KTM Exhibition Stand, Melbourne Aug 2011

Many people believe that networking is the only way to grow a small business, but holding an exhibition stand in an expo or trade show could be the key to meeting many potential customers and sales leads in a short space of time. Exhibiting at a trade show gives you access to hundreds and thousands of people who are in the market for your services.

Exhibiting is a far more cost effective marketing campaign than cold calling or sending out direct mail brochures on a “hit and miss” marketing campaign.  This is because the trade show organisers advertise directly to your target market and you can target your marketing campaign to the people who will be attending the trade show. This means you don’t waste resources as every person who attends the trade show is a potential customer within your target market.

Creating an innovative exhibition stand that really enhances your branding and product recognition can help you to grow your business. By exhibiting at trade shows that attract the potential customers you want, you have the opportunity to market directly to the people you need to grow your business. The business opportunities for networking and gaining good sales leads during a few days during a trade show are immense.

Innovations in technology, such as the increased use of lightweight materials to create exciting exhibition stands, allow people to design an exhibition stand that attracts attention at relatively low costs. Printing costs of brochures and even signage have reduced over the past few years and you can now get higher quality for less with large banners, digitally printed posters, printed flooring panels and walls for your exhibition stand. Computer rendered designs can help you see exactly how your exhibition stand will look when it is built.

This means that it is far easier to attract attention from your target market at a trade show with an innovative and well-designed exhibition stand, than it is to send out mail brochures to thousands of people, many of whom are not in the market for your products at all.

Innovations in technology in exhibition furniture, display cabinets, lighting, and all the other extras you need to ensure your exhibition stand is practical as well as attractive, have made exhibiting at a trade show far easier and cheaper. The lightweight materials make transporting the exhibition stand easier, while the technology that allows you to hire furniture in almost any colour you can think of ensures you can create a unique look for your exhibition stand.

All in all, exhibiting at a trade show can be an extremely effective marketing campaign to grow your business. You reach your target market without making “hit and miss” mail out campaigns and you don’t waste resources by marketing to people outside of your potential customer target market. Creating beautiful and innovative exhibition stands is easier and cheaper than you might imagine, especially when you use the lightweight materials and brilliant colour printing technology now available.

Samsung Installation 2011

Choosing your exhibition furniture is an important step in designing an excellent exhibition stand that both attracts attentions and sells your products at the trade show. You will need some furniture within your exhibition stand, even in the simplest of designs. Asking the following questions will help you to work through the steps to choose the best furniture options for your stand.

Question 1: What Products Do You Want to Display?
Once you decide on what products you want to display, you will know what types and sizes of  furniture items you’ll need to show off your products to the best advantage. Display cases and smaller wall shelves will help you to display small products, but larger products may need tables, benches, or solid shelving to hold the weight of the products.

Question 2: Do You Need Storage Areas for Extra Items?
If you have a brochure display case where members of the public visiting the exhibition stand can take a brochure, you may need somewhere to keep a stock of the brochures that the public cannot see. Custom exhibition furniture will have space to hold spare brochures, business cards, and give away products in drawers, or you can hide a box behind the furniture façade that is visible to the public view. This can be lockable too if you need to leave items overnight or when your staff members are busy.

Question 3: How Many Staff Members Will Be in the Stand?
If you plan to have two or three people on the exhibition stand at all times, you will need chairs for each staff member. It is a long, tiring day when you stand on your feet all day, and your customers will notice the difference in your staff members’ attitude when you provide comfortable seating for your staff.

Question 4: Do You Need Furniture for Your Customers?
You will want to provide comfortable seating for your customers, too. If you want your staff members to initiate sales conversations with potential customers at the trade show, you may want to provide small couches, ottomans or seats in pairs where your staff member and the customer can sit in comfort.

Question 5: Does Your Stand Have a Theme?
If you are using a particular theme for your exhibition stand, you will want to express that theme with your exhibition furniture. You can have the exhibition furniture custom made in the same colours or patterns as your theme or company branding, such as the logo. (Ask your exhibition company for options on customising your furniture within your budget.)

