Trade show exhibits are an outstanding platform for promoting and elevating your company. Leveraging your brand with the proper booth size, location, and components can encourage show attendees to engage within those confines. Let’s look at some of the best tactics and strategies to achieve a positive ROI and create the most engaging trade show booth possible.
Building an engaging trade show booth
The success of a trade show booth design can be determined, in large part, by how much interest it generates as attendees walk by. Some of the more obvious signs are how well your exhibit draws traffic from all parts of the show floor.
Can it be seen easily from a distance? Does the overall structure and graphics compel the viewer to head towards the location from afar? Does it have enough visual appeal once inside the booth space to encourage interaction and overall curiosity? These are important points to keep in mind when the exhibiting design process begins months before the show dates.
An interactive experience for everyone
These days, as we all are aware, the more interactive the overall experience is within a given floor space – the more engaging that trade show booth will be. Making sure that all attendees can take part in this interaction can be a challenge, so keep that in mind. Keeping within your budget doesn’t have to be an issue with some brainstorming.
Here are some great ways to help make these interactive ambitions become a reality. The overall gamification of your exhibit space is going to draw attention. There are user experience professionals that specialize in just this art form, and they can help flesh out ideas that suit your goals and ensure your trade show booth is engaging. This allows you some freedom to not just rely on your large format graphics for visual appeal.
Interactive kiosks, running hourly contests, and giving booth attendees ways to build their own experience within the exhibit space with touchscreens and tangible tasks will make your booth stand out from the simple ones that lack this type of engagement. Don’t be afraid to try new approaches that stay within your business goals.
Remember also to make sure your booth accounts for those with visual and hearing impairments. Thoughtful steps that include all attendees can set you apart from the rest.
Confidence building education during and after the show
Another very effective way to not only promote your brand but to generate additional interest in overall education. If you are attending as an exhibitor you definitely should have a story to tell, and these can be great confidence builders for attendees learning about exactly what your company excels at.
Some great ideas are mini-seminars on particular topics that your company has demonstrated expertise in. Kiosks that play interactive programs, timelines that tell the history of your company and the strength of your brand are just a few places to start.
These experiences, if presented thoughtfully, will stay with your trade show booth attendees long after the show has ended.
Staff that care deeply about the company and its values
Not enough can be said about the importance of a passionate exhibit team. They can make the biggest difference and build the most memorable experience for any attendee. That interaction, the one between patron and business representatives, can usurp all of the technology and all of the flashy graphics. Being heard and seen, questions answered and leaving a booth space with very positive feelings will be the most important.
Conclusion
We hope these ideas will help you and your creative team build an engaging trade show booth with a thoughtful and interactive experience for the show attendees.
Matt Smith has been a professional Graphic and User Experience designer for over 28 years who works closely with trade show and event companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Denver Colorado.