Events

The events and exhibition industry is a rapidly growing and competitive market. Every year we see new technology being developed and new display solutions being created, all designed to appeal to attendees.

Events offer a great opportunity to promote products or brands to a large crowd. There’s a tremendous amount of effort that goes along with organising an exhibition or event but, with its temporary nature, some may ask the question: what happens after the event is completed?

The ICC Sydney has been open to the public for nearly a year now and it has already seen great success. This leading exhibition, convention and entertainment venue is delivering some very positive business outcomes and is fast becoming one of the world’s most desirable event destinations. The 50th anniversary of the Sydney International Boat Show was recently hosted over five days and took over the facilities offered by the ICC. It fully activated all 32,600sqm of exhibition space, along with the 5,000sqm event deck and Cockle Bay wharf, which housed 900 boats.

Maybe it’s something that we take for granted or maybe we just don’t notice them, but acrylic display cubes are everywhere! The next time you’re out shopping take a look in shop windows, keep your eyes open at exhibition stands or in museums, all places where you can find these cubes, and notice how they are used to great effect to showcase products at their very best.

In our industry we know the importance of standing out from the crowd. But it’s all too easy to blend in when it comes to large exhibition halls like the ICC Sydney. So how do you stand out amongst hundreds of different exhibitors, and how do you cut through all the traffic?

We all expect to have information at our fingertips these days, whether it’s on our mobile phones, our tablets or computers. Touch screens are all around us and they are becoming extremely commonplace. It’s amazing how quickly touchscreens have come from a technological fantasy to something so widespread that it’s now considered standard. We only have to look at how much the mobile phone has advanced over the past decade to see how fast technology is advancing.

The exhibition industry is changing, and so are the products we use. There’s no need to organise a truck to collect your stand and then have three people ready to erect it – today’s products are much more portable and lightweight. 

It took 3 years to build, over 15,000 tonnes of steel and enough concrete to fill 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Whether you are planning a stand for an exhibition, a retail pop-up space or an experiential marketing campaign, it’s imperative you consider all aspects of the build. People tend to focus on the stand itself, which is understandable, but the flooring is often something that gets overlooked by inexperienced operators.

It’s clear that visual impact is still one of the most powerful ways to attract attention. Regardless of whether it’s a moving image on a device or whether it’s a graphic on a stand, we are all attracted to things that look good.