Event logistics: a practical guide to moving gear, stock, and installations on deadline

Event logistics is a quiet part of the removals world. It's less visible than house moves but the stakes are high: if the gear doesn't arrive on time, the show doesn't happen.

Here's what we've learned moving exhibition stands, gallery installs, art pieces, and trade-show equipment across the UK.

Plan the timeline backward from the show

Opening time is fixed. Everything else is calculated from that. Work backward:

Show opens → final staging done by → installation finishes by → installation starts → gear arrives on site → gear leaves yard → gear is loaded.

Leave slack at both ends. Traffic, access permits, and loading-bay availability all eat time.

Access and loading

Most event venues have specific loading bays with specific windows. Book them. Get it in writing. Know the dimensions of the lifts and the corridors. Big pieces often need to come in before interior partitions go up.

For trade shows, ask the organiser for the logistics manual. It's a boring PDF but it tells you exactly what vehicles fit, when you can load and unload, and what paperwork you need.

Fragility and protection

Exhibition pieces are often one-offs and cost far more to replace than a house move's worth of furniture. Pack like a museum: individual wrapping, padding, flight cases where possible, crate the expensive stuff.

For galleries specifically, handle with gloves. Fingerprints matter.

Paperwork

For valuable items crossing county lines: inventory with condition report, photos before loading, signed handover at both ends. Makes insurance claims simpler and discourages sloppy handling.

On the day

Have one person in charge of the logistics. Not a venue liaison, not a client contact, but one person on your side whose entire job is making sure the gear arrives and gets unloaded in the right order.

Build time for things to go wrong. Something always does.

Working with Marley Moves

We do event logistics across the south west and London: galleries, exhibitions, trade shows, one-off specialist pieces. Get in touch at least three weeks ahead of the show and we'll build the plan around your timeline.

For a behind-the-scenes look at how this works in practice, here is how we handle a real gallery or exhibition move, from the planning window to the insured, photo-logged handover.