Trade Show Booths

By Jeff Rundles

For the past 12 years or so it seems like my business life moved from trade show to trade show. My trade is promotional products, specifically its apparel portion, and there are shows large and small in every great hall and obscure hotel ballroom from coast to coast and north of the border, and in nearly every month of the year. Vegas, Orlando, Nashville, Chicago, Toronto, New York, Atlantic City, Long Beach, Dallas, Monterrey, Atlanta, Ft. Worth, Tampa, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Novi (MI), Schaumberg (IL), Hebron (OH), Denver, just to name a few – I know the arenas, halls, hotels and meeting centers that cater to the conventions and exhibitions of the world.

I’ve had my own booth at many of these locations and in numerous shows, and I’ve spent a great deal of time walking the shows talking with exhibitors. This has given me a great perspective on trade show exhibits – what works and what doesn’t – and I share my thoughts here as a way of helping readers do a better job at their own trade show booths and displays. These are my opinions, of course, and others may feel differently, but there’s nothing in it for me so take it as honest observation and do with it what you will.

First and foremost, one of the biggest mistakes I see exhibitors make is to stand pat. That is, they get the latest and greatest in booth design and display styles and then stay with that for years as trends – and competitors – pass them by. On the other hand, I have seen people make too many changes, or too drastic, and lose the identification factor they have taken years to build up at important industry shows. At the shows I have attended – and I go to the same events year after year – it is clear that the trade show booth and the show floor presentation is any company’s most important customer-contact point. Thousands of buyers attend these shows and only a handful of them will ever visit that company’s headquarters, so the trade show booth and how it is handled is, in almost every respect, the face and manifestation of that company and its products/services. So, in this regard it is important to, year after year, display both stability and innovation, tradition and today.

As I walk a crowded show floor, what immediately strikes me are the booths that literally rise above the competition – booths that display a lighted logo well above the level of other booths. This can be done with banners hung from the ceiling or with booth extensions that stand several feet about the normal 6-to-8-foot profile. These visible booths, with noticeable logos, can be seen from across even the largest hall, constantly reminding a potential buyer to stop by. This is what I call distance visibility.

The next important thing for trade show booth effectiveness is location. This is tricky in that companies covet locations and participation in shows and related business over time often builds up “priority points” that can be used to give the exhibitor better selection. I like corner booths, as they hit the traffic coming from two aisles rather than one; corner locations often cost more for this very reason.

Also, buyers visiting shows tend to work from one end of a hall to the other, so I have noticed that booths in the last two aisles on either end tend to get inundated right off the bat, which I don’t like since there can be too many people to deal with effectively, or the booth will be too crowded and some people will just move on. Better to be toward the middle where the crowds tend to be more steady and less voluminous.

As for the booth itself, the best designs at one kind of show won’t work at others due to the nature of the show. For instance, at the Promotional Products Association International Expo, held each January at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, my belief is that the best booths are open, well lit and inviting; buyers here are browsing, gathering information and catalogs and may bypass a too-crowded booth in a rush to see more. At the PGA Show in Orlando, on the other hand, a show that is held in late January or early February each year, the most successful apparel booths tend to be those that are closed and resemble golf pro shops; here buyers like the mystic of what’s inside, and they expect to sit at sales presentation stations inside and discuss specific orders.

Obviously, if product is the centerpiece of a company’s offering displayed in a booth – as it is for apparel – the best displays showcase the hottest products in the best colors, with easy access to other products in the category. Of course, you want the booth to be well-manned so product doesn’t walk off, and very valuable product should be displayed in secure, well-lit and noticeable cases.

But for everyone, offering either a product or service or both, graphics – bold, colorful graphics – seem to draw attention and lure buyers into a booth. What’s being done in trade show booth graphics these days is truly amazing, and so inexpensively that the graphics can be swapped out with nearly each and every show to give buyers another good reason to stop by and see what’s new.

As an adjunct to printed graphics, consider video. Many of the most successful booths I have seen in recent years are using large-screen, flat-screen HD video monitors (which can be leased for the show, along with DVD players), running a loop of either video or enhanced slide shows of catalog images and product. There is a danger here, however: if you’re going to run video or some facsimile, make sure it is well produced, interesting, and featuring upbeat music (not to loud). People these days see so much video, on television and on the web, and a lot of it in HD, and they expect to see things done professionally in a trade show setting. One thing, I believe, to avoid, however, is blaring music, either from a live band or recorded, as it may fight with others doing the same thing, and it could be annoying; a trade show floor is noisy enough already.

