American Express Exhibition Stand, AIME 2012

If you have ever had an interior designer visit your house or office, you will know that good design doesn’t just happen. Designers will plan right down to the last detail. If you want an exhibition stand that attracts the crowd and generates business for your company from the trade show or exhibition, you need to plan the stand design carefully.

As with any design of a space, the use of space must be practical. Think carefully about where people will stand, both your staff manning the stand, and the customers visiting the stand. Good exhibition stands make the most of the space and the designer will create a space that is both useful and attractive to passers by.

If your budget allows, a custom designed exhibition stand allows greater flexibility for portable displays and different signage options such as pull up banners, pop up displays, and product displays.

If you have are using the basic ‘shell’ exhibition stands provided by the organiser, you can still involve a designer and ‘upgrade’ to help make maximum impact, and provide comfortable areas for staff to chat with prospective clients.  Most shell scheme exhibition stands have walls on three sides, with a wide open space in the centre.

One of the first objects to consider when designing your exhibition display is the amount of space allocated to your company at the trade show. Ensure you receive exact measurements and information about the placement of the exhibition stand within the exhibition centre from the trade show organisers.

If you have a corner stand, it could be a better option for you to remove the wall to the end, and create a more open spaced exhibition stand design. Once you have the information about the show stand arrangements, you can design an exhibition stand that serves your purpose.

You need to decide what the purpose of your stand at the trade show or exhibition will be. If it is just to provide information to prospective clients, you may want to focus on the banners, signage and posters.

Do you need to hire display stands to show your products to the best effect? Will you need extra lights or special light displays, such as a spotlight on your best product? Do you want rotating display stands or static displays?

If you plan to have brochures or give-aways for your prospective customers, you will need to consider where you will display and store these items within the exhibition stand. You may wish to hire a professional looking counter or display case for your exhibition stand.

If you plan to attract people to your stand through demonstrations of the product, you will need to create an open space around where you will show how your product works, for customers to watch the demonstrations.

Static displays can be good, but you may want to consider other options for a professional exhibition stand design. You can hire pop up displays, for example that will attract more attention than a static display. When designing the exhibition stand, allow room for the banners, displays, and for staff and customers.

Trade shows and exhibitions provide unique selling and marketing opportunities that can require specialised design in the stand. If you want to make the most of your allocated space, so that the area attracts attention, provides space for staff and customers to chat, and provides information in a variety of methods to passers by, you will definitely need to carefully consider how to design your exhibition stand.

Whenever you exhibit at a trade show that attracts your target audience, you can be sure that at least some of your competitors will be vying for the same visitors as you at the show. Naturally, you do not want your exhibition stand to appear boring while your competitor’s stand three stands down from yours attracts all the attention.

However, straight comparisons between exhibition stands is often difficult, as there are many factors that will make an exhibition stand attractive to different individuals. Comparing or sizing up your competition is natural and can be useful in some ways to improve to own exhibition stand for future events.

In one way, every other stand in the trade show is a competitor for your business, even those businesses that are not offering products directly in competition with your own products. This is because the crowd will have a limited attention span and each person will really only pay close attention to a few stands, although they might visit every stand quickly. You can learn a lot from exploring other exhibition stands at the trade show and you should encourage all of your staff at the stand to take time (in shifts) to wander through the trade show and visit the other stands.

Ask your staff members to take note of the stands that attract their attention and find out what in particular the individual noticed about the stand first. Look at what people are giving away at other stands and what your marketing message is in comparison to these other messages. Ask your staff to consider exhibition stand design factors, such as signs, lights, walls, use of textures or fabrics, and moving elements.

It would be a good idea to do this exercise prior to designing and building your own exhibition stand by attending any free public trade shows or exhibitions in your area. Take note of what you like in terms of design, how people make their products stand out, what attracts you to a stand, what makes you feel comfortable or uncomfortable and what you remember the most after the exhibition. These answers to these questions will help you to design an exhibition stand which will stand out amongst your competitors and make them envious!

