ABSTRACT
No exhibit lasts for ever, though some may have a longer life than others. This poses rather more of a problem to exhibitors who set out to communicate ideas than to those whose sole object is to display objects regardless of the fact that there is more to seeing than meets the eyeball. Ideas proliferate and old ones are supplanted by new ones, so the message which an exhibitor seeks to convey, be it explicit or implicit, is continually evolving, as are the media employed. Relatively little is known about communicating ideas effectively through exhibits. Sometimes an exhibit is barely set up when it becomes obvious that there is more than a grain of truth in the old adage, ‘If it works it’s out of date’. Exhibits can always be improved, but only if the necessary money and people are available. We make the fundamental assumption that there is always a shortage of money and the right people to develop and produce exhibits, so the best possible use must be made of their time. Our concern in this chapter is, therefore, with the problem of matching the size of the team to the exhibition area for which it is responsible, in the light of its modus operandi.