Another key thing to remember – and this be no surprise coming from an apparel guy – but what your trade show booth personnel are wearing can be key to your success. Many of the best I have seen have personnel donning matching, bright, logoed shirts – a different color each day. In this way the personnel are highly visible and immediately identifiable as members of the team exhibiting.

In the end, the best way to keep up on what’s successful in trade show booth design, presentation and operation is to take the time to walk the shows and see what other companies are doing – especially the ones with the largest crowds and most activity. They might just have the best products or services, but chances are it all begins with having the best presentation.

Jeff Rundles is Publisher and Editor of Corporate Apparel Magazine, a national e-based trade magazine dedicated to the promotional products industry.

Like ducks, humans imprint.

The smartest thing a trade show participant can do is to replicate the image of his/her trade show booth on a slick that is handed out to passersby at a trade show. The size of the trade show display graphic on your booth will make an impression especially when it’s designed right. But the surest way to remind show attendees that yours was the booth that offered the product they had interest in is to reinforce the booth design on a slick you use as a handout. Better yet, position these handouts in a literature rack at the edge of your trade show area so that attendees can pick them up without missing a beat as they march through the convention center.

That way, even if you’re tied up talking to another trade show attendee, they’ll get something in their hand to remember your business by. Position your literature racks at the outer edge of your trade show floor area to allow those attendees who are out of time or energy to get information from you to review later.

Then further the impact by sending a follow-up message on email with the same graphic on it yet again. Three times is the charm when it comes to people’s memories. So show them your message three times: in your booth, on a slick and on a follow-up email.

You’ll achieve what print media calls the “repetition factor” even in the case that your product is being introduced for the first time.

It’s the Rule of Three. Now say it three times.

When Jennifer Aniston put on a tie (and that’s all, folks) for her photo feature in the December 2008 issue of GQ magazine, readers marveled at her 39-year-old body that proved 40 is the new 20.

Plastic surgeons everywhere were suddenly fielding more phone calls than the week before America’s sweetheart Aniston bared all. As discrete as is imaginable, every important part of Aniston was covered, and yet the visual was that she was completely nude…or at least that is how fans remember her on the top gentleman’s magazine cover. The image stays on their mind like the most provocative billboard or full-page ad in existence.

To that end, even plastic surgeons can benefit from before and after signage in their reception rooms showing superior results of surgeries performed on their patient pool. When a new patient waits 15 minutes for a consult, she is going to fill her time with something. Is she going to read PEOPLE magazine? Or Time magazine? She’ll read whatever she’s in the mood to read. So capture her attention with a literature rack displaying articles promoting your plastic surgery expertise. Instead of stacking up a bunch of lifestyle magazines, how about displaying slicks that promote how your services will changes a patient’s lifestyle. Create a slick per treatment: one for BOTOX, one for facelifts, and so on. The secret is that a patient might have come to your office for a $500 BOTOX treatment, and when intrigued by the possibility in an eyelid lift, she (or he) will have opportunity (the patient is already in your office) to inquire about further procedures.

Cosmetic, or plastic surgery, is all about beauty…smooth, youthful and sculpted bodies. Lumpy is out. So is too tanned or too muscular (as in the tied-off veins look) like pop-star Madonna’s most recent publicity poses for her “Sticky and Sweet” tour. That being the case, attractive and beautiful images of women who have had makeovers can generate profound reactions from patients (and their partners) in a waiting room. They may be  killing time in the waiting room until they can discuss options with the surgeon in the privacy of a one-on-one consultation, but don’t fool yourself: they’re wondering what all the doctor can makeover. Give them food for thought on your literature racks and banner stands.

If you’re a plastic surgeon, fill your waiting room with banner stands of beautiful bodies — plus before and after photos of real-life patients who will endorse your expertise. Remember, one picture is worth a thousand words. Banner stands say it for less.

Who hasn’t waited in a checkout line, agonizing over picking the wrong line yet again? We’ve all been there.

