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PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Start early. Finish on a high.

A TYPICAL PLANNING CYCLE

Christmas, like winter, is always coming. Thinking early about what you want to achieve is time well spent, saving you time and stress the closer you get to that all important period of the year. Today, AI is an amazing tool for helping develop ideas and visuals for your venue or space. You may have ideas from other locations. Or you may feel a little at a loss.

Below, we’ve outlined a process that may help in the form of a case study based on the image at the top of this page.

DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES

Start by clarifying the purpose of your display. What are you trying to achieve and who is your audience? For the purposes of this case study, we went to AI with an idea to enhance a function room for Christmas parties, using a contemporary ice white theme. Here’s the exact prompt we used and the mock up it produced:

I have a party venue and would like to create a back wall that incorporates a Christmas feature with Christmas trees with ice white lights (no other decorations) of varying heights, and shiny silver baubles at their base and artificial snow. This room would be atmospherically lit for a Christmas party.

We loved this, and decided to go ahead on producing a photo shoot based on this idea.

yOU HAVE THE IDEA, NOW CONSIDER YOUR SPACE

What are the dimensions you’re working to? What is the ceiling height? Electrical supply? Does the floor need to be protected? What health and safety requirements do you have?

Clearly, if your space is 10m wide where you want to set up your display, the AI supplied mock up is about twice the width required! Our photo area is less than 5m wide, so this constrains the size of the installation. You may have similar, or other, constraints – build these into your planning at an early stage to avoid heading off down time consuming dead ends.

SET YOUR BUDGET AND TIMELINE

If you have a set budget, then you’ll probably have an idea whether it is appropriate for the ambition of your display idea. We’ll also be able to help with that aspect if needed. It’s important not to underestimate the costs involved – but it’s also worth remembering that these products are high quality and will be available to use again for many years to come. To illustrate, the goods in the image above would cost approximately £2,000 excluding VAT to buy – links to all those products are below this article.

If your display requires bespoke products, then your timeline will be a long one, involving specifying your requirements, identifying the best source or manufacturer, getting samples and confirming the order. However, the vast majority of displays can be achieved using our core range of products – as is the case with the photo shoot featured here.

When it comes to set up, don’t underestimate how long this will take! Nothing ever goes 100% smoothly, but even if it does, these things take time and thought. For reference, our “Christmas forest” photo shoot took around 15 hours of set up time, divided between two members of staff.

LET’S HAVE A CHAT

We’re happy to talk to you at any point in your planning process, but now is the perfect time. We can help match your ideas and expectations with proposed budgets, timescales and implementation plans. We can sound the alarm bells if necessary, or suggest enhancements. If you’re really stuck, we may just be able to get you up and running.

We’ll advise you on what products you need and how best to install and use them. We’ll even help with advice on the tiniest detail of setup, such as the accessories you’ll need – never underestimate the value of having a roll of good strong nylon thread to hand!

DELIVERY AND INSTALLATION

Now comes the practical stuff. Order well in advance to make sure nothing unexpected comes between you and your installation day, especially if you’re using outside contractors.

If you’re doing the job in-house, you’re going to need some basic tools and accessories – see nylon thread above, but a decent pair of scissors, duct tape, extension cables, cable ties and hooks of various types are invaluable.

Talk to us again if you need to – our experience of working with these products means we can often save you time and hassle when it comes to installation. Our Christmas forest shoot above, for instance, uses the ubiquitous nylon thread to hold the baubles in place, something that is just about visible in the close up.

RESULTS

Sadly, DZD isn’t a party venue, and doesn’t have a function room, but once we’d finished our setup and done our photos, we went back to AI and asked it to place our finished image into a Christmas party. From initial idea to final result, we were happy!

TO SUMMARISE

We hope this case study based planning guide is of use in mapping out your Christmas display project.

The key messages are:

Plan early
Use the tools available to you to develop your idea, including AI, other places and us here at DZD
Make sure you plan out the installation as well as the idea and purchasing