EFFECTIVE IDEAS IN DESIGNING CONVENTION BOOTH DISPLAYS

Conventions like Exhibitions offer a great platform to reach out to the right audience, increase lead generation and improve brand awareness.

To fully leverage the opportunity offered by a Convention, you should have great Convention Booth Displays designed to stand out from the crowd.

82 percent attendees’ who visit Conventions possess tremendous buying authority.

How do you impress them and cultivate their favor?

The answer is simple – a visually pleasing and interactive convention booth display design. It has the power to get the attendees’ to come back for your next convention event.

The power of design is best explained by ‘The Japan Institute Of Design Promotion’ which administers the Good Design Award every year. According to it, “Design is always centered on ‘people’, and that is why it has the power to develop society. Furthermore, Design must truly enrich someone’s life or have the potential to do so. Such a Design only can be considered as a Good Design.”

THE POWER OF EFFECTIVE IDEAS

An eye-catching design results in more foot-traffic making a beeline to your booth.

Here are some effective ideas to make sure your Convention Booth Displays first impression is truly impressive.

1. GRAPHICS

Graphics are among the first design elements prospective customers see. They remain the first shot at communicating your brand message and entice attendees to stop by at your booth and linger around to learn about your brand and offers.

The displays’ design should ideally have high-resolution, colorful, and full-sized graphics that convey the features and message of your brand.

To create an effective graphics, it should have

CONCISE COPY

The main purpose of graphics is to draw the eyes of the attendees and attract attention to your display, and not to serve as a full-blown product brochure or full-blown information about your company and its offerings.

Hence, it should ideally include,

• Text that is brief and concise, to the point. Make use of bullet points to list a few unique selling points.
• Company name, logo, and branding displayed front and center.
• Empty space that makes-up around 40 percent of the graphics; this will help to balance the display’s design.

SIMPLE DESIGN

Just as it is important to keep your text brief and concise, so too you should ensure that the display design

• Is simple and neat. If it meanders into the abstract, it will not be able to successfully advertise your company and products.
• Sports a look that will make it visible and readable to prospects from 20 feet away.
• Contains two or three colors and a maximum of three different fonts. The colors should be bright enough to attract attendees’ attention and trigger interest in them; avoid colors that are dull and muted. Likewise, fonts should be governed by the demographics of your audience; and be clear and easy to read and see, whether your prospects are up-close or far away on the trade show floor. Some examples of good fonts include Arial Fonts and Sans Serif Fonts. Avoid using the same font size everywhere; instead ensure close-ups can go smaller on font and distant messages can be bigger.

2. BRANDING AND LOGOS

Branding is critical to achieve a great design look.

Your brand name should appropriately be displayed in the right front while the Logo should be placed in the center of the graphic. Ultimately, the branding and logo should appear at eye-level.

BRANDING

The purpose of branding is to achieve brand awareness.

To achieve the sane, the display design should have

COHESIVE THEME

The design theme should be cohesive and powerful. To ensure the same, check whether

• Your logos and brand names are removed.
• It would be easy for the show audience to guess that the convention booth display truly belonged to your company.
• If the above requirements are met, then it indicates you have the right theme for your convention booth display design.

STORY

A strong, cohesive theme by itself will not work for your booth display design.  It should also have a strong story to build greater brand awareness.

Your booth displays are a visual, experiential form of story-telling.

So leverage it to the maximum by using the right combination of color, lighting, interactive elements, product displays, and above all, your booth staff. If they are done accordingly, attendees will understand where your company came from, why your company does what it does, and what your company can offer them.

ENGAGING BITS

The term ‘Engaging’ might sound incomprehensible to some people. But fact is they are vital to the creation of a great booth display design.

Engaging Bits means touch and feel elements that  make your booth display design interactive and engaging enough for the attendees to stop by at your booth and interact with it.

Ensure all important elements are above the line of sight. Anything kept below eye level will be lost in the melee. This is the reason why the average height of the booth has increased. To create maximum impressive effect, ensure the height limit is used to advantage. This will make the Logo more easily visible even from a distance.

LOGO

While incorporating Logo in the display design,

• Stick to the Left, Right, & Centre rule. Make sure it does not go below eye-level.
• Place the Logo in many areas within the booth. This will make sure the attendees take home a good impression of your Logo as well as the tagline that differentiates your brand from others.