Question 6: Do You Want to Create a Particular Image or Atmosphere?
Do you want your exhibition stand to appear as cutting edge? If so, you will want the most modern looking furniture. If you want to portray an image of a well-established company, you may like to consider antique style furniture. You can use the furniture to create a certain image or atmosphere within your exhibition stand.

Once you have worked through the answers to each of the six questions above, you will have a much clearer idea of what exhibition furniture you need for your  show. Hiring your exhibition furniture is usually a cost-effective method of having what you need, when you need it, without having to store exhibition furniture in your company offices when you don’t need it. You will also have the benefit of your exhibition company delivering the items direct to the exhibition hall and picking them up at pack down so you won’t have to worry about a thing!

Algologie Cube

The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour is the premier centre for the best trade shows and public exhibitions in Sydney. Exhibition Co. often works with exhibitors at the SCEC and knows how to make the most of the venue. Here are the top five tips for people who are preparing an exhibition stand for the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Tip 1 – Use the Height
The SCEC is a very tall building, with extremely high ceilings over the majority of the exhibition halls, especially in Halls 2 to 4 (in the centre). This means that you can use the height as additional space. While you do not want to have passersby strain their necks looking up too high, many exhibitors forget to place signs and features above the traditional height of the walls of a booth. If you use the space available above your exhibition stand, you will attract more people because you will intrigue them with your signage from all points across the hall.

Tip 2 – Create a Unique Booth Design
Whenever you attend an event at the venue, you will find that the majority of exhibitors use the stock standard exhibition booth, with the blue-grey walls which the show organiser provides as a basic package. Anyone who designs a unique exhibition stand that creates its own walls immediately stands out from the crowd.

Tip 3 – Use Additional Lighting
The lights at the SCEC are fluorescent lights in long rows along the ceiling. While this may provide plenty of light for people to see and walk around the exhibition halls, it does not allow the exhibitors to highlight any particular area of their own exhibition stand. When you design your exhibition stand, consider adding lighting to create highlights, shadows, and effects to your exhibition stand. Ask your exhibition company for ideas on how best to use lighting techniques to your advantage.

Tip 4 – Use Colour
The SCEC is a venue that architects designed specifically to have many exhibitors showing their wares. Of necessity, the walls, furnishings, and features are bland and neutral in colour. Ensure your exhibition stand does not blend in with the boring surroundings by using bright, vibrant, and exciting colour schemes.

Tip 5 – Arrive Early
The SCEC opens to exhibitors several hours before any exhibition will start. Arrive as early as possible in the set up time allowed. There is plenty of public parking, but only a few spots for trucks to park with the exhibition stands. Arriving early allows you to have plenty of time to bring in your equipment and set up your exhibition stand to make the most of your design. Once you have set up your stand, you can use any additional time to network with other exhibitors, which will increase your marketability at the exhibition or trade show.

The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre is a great centre for holding exhibitions, but you do need to make the most of the space and time you are allocated. The Exhibition Co. can help you to design an exhibition stand guaranteed to stand out in the SCEC.

Serono Exhibition Stand

Trade Shows are not just about gaining sales leads. Many companies find that the benefits of networking with other exhibitors are as useful as the sales leads from potential customers attending the trade show. When you design and plan your exhibition stand at a trade show, you can plan for the opportunities to network as well as increasing your company’s brand awareness and recognition by potential customers.

Tip 1: Look at the List of Exhibitors
Before you even arrive at the exhibition, you will receive a list of exhibitors and a map of the trade show layout from the organiser. If you want to make the most of your networking opportunities at the trade show, take note of who the other exhibitors are. You may want to highlight some of the exhibitors that you especially want to meet at the show. Colour-code your exhibition map with different colours, for the people you already know and have relationships with, and those who want to know. You may want to create different marketing tools for each category of business.

Tip 2: Make Contact Before the Trade Show
You can make contact with other exhibitors before the trade show. Networking is about building genuine relationships with other people in the industry. Use the list of exhibitors and make an initial contact with as many people as possible before the trade show. This way, when you meet at the trade show, the exhibitors may remember your initial contact and will be more open to establishing an ongoing and mutually beneficial relationship with your business.

