When it comes to trade shows, if you try to target everyone in the audience, you’ll target no one. Doing some basic research on your audience well in advance of your next show will help you capture more attention. Then you can tailor your messaging, sales materials and presentations to increase leads and the return on your investment.
Each Show Is Different
The size of the show should not affect your marketing efforts. Smaller shows have fewer attendees, yet there tend to be more decision makers in the crowd. These shows provide more direct and in-depth engagement, requiring you to use longer sales pitches to qualify your leads.
In larger venues, attendees can experience information overload. You’ll want to keep your messaging simple and straightforward. Your pitches and engagement should also be brief, so you can focus on the people most interested in your products and services.
The Perfect Booth Design
Scalable and modular booth designs are innovative structures that provide more design possibilities. You can mix and match pieces to fit the show and your budget. These designs save you money because they are adaptable to the space and needs of each show.
This Healthesystems booth is scalable. Many of the pieces of this large island orientation have been used in other trade shows, both large and small, making this booth extremely versatile and saving Healthesystems a ton of money.
The below photos show other orientations of some of the same booth pieces.
It’s about Value
Attendees need to know your value proposition, so they can make quick decisions about your products and services. This should be captured in your booth design and sales materials. Then, you can further qualify any leads through your sales pitches and different types of attendee engagement.
If you’re looking to update or upgrade your exhibit with backlit displays, the ADM Two staff are experts on display design and fabrication, so give us a call at (813) 887-1960. No matter where your event takes place, one of our knowledgeable staff can assist you with your trade show needs. Also, check out some of our other articles to get more information on trade show booth layout and trade show graphics.
Creating an experience is something we believe in wholeheartedly because it is so focused on the client. PSCU does this especially well. We have worked with PSCU several times over the years, so we have a rhythm with them when it’s time to do a trade show booth or environment project. As always, creating an experience for their clients was one of their main goals. The experience they wanted to provide was a fresh, inviting and innovative space to connect in order to foster relationships. We created two pieces for them based on the overall goal – a trade show booth for the Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) and an environment piece for their Member Forum in Nashville, TN.
Creating an experience for PSCU customers started with a large, open design.
PSCU is a leading provider of traditional and online financial services for credit unions. Representing more than 800 credit unions, PSCU offers credit, debit and prepaid card servicing to its customers, as well as online bill payment services. However, the company strives to do more than offer products and services – helping their clients to strengthen member relationships and cultivate revenue growth is a priority. They wanted their trade show booth to impart all of these facets.
The GAC is a pivotal event for PSCU. GAC is where credit unions converge to advocate for themselves and remind lawmakers why credit unions are the best choice for Americans. For this and all events, PSCU wants to be innovative and captivating, and that is just what we accomplished in partnering with them on this trade show booth.
Creating an Experience with Design and Interactivity
We created a 40×50’ booth for the GAC, with several areas for interactivity and connection with trade show staff. The size of the booth reflected the size of the organization – as one of the largest and most well-respected credit union service organizations in the country, PSCU needed to have a presence with impact. We included comfortable living room style seating areas for a more casual, inviting atmosphere, as well as tall bar-style tables for group discussions. A separate area showcased the giveaways – selfie sticks in slick PSCU branded packaging. On the selfie stick boxes was the hashtag #CUSelfie, which encouraged attendees to snap a selfie and share with the hashtag. This automatically entered them into a contest to win an Apple iPad. This created a very engaging and exciting buzz around the PSCU trade show booth (who doesn’t want a free iPad?). Trade show attendees were eager to gather around the PSCU booth and because of this the staff had plenty of opportunity to connect with them and inform them of PSCU’s products and services.
Selfie stick giveaway with #CUselfie for a chance to win an iPad!
Another very cool innovation aspect of the booth (which attendees LOVED), was an interactive vertical screen. When a people asked questions, the responses actually came from a live actress who was listening to the attendees in order to give personalized responses. It was a great way to be innovative and fun while at the same time showing that PSCU cares and is listening. Needless to say, the PSCU trade show booth was abuzz with activity throughout the day because of their brilliant interactivities.
The PSCU experience included this interactive vertical screen.
