Photographing Your Stand at IFEMA MADRID: What the Rules Allow and What They Leave Open
Hiring a photographer for your stand at IFEMA MADRID looks like a simple booking. It is not quite one. The venue has written rules about who may photograph what, where a hired photographer may work, and what happens to images taken inside the halls, and those rules change depending on who organises the fair. An exhibitor who knows them books the right hours, gets the right pass and publishes without surprises. One who does not can find the photographer waiting at a turnstile while the fair opens its doors.
This guide sets out what the published IFEMA MADRID rules say, drawn from the documents themselves, and what they leave open. It is written for exhibitors and for the marketing teams who work with them, often based outside Spain, who are planning coverage of a stand in Madrid.
First: who organises the fair
IFEMA MADRID publishes two different sets of rules for exhibitors, and the first question is which one applies to your fair.
- Fairs organised by IFEMA MADRID itself, such as FITUR or MOMAD, follow the General Participation Rules (Normas Generales de Participación). If language versions differ, the Spanish text prevails.
- Fairs organised by an external company that rents the venue follow the Rules for Exhibitors (Reglamento para Expositores), which apply to externally organised fairs. Here the external organiser sets much of the practical detail, and any photography of the venue needs IFEMA's authorisation first.
The name of the organiser is usually printed on the fair's website and in the exhibitor manual. If it is not obvious, ask the exhibitor services team before you book anything, because every later answer depends on it.
What you may photograph inside your stand, and what you may not photograph outside it
At fairs organised by IFEMA MADRID, the General Participation Rules (article 10.1) allow exhibitors to capture images and video inside their own stand, including the activities and products shown there. The same article is just as clear about the other direction: no stand and no product on display may be photographed or filmed by third parties without the authorisation of the exhibitor concerned.
In practice that sets the limits of the brief. Your stand, your products, your team and your guests inside your space fall within what you may photograph; publishing the pictures is covered below. A wide shot that turns into a picture of the neighbouring stand cannot, unless that exhibitor has agreed.
At externally organised fairs, the Rules for Exhibitors (article 10) start from a different position: photographs and filming of the venue need IFEMA's authorisation, while the organiser or the exhibitor may freely photograph what belongs exclusively to their own show or their own stand. Professional photographers hired by the organiser or the exhibitor must keep their work to the space IFEMA has authorised, without photographing installations, objects or people without the authorisation of those concerned.
Your photographer during the stand build
The build days are often the best moment for clean architectural pictures of a stand, before visitors, before brochures on every surface. They are also the moment the site is most like a construction site, and the rules treat it that way.
- The General Participation Rules (article 15) make a safety helmet, a high visibility vest and safety footwear compulsory during build and dismantling in all exhibition areas.
- The same article also requires every company that carries out work or activities in the stand space on the exhibitor's behalf to complete an online occupational risk prevention and business activity coordination form before the build starts. The wording is broad enough to reach a photographer, so confirm it with the organiser early.
- Outside the build and dismantling days and hours set for the fair, materials may not enter or leave and staff may not stay in the venue unless IFEMA expressly authorises it (article 23).
A photographer who arrives with the protective equipment on and the paperwork already sent can start work promptly. One who arrives without it may not start at all.
During the fair: passes and hours
On show days access is controlled, and this is where most avoidable problems sit.
- Unless the fair's own specific rules say otherwise, the General Participation Rules let accredited exhibitors enter the hall from thirty minutes before the scheduled opening time; some fairs, FITUR among them, set a longer window. Whatever its length, it is one of the few moments when an empty, finished stand can still be photographed.
- Exhibitor passes are generally personal. Some IFEMA fair manuals state that they are reserved for the company's own stand staff, and additional passes may carry a cost.
- Press accreditation is issued to media and to qualifying content creators. It is not a route in for a photographer working for an exhibitor.
The press accreditation pages of several IFEMA fairs state that audiovisual producers and agencies working for exhibitors must request an exhibitor pass from their client, so in practice the pass usually comes from your own allocation. Ask the organiser which pass applies, how it is requested and by when, and ask for the answer in writing before you confirm the shoot.
Light, sound and the aisles
Three rules shape how a stand can be lit and photographed while the fair is open.
- Light stays inside the stand. Projecting images or beams of light outside the allocated space is not permitted (article 5.6), and spotlights may not point outwards (article 28).
