Trade Show Behind the Scenes: Preparing the Booth

Start with designing your booth layout. 

How large is your space? How would you like to maximize it? What items do you need to have a successful show?

• This can include tables, chairs, carpet, monitors, electricity, Insurance (for your company and potentially the company delivering/setting up your booth), etc.
• Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) mentions that the average attendee spends about 13 minutes at each targeted booth, so it is important to create something engaging for your visitors.
  
  

Check out your brand’s style guide.

Within this, should be your ideal branding colors. Of these, pick the main three that you would like to focus on. By simplifying your booth’s branding options, this increases overall visitor memory retention for your booth and brand! From this, you can follow the “60% – 30% – 10% Rule” to color code your booth.

• 60% of your booth should follow your #1 brand color.
• 30% should contain a supporting color.
• 10% should contain your choice of accent color
  

Using these steps so far, we have created a mock-up of what your potential booth could look like with our brand’s colors for example. While you do not need to execute this rule perfectly, it is a good rule of thumb.

It’s time to design your graphics.

What is the one message you would like your visitors to remember? This can be a tagline commonly used by your company in marketing campaigns, or something created uniquely for the show you are exhibiting at. Include things like your company name, your logo, and your website.

• To continue the example with our branding, Map Your Show (MYS) is “Your Trade Show Operating System” and available at mapyourshow.com.
  
  

Create space for genuine interactions to form.

Don’t overcomplicate this with too many signs and overcrowded furniture. Often, our visitors prefer to stand to receive a demo of our software. Visitors view it as less risk of their time vs sitting. Your onsite team can then engage attendees by showing the available product, software, or service. We have personally seen higher-than-average time spent in the booth with this. However, ensure you have plenty of monitors for these demos to take place and adequate WIFI to access the software (depending on your product).

Plan ahead and arm your booth with the correct people.

59% of marketers say that having your sales team in your trade show booth is the best way to direct general traffic to a potential lead. While we agree, we have also found value in having members from our tech team. As products and services get more and more technical, having someone from your tech team can assist with the more individualized questions on your product or software’s capabilities.

• Preparing your team is another important step for the success of your booth. CEIR’s report on “Best Practices for Exhibit Booth Design” mentions to “Recognize that attendees want an informative experience, not a sales pitch”.
  
  

Plan your promotional and giveaway items.

We recommend looking into the location of the trade show. What are the city and state known for? Is this something that fits the overall feel of your company’s brand? Here at MYS, we pride ourselves on our culture and overall industry experience. What does your company take pride in? Use this to decide your giveaway item(s).

When all your planning is done, you should have a booth that represents your brand and your services. As an example, here’s the booth layout we used at the 2022 IAEE (International Association of Exhibits and Events) Expo! Expo! in Louisville, KY.

We hope this assists you in creating a fantastic booth for your next trade show!