Designing an exhibition stand should be a moment to have some fun and certainly an opportunity to get excited about branding and brand experience. This is your opportunity to shine, to attract customers, and to ultimately sell your products or services.
Whether the stand is looking for lead generation, reconnecting with clients, raising brand awareness or launching a new product, a key factor is stand design.
Some of the latest exhibition stand designs are governed by new products in the marketplace and by changing trends in technology. So it’s important to keep in touch with what is going on in the industry as well as understanding the target audience you are wanting to attract.
It’s important to remember that you can no longer differentiate between trade and consumer shows – every visitor ultimately is a consumer in today’s marketplace and we have to make it worth their while to attend.
This is where engagement plays a major role.
Technology on exhibition stands
Technology is being incorporated into exhibition stands now in ways that we have never seen before. The use of interactive apps, facial recognition hardware, robots, 3D printing and mixed reality, whereby pointing your phone at a product on the stand delivers an immersive digital experience, are just a few of the latest trends. These are fantastic ways for exhibitors to engage their audience and become the talking point of the show.
But along with technology has been the growth of social media, probably one of the biggest changes in the last few years – this really has become a game-changer. Social media sites are easy to set up, inexpensive to run and when used properly can have an immediate impact on an exhibitor’s business. Use them throughout the year to let your followers [customers] know what shows you will be attending, even specifying the hall and stand number. Why not create some buzz around the design of your stand and what they can expect – everyone loves a bit of hype!
Colour attracts attention
Colour always plays a large role in exhibition stands but gone are the days when 80 per cent of the stands at an event were blue and white! Many companies are now prepared to introduce bright tones, a variety of finishes from natural, wood, stone, concrete or even grass to bring an element of fun or a more sophisticated look and feel. The use of digital fabric print now allows us to produce large scale graphics that have vivid colour and a seamless finish, and by adding an LED light behind the fabric it can really give the stand a WOW factor that pops.
LED Lighting at exhibitions
LED lighting and tiles have also had an amazing impact on the exhibition industry – we can now offer more subtle lighting effects on the stand drawing the customers’ eye to certain aspects or highlighting the company name in an effective way.
The cost of lightboxes has dramatically reduced and the introduction of new products to light up displays such as illuminated banner stands and walls are now becoming commonplace. We are also seeing down-lighting and LED tiles appearing allowing exhibition stands to have huge video walls at a fraction of the cost.
Furniture on stands
Be sure to give good consideration to your stand furniture. Eames chairs are very on-trend this season and can bring a touch of class to any stand, but there are also a lot of designer pieces now available for hire which is refreshing. However, it’s important for exhibitors to understand what they are looking to achieve from the stand before they choose their seating. If the goal is to have a short meet-and-greet they shouldn’t make the seating too comfortable – it is easier to get somebody onto a stand than off again!
As with all trends, the main objective is getting the balance right and the stand to work for exhibitors and their brands. If you need any help or advice on new products in the exhibition industry then why not visit our showroom; we are always happy to help! Or simply contact us today.