- Sound has a limit. Noisy demonstrations are prohibited and sound may not exceed sixty decibels measured at the edge of the stand (article 8). A video interview recorded on the stand has to fit within that. At externally organised fairs the organiser sets the limit, and IFEMA recommends the same sixty decibels.
- The aisles stay clear. Aisles are evacuation routes and must remain passable at all times (article 17). Tripods, light stands and bags belong inside the stand, not in the aisle.
Drones at IFEMA MADRID
An aerial view of a stand from inside the hall is an obvious idea, and the rules answer it directly. IFEMA MADRID does not authorise drones in covered indoor spaces such as halls and offices (General Participation Rules, article 25.8). In uncovered areas of the venue, use follows the aviation regulations in force and needs IFEMA's prior authorisation, requested by email from its Trade Fair Services Department (Dirección de Servicios Feriales).
At IFEMA's own fairs, article 25.8 only allows IFEMA to consider indoor use inside a netted area that keeps the aircraft within the stand, and the Rules for Exhibitors at externally organised fairs state the same indoor ban. In practice a high angle view of a stand inside a hall is a matter of lenses, lifts or a vantage point the organiser allows. For flights outside the halls, our guide to drone permits in Madrid explains everything related to the airspace.
Pictures while the fair is still running
A fair lasts a few days, and the people you want to reach are in the halls on those days. A LinkedIn post on the second morning showing a busy stand during the first day works harder than a complete gallery that arrives after dismantling. The same goes for the press office that wants a picture for a release while the fair is still news.
For that reason we plan fair coverage in batches rather than as a single delivery at the end:
- A selection after each fair day, edited for social media and the press office, timed in the quotation around your next morning's posts.
- A same day preview during the fair itself, available as a paid express option booked in advance.
- The complete edited set after the fair, for the website, the sales team and next year's stand brief.
The timing of each batch is fixed in the quotation around your own publishing calendar; we do not promise it in general terms. Tell us when your posts and releases are due, and we plan the coverage around those dates.
If IFEMA photographs you
The rules also run the other way. Under article 10.2 of the General Participation Rules, IFEMA MADRID, together with the media, sponsors and partners it contracts, may take photographs and recordings in which attendees appear incidentally. Images taken by IFEMA's own means may be used for informational, archive, promotional and commercial purposes without any time or geographic limit. Other accredited media may also cover the fair, and they answer for their own use of the images. The same article gives a data protection contact address for anyone who wishes to exercise their rights. At IFEMA's own fairs, some exhibitor manuals also state that the exhibitor authorises IFEMA to reproduce the stand and its products.
None of this stops you commissioning your own coverage. It means your stand may appear in the venue's pictures too, and that is worth knowing before a product is unveiled.
Publishing the images: who answers for what
Article 10.1 of the General Participation Rules places the responsibility on the exhibitor: obtaining any assignments, authorisations or licences that the content may require is the exhibitor's exclusive responsibility. In practice this can include people who appear recognisably in pictures used for advertising, third party brands on the stand, and other elements in the frame that belong to someone else.
The use of the images is also a question of licence between you and your photographer. Our guide to image licensing for commissioned photography sets out what a quotation should name so that a picture taken for a trade fair can also be used on the website, in a catalogue or in next year's campaign.
A checklist before you book
- Confirm who organises the fair, and therefore which rules apply.
- Ask the organiser how a photographer hired by the exhibitor is accredited, on build days and on show days.
- Agree the brief around your own stand, your products and your guests.
- Plan the empty stand shots for the build days or the window before opening.
- Keep lighting, sound and equipment inside the stand.
- Plan indoor aerial views without a drone unless, at a fair organised by IFEMA, it has approved a netted area.
- Set the delivery batches around your posts and press releases.
- Name the licence in the quotation.
We photograph trade fair stands for exhibitors, and a stand at IFEMA MADRID is covered within the space assigned to the photographer an exhibitor hires, as the venue rules require. The corporate event photography page describes how we cover events in Madrid. The name of the fair, the hall, the stand number and the dates are enough to prepare a quotation.
Ask for a quotation for your stand
This content is general information, not legal advice. The rules of each fair, the relevant exhibitor manual and the instructions of the organiser always take precedence.