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Planning Tips to Make Your Next Exhibition a Success

Having a plan for your next industry show exhibition is critical for attaining your goals. As the cliche goes: “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail!”

Exhibiting attendees can get ahead of the curve by forming a strategy for their next upcoming trade show. This strategy should incorporate exhibition stand design and day-to-day concerns as well as larger overarching brand or campaign goals. To get you started and increase your chances of success at your next event, take the following tips to heart.

Set Goals That Align With the Event Ethos

Every trade show or industry event has a specific “feel” and purpose to it. Many adopt ongoing themes, which can shift from year-to-year.

Your job as an attendee is to analyze the unique aspects of the event and align your own goals and branding principles to fit. For instance, some shows like CES and E3 aim to show off prestige brands at their finest, so smaller brands must step up to look as professional and appealing as the companies they share the floor with. On the other hand, shows like SEMA and the NRA (National Restaurant Association) Show are a hodgepodge of both big brands and many eclectic smaller brands like CAHI, all of which aim to creatively display what makes them unique.

Determine the expectations attendees have for your show, and align your exhibit stand design to fit within these principles. You can even go so far as to research the attendee demographics. Find out their typical age, what position they often occupy, their income, their interests and so on.

Once you know these key pieces of data, you can shift your branding approach and attendance goals to fit. While your strategy for CES may be to increase brand mentions or make a few key industry contacts, your exhibition at SEMA may have a more zany booth design, aiming to drum up social shares and capture a large portion of contacts from all industries.

Scout Out Your Spot in Advance

Most people attending a trade show don’t really pick a spot; they pick a price. While having a budget is understandable, your desire to spend a certain amount should not sabotage your more important attendance goals. In fact, many exhibiting attendees shell out a bit more for a “premium” spot, only to find it has little foot traffic or unbearable crowds.

Instead of being caught off guard by things like this, put your research in a few months before reservations even open. Study the event space floor plan carefully, especially in regards to events past.

The absolute best thing you can do is visit the venue in person during another show with a similar level of attendance. Make note of where the “dead spots” are or where booths tend to get uncomfortably crowded. You may start to notice that certain spots lie slightly off the beaten path but still get plenty of booth visitors. You may also decide to stake out a spot along the path to the restroom, food court, smoking lounge or other areas so that you capture a dedicated stream of foot traffic.

Write down your top 5-10 spots, and only then can you reasonably start comparing them based on budget.

Make Friends With Your Neighbors

Booth neighbors are your rock, and they tend to become fast friends. Grease the wheels of this friendship in advance by monitoring the bookings list and seeing who has reserved spots next to you. Reach out in advance or during trade show booth set up to smooth over any friction and establish a rapport. The better you get along with your neighbors, the more easily you can share information and coordinate with one another.

Even competing brands can become fast friends thanks to the magic of trade shows.

Use a Foot Traffic “Hook” in Your Exhibit Stand Design

Once you understand your goals and the expectations of the trade show you are attending, you can craft a specialized design element intended to get attention to your booth. This “hook” can be something as simple as dynamic, directional lighting that contrasts with the darker booth elements, or it can be something more engaging, like a live photo wall. Having some sort of interactive element or edutainment station is a surefire way to increase booth visitor dwell time. Contests, such as pitting two iPad stations against one another, tend to draw attendees challenging one another as a break from the rest of the floor activity.

You can also customize your booth design approach based on what your neighbors do. If everyone is using the same tactic to attract attention, like a dancing inflatable tube man, you want to ensure that you are doing something different.

Working with an experienced exhibit stand design and construction firm like Xibit Solutions can give you the benefit of extensive knowledge based on the event you are attending and what tends to work in general. Put your heads together with an expert, and ensure that your next trade show attendance is a rousing success, when you get a free quote for custom booth graphics and design today.