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Choosing an exhibition stand design is one of the most important decisions you will have to take when organizing an exhibition so give yourself enough time (at least four to six months before your planned show date) to investigate available options. Consider your exhibiting objectives and make sure the design of the stand will work for you by looking good enough to attract visitors. There are many types of stands to consider such as a cardboard display.
Hints, Design Tips, and Questions to Ask Yourself
- Creating an Exhibition Brief
Write down your ideas, objectives, and messages to yourself right from the start. Share your exhibition brief with your team and all stakeholders involved early on to get everyone on board with your plans. Use your brief to communicate to your design team, build contractor, or agency what you would like your stand to achieve. If you need help, feel free to download our handy guide on how to create a great exhibition brief that will help make your planning easier.
– Exactly what is it that you want to achieve with your exhibition? From there, make sure that the core influence behind all your design decisions is focused on achieving those objectives.
– What is the desired outcome you wish to obtain from your exhibition at the show?
– What measurement will you use to determine whether your desired outcome has been achieved?
- Understanding Your Audience
Here are some of the questions you can ask to help understand your audience better:
– Who will be attending the show?
– What is the profile of the audience, for example, gender, job title, industry, size of company they work for, etc.
– Will you be exhibiting mainly to current customers at the show or will you be looking for new prospects?
– What are the similarities between your own customers and the expected audience at the show?
– What is the one thing you would like a visitor to take away from the show after visiting your exhibition stand?
– Will your key message appeal to a broad audience or only a select few?
– Do you have a specific campaign theme?
– What needs to be done to communicate your message to the right audience?
– How can you get your message out before, during, and after the trade show?
– What will your desired on-stand visitor experience look like?
– How to prioritize stand activities such as demonstrations, hospitality, and lead taking?
– Do you have any specific considerations that will help facilitate on-stand activities?
– Consider using demonstrations and presentations to create movement at your stand that is known to attract visitors.
– Make sure that chairs are used for visitors only. Stand staff will get too comfortable sitting down and be less motivated to get up and speak to prospects.
– Use height to your advantage. Find out what height the show organizers will allow you to build your stand. Most stands are allowed to be about 4 meters high at shows, but some organizers will allow you to go up to 6 meters high. Find out whether suspended overhead signage is allowed before planning to make use of it.
- Choosing the Right Design and Build Stand Contractor
Exhibition stand design is a specialized field and a stand build should only be done by a professional organization and a showplace with extensive experience. Some of the questions you may want to ask before hiring a company are:
– Does the company have a good history and reputation?
– Do they offer the type of design and field service, products, and guarantees required by you to create the ideal exhibition stand for your needs?
– If you will be attending more than one show, does the contractor offer flexibility and value for exhibiting at future shows?
In conclusion, remember that your role is to deliver your objectives to your visitors via a clear message while it is the role of the contractor or agency to design and build a stand that will be suitable for your purposes. A great way to judge the stand is to ask yourself: “Is this stand attractive enough to make me stop and visit?”
