The exhibit hall, which was empty yesterday, is filled with hundreds of booths. There’s music playing, lights flashing, graphics dancing across screens. Staff with name badges and tablets are eagerly waiting for the doors to open and for attendees to flood in. Everybody is looking for the same thing: engagement, and a lot of it.
Of course, when the trade show is filled with booths, each with their own design and goals, standing out is easier said than done.
Keep reading to learn the 5 keys to a wow worthy trade show booth and how they’ll help your booth get as much engagement as possible.
1. Make it Attention Grabbing
You have roughly 10 seconds, maybe less, to grab an attendee’s attention as they pass by your trade show booth. During those 10 seconds, you need to intrigue them enough to make them stop by. And this is all while the booths around you are trying to do the exact same thing. So how can you make sure your booth stands out and draws them in?
Trade show booths may have previously had a traditional look and feel. You can probably picture it. Branded colors, products, maybe a display screen, and some event graphics. Those days are long gone.
With creative applications of different event technologies, there are really very few limits to what you can do, which has drastically changed the game.
The use of modular framing systems have made it so that custom desks with full LED displays are cost effective and easy to deploy. Structures can now be made entirely of visuals, tunnels with photo ops that attendees use to enter your booth can be deployed, and booths can easily be transformed into something unique, textured, and unexpected. The sky is really the limit (especially when you consider how easy it is to make two-story displays part of your booth.
Speaking of, utilizing vertical spaces is one of the best ways you can make your booth stand out from a distance.
Most trade show booths are approximately the same size (unless a group is paying to use multiple spaces), and frequently the same height. What will draw the eye from across the room? Something that rises ABOVE the rest (not figuratively – literally) and can be spotted from far away.
Maybe it’s a sign with the company name or that advertises the experience. Maybe it’s a cool visual or piece of equipment that makes people say, “huh, I wonder what that giant goal post is for. Maybe I should go check it out.”
These vertical displays also help lead people to your booth. Because they can see where you are, even from far away, it’ll be much easier to navigate to your team in a crowded room.
Another part of making your booth attention grabbing is making it accessible for attendees. If they can understand what your booth is (who’s hosting it, what’s happening at the booth, etc.) with a quick glance, they’re much more likely to stop by. Make sure it’s clear who is hosting your booth, what attendees can expect when they walk up to you, and what knowledge they’ll walk away with. Small print with too many details muddy your visuals and make it harder for attendees to understand why a visit to your booth will benefit them.
Save the detailed graphics and small print for attendees who have already approached your booth and keep primary displays flashy, easy to read, and very, very clear.
The last, and arguably the most important aspect to an attention grabbing trade show booth design? High-end, polished AV. Why? Because you want your booth to stand out for the right reasons. Sharp graphics, clear displays, and a cohesive design looks professional. A glitching screen, fuzzy visuals, and scratchy audio automatically gives the impression that the booth offers a smooth experience. As an attendee, which one would you rather spend your time at?
2. Interactive Experiences
Sure, a great LED display that shows eye-catching content is a great backdrop for a conversation with attendees. Not to mention, it’ll go a long way to draw people to your booth. But it won’t necessarily keep them there, or provide an experience that they’ll remember.
So how can you give everyone who stops by your trade show booth a memorable experience? By giving them something they can do instead of simply watch or hear. It makes their involvement active instead of passive.
Consider using interactive LED for games, competitions, or just to allow attendees to explore your products and services. Whether it’s a walk that attendees can touch or a floor they can walk on, interactive LED is fun and exciting while giving attendees an opportunity to interact more with your brand. For example, if you’re a company with home solutions, let attendees walk through an imaginary floor plan that shows your touch points. Trust us, they’ll learn far more than they would from a pamphlet.
A big part of interactive experiences is gamification. This can go hand-in-hand with LED surfaces because of the ways they can be used for games, but there are other ways to gamify your booth, too. VR and AR allow attendees to enter virtual environments, while tried and true games like trivia give attendees something fun to do.
Even activities like hands-on product demos, either done with real-live products, using mock scenarios, or even interactive electronics allow attendees to dive in deeper to your organization, and in a way that will be more memorable than simply hearing or reading about it.
