Trade Show Booths Displays Exhibits

Not too many outlets reported on it, which is somewhat surprising by itself. Apparently, military trade shows like the recent Special Operations Forces Industry Conference don't get much press - which is strange, given the size and budget of the military-industrial complex in this country!

There's no such thing as smooth sailing when you're manning trade show booths/displays during a busy convention. The only thing you can be certain of is that something is going to go wrong that requires immediate attention. The better you plan ahead and think up contingency plans for your exposition days, the more chance you have of rescuing an unexpected situation.

In terms of overall trends in design, trade show displays have been in flux for the last few years. As Internet technologies march ceaselessly forward, new ideas are born by the thousands every day, creating a sea of little ideas all fighting to be the next Big Idea.

Today, there are more tools than ever at your disposal for promoting your trade show booths. The Internet and online marketing have become incredible tools for spreading the word about appearances your company will be making, but only if you make good use of it.

“Gameification” is a word that's just begun to start reaching the lips of marketers in the mainstream, but it's a trend that could have big impact on trade show exhibits & displays, and definitely on marketing in general. Even if it's not something your company may be interested in right now, it's probably something you should be aware of, and watching for in your competition's expo appearances!

No matter how many high tech gizmos, iPad kiosks, social media enhancements, or whatever other new tricks you include in your trade show displays, there are still going to be a few constants. Text is one of them. While the idea of an expo display entirely without any text copy might be an interesting idea to explore, at the end of the day, almost every display stand is going to have text, and probably quite a lot of it.

There are any number of hurdles that can stand between a company and a successful trade show, and this blog tries to identify and suggest remedies for them in various posts. However, one of the hurdles that often goes without nearly enough discussion is one that's also a little closer to home.

One of the most unfortunate things we often see are trade show displays & exhibits where the people staffing them are clearly just waiting around to have people come look at them. It's common enough, of course, among trade show rookies. For a lot of shops, it's hard enough just getting the display stand together at all, in those initial attempts.

No matter how big or small your trade show exhibits & displays are, space is always at a premium. There's always more stuff you want to show off, and more products that you want visitors interacting with. However, especially if you're dealing with a smaller booth design, you're just not going to have all of the space available that you'd want.

That's just part of life, but a lot of these mistakes are still easily avoidable. Trade fairs and expositions have a long history, and there is plenty of collected wisdom on do's and don'ts when you take your expo displays on the road.