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Category Archives: Booth design
Have Trade Shows Made You Numb?
The trade show environment is loud. Bright. Flashy. Full of strange imagery and sounds nowhere to be found in the “real world.” (Well … Vegas aside.) It’s enough to overwhelm the senses and dull them to what you’re actually putting before the attendees on the floor—and how that compares to the choices made by every other vendor at the show. If you no longer hear the incessant beeping of badges being scanned, if you’ve gone deaf to the screams of “WHO WANTS A FREE SHIRT?!” … or if you no longer even register the spandex-clad-brand-ambassadors strutting around the show floor, then you may need to rekindle your senses, one at a time.
Stand in front of your own booth and close your eyes. Focus on the sounds from your own personnel and electronics. Focus on the voices and the words of the crowd you’ve gathered. Think about what you hear. Think about what it means for your company and your trade show presence. Next, try a noise-canceling headset and just observe in silence.
Do you want to engage your customers in a conversation? Or do you just want to add to the noise? There’s much you can learn from your own senses … Continue reading
Create a Traffic Jam at Your Booth
You’re driving down the highway. You see a billboard. You glance at it. Then, your eyes are back on the road. You don’t slow down and read the fine print. You don’t pull over and climb the ladder to get a closer look. You just glance at it and it’s gone. Those advertisers know what they’re doing. They KNOW their audience is a moving target with a very small window for impact and success. So, that message has a powerful graphic. It’s simple, with a memorable message. It brands the company and it’s evocative. It’s the classic example of effective high-speed advertising.
And your booth better be the best damn billboard you’ve ever seen! Continue reading
Want Better Trade Show Results This Year? Improvise.
Be careful that you’re not on autopilot with trade show planning, presentations, marketing and booth design. If you’re just going through the motions and making the safe choices you know will get through the approval process, the specter of “trade show death” is already hovering. I mean, if you’re bored, don’t you think that’s reflected in your trade show presence? Don’t you think attendees can pick up on that tedium and strut right on by? Ennui isn’t exactly a trade show aphrodisiac. Continue reading
Auto-Scan Hell – When Knowing ‘Everything’ is Worse Than Knowing ‘Nothing’
They’re at it again. I can personally report from a recent large and well-known trade show that this time they’re armed with massive mounted RFID auto-scan receivers. Yes. It seems that many trade show exhibitors are still on that ill-fated mission to capture the details of EVERY attendee at the show. Sure, right now they’re “only” capturing every attendee in the vicinity of their booth … but why stop there? Just a little more wattage—a little more juice—and you can return to Headquarters touting 40,000 leads from your last show. You. Can. Have. Them. ALL. (Insert diabolical laughter, here.) Continue reading
Are You Being ‘Kid Friendly’ at your trade shows?
Many trade shows don’t allow children. But if you happen to be working one that does, you simply cannot afford to ignore that fact. When children are attendees too, all the rules change for the better. It’s easier to grab a group’s attention. It’s easier to start a conversation. And it’s easier to advance that conversation into rewarding territory. Now, your immediate reaction may be, “Hey, you can’t take advantage of the children!” I wouldn’t dream of it. No, my intention is to always captivate the children: Get them excited. Get them having fun. Get them paying attention. Because you know what? The parents will (and often must) follow. Continue reading
What if You Were the Hottest Thing on the Trade Show Floor?
If you were truly the most important company on the trade show floor (and everybody knew it), you would walk differently. You would talk differently. There’d be a certain swagger and authority you’d bring to every interaction. Even contemplating that notion and conjuring the mental image creates a bit of a shift. It just feels different. And if carried through to the exhibit hall, it’ll look different to everyone around you. Continue reading
What if You Were Googled & it Came Up, ‘Never Heard of ‘Em’?
If no one knew who you were, how would you present your brand? It’s a powerful question for anyone to ask, but it’s especially potent for companies that have been around a long time. What if this was your very first trade show … What if no one knew a thing about what you do or what you stand for. Everything is brand new and shiny: The slogan is new. The identity package is new. The product positioning is new. Consider it a corporate time machine, and you’ve got the key. Continue reading
What the Royal Wedding Can Teach You About Trade Shows
Viewing estimates for the wedding ceremony of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton, at 11 a.m. British time on the dot, hovered in the three billion range, give or take 500 million. How could you possibly generate this kind of interest in your booth, short of having your Head of Marketing marry your Product Manager? Continue reading
Tear Down Your Trade Show Booth
We all want a better trade show booth. We all want to be the hit of the show—the booth that has otherworldly magnetic pull and Gorilla Glue on the carpet keeping those attendees stuck in your space. And we all wish there was an easy way to make that happen.
Well, in some ways, there is! Although it might mean having to be a bit brutal with your booth. Continue reading
How a Bunch of Has-been’s Took Over Sundance (Part II)
It was definitely the soft sell. We weren’t shoving swag or DVDs in people’s faces. It was a grassroots effort where the attendees became the advocates of our concept. And as the festival went on, the time we had to put into “selling” was reduced every day. It began to feed on itself, so after four or five days, our people were getting recognized for wearing the “Has-Been” logo and people were stopping us and asking if we had any more of those “Has-Been” t-shirts. Continue reading