Event furniture hire means equipping a stand, a reception area or a corporate evening with furniture hired for the duration of the event, delivered on site and collected again after the breakdown. For an exhibitor, this avoids buying seating and counters that would then need storing between two trade shows.
Not all services are alike. Some hire firms keep an item by item catalogue: seating, tables, reception counters, bars and buffets, storage units, accessories and lighting, which the exhibitor puts together piece by piece. Others offer ready made sets for a given stand format. Others again attach the hire to a temporary space fit out service, or even to a technical production where furniture is just one line item alongside audiovisual and scenography.
This page brings together the five event furniture hire providers referenced by Agoris. They are based in several French regions, and the head office address alone does not say how far a hire firm delivers: the question is worth asking from the outset, even before browsing a catalogue. Since furniture is rarely the only item on a stand, the neighbouring pages complete the search: stand builders for the structure, in Paris as in Lyon, and audiovisual providers in Paris for screen and sound.
Hire or buy the furniture for your stand?
Hire covers the duration of the event: the furniture arrives ready to install and leaves again after the breakdown. Buying is only worth considering for an exhibitor who rebuilds the same stand several times a year and who has somewhere to store it and a means of transporting it. As soon as the stand format changes from one show to the next, hiring avoids being left with a stock of furniture that no longer fits the next space.
What to send the hire firm before ordering?
The dimensioned stand plan, showing where the storage areas, counters and circulation routes sit, and the number of people to be received at once. The exhibition venue's regulations are also needed, since they set delivery times, dock access and safety requirements. A catalogue can be browsed quickly, but an order placed without a plan often ends with furniture that does not fit the space hired.
Who delivers and sets up the furniture on the stand?
Depending on the provider, delivery is made to the foot of the stand or with full set up, then collected again after the breakdown. This is a point worth confirming in writing, along with the corresponding time slots: during a show's build up, the loading docks are saturated and a missed slot is hard to make up. It is also worth clarifying who signs the delivery note and who steps in if an item is missing on arrival.
Go through the stand builder or contact the hire firm directly?
Both work. A stand builder who designs and builds the structure often includes furniture in the offer, leaving a single point of contact for the whole stand. Contacting a hire firm directly gives more latitude over the catalogue and the style sought. In that case, it is worth making sure the stand builder and the hire firm are working from the same plan and the same build up schedule.