trade show booth tips

Trade Show Booth Design Tips: Floorplan First!

You’re investing in a new tradeshow booth, and it has to look stunning, drawing visitors from across a crowded room. It has to tell a story about your brand, products and services. It also has to make relationship building easy. After all, face-to-face marketing is the #1 reason to exhibit at trade shows, right?

Designing a new trade show exhibit can be exciting. But before you look at cool finishes and technologies, you should accomplish one important task that might not feel as fun: You have to get the floorplan right.

It isn’t glamorous. It can be time-consuming. But the payoff is a booth that delivers on your investment by really working for you.

It’s about storytelling. The floorplan lets you plot out how you want visitors to experience your content. Think about building their knowledge and interest as they make their way through your space.

It’s about flow. Design your space so people can move comfortably through it. Avoid bottlenecks, and eliminate confusion with clear entrances and exits. Ensure that gathering areas are big enough to handle peak capacity. Pro tip: Tape out the floorplan in a large room, and physically experience it to see how it feels and find unexpected traffic snarls.

It’s about creating a great experience for your audience. When visitors are comfortable, when they can tell an experience has been well thought-out, they feel taken care of.

It’s about setting your team up for success. Decide how you want your reps to interact with guests, then create spaces that facilitate. If you’re selling, for example, your floorplan might place your team at the end, after guests have had an opportunity to learn about your innovations. Or you might place huddle spaces strategically throughout the booth for one-on-one conversations.

It’s the foundation of a beautiful design. Stunning shapes, impressive tech, beautiful materials… all these will be layered onto of a core experience that can be enabled and enhanced by your designers’ creativity.

At MPG, we tell clients the floorplan is often the hardest part of the process. Once we get it right, our designers are free to work their magic, while we can be confident the final product will not only look amazing, but successfully deliver on our client’s objectives.

To learn more about how MPG can help design your next trade show booth, contact us today.

in Exhibit Design and Build / Trade Show Tips  by 09 Aug 2019 0 comments

Booth Envy – Is It Time for a New Tradeshow Exhibit?

MPG and IGE Group created this stunning new booth to replace an older property for P&G's Home Away from Home at the BlogHer convention.

MPG and IGE created this stunning new booth to replace an older property for P&G’s Home Away from Home at BlogHer.

If you’ve been exhibiting at trade shows for any length of time, then you know the feeling: There, across the show floor, is a gorgeous new booth. Its elegant design, engaging presentations and drool-worthy technology make your exhibit look shabby and outdated in comparison.

At least, that’s how it feels to you. With a few updates, your current trade show booth might have some life left in it. Or, your hunch that it’s time to build something new could be correct. Here are 5 ways to tell.

1.       You’ve outgrown your current booth.

Perhaps your business has expanded, giving you more products or brands to showcase. Or maybe attendance has boomed at the trade shows where you exhibit. If space makes it impossible for you to accomplish what you need and want to do, or if your booth is so crowded that it creates a less-than-stellar guest experience, then consider getting something new. While bigger is better, it’s still a good idea to have your designer create a modular strategy so you can scale down at smaller shows.

2.       The wear and tear is impossible to hide.

Every trade show exhibit will eventually show its age. And occasionally, as with one of our clients whose booth was damaged in Super Storm Sandy, stuff happens that’s beyond your control. If you’re no longer able to cover the scratches and scuffs, it’s time to put that old exhibit out to pasture.

3.       Your current booth is too expensive to ship and assemble.

Trade show displays made of older, heavier materials can be more costly to ship and put together. If you exhibit at a lot of shows, it might be worth making the up-front investment in something that will be lighter and easier to haul around. Sometimes, the money to design and build a new booth can be taken from a budget separate from the one that covers the expenses of individual shows.

4.       You’re being outpaced by your competitors.

Everyone needs to put their best foot forward at a trade show, and for some brands and companies, it’s vital to look like a leader. The size of your booth, the quality of the design, the general impression it makes on the show floor speak volumes to attendees before they ever set foot in your space. If you really do appear smaller and shabbier than the competition, it might be time to step up your game and leave them with booth envy.

5.       You need more flexibility.

Your trade show exhibit was created around a certain set of activities, but now you want to shake things up and try something new. If your current design makes this all but impossible, then look into something that gives you more options. A good designer can help craft a space that allows you to evolve year after year.

Want to see what one of our clients did to combat booth envy? Check out what MPG and IGE did for Crest + Oral-B.

The new Crest + Oral-B Experience debuted at the American Dental Association convention in New Orleans, and it’s getting rave reviews!

in Event Planning / Exhibit Design and Build / Trade Show Tips  by 18 Nov 2013 1 comments

How to Work a Trade Show: 6 Musts for Successful Exhibiting

MPG’s trade show work has given us a lot of insight into what works, what doesn’t, and what companies are doing to keep their trade show exhibits fresh.  In our next few posts, we’ll be exploring some trade show best practices and offering ideas for successful trade show marketing.

A friendly professional host can draw people to your trade show booth and help engage them.

You’ve got a beautiful trade show exhibit with a great mix of activities that bring your brand promise to life. Now it’s up to you to bring in the leads. Here are some tips for getting people in your booth, then making the most of the relationships you build there.

