Top Trade Show Exhibit Trends

The traditional purpose of trade shows has been to serve as an open platform for companies to “strut their stuff” and offer insight into the latest trends and innovations for the products and services in their industry. With a competitor only a few booths away, the hard sell has been inevitable – until now.

Current trends are creating a different climate at trade shows these days. With competition for the customer’s attention stronger than ever, exhibitors are no longer fixated on separating themselves from their competitors by focusing on a particular product and simply talking about solutions and benefits. Which leads us to the first, and probably most profound, trend in trade show exhibiting.

Experiential Exhibits:

Product pitches and demos are “out” – at least they are no longer the centerpiece of a trade show exhibit. Instead of the literal, one-on-one, “we’re better because . . .” spiel, the challenge has become creating an experience for the potential customer that leaves them in awe, or at least makes a strong enough impression that they forget about the competition. While the trade show booth is a temporary fixture, the idea is to create a space that has a feeling of permanence and keeps the customer engaged. So engaged, in fact, that the customer has a memorable experience, and associates that experience with your product – eliminating the need for the hard sell, and creating a smooth landing for the soft sell.

Each element of these “experiential exhibits” is crucial and must be carefully selected to effectively execute a cutting-edge, yet warm and inviting, space. Any sort of “edutainment” feature anchored in technology, such as interactive computer games that test knowledge or popular television game shows as a template for a game featuring facts and information about your company or industry, are a must-have. Making this part of your trade show booth space gives you an opportunity to make your booth more of an interactive space.

Materials:

There are many different types of materials that can be used and are used to make trade show displays. But because of it’s versatility and low cost in comparison to other materials, fabric is one of the trendiest materials to use for your booth. Metal and wood are used less frequently because of their weight, bulkiness and inflexibility.

You can use fabric in a subtle way, almost like a canvas, to create a backdrop for the theme of your space. And often, the light, airy nature of the fabrics used for today’s exhibits create a light, airy feeling for your trade show display. But more often, you will find fabric being used for the banner stands, such as the Allure tensioned fabric banner displays that have recently hit the market. These high-quality banners are quickly set up (about two minutes with no tools needed) and easy to put together, convenient to travel with (even on an airplane,) economical to ship, and, shelves can be added to the banners for a more sophisticated look. These advantages, along with the long life and durability of the Allure banners, makes them slightly more expensive than typical banner stands. But the extra money is worth it - these banners create such a strong presence that they can be used by themselves or combined with a pop-up or custom booth to really make your space “pop.”

Lighting:

Whether you are going for a more traditional trade show booth or the cutting-edge experiential, lighting is crucial in creating the mood for your space. Because of this, custom lighting is becoming more mainstream.

Using filtered or wash lights creates a mood that drastically contrasts with a trade show display that uses spotlights. But ambience is not the only reason custom lighting has become more popular. You can also use lighting – however dramatic or subdued – to bring attention to featured products.

The Final Touches

Today’s trade show visitors are limited on time and bombarded with a flurry of sales and marketing gimmicks. To “stand out in the crowd,” here are some additional trends that have emerged in recent years.

Booth Details – Once you have gotten a visitor’s attention and they have entered your space, you must give them a good reason to stick around for more than a couple of seconds. This is the time for you to immerse the customer with your brand. Visitors want to see how your product or service will benefit them – so show them. Testimonials are an easy way to achieve this, in addition to marketing materials featuring people using your product, as well as the standard product demonstration. And because presentation is everything, additional pieces in your booth, such as literature racks, are a good way to keep your space organized while attractively displaying your marketing materials without overwhelming prospects with too much information.

Time is of the Essence – With the demands of today’s busy work schedules, most visitors do not have an entire day to spend at a trade show. Their time at the event is valuable, so you must be able to get their attention and quickly and easily explain what your company offers. Some of these visitors will come to the trade show as a team, and the team will include decision-makers who evaluate you, in comparison with the competition.

Get the Word Out – This is a trend that has been around for awhile, but one that is often overlooked. Prior to the event, let your clients and potential customers know that you are participating in a trade show – use every promotional opportunity to mention it, use direct mail, email and other traditional marketing avenues to drive more traffic to your exhibit.

Trade shows are an essential piece of an overall successful marketing strategy. And implementing these trends for your trade show space will help create that memorable experience for clients and potential customers that will hopefully make follow-up a breeze.

