trade show | The Exhibit Company, Inc.

Articles Tagged with: trade show

Oct 16, 2024

Should I Invest in a Custom Trade Show Booth?

A custom trade show booth remains a popular choice for businesses, allowing you to display your brand without restraints. Whether you’re seeking new customers or investors for your product, trade shows provide valuable networking opportunities to elevate your brand.

Trade shows can be costly, and a common reason for low attention is poor booth design If you find yourself asking the question, “Why should I invest in a trade show booth?” then here are some of the best reasons to consider customizing for your next trade show.

First Impressions Matter

When it comes to booth design, first impressions matter. The impression your booth makes can either make or break your investment. If attendees struggle to notice you or, even worse, find your booth unappealing, it could be a missed opportunity for engagement. Investing in a trade show exhibit company can help you create eye-catching designs that make strong first impressions, leading to more sales and networking opportunities.

Elevate Your ROI

Investing in your booth can help you gain a higher return on investment. The time, effort, and detail involved in creating your booth can be used to drive sales and gain more attention from attendees. Over time, as your brand grows, your custom booth will pay off. It will not only lead to a great trade show experience but also improve your business outlook.

Custom Trade Show Booths Are Flexible

Ordering a pre-made booth for every event can increase costs over time. If your brand is struggling to attract attention, a custom booth offers greater flexibility and value. For events that have requirements for booth sizes and features, your custom booth can be reconfigured to your needs.

Affordable For Your Budget

If you think that customization means high prices, then think again. One of the best parts of working with a trade show exhibit company is that you can design your own booth, all within the range of your budget. You’ll have a variety of options for prices and payment options, all the while gaining a trade show booth that has all the design choices you need.

Easy, Beautiful Customization

What’s the best part about a custom trade show booth? They’re fully customizable! When you work with a trade show exhibit company, you get the chance to take your brand and bring out the ideal image you want to convey. Customizing your booth allows you to visually engage with your audience, giving you options for unique designs, striking visuals, and impressive ways to showcase your products.

Custom Trade Show Booths Done Right

At the Exhibit Company, Inc., we transform brands every day by offering creative, innovative designs backed by over 50 years of experience. From custom 3D experiences to sleek, modern color concepts, we focus on providing custom booths that enhance the story you want to convey for your next trade booth show. Through our designers, your success is within reach. To get started, connect with us to begin designing your booth from start to finish.

Oct 24, 2020

Why Event Management Should Best Be Left To The Professionals

Event managers are different from event planners, though some of the functions of each position may overlap. In general, event managers are responsible for managing the event, while event planners are responsible for planning the event. Both jobs are best left to the professionals, as planning and managing large-scale events requires experience, organizational skills and connections with other vendors and professionals.

Are you thinking about hiring a professional for your next conference or convention, you will thank yourself in the long run. Here are some of the main reasons why event management should be left to the pros.

Event Managers Can Tackle the Responsibilities

If you’ve planned a small event before, you know how much work goes into the process. You must also anticipate minor problems along the way, such as guests RSVPing at the last minute. A large-scale event requires even more skill and coordination, which is tough to do on your own. This can also take time away from your business.

Here are some of the tasks that an event professional will take off your hands:

Selecting and reserving venues
Coordinating vendors
Choosing guest speakers
Arranging transportation
Obtaining permits and insurance
Complying with safety and health standards
Creating a security plan
Monitoring the event

Event Managers Have the Skills to be Successful

Managing large events isn’t something that the average Joe can walk in and start doing. To successfully run a large event with hundreds or thousands of people, you need a professional that has the necessary skills, experience, and training.

An event manager has strong organizational skills, the ability to multitask, efficient time management, and more. They are also familiar with the latest health and safety standards, including permits, licenses, insurances, and other risk management practices.

Event Managers Let You Enjoy the Event

When you hire an event manager, you can enjoy the big day. You will save an incredible amount of time so that you can focus on other responsibilities, such as networking with influential people. It’s also reassuring to know that your corporate event is in good hands, and if there is a problem, it won’t fall into your lap. In other words, your event manager keeps your brand looking good.

Event Managers Have Established Relationships

Event professionals have another benefit you can enjoy: established relationships with vendors and industry professionals. From guest speakers to catering companies, an event manager has access to a diverse group of professionals that can take your event to the next level.

In some cases, you can also get discounted rates. If your event professional commonly uses a particular venue or guest speaker, they may have discounted rates that can be passed onto you. Your event manager can also help cut costs in other areas because they know what pays off at trade shows.

Event management is something that is best left to the pros. Wouldn’t you agree?

Sep 5, 2020

How You Can Use VR & AR at Your Next Trade Show

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) place people into a scene that looks as close to real life as possible. As this technology becomes more mainstream, businesses are looking for new ways to incorporate it into their trade show appearances. Trade show events provide the perfect opportunity to utilize VR and AR because attendees can interact with the brand in a highly engaging and memorable way.

If you’re curious as to how your brand can use VR and AR at your next trade show, here are some ideas to discuss with your team.

Visualize Your Products and Services

One of the best ways for a consumer to know if your product or service is right for them is by testing it out. Attending a trade show puts consumers closer to your products and services, but it may not be possible for them to fully engage – until now. With VR and AR, you can help consumers imagine what it would be like to own your product or use your service.

Provide Hands-on Training

Some products and services require a learning curve, which is where VR and AR come in handy. Before customers place an order, they can participate in a tutorial or hands-on training session that explains how to use your product. This training allows customers to get more from their purchase and increase their confidence in your brand.

