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Tracy, hi!

I'd go for the larger range of $300 - $1,200+/sq. ft.

I think, tho', that it's crucial to think through the whole presentation
you will do - including especially how strongly you will staff the
exhibition with floor staff - Explainers, Hosts or whatever you call them.

At two extremes, 

a.)  Stand-alone exhibits (i.e. no floor staff) with really good
interactive experiences but "hardened" for unsupervised use - $1,200+/sq.
ft.

b.)  Simple exhibits with many "loose parts" and strong presence of floor
staff - as low as $300/sq. ft.

I believe that the second option is much the better from the visitors' and
educational/stimulation viewpoints,- but staffing the floor with paid or
volunteer staff is a heavy commitment in dollars and/or organization time. 
In the trade-off between capital expenditure and staffing costs, I'd go
towards the latter - but of course, capital dollars are famously easier to
raise than are annual operating dollars, so CEO's are understandably
cautious about staffing costs.  There are ways of packaging staffing
programs so that they look more like a capital program with a tangible
presence.

Apologies that the above is a gross simplification of the situation, but I
think it has the core presentation issue in it.

Good luck!

Peter Anderson

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