Tip 3: Arrive Early and Stay Late
Use every moment the organisers allow you to have at the trade show. Arrive as early as possible and set up your stand quickly. Then, you can spend some time networking with other exhibitors as they set up their stands. Stay late in the evening and chat with other exhibitors. Hire an exhibition company to set up and dismantle your stand for you – leaving yourself and your staff free to network even during the build.

Tip 4: Walk the Trade Show Too
Many exhibitors focus only on generating sales leads with the potential customers who are walking around the trade show. While this is an important feature of exhibiting at a trade show, you need to walk the trade show yourself too. This will help you to see how other exhibitors are marketing and promoting their products. You will get ideas from your competitors and other experts in the industry. You can visit each stand, exchange business cards, and chat with each exhibitor while the trade show is in process. You have the opportunity to explore the other exhibitions while staff members maintain a presence at your exhibition stand.

Tip 5: Explore Mutually Beneficial Relationships
Trade shows offer unique opportunities to meet with a diverse range of industry experts. For example, a wedding planner who attends a bridal expo as an exhibitor will want to talk to other exhibitors, such as celebrants, photographers, and reception managers, as these contacts will enable the wedding planner to plan a wedding for any couple. At any trade show, you will meet people in businesses that supply your business, use your product or service, or are your direct competition. It is possible that you could create a joint venture and offer your customers a complete package with other exhibitors at the trade show.

Tip 6: Follow Up After the Trade Show
The most important thing to do after attending any event where networking is part of the event is to follow up with the connections you make at the event. As well as following up with marketing or promotional tools with the sales leads your company generated through the exhibition stand, make sure you follow up with the other exhibitors too. Make personal contacts that show you paid attention during the networking chats at the trade show.

Using a trade show only to exhibit your company to attendees as potential customers is a waste of the opportunities available. Plan to meet and network with other exhibitors to make the most of your exhibition stand at the trade show.

Sony Shoe Box Store promotion

When you plan to have a stand at an exhibition or trade show, you want to attract attention to your business. The aim is to generate new sales leads and start new relationships with customers, suppliers, and industry members. Expanding your network is the key to ensuring your business exhibition stand is a success. In order to achieve this, you need to put plenty of thought into planning the best exhibition stand that will leave a lasting memory for people who attend the trade show.

Hiring an exhibition stand specialist to help you to coordinate an imaginative theme using the exhibition furniture, signage, display cases, and technology can help you to bring together all the elements of a successful exhibition stand guaranteed to attract attention.

Use your imagination to capture the imagination and hearts of people passing by your exhibition stand. A good theme that has an interesting slogan and an element of surprise will always be memorable. Technology has allowed exhibition furniture makers to create furnishings to suit almost any theme you can imagine, so you can have a stand that takes your potential customers into the world of your business.

Using fabric, lights, sound, and movement, you can create a stand that everyone wants to look at. Having a moving item, such as a rotating display case can attract attention as anyone who sees the movement in their peripheral vision will automatically turn to look at what is moving. Lights and sound elements also attract attention, while you can strategically use fabric designs to create special effects within your exhibition stand.

Colour is another element that tends to attract attention. If you can have your whole stand in one or two colours that match your company logo or branding, you will create a theme with colour. Alternatively, a rainbow of colours can also attract attention, although it is sometimes harder to create a theme that matches your branding if you use too many colours in your exhibition stand.

If you intend to give away samples or promotional products, use your imagination to create promotional products that relate to your chosen theme for your exhibition stand. At a show recently, I saw a wine company was giving away fridge magnets made to look like a miniature bottle of their wine, complete with the label. After all, the intention of a sample or promotional product is to provide an ongoing physical reminder of your exhibition stand to your customers.

Make sure your promotional product has some contact details on it, at least the website of your business as a minimum. This way, your promotional product is not only an interesting reminder of your business exhibition stand, but it gives customers a way to contact your business long after the event.

Use the entirety of your exhibition space to create your theme. Many exhibition stands do not use the space above the exhibition stand itself, but you can create some wonderful hangings from light fabrics that people will see from around the whole exhibition centre.

There are so many ways you can use your imagination to attract attention with your exhibition stand. Sit down with your exhibition stand designer to discuss options of themes, colours, signage, lights, sounds, movement, and the best use of the limited space to make your exhibition stand truly memorable.