Increase Traffic to Your Booth

Interactive games, trivia, and storytelling are fun ways to create excitement around your brand and drive traffic to your booth. You can throw in prizes or leaderboards to kick up the level of competition and keep your brand front and center.

Demonstrate New Technologies

Trade shows are often used to demonstrate new technologies and innovations. However, it can be difficult to showcase new technology with a standard booth. Thankfully, VR and AR allow brands to present new equipment in a virtual setting, whether it’s new machinery for a construction business or new operating materials for an emergency room.

Display Entire Product Lines

Booth space is often limited, as space costs money. To trim down costs, most brands limit the number of items they bring to their trade show events. VR and AR make it possible to bring along an entire product line – and you don’t have to worry about packing, shipping, or setting it up. Upload your pictures and videos and let your audience experience all of your products as if they were sitting in front of them.

Virtual reality and augmented reality can definitely drive traffic to your trade show booth and help you stand apart from your competitors. There are many ways to use VR and AR, so you’ll have to go through your options and determine what fits your brand best. As you can see, the possibilities are endless!

Jun 30, 2018

The Secrets of a Successful Trade Show Appearance

What makes a trade show appearance truly spectacular? The answer lies in the details. Trade shows are excellent opportunities to introduce your brand, showcase your products, develop new connections, and grow your customer base. Yet many businesses struggle to see true ROI from their attendance. This could happen from any number of issues, such as having a poor display, hiring untrained booth staff, or talking more about yourself than the client.

After working with businesses for many years, we have realized that there are keys to having a successful trade show appearance. We share these secrets below.

Choose Your Location Wisely

Booth location has a huge impact on your success. If your booth is all the way in the back, you’re more likely to get tired, less interested traffic – and perhaps less traffic overall. If your budget allows, consider paying extra for a prime spot. They go quickly, so you’ll have to act fast and early. You may also ask about being grandfathered in for next year if you can’t make it on the list this year.

Have Your Exhibit Custom Made

Your display must be awesome. Buyers are attracted to booths that use bold colors and incorporate technology like virtual reality, touch screens, display signage, and LED lighting. Work with a professional exhibit design firm to get the look you want. You can invest in a custom booth that can be used for all of your events, or save money with a portable, modular, or rental display.

Hire Friendly, Knowledgeable Booth Staff

Choose your booth staff carefully. We understand that not everyone enjoys standing on their feet and mingling all day, but you need your best people out there. All staff should be trained in advance on what to say, how to act, and how to operate the booth, if need be. They should also be friendly, smiling, and approachable, otherwise people will keep on walking by.

Hire an Entertainer

Another way to drive traffic to your booth is by hiring a host or entertainer. This person should go along with your company and the theme of your trade show. For example, an exhibit at a beauty supply expo would benefit from a model. A booth at a toy convention would perform best with a magician or professional juggler.

Offer Promotions and Incentives

A simple way to reach success is by offering promotions and incentives to people who stop by your booth. This can start a few months in advance as you promote your trade show attendance on social media. Be clear about what your promotion is and what buyers can expect by visiting you, exchanging information, etc.

Serve Snacks and Foods

People get tired of walking around trade shows, so having a fresh bottle of water or bag of pretzels is a nice pick me up. You’ll get more traffic to your booth this way, plus people will be more open to hearing your message. Choose drinks and snacks that align with your company and attach branding so people remember who satisfied their hunger.

The more trade shows you attend, the more you’ll see what improvements make a difference for your business. In the meantime, try out a few of these tips for a more successful trade show appearance.

Apr 24, 2018

5 Tips For Choosing The Best Trade Show To Attend

Trade shows are an investment. Even if you love to make appearances at these events, your budget likely doesn’t allow for it. Instead, you must choose shows that give you the biggest return on investment. As you narrow down your options for trade shows, here are five practical tips to keep in mind.

Define Your Objectives

Trade shows are for more than networking and coming home with free goodies. They are an opportunity to strengthen relationships and expand your reach into new markets. So, before you settle on events for the year, define your objectives and what you hope to get out of your trade show schedule.

Your company goals may be:

Improve relationships with existing customers
Raise awareness about your company
Introduce new products or services
Increase sales or leads
Drive traffic to your site and social media pages

Do Your Research

The next step is to narrow down your list of options (based on location, industry, and time/date) and research each one. Will the trade show help you achieve your goals? Let’s say that your objective is to get a line of new products in front of your customers. Rather than choosing trade shows with a new audience, you would benefit from events with your current market.

Consider Conflicting Events

Something that a lot of people forget to check is the possibility of conflicting events. Concurrent shows will burn through your budget, as your expenses will be doubled. Conflicting events can also come from outside your company. What other events are taking place nearby the conference? This can affect who attends the show as well as traffic patterns, flights, and hotel accommodations.

Check Space Availability

If you had a custom booth built to be shipped to the event, you need a space that will accommodate it. Not all booth real estate is created equal, so check to see what spaces are available. Will the custom exhibit fit the space? Will you be in a central area where people can see you? It has happened where attendees didn’t check this information and had to reconfigure their exhibit.

Consider the Audience

It’s tempting to attend conferences that get all the attention. But, don’t get carried away with the largest events. Whether attendance is 5,000 or 500, it’s the audience that matters. A good portion of trade show attendants come from the local area, so consider this audience as well and if they fit your buyer personas.

When this research is complete, you can find the best trade shows to attend and put your budget to good use!

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