboarding so we have to expedite the time it takes to get contributions from our newest team members in order to keep up with the quickly changing landscape of our work. Most new hires do not have industry experience so we need to capitalize on their transferable skills and invite them to see how they can benefit the face-to-face experiential marketplace. At every opportunity we look to improve upon the experience that we provide for our newest hires as well as our more tenured team members. We talk about being life-long learners and never feeling like we are all set, and that comes with a commitment to training and development. The beneficiary of this work is our customers and vendor partners as they get to experience the very best from our people.
EM: How would you describe the culture at your company?
LAUREN WOOD: Passionate, fun, driven and collaborative. We have a group of super intelligent and wildly creative folks that all believe in one another. I think we’ve done a great job at creating a culture that celebrates everyone’s skill set while also encouraging folks to speak up and be heard. No one can really sit back and be a passenger. Disagreements and challenging conversations are welcomed. This is how we grow as an organization in the best interest of our clients, partners and one another. This type of relentless collaboration and passion translates in our conversations with clients. They know and can feel that we have their best interests in mind with a bit of fun sprinkled throughout.
“Each project is shaped by its event location, timing, and client expectations, all of which demand careful management—from setting realistic expectations to navigating complex implementation challenges. We view every project as a distinct opportunity through our unique perspective.”
–Michael McMahon, President & CEO
EM: How would you describe the creative process at H&P?
MIKE VALLONE: Relentlessly collaborative. It sounds cliché, but it’s how we operate every day, across every department. We begin with a Brand Discussion that starts at 30,000 feet, capturing the big picture, then drill down into the details. It’s an engaged conversation with our clients, our vendors, and our internal team, all bringing ideas to the table. That back-and-forth energy is where the magic happens.
Our designers take the vision and run with it, balancing form and function, then toss it back to the client for feedback, refinements, and “what ifs.” The process is dynamic and iterative. It’s fluid, creative, and always in motion. And we don’t stop when the design is approved. We stay involved through branding, graphics, install, showtime, and even post-show breakdown. It’s a creative partnership that keeps getting better every time.
EM: What are the biggest mistakes clients make with their exhibit programs?
MICHAEL MCMAHON: We work across a wide variety of industries, which complicates over-arching questions suggesting do’s and don’ts. Speaking freely, there are some misguided assumptions that any ambitious brand representative can make when doing this work.
- Lighter is cheaper.
- Price transparency provides a higher level of control.
- Money saving solutions are similar from location to location.
- Compressing time frames, or eliminating steps will save resources
EM: Sean, what new or exciting design or fabrication techniques, technologies or materials are you exploring?
SEAN PULERA: I think that the most obvious new and exciting technology that has emerged in our industry is the use of AI. In my opinion this is equal parts exciting and scary. The ability to use AI in our work can be a great asset and I think people need to invest time into what the benefits of this will be from an ideation and efficiency perspective. Being able to shorten the time to get the creative juices flowing and streamline some of the ways we use our tech stack will be a great benefit to organizations like ours.
Where I worry is that in the world of face-to-face engagements, AI will become the crutch that people lean on to what sometimes is the hardest work, which is the collaboration and, in the weeds, strategic planning that is so critical to our roles as event professionals. For slow adapters like me I go into this with caution, but I am excited to see where this can take us as an industry.
“No one can really sit back and be a passenger. Disagreements and challenging conversations are welcomed.”
–Lauren Wood, VP-Growth & Development
EM: And how are you helping clients win big at trade shows?
SEAN PULERA: We provide two of the most underrated superpowers out there: time and space. Our end-to-end, all-in approach takes the pressure off the logistics so our clients can zero in on what really matters: goals, strategy, and impact. When you’re not buried in execution details, you have the bandwidth to make smart moves that actually drive results. Add to that our 30 years of experience and a deep curiosity about each client’s business, and we’re not just building a booth. We’re building momentum. Every interaction, every detail, and every conversation is tailored and intentional. We believe in rethinking ROI—not just Return on Investment, but Return on Intention. Because when you have a partner who truly understands your business and gives you the freedom to focus on the big picture, that’s when the wins start to stack up.
EM: Let’s talk sustainability.
MICHAEL MCMAHON: Our Board of Director membership in the Experiential Designers and Producers Association (EDPA) has helped us participate in the discussion and communication guidance for sustainability practices across our entire organization. The EDPA has published a flipbook in collaboration with ESCA, EIC and CSSI on Sustainability Guidance for Exhibition Stand Construction, and we are working to improve our practices across our entire organization.
- Ongoing usage of reusable recyclable materials
- Energy efficiency practices in all facilities, Boston, Las Vegas and Orlando
- Utilization of partnership recycling programs for Carpets and Styrene material recovery
- Multi project shipping consolidation.
Here in the US, our trade show and exhibition practices have been determined to be among the most sustainable in the world. Of course, new strides are being made as more and more inter association communication unfolds.
“Our end-to-end, all-in approach takes the pressure off the logistics so our clients can zero in on what really matters: goals, strategy, and impact.”
–Sean Pulera, VP-Brand Experience
EM: What are some of the ways you’re positioned, short-term and long-term? Strategies you’re exploring? New out-of-the box ideas?
MIKE VALLONE: We’re building for growth with a focused mindset: do less, better. In the short term, that means staying committed to delivering exceptional work through a high-performing team that thrives under pressure and consistently follows through.
In the long term, our strategy centers on people. We’ve made significant investments in training, mentorship, and partnering with those who share our high standards. In the experiential space, talent is everything.
We’re also closely tracking how events are evolving. Today’s attendees expect personalized, unexpected moments, and we’re embracing that shift by crafting experiences that are both customized and scalable.
Looking ahead, we envision a future where collaboration drives both creativity and innovation. That’s why we’re investing in the tools, talent, and partnerships that will elevate our work and help propel our clients’ brands into new opportunities. For us, growth isn’t just about scale; it’s about doing better work, with exceptional people, for the right reasons.
“We’ve made significant investments in training, mentorship, and partnering with those who share our high standards. In the experiential space, talent is everything.”
–Mike Vallone, VP-Creative & Brand
EM: What are the biggest opportunities for event marketers across the spectrum of fabrication and events?
MICHAEL MCMAHON: This is my kind of question, as I am confident that the future is bright in experiential marketing and within the extended experiential economy.
The past fifteen years have been a proving ground for the exploding availability of handheld content and engagement. In spite of the personal access to gamification in all its forms, and the constant access to input and reward marketing, people still prefer to engage in person. That is something that excites us.
We are entering an age where a more sophisticated business population will become faster at technological adoption as the distant analogue world disappears. 100% of our audiences are armed with flexible and accommodating tools. Here at Hill & Partners, we will leverage many of the newest innovations with appropriate timing, and then add our people and process to the mix in ways that will raise the game for our clients.
Typically, we adopt new technologies and offerings when favorable data is in, so that our brand clients aren’t beta testing with their investments. This slightly conservative approach aligns well with our business today and into that bright future I mentioned earlier. We seek to avoid chasing shiny objects, however, if a trend, technology or experience is selected to contribute to our project design, we are always confident that those decisions will perform.