Look at the stands around the trade show or conference centre that are attracting the most attention from the crowds. Try to work out why the exhibition stand is so popular. With new technology and different techniques, exhibition designers have very few limitations, so the variety of stand design, colours, shapes, and signage sizes is almost unlimited. When designing your own exhibition stand, use your imagination to go beyond the traditional “booth” design and you will soon see the crowds coming to your stand (instead of to your competitor’s).

Remember that a trade show is a good opportunity to complete marketing research that can help your company and business move into the future. Take note of what your direct and indirect competitors are offering at their exhibition stands, in terms of products, services, and marketing messages.

A trade show is also a great time to network with others in your industry, so take care not to offend anyone, or make it obvious you are sizing up the competition. Networking with other exhibitors can bring as many new leads for customers as you can get from the people who visit your stand during the trade show. As well as gathering ideas for market research, you can learn about industry standards.

A well-designed exhibition stand will ensure your stand is the one everyone looks at and compares your competition to throughout the trade show. Make time to look at, compare, and meet with the other exhibition stand owners to make the most of your trade show experience.

Good Design

Easy Assembly
If you plan to travel with your exhibition stand and want to be able to save on install and pack down fees at different venues, you will need to take into account the versatility and easy assembly of your chosen stand package. A well designed stand should be easy and quick to install, saving you on-site labour costs.

Light Weight
Perhaps not the most obvious of considerations but you will save money on transportation if your stand is light weight. Also, install will be made easier if the actual components are lighter to move around. You could save on forklift costs if your stand can be erected by manpower alone.

Pack Down, Storage and Transportation
A good exhibition company will take care of all these things for you., but if you do need to pay for storage and/or transportation you want the stand to take up as small a space as possible to save on costs. Packaging should be sturdy and reusable too so that when you re-assemble your stand at different venues, it should look like new each time. Most exhibition companies will include upkeep and touch up paint in their costs.

Accessories
Get as many accessories as you think you may need as part of the initial package. For instance; lights, carpet or floor tiles, lockable counters and storage, even graphics. Furniture is generally an extra but you can still ask your exhibition company to add chairs, tables, plants, a bar setting, plasma screens etc. to your quote so that when you turn up at the show, you have everything you’ll need already there.

Graphics
Your exhibition stand package will probably come with graphic panels included. Don’t waste this opportunity. Get your own graphic designer or your exhibition company to come up with something that will best advertise your company. Many people use these panels as just ‘background’ images but this is all advertising space which you have already paid for so should be using it to its best potential.

Price
Probably your most important consideration when choosing an exhibition stand package. Obviously you will have some kind of budget to stick to so shop around. If you see a particular stand you like but out of your price range call the exhibition company and ask if they might be able to save any costs. They will be able to take out a couple of graphics that you may not need which will reduce the price, or they may be able to offer you a cheaper flooring option. Always give the exhibition company your budget and ask them to offer you something suitable.

A good exhibition company should always be able to adapt their product to your needs. Tell them what it is you are trying to achieve and ask advice on any issues you are unsure about. They are there to help you.

Liftronic Exhibition Stand, Grand Designs 2011

Do you know what it takes to make your trade show display stand out to potential customers? First of all, you must have a great display design, and experts in exhibition hire can help you create the perfect display for your business needs.

The layout of your trade show display delivers an important message, and you need to decide what will work best to for this. From seating to tables to shelving to signage and lighting, you can get all of this and more when you take advantage of exhibition hire packages.

What Can Exhibition Hire Do For Me That I Can’t Do Myself?
When you decide to take advantage of exhibition hire, you know that you are getting the “whole kit and caboodle“. Trade shows are busy, and you will have enough on your mind without having the added worry of setting up your display. Let the experts take care of this for you, so you can take care of the other millions of important little details, like training your staff, gathering contacts, and speaking to other exhibitors to increase your networking benefits of exhibiting at the trade show.

