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When setting up a booth for a trade fair and exhibition, you have to do your best to attract as much attention as you can if you ever hope to achieve what you set out for. This can be tricky if you are working alone as that can put you at a disadvantage; this is the reason why it is recommended that you go with the booth design experts who know exactly what they are doing.
This is a booth design guide with a number of virtual trade show booth ideas that are aimed at those who are planning to take part in a trade show in the near future but have no idea where to start. We will explore the importance of a good design, the things you have to keep in mind when designing one, and some of the ideas that you can go with.
Table of Contents
Why You Need a Good Booth Design
A good booth design will go a long way in ensuring that everything you display gets the best attention no matter the location you are given. The following are some of the reasons why you need a good booth design.
- A good booth showcases your individuality the best. A trade show is usually full of great businesses, each trying to outdo the other. Standing out is the only way you will edge the rest off.
- A good booth will grab more attention. The more the dazzle and the colors, the higher the human traffic. People love anything that looks interesting, and if you invest in that, you will, without doubt, get more people coming your way.
- It is important for making the first impression as explosive as possible. Your booth should be the first thing people see when they walk into the show area, no matter where it is located. Pulling this off will be a beard but necessary.
- Standing out will help you generate more business leads, which is the ultimate goal of the entire process. Once you have attracted a good number of people, make sure you take advantage of that to amass as many contacts as possible.
Booth Design Ideas You Can Try
There are a number of ideas that one can try to make their booth stand out during a trade exhibition. You have to be aware that competition is always stiff and what you are thinking of, other people are also considering. The following are some of the ideas you can try to improve things for yourself.
Design by Booth Size
Booth sizes vary depending on your needs. Some products and services don’t require huge spaces, but some may do. When it comes to sizes, the design booth can either take the following sizes.
10×10: These are square boxes that are used to display smaller-sized products like phones. A 10×10 trade show booth design is the easiest to make, and its size makes them ideal for setting up other accessories like lights to enhance the appearance.
10×20: These are a little bigger and can accommodate bigger products. With the right lighting and accessorizing, it can give the products the right positioning they need to grab the attention of the people who may be passing by.
20×20: These are much bigger and ideal for exhibition stands that are looking to stock on bigger products. They are much costlier to set up, but they are ideal when you are looking for a bigger impact. They’re easier to spot from a long distance away.
Design by Industry
The booth design for exhibition also has a lot to do with the industry you are in. An exhibition stall for a smartphone will not be the same as one for food. Each has to exhibit the qualities of each respective industry they are involved in.
A food booth will have to feature food-related designs like cardboards shaped like kitchen appliances and wallpapers featuring all kinds of foods. Smartphone booths will have to go with an electronic theme and so on. The design you choose to go with has to reflect the industry you are in. A potential customer should be able to tell what you are all about by a simple look without having to ask what it is you are selling or advertising. Some of the potential designs you can go with include the following.
CES Booths: Consumer Electronics Show (CES) booths are the most ideal booths for electronics and other related products. CES booth design usually comes with many colors and great lighting to make sure that the best features of the products on display are shown.
SEMA Booths: Speciality Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has been around for ages, having made their debut in 1963. They usually feature some of the best booths you can find in a trade show event with good spaces, good lighting, and structuring that’s set up to attract the attention of anyone walking within the visible distance of it.
Design by Booth Type
As previously mentioned, booths come in varying styles that are dependent on the type of product you are planning to push for that trade show. Using the wrong design that doesn’t reflect the product or the brand will only cause confusion. The following are some of the notable booth design ideas worth looking into.
Inline Booth Design: An inline booth is a type that is more visible to the attendees, the first thing that they see in their line of vision when they walk into a trade show building. They are usually arranged in a single line to direct the human eye and are easy to dismantle. They are a clever way of grabbing the attention of attendees, and they work best when set up near the entrance.
Island Booth Design: An island booth design is one that is placed at the center of empty space with nothing else near it. This kind of isolation is also a clever way of attracting attention to a particular product or service that you want attendees to see the most. It is very effective when combined with the right lighting.
Double-Deck Booth Design: Just as the name implies, double-decker both designs give an exhibitor more space options by allowing them to stack up their exhibits on different floors, all within the visible range of the attendees. You could have one floor for the exhibition of goods and another one dedicated to explaining to people how a particular product or service works.
Corner Booth Design: A corner booth is one that takes advantage of a corner as the support to display products and services. It’s one of the cheapest options since all you need is to add a few shelves against a wall, and you are set. However, they have usually pushed way back away from view, and being noticed by the attendees can be a little hard.