  1. Get Your Team on Board: Hold a pre-show briefing to detail what will be happening in the booth. Preview all activities so team members know what to expect, and make sure all are on the same page with your key messages. We like to do one comprehensive meeting the day before a show opens, then a smaller “check-in” meeting each morning before the crowds arrive.
  2. Prepare ‘Em for the Spotlight: Your people are the face of your company, of course, but trade show days can be long and tiring. You never know when a VIP could catch someone letting down his or her guard. So lay some ground rules to help ensure your team is at its best. For example: No texting, checking email or playing on smart phones, no eating or chewing gum in the booth, and make sure all attendees are greeted with a smile. Designating an out-of-view spot to decompress and staggering lunches and breaks will help keep everyone fresh and on their toes.
  3. Use Professional Hosts and Crowd Gatherers: Marketing at trade shows is a special skill. You may have great company reps but drawing people into your booth might not be their strongest suit. Plus, when things get busy you want your best people closing sales. Professional hosts and crowd gatherers are engaging, approachable and expert at bringing a steady flow of attendees to your booth. A company like Moening Presentation Group can help you hire hosts whose look and demeanor best represent your brand.
  4. Pre-Qualify Attendees: Hundreds of people can go through a trade show booth every day, but not all are what you might consider prime prospects. Some are looking for swag, some are just browsing, and some are family members of attendees. You’ll want a plan to target those who are truly interested in your offerings and prepared to either buy or recommend. Your professional hosts and crowd gatherers offer a great low-tech way to find and send high-interest attendees to your reps. Or you can go high-tech with a digital pre-marketing campaign. Learn more about that here.
  5. Designate an Answer Expert – Arm everyone in your booth with basic talking points so they can handle most attendee questions, but have on-hand one or two super-knowledgeable brand ambassadors or thought leaders to take in-depth queries. Make sure booth personnel know where these folks are at all times. If your go-to person has stepped away, let the attendee know he or she will follow up as soon as possible.
  6. Turn Leads into Relationships –Today’s trade shows are more than a way to showcase your products and services, they’re openers to ongoing relationships. So make sure you’ve put a system in place to keep communicating.  If your marketing strategy includes social media, then encouraging Facebook likes is a great way to start. Even better is a program that collects attendees’ contact information and allows them to opt in for further conversations with your team.  If you’re curious about how this could work for you, contact us and we’ll fill you in on our suite of solutions.
in Trade Show Tips  by 10 Jul 2012 0 comments

Trade Show Booth Tips: Exhibits That Go Beyond Expectations

Your trade show booth is your company’s home and identity when you’re on the road. It’s how prospective customers experience your brand and, depending on the show and the size of your booth, it’s no small investment. So you want to make sure your trade show booth does all it can do for you. Here are some tips for creating displays that leave a lasting impression.

Good trade show booth design brings a company’s brand promise to life, while cutting through the clutter of a busy show floor.

Invest in good design. “A brand experience is the promise of the brand on the show floor; it has to look like you,” says Gino Pellegrini, President of InterGlobal Exhibits. “Having a good designer on board really makes a difference. Anybody can cram in your programming needs and slap on your brand colors. But a great trade show booth needs a soul.”

A good designer also will make sure your trade show exhibit communicates quality in the details. Lighting, fabrication, and reproduction of graphics—it’s easy to assume attendees won’t notice, but they do. “Sometimes companies want to have lots of structure, instead of going more simple and focusing the budget to make less with more quality,” Pellegrini says. “Level of detail is important.”

Make it easy to find. Trade show real estate is like all real estate—location is key. Study the floor plan and think about traffic flow. Which spots give your booth the best visibility? It’s worth spending a little more to make sure your booth is seen. Take a look at your signage as well. Too often, we see booths with graphics that are too low or don’t prominently feature a company’s name and/or logo. You want attendees to be able to pick you out immediately when they scan the busy show floor. If it fits your branding and overall booth design, then raise those banners high!

Fill it with engaging activities. We’ve seen too many trade show booths, big and small, that feature little more than signage and a counter behind which stand bored-looking sales staff. There’s really no excuse for that considering all of the options available these days. Hire an engaging professional to conduct can’t-miss product demos. Give an interactive live presentation—these work well in big or small spaces. Video backup will help provide visual interest while a professional presenter engages and educates the crowd. Check out our 6 presentation ideas for your next trade show.

If it fits your branding and message, then create opportunities for attendees to have fun and make a little noise.

Make it an event. An empty booth evoking the sound of crickets or one filled with people who are laughing, cheering and actively engaged: which would you visit? Crowds are drawn to crowds, and attendees naturally follow the sounds of others having a great time. Hire professional hosts to invite people into your booth. Then incorporate ways to make a little noise: Have people shout out a key buzzword. Have a competition that gets people fired up and cheering. Weave a camera crew into the experience to create the appearance that you’re making news.

Get the word out. Wouldn’t it be great if people came to the trade show ready to seek you out? You can let prime prospects know about your booth though pre-marketing efforts that put you on their must-visit list and help continue your relationship after the show ends. If the trade show you’re attending allows it, get the attendee list and send a pre-mailer inviting them to a personalized URL. There, you can tease show specials, offer VIP perks for visiting the booth and allow them to opt-in to receive future communications. Click the link to learn more about Moening Presentation Group’s digital pre-marketing solution for trade shows and events.

For advice on how to make your exhibiting efforts a success overall, check out our most recent post on this topic.

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in Exhibit Design and Build / Trade Show Tips  by 20 Jun 2012 0 comments