Tips for designing an effective

Amnesty International
IDEAS FAIR Display

The Ideas Fair is a way for your group to showcase unique, strong events and actions, as well as how
you planned and organized the events and their results. The Fair offers you a way to share your
experience and ideas, serving as an inspiration and action guide for others.

Displayed in a prominent location at the Regional Conference, the exhibits are created by Local
Groups, Student Groups, Volunteer Leaders, and others to showcase ideas and actions. Most people
will be inclined to spend only a couple of minutes looking at an exhibit, so you need to grab their
attention and hold it!

SO… Keep your display very SIMPLE, using as few words as possible with clear, large
headings and lettering, and a few eye-catching photos or pictures.

Plan to use a standard tri-fold (24”x36”) display board and prepare headings and content following the
steps below.

STEP 1. Who are you? your group’s name and location.

STEP 2. What do you wish to show? Tabling for Shi Tao, concert for Immigrant Rights,
Demonstration for Worker’s Rights, etc.

STEP 3. What did you do to organize your event? Outline (no details) the main steps you took to
carry out the event, such as obtaining police permission, preparing the program, preparing signage,
advertising with local media, etc.

STEP 4. Show your event! Use large colorful pictures with brief, clear explanatory captions.

STEP 5. State what made the event a success, such as the number of people attending, number of
signatures on a petition, number of people interested in joining your group as a result, publicity
earned by event in community, etc.

STEP 6. Lay out your materials (headings, text, pictures, captions) on your tri-fold board.

Use the center for the name of your group, the theme of the event and to show the event itself. Use
the two sides, one for the outline of the steps you took to organize, and the second for an account of
what made the event a success.

The Western Regional Office has a limited number of tri-folds groups can borrow so you do not need
to carry one on a plane or train and you can assemble your exhibit once you arrive at the conference.
This is quickly and easily done if you have planned the layout of your materials in detail at home. Use
rubber cement to attach your display so the materials can be removed and the board reused.
Contact Sara Schmidt in the Western Regional Office at 415-288-1865 if you have any questions!
(Prepared by Group 463 – Las Vegas NM, Oct 2010)