Nothing is more frustrating than waiting in line to pay for your purchases. That’s why smart retailers position signage at checkout stations to inspire impulse purchases, upping the overall average of store sales.

Because your checkout counter space is precious, a better option than taking up counter space with signage is to position stand-alone banner advertising adjacent to the checkout counter.

Besides saving space at the check-out counter, why not save precious end-cap space in your retail establishment? Leave the most precious real estate in a retail store—the end-cap shelf space where lost leaders generate measurably bigger purchases–open for product display. Set up banner stands in the wider aisles to advertise your promotions.

Better yet, show your empathy for shoppers’ limited time. Don’t expect customers to stroll through the aisles of your store searching for better buys. That kind of shopper is yesterday’s news. Meet the eye of every hurried shopper by promoting your store’s special offerings on a banner stand posted at the entrance to your store.

Grab their attention immediately.

If a shopper walks in and sees a sign promoting: “Try our French bread fresh out of the oven for your French Toast dinner at HOME tonight. Your family will love it and it costs less than $3 to serve 6,” they’ll buy French bread because you’ve given them an idea of HOW TO USE the product affordably and easily.

The newest generation strategic signage is all-plasma, all the time.

If you’re selling household washers and dryers, how about installing an instructional video on a plasma TV mounted on your tradeshow booth that dramatizes the cost-savings of the newer electronic components, the dozens of functions including a steam-dry cycle that saves on dry-cleaning bills, the selection of colors that can make your laundry room fun to be in…okay maybe that’s a stretch. A video is a subtle, yet impactful way to give shoppers complex information that will motivate sales. And they’ll see you as an expert with knowledge to share, so that when they’re ready to make that next big-ticket purchase, they’ll think of your store first.

Think of your trade show booth as a billboard. Sure, it’s set up in a 10 x 10 in a convention hall among hundreds of other trade show contenders. But if you apply the same principles as a highway billboard to the design of your trade show booth for your next industry show, you could be accused of creative enhancement.

Not so many years ago, the New York Times featured a photo of a billboard for Copper Mountain Ski Area in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The billboard featured two perfectly sculpted mountain peaks topped off with snow, not unusual in Colorado even at the height of summer. The copy on this billboard was minimal, in keeping with effective billboard copywriting genius. The billboard, of course, had the logo of Copper Mountain Ski Area boldly emblazoned on it. The copy was humorous and eye-catching. It stated simply: Not silicone.

Passersby on the highway remembered it. They talked about it. They laughed about it. They can recall it years later.

How much more effective can signage be than to be memorable?

Not much.

When designing your next trade show booth, THINK BILLBOARD. Then apply those same standards to your tradeshow booth design.

1. Locate the contact information, whether it’s a website address or a telephone number, high up on the booth, mid to top sections. Do not hide the contact information or logo on the bottom half of the booth design. Your goal is to have people flooding your booth. The net effect of that is to have people’s legs and feet in the way of all things closer to the ground than 3 feet. So keep it high. Where people can see it.
2. Keep your message points down to 5. That includes your logo and your graphics. That means your copy needs to be concise. If you sell cars, consider this: We sell the cars you want. OR Drive our cars. OR Wheels for any budget. You’ve heard the phrase KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Abbreviate your message and say more.
3. Collages don’t work. When was the last time you looked at a collage and picked out any detail that interested you? Chances are it was your high school yearbook; you were looking for that girl you wanted to date but never had the chips to ask out. You will never look that hard at anything again. You’re a grown up. You’re short on time. So are your potential customers.
4. Communicate to your potential customers where they live. They might work in a cubicle, but that doesn’t mean they want to be in one. They want to be on the golf course or the ski slope or on a beach. Make your message visually appropriate, like this one featuring a photo of a lounge chair on a beach: “If this is your idea of an office chair, we gotta talk.” The sales pitch in this campaign generated extraordinary interest from the telecom industry. The top salespeople wanted to be on a beach rather than on their office phone or in a car traveling to meet with a client. The image used communicated something of interest. The sales crew responded big time.
5. Light it up. You have likely had the experience of squinting at a street sign as you tried to drive at night in an unfamiliar city. Trade shows are the same. Attendees are bombarded with so many messages that they instinctively respond to those that are highlighted. Use lighting to highlight your message and be sure to confirm the specifications of the types of lighting required in any particular venue.