4 MWC Production Problems You Don't Want to Discover in Barcelona
What six years at Fira Gran Via has taught us about freight, sustainability, rigging and the deadlines that can make or break a build.
By Phil Hodgetts, Head of Production, Collaborate Global
Some of the most expensive production problems at Mobile World Congress start months before anyone arrives in Barcelona.
Freight gets booked too late, sustainability is considered after the design has been signed off, or a concept is approved before anyone has checked whether the rigging will actually work. None of these decisions feels particularly significant in isolation, but at the scale of MWC they can have a very real impact on the budget and build programme further down the line.
Collaborate has been producing at Fira Gran Via for the past six years, and there are a few things we’ve learned are worth addressing early. Here are four I’d want any client to consider before setting the budget and signing off the design.
1. Get freight sorted early
Freight is often dealt with later in a project, once there’s a clearer idea of exactly what needs to move. At MWC, it pays to start those conversations much earlier.
There are several stages involved in getting goods into Fira Gran Via, including processing, marshalling and pre-booked arrival slots. If those arrangements are left too late, you’re working around whatever options remain, which can have a knock-on effect on the build schedule and potentially push labour into overtime.
For clients shipping from the UK, carnets add another layer because they can only be issued once you have a finished goods list and values. That doesn’t mean you need to know the contents of every box months in advance, but you can confirm the freight forwarder and processing arrangements early, then work towards a firm internal deadline for the near-final goods list.
It’s a relatively simple bit of forward planning, but it can save a lot of unnecessary pressure once the build begins.
2. Think about what happens to the stand afterwards
Sustainability decisions are much easier to make while a stand is being designed than when you’re standing in the hall preparing to take it apart.
Reusable structures, local manufacturing, recyclable materials and the derig and waste plan should all be part of the early production conversation. MWC and Fira rightly put sustainability high on the agenda, but thinking about it early also tends to result in better production decisions.
If you already know which elements can be reused, what can be manufactured locally and where materials will go after the show, those considerations can inform the build from the beginning. Leave them until derig and the available options become much more limited, usually at the point when changing course is also more expensive.
We try to design the stand’s exit at the same time as its entrance.
3. Check what’s above you before everyone falls in love with the render
Rigging at Fira Gran Via has to work within the infrastructure, rigging points and load capacities available in each hall, so any concept that relies heavily on what’s happening overhead needs to be checked while the idea is still being developed.
If you discover a constraint at that stage, it simply becomes part of the creative process and the team can design around it. Discover the same constraint once the render has been approved and you’re potentially redesigning something the client already believes they’re getting.
That’s why production needs to be involved early. It isn’t about making ambitious ideas less ambitious; it’s about understanding the parameters early enough that the creative and production teams can work out the best way to make the ambition buildable.
4. Treat the deadlines as part of the build
There are a lot of deadlines attached to a show the size of MWC, covering everything from rigging and freight to contractor access and accreditation. They can look like administrative tasks sitting around the edge of the project, but missing one can quickly affect everything downstream.
Accreditation is a good example. It’s hardly the part of an MWC project anyone gets excited about, but if it isn’t handled properly you can end up with a client executive standing outside the hall they’re supposed to be hosting in.
The important thing is making sure every critical deadline has a clear owner and that the wider team understands what depends on it. Time lost onsite has a habit of becoming additional labour, compromises to the build and, ultimately, additional cost.
Experience pays off before opening morning
After six years producing at Fira Gran Via, experience doesn’t mean assuming nothing will go wrong. If anything, it means having a much better idea of where problems are likely to come from and dealing with them while there’s still time to do something about them.
You start asking certain questions earlier, you know which details can’t be allowed to drift, and you recognise when a seemingly small decision in pre-production could become a much more expensive issue onsite.
That’s why we like to bring production into an MWC project early. The purpose isn’t to constrain the creative idea, but to make sure the idea that gets approved is one we know how to deliver, within the budget and without unnecessary surprises once the team gets to Barcelona.
By opening morning, the production work should largely be invisible. The people walking onto the stand should simply experience what everyone set out to create.