By: dave4

Cheap Trade Show Displays

If you want to be cost effective with your trade show exhibitions or if you are preparing for your first trade show, you should choose cheap trade show displays for the best deal. Trade shows are effective sales devices for growing business, and most new enterprises are not financially strong enough to spend a large amount on an elaborate trade show display, so opting for a cheap display is a good idea. Don't try to produce a do-it-yourself display, instead, look for experts who can produce cost effective trade show displays that fit your budget.

There are many ways to get cheap trade show displays. First, always consider a rollup or banner display, as they are light, inexpensive, and easy to transport. Banners with graphic headlines can easily attract attention. You can use them anywhere and greatly minimize the cost of your booth. Secondly, if you want to use small space, a tabletop display unit would be the perfect because it is small, light, professional looking, and less expensive than a full booth. Thirdly, if buying would be a problem for you, then you should consider getting a rental display for the tradeshow. You can modify a used display and convert it to fit your needs. You can also form a partnership with someone who is participating in the show in order to share expenses.

The growing trend of tradeshows has given birth to many companies specializing in cheap trade show displays. It is hard for new businesses to spend lots of money on tradeshows, but the company must participate in the shows in order to expand. The best option for these companies is to choose a cheap tradeshow display.

By: Peter Emerson

Anatomy Of A Successful Trade Show Exhibit

A trade show, also known as a merchandise show or market week, is an exhibition or a business gathering organized by companies that showcase and demonstrate their new products and services and also their latest offerings. Trade shows also provide opportunities for companies to meet their customers, to learn new trends and to identify new prospects.

Trade shows are not open to the public and can only be attended by company representatives, members of the trade and members of the press. One advantage of holding a trade show is that it shortens the time it takes for companies to look for prospective customers. But the major disadvantage is that customers and prospects pay little attention to the many exhibitors and their products due to the many distractions and the busy atmosphere inherent in trade shows.

Exhibitors can make effective use of trade show displays in trade shows to direct visitors to their main display area. Trade show displays are used to give visitors a better understanding or appreciation of the products or services being marketed. Although exhibitors are only supposed to put their trade show displays within the confines of their designated trade show exhibit area, exhibitors also display items in strategic areas of the fair grounds. Trade show displays often used include banner stands, counters and cabinets, panel display etc. that clearly display the company logo, basic company information and company slogan.

The trade show booth is an important component of the trade show display as it aims to enhance the brand and marketing experience for the visitor. It facilitates valuable direct face-to-face contact between the companies and their prospective customers. The whole booth set-up includes counters kiosks, lighting, flooring, literature racks, banner stands and high impact graphics, with the booth design, the staffing and the handouts the main factors to a successful trade show booth.

Many companies prefer to rent pre-owned trade show exhibits and displays rather than to buy or to create them from scratch to save on the trade show booth construction costs and also on the expense of warehousing the displays after the trade show is over.

Trade shows demand a lot of work and effort, and exhibitors have to plan well in advance so as to make the trade show a success. It is because any successful trade show offers exhibitors with a very valuable opportunity to build relationships face-to-face with their clients and to close lucrative business deals.

By: Sue Jan

Trade Show Display Buying Guide

Products alone will not spell the success of your trade show exhibit. If marketed improperly, even the best of products will not be able to obtain maximum sales. Before we start buying trade show displays and tools, make sure you know everything about the trade show. If theyre using a particular theme, make sure your display will be designed accordingly. If the trade show hall has a particular motif, make sure your display would be enhanced by the surrounding colors, instead of clashing horribly.

1. What are your objectives and what is your budget?

What do you want to accomplish? How can the trade show display help you accomplish your objectives? How much budget do you have for your display? Determining your objectives and budgets will help prevent you from spending more than you should.

2. Booth styles

Popular PopUps

Pop-ups are the most commonly used trade show displays. There are many advantages to enjoy when you make use of pop-ups:

First, theyre affordable; that makes them a good choice for small to medium-sized companies who dont have extensive budgets set aside for trade show exhibits;

Secondly, theyre very easy to set-up; you dont need to hire a crew of specialists, technicians or artists to manage your trade show display;

Thirdly, theyre available in a wide variety of designs, fabrics and colors; your creativity will shine more brightly when you make use of pop-ups.

Fourthly, theyre both durable and require limited space.