Not only will your display be delivered and set up for you, you also don’t have to worry about taking everything down following the trade show, because your exhibition hire professionals will take care of this too. When you rent exhibition furniture, you don’t have the inconvenience of storing it after the trade show is over.

Important Trade Show Display Elements
Just having a booth with walls and a table and chairs is not enough to attract customers these days. If you want a comfortable atmosphere that customers will want to visit, exhibition hire professionals can help you create it.

There are a number of important elements that you should include in your trade show display, including:

Lighting - Make the most important part of your display, your product or service, stand out with the proper lighting. You can hire all sorts of lights from elegant downlights to spotlights to shine on your products or banners.

Furniture - You want your customers to be comfortable while doing business with you at trade shows, and having the right seating is essential. Other furniture items you may use include desks and tables, and you will find that there are more than enough designs to choose from that will suit your needs perfectly.

Shelving and Storage - This is necessary, not only for display purposes, but for keeping your trade show display neat and uncluttered. Consider where you store the spare box of brochures, for example. It should be out of the customer’s sight and out of the way of the staff manning the stand, but within easy reach, so that the staff can replenish the brochures on display often as customers take the brochures away.

Display Items - These include brochure racks and shelves and pop up displays. Consider which products you want to highlight at your exhibition stand and decide how best to display these products.

Signage - Your exhibition hire professional can help you to create signage that will attract customers to your trade show display. Have your designs re-produced by talented graphic artists to enhance and advertise your business. If you are using floor signs or banners, don’t forget to include stands.

Audio/Visual Displays - A great way to show potential customers that your company is up-to-date on today’s technology. Effective audio/visual display equipment includes, but is not limited to, projectors and screens, DVD and VHS displays, computers and monitors and sound equipment.

Sweat The Small Stuff!
Now, you need to decorate. Plants and flowers are always an excellent choice for creating a comfortable atmosphere, and are also an inexpensive decoration. Your signs and posters can also decorate your stand. Your exhibition hire professional can advise you on the best decorations to use.

If you offer small promotional items, such as pens, key chains and similar items, having the proper storage helps keep your trade show display neat and tidy. Small cases are ideal for this purpose.

Don’t forget table-top literature stands or brochure display cases, so printed information about your business is easily accessible to your customers.

When you take part in a trade show, you need to ensure that your customers come first, and you don’t need to worry about building a display. The exhibition hire professionals can take care of everything for you and you can focus on manning the best, most attractive exhibition stand in the trade show.

KTM Exhibition Stand, Melbourne Aug 2011

Many people believe that networking is the only way to grow a small business, but holding an exhibition stand in an expo or trade show could be the key to meeting many potential customers and sales leads in a short space of time. Exhibiting at a trade show gives you access to hundreds and thousands of people who are in the market for your services.

Exhibiting is a far more cost effective marketing campaign than cold calling or sending out direct mail brochures on a “hit and miss” marketing campaign.  This is because the trade show organisers advertise directly to your target market and you can target your marketing campaign to the people who will be attending the trade show. This means you don’t waste resources as every person who attends the trade show is a potential customer within your target market.

Creating an innovative exhibition stand that really enhances your branding and product recognition can help you to grow your business. By exhibiting at trade shows that attract the potential customers you want, you have the opportunity to market directly to the people you need to grow your business. The business opportunities for networking and gaining good sales leads during a few days during a trade show are immense.

Innovations in technology, such as the increased use of lightweight materials to create exciting exhibition stands, allow people to design an exhibition stand that attracts attention at relatively low costs. Printing costs of brochures and even signage have reduced over the past few years and you can now get higher quality for less with large banners, digitally printed posters, printed flooring panels and walls for your exhibition stand. Computer rendered designs can help you see exactly how your exhibition stand will look when it is built.

This means that it is far easier to attract attention from your target market at a trade show with an innovative and well-designed exhibition stand, than it is to send out mail brochures to thousands of people, many of whom are not in the market for your products at all.

