The Do’s and Don’ts of Tradeshow and Conference Exhibiting

Behind the smiles and approachable manners, competition is fierce at tradeshows and conferencing. It doesn’t take a lot to radically improve your exhibit but a lot of the time people don’t ask themselves the simple questions that will help get them there. Use our guide to build up your understanding of what and how you want to achieve success at an exhibition, with the small business in mind.

Think

What is your core message you want to get across? You have about three seconds to capture someone’s attention as they walk by. It is a small window of opportunity so make it count. Help your design along by focusing around that to help bring everything else together to push your central idea. Consider compiling a priority list to work out which issues need more prominence. It is important not to overload your exhibition stands in order avoid diluting and confusing. Give a visitor the reasons to ask more questions and engage with you. An appealing visual display with the right amount of text and graphics will catch the eye.

A design does not have to be attention-seeking or provocative, just well designed to draw the eye inwards and keep it there. Treat your space like your own home. If you couldn’t imagine living with it, use that as a basis for rethinking how you may want to appeal. Look at who the company have worked with in order to better understand the range of services and products they offer. Professional help is often necessary for anybody wanting to improve their image or who need help appealing to new kinds of people. An important thing is not to settle on your first idea. Work with different designs to establish the right fit for you.

Plan, Plan, Plan

What do you really want to achieve with the exhibition? Being unclear will not help anybody and can limit the productivity of all the time and energy put into the preparation and the event itself. Don’t luck into success – plan for it. Start from the beginning. Ask yourself the unexciting questions. A little time goes a long way so create a plan and a brief. Establish a budget to keep you on track so you know what you are working with and don’t waste time imagining what you could do. Being realistic every step along the way is crucial to get the most out of your exhibition attendance.

Choose your Design

Have you considered custom build exhibition stands? If not consider how you could. Grabbing people’s attention is the first and most important hurdle. Look for a system of stands that offers absolute design freedom with the style and elegance to really make your space stand out from the crowd. Give your exhibition stand height to fill the space in an eye-catching manner. Work with exhibition stand specialists to custom design a space that demands attention. Modular exhibition stands offer a lot of variety because of their design, offering you a chance to make an impact in the most unusual way possible. Modular systems can also be reused, saving you the hassle and cost. There are also portable exhibition stands which function as pop up displays. Compact enough to fit into one case, these displays offer great value for money and save a lot of time.