Simple but Beautiful Panels

Panel displays are ideal if the products youre exhibiting are heavier than usual; with the right choice of quality and countertop design, panel displays will bring more elegance to your trade show. Panel displays are more suited for shows that exhibit computers and other expensive electronic gadgets and appliances.

3. HighEnd Modular Exhibits

If you want a trade show that shows more oomph without causing you to go over your budget, youll do probably well with modular exhibits. Such trade show displays commonly make use of expensive materials and are also able to bear the weight of heavy products and merchandise.

4. Be Bold with Truss Displays

If you want your trade show display to immediately catch the attention of people, you should make use of a truss system for your exhibit. Truss systems also make it easier for you to mount lighting and other equipment to obtain the intended tone and atmosphere for your booth. Because of the easy mounting and installation of lights and LCDS, they can create great visual impact, and that will work definitely to your advantage if your clients are expecting to be dazzled.

5. Personalize It

There is no limit when it comes to customized trade show displays. Anything that your creativity and imagination can produce will be made real, but be prepared for sky-high expenses. Customized trade show displays are the best option for large companies who can afford to pay for them. They may be necessary, however, for companies that are exhibiting larger than usual merchandise like engines, motors, and vehicles of all types.

6. Display without a Frame

Frameless trade show displays are actually a type of panel display; this time, a bendable plastic panel is used to create a stand-alone structure. Any experienced individual will be able to set up a frameless trade show alone because it only makes use of lightweight materials and the installation process is generally easy. Frameless trade show displays work well with paintings and any lightweight object that can be hung; they do not work at all for heavy merchandise or anything that must be displayed.

7. Pipe It and Drape It

Lastly, we get to the trickiest of the batch. Pipe and drape trade show displays are a bit complex to set up. Fabric drapes are clipped onto pipes with this type of trade show display. They do however serve as very great backdrops and can produce startling visual effects, given the right color, fabric and design.

By: Edward Bryce

The Ins And Outs Of Trade Show Exhibits

For people who are thinking of organizing or setting up a trade show exhibit, it is highly important that you know the things that are important for the success of the trade show event. With a small a mount of attention, you can easily come up with a successful trade show exhibit.

1. Setting

Let’s start with the place where the trade show exhibit will be held. The exhibit venue or the trade show space is highly reliant on the use of outstanding design for booths as well as other displays so that the organizers will be able to generate more traffic for the exhibit. For most trade show exhibit organizers, it is highly important that you are able to attract your desired customers in just under 10 seconds since the trade show exhibit viewers attention span can only last for so long.

2. Factors To Consider

- Location
- Theme
- Topic

3. Budget Concerns

The trade show exhibit organizers must always keep in mind that some venues for a trade show may seem just too perfect for words - and this comes at a high cost. Money definitely does not grow on trees and even big multinational companies who hire trade show organizers to create a trade show exhibit for their company simply cannot afford atrocious rates, whether it be for the trade show exhibit’s location, the design, or perks for visitors.

4. Displays

You can also opt to spend some extra money on the trade show exhibit displays. This is actually a good investment for you because the better your displays, the more people will be attracted to your show. When it comes to picking out a good trade show exhibit company, one should be able to effectively give a pre-show marketing for the trade show exhibit to increase traffic. According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, around 76% of the people who actually go would prefer to have some background information on what the theme of the trade show exhibit is and a selection of examples for the booths.

By: Edward Bryce

Your First Trade Show – Don’t Make These 5 Common Mistakes

Getting ready for your first trade show is both exciting and stressful. You have enormous hopes that your display will bring in tons of orders and new business, but you’ve seen similar companies land on their butts at a trade show. To get the most out of your first show, avoid these 5 common beginner's mistakes.

Mistake #1: The first mistake is to go into the project without a clear understanding of exactly how much it will cost. Will you be charged additional fees for items like electricity, for instance? Will there be a fee that must be paid to bring your booth from your truck to the exhibit floor?

There are several ways to avoid costly mistakes, and the most obvious is to ask as many questions as you can think up. But if you’ve never been to a trade show before, you may not know which questions to ask, and the one you don’t ask could be expensive.

So try to find a local company that did the same show last year, and give them a call. Ask them if there’s anything you should know about the show’s costs that might not be obvious to a newbie – most business people are more than happy to help out their fellow entrepreneurs, as long as you don’t call up a direct competitor.