Innovations in technology in exhibition furniture, display cabinets, lighting, and all the other extras you need to ensure your exhibition stand is practical as well as attractive, have made exhibiting at a trade show far easier and cheaper. The lightweight materials make transporting the exhibition stand easier, while the technology that allows you to hire furniture in almost any colour you can think of ensures you can create a unique look for your exhibition stand.

All in all, exhibiting at a trade show can be an extremely effective marketing campaign to grow your business. You reach your target market without making “hit and miss” mail out campaigns and you don’t waste resources by marketing to people outside of your potential customer target market. Creating beautiful and innovative exhibition stands is easier and cheaper than you might imagine, especially when you use the lightweight materials and brilliant colour printing technology now available.

Wacom Exhibtiion Stand at CeBit, Sydney

Investing your time and money to display your product at a trade show or exhibition can be rewarding both as an experience and financially. If you are going to invest though, you want to make sure you design the best stand you can for your budget and purpose.

The main attributes you want for your stand is that it stands out amongst all your competitors, it has to be appealing, comfortable and most of all functional. You want to display your products and inform your potential customers in the most efficient and eye-catching way possible.

The best way to achieve this is to make a plan of what you’re trying to achieve, then contact your chosen professional exhibition company who will get their designers to draw up an initial floorplan and design from which they should produce drawings and a 3D concept. From this you will be able to see exactly what your stand will look like and where everything will go including flooring, electrical, lighting, storage space and even signage.

A professional exhibition design company will help you to design a functional booth which will allow you, your staff and customers to manoeuver around it easily and which is also an attractive and professional showcase for your products or services.

Depending on your budget, you can have the exhibition stand designed and built from scratch or you can use pre-designed modular booth walls and fixtures. A good exhibition design company will be able to recommend the best booth materials which they will know from experience are sturdy, light weight, easy to assemble and good looking.

Even if using modular components, you can get your exhibition stand designer to come up with something unique by re-structuring some of the pieces to accommodate your products and by replacing some of the wall panels with full colour graphics. A good exhibition stand designer will know the best materials and modular options to use.

The design professional will also know the trade show venue and any special booth requirements the venue may have and be able to adapt your design accordingly.

Your exhibition company should also be able to advise on the best equipmentyou’re your stand including lighting, video equipment and computer hookups… all important considerations when designing your booth. Most of all your product displays need to be prominent, attractive and well lit.

Your exhibition stand should be designed to keep your prospective customers staying around as long as possible without feeling trapped. Exhibition stand designers will know the best colours, lighting tricks, furniture placement and fixtures to create a comfortable atmosphere. If the atmosphere is correct your visitors will take a good look around your stand, take your brochures and listen to your sales presentations. An exhibition stand should be a work of art, but it also needs to be functional.  A well designed exhibit is a powerful business tool.

Before the Exhibition
In your pre-exhibition marketing materials, you should allude to your theme. You may want to titillate the people you send your pre-exhibition marketing material to with an allusion or a question that you will answer at the expo. Your pre-exhibition marketing could ask the question “What is the most common reason to have a bad night’s sleep?”

If you send out an email or a direct mail out to your client database, you want the people to attend the expo, and to visit your exhibition stand. You could include a crossword or a find a word puzzle that introduces the theme and forms an entry form into a competition that you have running at the exhibition stand. If you do send out a direct mail flyer or brochure, you could have the design in the shape of a pillow.

The Exhibition Stand Itself
Designing your exhibition stand to incorporate a theme is an essential element in this style of marketing campaign. To create an effective exhibition stand with a unique theme, you can use a box style of exhibition stand, where you have walls, floors, and all the elements especially built for the exhibition. For example, if you have a theme that suggests people can have a good night’s sleep by using your product, you could create a huge four poster bed as your exhibition stand.

Exhibition Stand Signage
Your signage at the exhibition stand is going to attract people into your exhibition stand and to provide information about your product. Incorporate your theme into the signs that you create for the trade show. Using the example, you could have pillows and pictures of people getting a good night’s sleep and information about the product in the dream “bubbles”.