Peninsula Booth Design: This is a type of booth that has three sides exposed to the aisles where the attendees usually stand or pass through. It works well in combination with linear booths where the backs of the peninsular booths are made to face the backs of the liner booths to create more space for products and enough room for people to come as close as possible to inspect everything that’s on display.
Booth Design Elements
Designing a booth may look simple at face value, but it is a little more complicated than that. Whether you choose to hire professional booth designers or do the designing part yourself, there are some elements of booth designs for trade shows that you have to include in your structure for the best results. They include the following.
The Layout
The layout is what determines how people interact with what you are offering. It involves the location of the display shelves, the spaces between them, and the entire shape of the entire structure. When designing the layouts, whether they are rental booths or your own, you have to pay attention to the following integral parts.
Interactive Displays: Make use of LED display screens featuring entertaining materials that will help keep attendees much longer in your booth. Never underestimate the power that a short and cute commercial ad can have on the people watching it.
Inviting Floor Plan: An inviting floor plan that looks friendly sly will get you more visitors compared to a closed and hostile one. You want people to feel welcomed, and this has to be reflected well in the design. It shouldn’t be hard for a visitor to stroll in without feeling like they are intruding into forbidden space.
Kiosks: Trade show kiosks provide people with a resting place, and if you can add some refreshments, the better for you. Any passerby that’s walking past may be tempted to buy a bottle of water and, in the midst of consuming it, may get curious and get to ask you about your business.
The Color Scheme
Color is everything when it comes to trade shows. People will always get attracted to the flashiest booth around even when they are not interested in what it’s being sold. Colors change the mood and are able to communicate easily what your brand and business are all about. Color schemes like pastels, tans, ivories, and turquoise have been known to make visitors feel calm and laid back, which makes them easier to talk to. The use of contrasting colors has also been known to direct the eye of anyone passing by to the product you want. This scheme would work best in a liner booth design.
Lighting
Lighting is the fine line between success and failure. Trade show lighting is what attracts people to the booth, the brighter it is, the better for you. It is also the only way that your products are able to get visible. There are many ways you can take advantage of this by trying many tactics like changing the warmth of the light, using multi-colored LED strips, and choosing strategic angles that focus their lights on a certain product that you want to stand out. The more the types of lights you choose to go with, the more variations and twists you can add to the booth.
Texture
The texture is one of the most overlooked elements of the exhibition booths. Getting the texture right can make or break your booth. It can transform a plain look g booth into a classy and refined one that will attract visitors quickly. Trade show texture is directly linked to how people view the booth. You can get this right by using the right trade show furniture, for example, the right art if possible, the flooring, the ceiling, and basically, the small details that make up the interior space of the booth.
Other texture elements that you can incorporate apart from physical objects include wood, fabric, metallic elements, rubber, and any other thing that you feel will enhance the look and feel of your booth. Impression is everything, and you should try anything possible to make everything tick.
Precision
A booth has to be precise. You don’t want attendees to keep guessing what you are all about. When you have a booth with a theme that’s scattered all over, it becomes hard to get your message across effectively. You will be taken more seriously if you have everything aligned to one theme that communicates your brand in the clearest of terms. When setting up your booth, have an attendee’s eye so that you can try to incorporate things that you would like to see. To get the precision right, the following are some of the aspects you have to nail down first.
The Setup: The trade show setup has to be professional and straight to the point. Use the accessories you need in the right way without overcomplicating things as they are. A cohesive setup will do more justice to your brand than all the add-ons combined.
Goals: Having a clear goal in mind will help align thighs the right way, giving you the opportunity to know what you need to know. Once you figure out what you want to be seen, then you can create the setup around that.
Creating a Plan: Once you have the setup and the goals in mind, then crafting a plan that combines everything into a seamless and flowing exhibition will go a long way in ensuring that you achieve what you set out to do in the long run.
Graphics
Graphics encompasses a lot of things. From branded logos, videos, images, and other materials that enhance the message and what you are trying to display. The graphics have to be clean and sharp, the type that gets the attention of someone from a long way off. You can incorporate the use of LCD display strategic places that will help you achieve two things; get the attention of bystanders and relay what your brand is all about.
Conclusion
Trade shows usually come once or twice a year, and this gives you ample time to prepare well in advance. However, no matter how much time you may have in your hands, you will still feel like you have not done enough to be ready. Use this detailed article to get some of the most important things right.
If attending a trade show has been on your cards for a while now, but you are lost on where to begin, simply head over to our official website and find helpful materials that will get you ready in no time. We have a team of experts who will guide and advise you in the next steps that will ensure your first trade show rodeo is a success.
