Events and trade shows are excellent opportunities to get your brand, services, and products in front of the eyes of prospective customers. But with so many other booths, how do you get the attention of attendees? The most successful trade show booths tend to have a few key characteristics in common. Learning what these are can help you design a booth that effectively represents your organization and gets you the exposure you want.
Need a trade show booth that will impress your audience?
Contact Color Reflections today for our custom fabrication services!
Event Booth Design: Best Practices
In order to create a “wow-inspiring” booth, you must know the basic event booth design best practices:
- Come Prepared: Before you design your booth, take stock of what you’ll need at the event or show. Will your booth need power for lighting or interactive displays? Will you need extra space for your marketing collateral, a meeting area, prizes, or extra equipment? Visit the venue beforehand to get an idea of your booth space and location.
- Follow Event Requirements: Some events and trade shows provide carpeting for booths. Others don’t provide carpeting, but may require it. Be aware of signage size, shape and location requirements. If you have overhead signs, banners or lighting, you’ll need to hire professionals to hang them from the ceiling rafters or rigging.
- Have Clear, Consistent Messaging and Branding: Make sure your company’s logo, branding and messaging are consistent and prominently displayed throughout your booth. It should match what is on your website and on marketing materials.
- Be Direct: People walking by your booth or grabbing a flier or a freebie should immediately know what your company does. At the event, you’ll only have a few seconds to articulate your company’s specialization.
- Have Appropriate Graphics: Create a stellar first impression with the highest quality images. Make sure the messaging, font, colors and design are consistent with your brand. Keep your signage clean and simple, and use the correct size for your needs. When it comes to messaging, make sure it is true to the brand.
- Use the Right Positioning: Place the most important messaging and graphics in the most prominent places of the booth and at least 20 inches off the floor. Keep in mind people will read your signs as they would a newspaper: from left to right and from top to bottom.
Event Booth Design Tips That Wow Attendees
The goal of every booth at an event is to be the booth that attracts a crowd. You want as many people as possible to make their way over to your booth so you can tell them all about the great things your company offers. While you may have the basics down so that your booth looks professional and has your branding and logo all over, this is usually not enough.
Here are some event booth design tips that are sure to WOW attendees:
1. Stand Out
This may be obvious, but having interactive displays in bright colors will capture attention. Displaying products and showing demonstrations will also pique interest. Attendees want to be engaged, but be sure not to be too sales-like.
2. Be Playful and Unexpected
Think outside the box when it comes to your booth. A table, some comfortable chairs and charging stations are boring. They are also likely what every other booth is offering. Instead, be creative. Interactive displays like those where booth visitors can play with the lighting and get hands-on with demo products. You can also get fun and have games such as a foosball table or cornhole.
3. Have Awesome Giveaways
Everyone knows that people love free stuff. However, how much swag is later dumped into the trash can? Instead of giving away the boring, usual items like stress balls and notepads, try to give booth visitors something practical they could use. Even better is something they would also want.
4. Utilize Your Space
It is important to maximize every square inch of your booth space. Strategically place and layout signs and banners. Hang balloons from the ceiling. Know your booth size, shape beforehand, place tables, and chairs. Whether you have a small booth or a large one, you can maximize every square foot to your advantage.
5. Avoid Wasting Money on Over-The-Top Flashiness
Google has been known to entice people to its booth with cotton candy. However, if you’re budget isn’t as big as Google’s, it is better to avoid blowing through cash on over-the-top items. This is because, while flashy demonstrations, products, exhibits, and freebies attract large crowds, these crowds aren’t likely to result in promising leads.
6. Stay True to Your Brand
Sometimes companies get too engrossed in how they can have a creative display that they fail to make the flashiness relevant to their brand, products, and services. A fun, engaging and eye-catching booth that clearly states what your company is all about will more likely attract those who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.
7. Be on the Same Page
Your booth can have all the bells and whistles and still seem unprofessional if people in your company aren’t on the right page. The sales and marketing team must work together before the event to build morale and buy-in. With everyone in the booth equipped with the same enthusiasm and messaging, you’ll give booth visitors a more positive, clear and professional impression of your company.
8. Invite People Into Your Booth
Instead of using a typical booth, consider using an open design to bring attendees into your area. When people feel they welcomed, they can relax and better engage with your brand. It can also create a more memorable experience for them, helping you to get more out of your booth.
An event or trade show is a great opportunity to get the word out about your business and its services and products. However, your presence at such an event will have minimal benefits if nobody visits your booth. To give your booth design that “wow” factor that attracts attention, it is a good idea to follow event booth best practices, be creative and include engaging booth design, layout, and signage.