3. LIGHTING

• Good lighting plays a significant role in enhancing the look and feel of Convention Booth Displays.
• They enable attendees to clearly read the message, and at the same time, light-up the side walls, back walls, and shadowed parts of the convention booth.
• You can also consider having lighting placed strategically to
• Illuminate areas and walls of the booth displays. Else, they would get lost in dark shadows.
• Elevate the texture and finishing of the graphics.
• Add depth to the displays.
• Create a dramatic effect in and around the booth displays design.
• Set the desired ambiance or mood in the convention booth.
• Strategic placement of lighting also helps to enhance the appearance of the booth displays. For example, strategic use of eco-friendly lighting options like Hanging Lights, Spotlights, Accent Lighting, etc, will give the booth displays a visually striking and coherent look.

4. FLOORING

Flooring plays a critical role at the same level as lighting in highlighting the aura and feel of booth displays.

There are two major types of flooring.

• Standard Event Flooring. They can either be bland or clash with the brand colors and aesthetic.
• Custom Event Flooring. They enhance the look of the convention booth into an inviting oasis by adding color and texture to it; and more.

There are also others like,

• CUSTOM PRINTED CARPET: A playful option that helps convention booth displays’ to stand out from the crowd.
• FLEX FLOOR: Made of custom printed vinyl glued to thin foam pads, it is ideal if you prefer a flooring option that is inexpensive as well as portable.
• HARDWOOD FLOORING: With its interlocking panels, it will provide a luxurious touch to your Booth Displays.
• INTERLOCKING CARPET TILES: Made of EVA Foam, it is suitable if you prefer a flooring option that is comfortable and cost-effective.
• INTERLOCKING FLOOR TILES: As an anti-fatigue floor tile, it is a great option if you have a modest flooring budget.
• PLUSH CARPET: Available in a variety of colors, styles, and thicknesses, it is suitable if you prefer the flooring to sport a plush look.
• ROLLED BAMBOO: Combining lightness and strength, they give the convention booth flooring an expensive style and look.
• VINYL: Easy to clean and install, it is suitable if you prefer flooring that is easy to clean and maintain.

5. TECHNOLOGY

The inclusion of technology like Interactive Touch-screens, AR/VR, Videos, etc, when efficiently coordinated will help to showcase and highlight your products/services and disseminate its utility value to the audience.

Touch-screens and Interactive Kiosks work very well to educate the attendees about your offerings and brand; Virtual Reality on the other hand, can be used to provide a fun and immersive experience to the attendees.

You can also get social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, etc, to

• Post photos of your Convention Booth Displays’.
• Supplement a product demonstration, contest, or game.
• Communicate an important message to the audience.
• Set a particular mood or scene.
• When creatively used with impactful text, they make the booth displays stand apart from the crowd.

MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY

To heighten the impact of booth displays, use multimedia technology.

Like for instance,

• Loop motion graphics. They help to entice the attendees.
• Tablets and Smartphone’s. They work very well to capture valuable leads.
• Video Walls. When installed properly, they can be used to showcase your new products and draw the attendees in with the right fusion of energy and motion.

TOUCH-SCREEN KIOSKS

Touch-screen kiosks will significantly enliven the appearance of your booth displays.

They

• Provide the personal space to attendees to interact with pre-programmed touch-screens.
• Deliver a more immersive brand experience and also allow the attendees to select what videos, information, or other media they like to.
• Can be customized to engage the audience’s senses and personalize booth experience that matches their expectations.

6. SOCIAL MEDIA WALL

A Social Media Wall refers to a running feed of all of your company or product social media mentions.

They

• Highlight social media mentions and induce in-person conversations.
• Increase the duration of time attendees spend in the booth by over 30 percent.
• Convince attendees to see what others think about the booth displays and deliver instant gratification to people detailing your brand on their social media accounts.

7. HANDS-ON DEMONSTRATIONS

Hands-on demonstrations are a good way to highlight your products’ USP.

They

• Allow attendees to see up-close and get personal with your product. This helps them to understand it firsthand.
• Provide attendees a more engaging and immersive experience

8. STORAGE

Like flooring, storage is an element that is often overlooked. Although it may not be the most exciting design element, it is a must-have from a practical standpoint that is useful for a number of reasons.

A built-in storage space will help to

• Reduce the presence of clutter and ensure that the focus of your Convention Booth Displays is on your offerings.
• Make it easy to keep giveaways and promotional collateral out of sight but well within reach as and when required.
• Help store precious items like expensive giveaway prizes, tablets, etc, when they’re not in use.

Some good examples of presentable in-booth storage options include lockable counters, shelving, podiums, towers, and strategically placed workstations.