During the Exhibition
Incorporate the theme into all the marketing materials your staff will hand out during the expo or trade show. You can provide little pillows to give out, which could open to provide information on the anti-snoring product. Ensure your staff are wearing appropriate clothing that enhances the theme. In this particular example, you could have your staff wearing pyjamas in the colour of your corporate logo.

Immediately After the Exhibition
Following up the trade show with good marketing is essential. Within a few days of the trade show, you should send out an email or direct mail contact to the leads your staff collected during the exhibition. This marketing material should include the theme and mention the exhibition stand. You could include a photograph of the exhibition stand to remind people of your stand.

Six Weeks After the Exhibition
Finally, send a follow up several weeks after the expo or trade show. Immediately after the trade show, people are overwhelmed with many marketing emails and brochures from all of the companies who exhibited at the trade show, but following up several weeks after the expo can be an effective marketing ploy. Using the theme again in this final marketing campaign will ensure that people will remember your exhibition stand.

XBox Exhibition Stand, Gold Coast October 2011

Trade shows and business expos are becoming more popular as ways of marketing directly to qualified prospects within your business’ niche market. Exhibiting at a trade show or exhibition allows your business to contact hundreds and even thousands of potential sales leads within a few short days. However, you do have to compete with the hundreds of other exhibition stands at the trade show and by designing an unusual exhibition stand, you’ll attract more attention.

Here are some ways you can design an unusual exhibition stand.

Create a Theme
Use your imagination and create a theme for your exhibition stand. Instead of simply trying to display your products, or to provide information about your services, invite your potential customers to enter into an experience within your exhibition stand. Using your imagination, you can create a wonderland experience where customers briefly forget they are in an exhibition hall, so entranced will they become with your interactive, themed, stand.

To successfully create the illusion of entering into a new environment, it is much easier to use a “box” exhibition stand, where the floors and walls are part of the exhibition experience, instead of using the set walls and floor provided by the event organisers.

Build in Levels
Levels using a few steps or a ramp create the three-dimensional effect of more space. You can invite people to see your product in a new way, by elevating the people above the product you are displaying. Using different levels of height within your exhibition stand creates an unusual stand, especially when the majority of exhibition stands will be one level and almost one-dimensional in appearance.

Use Lights in an Unusual Way
You do not have to use lights only to highlight or showcase your products. You can use lights to create an atmosphere or an effect within your exhibition stand. Use coloured lights to build colours into your exhibition space and create a unique environment. Use small flashing lights to attract attention to a particular sign or product, but use this device sparingly. Consider all the different ways you can use lighting to create different effects and to build an atmosphere into your exhibition stand that is unique.

Use the Height Space Available
Unless the organisers of the event puts a limit on the height of your exhibition stand, you are limited only the by the height of the ceiling. Consider having a blow up section to your exhibition stand that raises high above the other exhibition stands. This will make your exhibition stand appear to be the main focus when people enter the convention centre or trade show space and everyone will see part of your stand from any part of the room. This attracts attention and people will want to visit such an unusual exhibition stand.

Creating an unusual exhibition stand is not difficult, but it can take the skills of a professional exhibition stand designer to bring all the elements together. Make the most of your limited exhibition space and create an unusual exhibition stand that people will remember.

Jura Coffee - Custom Exhibition Stand

Walking into an exhibition venue can be daunting to the consumer. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of booths and salespeople vying for their attention. It’s hard to know where to begin.

This is why it is very important for your exhibition stand to ‘stand out’ from the rest. No matter how brilliant your product is, if no one sees it, your attendance will have been a waste of time and money.

Exhibition attendees are bombarded from every direction with colours, sounds, moving models, life-size replicas and many more design elements. So, whilst securing the best possible space at the exhibition is one hurdle, the next is designing an eye-catching stand that will attract customers and make your business stand out from the crowd.