Mistake #2: And about your staff… If you’ve ever attended a trade show as a potential customer, you’ve noticed that some booths catch your eye with appealing displays and graphics, and the offer appears to be exactly what you’re looking for, but the staff can’t answer your questions.

They may not even ask for your name or make any effort to turn your interest into a potential lead. (I’ve even seen booth staff listening to their iPod).

Clearly, this isn’t something you want to happen to you, so do whatever it takes to get your staff steamed up and enthusiastic for the show. Remember that standing on a hard floor for hours will drain anyone’s enthusiasm, so make arrangements for plenty of breaks. And be sure to decompress and check in at the end of each day, to give your staff a chance to share the techniques that seemed to work, and the ones that don’t.

Mistake #3: Have you ever made a purchase or given out your name and address to a salesperson simply because they seemed “nice?” Probably not. You like to buy from people who are interested in finding out what you’re looking for, what you’ll be using the item for, what your problems are and how they can help you fix them. So be sure your staff doesn’t simply say “hi” to the people who come to your booth.

It’s difficult to concentrate on one person when so many people are milling around, but it’s worth making the effort. If you don’t, you simply turn yourself into a robot handing out brochures – and that rarely turns your booth visitors into solid leads.

In the weeks leading up to your trade show, have regular meetings with the staff who will man your booth. Get their ideas on how to engage the display visitors, without being overwhelmed. Then use your daily debriefings at the end of each show day to see if the techniques worked.

Mistake #4: This one seems obvious, but setting a specific goal often gets lost in the mad rush to get everything ready for a trade show. What do you really want to get out of the show, in terms of ROI? How many new orders will make the effort worth the time and expense required by the show?

Are you looking for leads, for press recognition, for solid sales? If you don’t have goals (and if each member of your trade show staff doesn’t have a goal) you may just end up giving away a lot of expensive brochures. And you could do that in front of your local supermarket.

Mistake #5: Don’t get carried away with an expensive, complicated display. You may even want to call your local trade show display company and see if they will rent a used pop-up display, so your up-front costs will be as low as possible.

Then concentrate on creating a sign that makes your offer as visible and clear as possible, and put your effort into training your staff. This will usually bring far more ROI than a fancy trade show display booth on your first time out.

And be sure to use a display that is easy to set up – you don’t want to get to the show and discover that you’ve left an important part at the shop, or that you don’t have any idea which pole or widget goes where. Select a simple display, and then set it up in your shop before the show to make sure your staff knows exactly how it all goes together.

Your local trade show display dealer can be an excellent resource for you. But there may also be hidden costs, so ask as many questions as you can. Your success will be important to the display dealer, because they want you to come back when next year's trade show comes around.

By: Jonni L Good

Choosing Trade Shows That Won’t Let You Down

When you want to exhibit in trade shows, the first issue that you have to deal with is which trade show you will go. You can choose from a wide assortment of trade shows that are at hand. It would be useful if you attend some trade shows before you decide to be a trade show exhibitor. Be observant and sensitive on the do’s and don’ts or marketing when in the show floor. Pay attention to what exhibitors do when on the floor.

Choosing a trade show is quite complicated. It involves several elements that a trade show exhibitor should take into consideration before he or she attends a show. The first thing that you should take into account is the target market. This specifically pertains to the buyers and what kind of shows do they attend. Try to asses the show and see if it complements to your image, marketing strategy and budget. Is the show well thought-of? Are there many visitors in the show? It would be better if you talk to a trade show marketer and weigh up his or her qualifications as well as experience. Set some objectives. What do you want to achieve after the show? Let your displays be produced trade show experts in order to steer clear of some common trade show errors. You can the exhibit manual for further details regarding the booth space and the set-up times.

Choosing the right trade show is very critical in the progress of a certain business. You can be assured of a wonderful trade show experience when you opt for the trade show where potential buyers of your products and services will attend. Think about the prospective buyers who will make a purchase of your products and services. It’s also helpful if you get in touch with some trade show producers and ask them regarding the number of visitors who attend a trade show and what kind of promotional plan do they use to reach their targets. When you have gained all the answers to these questions, you can now determine who your prospective buyers are.

Remember that the most important thing here is to pick out the show that gives you the best traffic. Your main target here is to settle for the show that caters to the right audience and one which meets your trade show objectives. For this reason, you need to be careful in choosing the show. Give attention to all the details of the trade shows that are available specifically their goals and potential market.

By: Charmaine Joy Caro