Executive Summary
For Indo Pacific 2025 at ICC Sydney, QinetiQ picked a 12×6 m peninsula stand right opposite the Theatrette, the prime territory for catching every wave of post-session foot traffic. Their brief called for an immersive, dynamic capability display with advanced engagement options, all built into a modular stand ready for future defence events.
Expo Centric delivered with a capability-led, AV-driven space anchored by a 3.5×2.5 m immersive LED zone, modular Aluvision structures, and smart spatial planning, turning the space into a high-impact capability showcase.
The Client
QinetiQ is a global defence and security company known for mission-led innovation across engineering, R&D, test and evaluation, and threat representation.
Their goal for Indo Pacific 2025 was clear: to give visitors insight and understanding of their capability offering through a structured, engaging, and strategically designed brand experience.
The Challenge
Indo Pacific attracts the world’s most competitive defence exhibitors, and 12x6m can become invisible fast without strong design logic.
QinetiQ’s challenge involved four key constraints:
- A strategically chosen back-of-hall position, directly opposite the Theatrette: high traffic but also high movement and noise.
- A compact 12×6 m footprint in a show where heavyweights often occupy triple the size.
- Multiple capability pillars needing to translate into one cohesive, easy-to-navigate brand story.
- A tender requirement for a modular stand and an immersive, dynamic, out-of-the-box sensory experience with advanced engagement options.
The stand needed to perform like a flagship build while respecting budget, scale, and future-use efficiency.
The Strategy
1 | Capability-Led Zoning
The design centred on QinetiQ’s four core offerings:
- Engineering & Innovation
- Research & Development
- Test & Evaluation
- Threat Representation
Each zone combined concise content, interactive display elements, and hero models, including GTR “Hammerhead” and LDEW Dragonfire, ensuring complex technology became visually clear, tactile, and relatable.
This structure gave visitors a guided but flexible discovery path, allowing quick orientation and deep engagement.
2 | Immersive AV Experience
At the heart of the stand, Expo Centric delivered the immersive, dynamic, out-of-the-box sensory experience through a purpose-built Immersive Experience Zone:
- 5m×2.5m LED wall, integrated seamlessly into the structure
- Mirrored side walls and ceiling to extend depth, scale, and movement
- High-impact content showcasing QinetiQ capability narratives
To support more tailored conversations, the AV setup also included a switch that allowed QinetiQ staff to change the video content on demand. The stand featured a main video loop plus four additional capability videos that could be selected as needed during discussions, ensuring the immersive experience aligned directly with the visitor’s area of interest.
3 | Modular & Reusable Build
The entire structure was built using Expo Centric’s Aluvision modular system, satisfying the client’s requirement for:
- Reusability across future Australian and international shows
- Flexible reconfiguration depending on footprint
- Cost-efficient long-term capability
- Consistent brand presence across regions
The modular design ensured QinetiQ could scale its presence without redesigning from scratch, an important value driver stated in the brief.
4 | Smart Spatial Flow for Theatrette Traffic
Positioned opposite the Theatrette, the stand leveraged predictable audience surges as sessions transitioned.
The peninsula layout created multiple access points, enabling visitors to naturally filter into:
- Capability zones
- Immersive LED experience
- Café interaction point
- Informal seating
- Meeting spaces
This flow turned the stand into a natural continuation of theatre movement, maximising visibility and minimising congestion.
5 | Engagement Tools That Serve Strategy
While defence exhibiting is often formal, QinetiQ’s brief indicated the need for active dwell-time drivers.
Expo Centric positioned a reception and café point, complete with a popcorn machine, at the front corner to draw visitors in and create a natural pause point within the stand, enabling:
- Efficient greeting
- Smooth hospitality management
- Increased comfort and dwell
- Traffic magnetism during peak times
During Day One, the LED screen broadcast the Melbourne Cup live, creating a social moment that drew extra foot traffic and boosted engagement.
Each hospitality element was designed to guide movement and conversation in line with QinetiQ’s objectives.
The Results
Despite its back-hall placement, the stand performed like a prime-location build:
- Consistent traffic driven by theatre adjacency + intuitive flow
- High dwell time at capability zones and the immersive LED experience
- Clear capability engagement: visitors understood what QinetiQ does and why it matters
- Positive feedback from the client team and industry attendees
- Effective meeting spaces that supported scheduled and impromptu discussions
- Modular assets ready for redeployment at future events
The stand quickly became recognised for its clarity, design logic, and capability-focused energy.
Lead the Floor from Any Corner of It
Every major show has brands that blend in, and brands that define the pace. QinetiQ chose the latter.
If you’re ready to build a stand that performs regardless of location, footprint, or show conditions, our team is ready to design it.
Let’s build your next capability experience.