The design of your stand is really only limited by your imagination (and finances of course). If you sell bathroom fittings, why not make your stand a mock-up of an elegant bathroom, complete with a mirror, tiles, bath, shower … you name it.

Another option is to display your product in a completely unexpected scenario. Think outside the square! Focus in on something unique about your product…..for example, showing a piece of gym equipment within a mock-up of a passenger car, is not only unexpected but also illustrates that your product is so compact and portable that you can take it anywhere.

Once you have decided on the general theme for your exhibition stand, you will need to employ a specially trained exhibition stand designer. But in order to give your designer the best possible brief, you can experiment with your own ideas and floor plan. Find an area large enough to fit your allotted exhibition space, and mark it with tape or chalk. From here, you can physically move items around and test how easily staff will be able to manoeuvre around the space. It’s no good having a wonderfully eye-catching display that prevents workers from interacting with customers, or showing functionality of your product.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the saying ‘less is more’ rings true for a reason. Before a customer even walks past your particular exhibition stand, they have already been exposed to many other stands and people. By having a clutter-free, relaxing booth you can help the customer avoid being overwhelmed with a multitude of messages.

Whilst your business might sell numerous products, or different versions of a product, you will need to come up with a good compromise between showing customers everything you have on offer, and keeping your limited space clean, uncluttered and simple. It might be a good idea to display only a few options or versions of your products with the rest available upon request. Remember, exhibitors often do not do much actual ‘selling’ at the exhibition; rather they introduce the products to the market and make connections with customers. Following up on any leads generated at the show is crucial, you must ensure that when customers request a particular product you are able to procure it quickly. If it is going to take too long the customer may forget or go elsewhere.

Not only is the appearance of your exhibition stand important, you must consider practicalities too. Keep in mind you will be in for a long day (or days) and a masterpiece of an exhibition stand that requires a scientific degree and hours of assembly, is not the best way for you or your staff to begin the long, gruelling – but potentially rewarding – process of exhibiting your business and products to the world.

Roband Exhibition Stand at Fine Foods, Sept 2011

When most people design an exhibition stand, they think about the large items, such as the exhibition furniture and where and how they intend to display their products and signs. Few people realise the importance of exhibition lighting in attracting attention.

Usually, a trade show or exhibition is held in a convention centre, such as the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. The roof space will have long panels of fluorescent lights. This may provide light for people to see inside the space and to generally walk around, but it certainly does not provide highlights or attract attention to your particular exhibition stand.

Relying on the existing lighting within the building is not a smart move.

Professional exhibition stand designers always incorporate several different lights within the structure and design of the exhibition stand. You can use downlights, uplights, and spotlights to create highlights within your exhibition stand and to shine on certain products or signs.

With new technology, it is easy to get small halogen lights that will shine on the exact area you want to attract attention. Exhibition stand lighting can be hidden within the structure or walls of a custom designed exhibition stand, saving space, and creating the illusion that you are not using additional lighting.

You can use coloured films on the top of spotlights to create an ambiance within your stand. Using coloured lights can make your exhibition stand look completely different from its neighbours, so it will be easy to attract the crowd at the trade show. Choose your colours to match your theme or branding, so that the slight shade of colour from the lights simply adds to the experience your exhibition stand offers to people.

Lighting is not only about creating highlights, but it can be about creating shadows. Using lights to create shadows within your exhibition stand adds a third dimension and makes the areas you want to highlight stand out more. You can create interesting effects with flashing lights or lights that move in a defined pattern around your exhibition stand.

Each display case should have individual lighting, so that the products on display are easily seen by the people passing by your exhibition stand. You will also need lights to create a comfortable area where your staff and potential customers can chat and can look at brochures or make sales of your products.

Lighting is essential component of any professional exhibition stand. You need to use lights to attract attention and to highlight your products within your exhibition stand. With new technology, lights have become smaller and easier to use or to hide. You can create a myriad of interesting effects using colour and movement in lights to bring people to your exhibition stand.