The overall design of the trade show booth was very open and inviting. Much of the furniture and the electronics were white, which imparted a clean, modern, tech-savvy feel, while the green from the PSCU logo evoked harmony, growth, and safety, and is also the color most associated with finance. An accent of blue evoked trust, loyalty, wisdom, and confidence, all traits that we want to see in an institution that handles our money. Overall the look is very bright, modern, and friendly, and bespeaks PSCU’s innovative, client-centered approach to all they do.
“We want our booth to be about the member experience (i.e, our credit union members), and ADM delivers. They do a great job designing and executing the production of an ‘experience-centered’ display that actually engages our members and gets them involved in activities and discussions with our team members,” said Byron Loper, PSCU’s program manager for conferences and events. “We value partners that are flexible, creative, and willing to go the extra mile to provide us the best possible product for our members and the industry.”
Clean, modern, inviting – all part of creating the experience for PSCU’s clients.
Don’t forget to check out Part II of our project with PSCU and visit their website at www.pscu.com. It was such a pleasure to work with them on this trade show booth and creating an experience is what we do best. For more information on how we can help with your next interactive trade show booth, call us at (813) 887.1960 or email [email protected].
Ocean Optics’ hybrid trade show booth turned out to be the perfect vehicle for showcasing their brand – it was an exceptional booth for an exceptional client. One of the best qualities that Ocean Optics possesses as a company is their willingness to go the extra mile to demonstrate their products. They don’t just throw a demo video on a screen – they actually demo products physically, right before your very eyes on the trade show floor. The hybrid trade show booth had to be able to support these live demos without looking too busy or confusing. Additionally, the Ocean Optics team needed one booth to fit two booth spaces, a 30×30 at Photonics and a 20×30 at PITTCON. Because of the timeline of these shows being so close together, the entire booth had to be shipped directly from one show to the next. We knew from the start that this was going to be a challenge for all!
Ocean Optics hybrid trade show booth at PITTCON.
Hybrid Trade Show Booth Standing Out in a Sea of Booths
Ocean Optics’ demos are a unique feature of their booth, so we wanted those to stand out to trade show attendees. We decided to go with corner custom towers with counters on the outer walls of each tower to showcase the demos. Each counter was carefully designed to fit the needs of the demo it supported. The towers also had headers with fabric graphics for further visibility and focus for each product demo area. Monitors were placed on top of the fabric graphics for even more interest. The live demos were a hit. It’s rare to see demos of this complexity at a trade show, so they were an immediate differentiator. Ocean Optics created an educational environment that was almost hands on in nature – this interactivity of the booth served almost as a respite from the sea of trade show booths.
These corner towers made an impression!
Product demos drew attention to this beautiful booth.
Getting Down to Business
The interactivity of the demos is a great feature, but we still needed to create an area to showcase collateral and encourage discussion with prospective clients and the Ocean Optics staff. We chose to use an elegant curving reception counter in the center of the booth, which also served as a general management station and storage area. A custom lit holder offered literature for visitors and staff.
Overall the booth was pretty spectacular. The client and other attendees certainly thought so.
“Yes, I survived (I think) and everything was wonderful – thank you and your team for the amazing booth it was definitely the best at both shows. I had other exhibitors say they were going to steal ideas and offer me a job!” said Keith Mingolello, Global Tradeshow and Events Manager at Ocean Optics.
Creating a booth as successful as this starts with our team getting to know every detail about our clients’ business and products. Then we want to know every detail about the show(s) they are attending, their goals, their budget, and their timeline. We leave no stone unturned, because we want to design the best solution to each multi-faceted problem. Over time we have learned that trade show booths are not just trade show booths, they are solutions, they are vehicles, and they are miniature representations of entire businesses. This is not to be taken lightly, so we cover every base in order to create something that provides maximum effectiveness.
Fascinating product demos made this booth stand out.
Ocean Optics is a particularly fascinating company so it was really cool learning about what they do. They provide modular spectrometers and applications know-how to help other companies solve measurement challenges. They work with some of the most cutting edge innovators to improve quality of life using their tools to measure everything from blood and protein analysis to solar energy research. To learn more about Ocean Optics, check out their website at www.oceanoptics.com.
ADM Two staff are experts on trade show booth design, so give us a call at (813) 887-1960, and one of our knowledgeable staff can assist you with your trade show booth, no matter how tight your budget or how strict your timeline – we will make it work. Also, check out some of our other articles to get more information on trade show booth layout, trade show graphics, and etiquette.