But if you really want to take it to the next level? Consider offering incentives. And remember: incentives don’t need to be big to make it fun.
We all remember going to the arcade as kids (and maybe still do – no judgment here). The games that people were always drawn to the most are the ones that have the potential to get a lot of tickets. We all know that the vast majority of what you can get with those tickets is, well, crap that takes up space in your home. And yet, everybody wants to win tickets.
Why? Because it’s fun to work towards something and it’s fun to win. Adding incentives works with any of the above ideas. Maybe they’re competing against other attendees for one big prize and the winner will be contacted after the trade show with information on claiming it (bonus: attendees have to sign up for a contact list if they want to be eligible for the prize!). Maybe a certain score or result has the ability to get several attendees prizes throughout the event. Either way, giving attendees a tangible prize to work towards makes the competitions that much more inviting.
3. Strategic Layouts
You want to attract a crowd to your booth, which means you need to have somewhere to put them. If the booth is too crowded and they can’t even approach your team or the experience, or feel like they’re blocking all of the walkways nearby, they may just move along with or without the intention of coming back later.
Aim for an open layout that can accommodate several people at once with natural waiting areas for the people who are next in the cue. Perhaps there are some comfortable places to sit where they can look at content, a photo wall they can pose in front of, or an activity they can do while they wait.
Of course, clearing up floor space when you already have limited real estate for your booth isn’t always easy. But there are a few easy ways to make that happen.
Do you remember all of that vertical space that attracts attention and draws people to your booth? It’s also a great way to remove branding and visuals that crowd the floor. You can even have LED ceilings sharing information or branding, giving more space to the people who need it – your attendees.
Ultimately, you want to make sure your space is designed in a way that draws people in AND functions – not one that looks cool but is cramped, crowded, and uncomfortable.
4. Use Engaging Content
You have big, bold, bright surfaces. Make sure everything you’re putting on them is worthy of the display.
If you have screens in unique sizes, shapes, or orientations, make sure your content, from graphics to videos, is built to maximize and emphasize that. There’s no bigger bummer than having an ultra-wide LED wall and PIPing a bunch of 16×9 content.
Instead of static graphics, use motion graphics, animations, and even video elements to draw people in. Utilize fun transitions. If your displays wrap around corners, make sure your content does, too.
Of course you want your content to stay on brand and be easy to read, but it should also be bright, bold, and exciting.
5. Make it Clear Who You Are
The point of your trade show booth is to draw people in. But why? Having great experiences, video content, and graphics is great, even essential to the success of your booth. But if people don’t walk away knowing who was responsible for that awesome [insert experience here] they just did, the experience you spent time and money creating will have made an impact, but your organization won’t get the benefit from that.
You want to increase brand awareness and start a conversation, so make sure it’s clear who you are.
Your logo, products, and services should be displayed at several touch points. Consider having simple swag, especially swag that is useful during a trade show like pens, branded canvas bags, and lanyards readily available.
When possible, try to make sure the experiences you’re giving attendees relate to your organization so that when they look back on the event, they’re able to make a natural, intuitive connection.
Most importantly, make sure you have a plan for capturing leads efficiently and effectively. A digital platform tends to be more effective (and easier after the event) than a paper sign-up sheet. Don’t be afraid to incentivize attendees to share their information. Maybe they’ll get a discount on a product, a chance to win a prize, or become eligible to compete in an interactive activity.
Regardless of what you do, make sure you have a plan to get people into your system so you can turn them into your customers.
Bonus – Consider Giveaways
Yes, we already mentioned prizes for competitions as well as swag – but this giveaway is somewhere between a big incentive prize and a small item.
Having some swag, especially swag they’ll really use in their daily life, has a way of drawing people in. Water bottles, sweatshirts, and backpacks are something people will genuinely want to take home, while interactive swag, like custom decals or accessories for their tech that they can create with your team allows you to host an interactive activity while making sure they walk away with something that has your logo on it.
Do you have an upcoming trade show and want to make sure your booth is the talk of the event? Contact us today to learn more about what solutions will help your organization shine!