Part One: Designing Your Booth’s Backdrop
Trade shows are essential marketing outlets to connect with customers, resellers, business partners, potential investors, etc. On the show floor, your booth is an opportunity to tell your brand’s story. Here you can communicate to the world: who you are, what you have to offer and why you are different.
Below are a few tips and tricks to keep in mind as you put together the design of your company’s booth backdrop:
Font Size Matters
A booth should never be an eye chart test for your potential customers. The font should be big enough that you can read it from 15-20 feet away but, depending on the content, the font can be larger in size to establish your message. Larger font items can include company logo, tagline or a few company feature descriptions to peak a passerby’s interest.
Logo and Message Location
Your company’s logo should be visible from every angle. When a visitor walks up to your booth, within 10 seconds, they should be able to see who you are (logo) and what you do (high level messaging).
A good practice is to print your proposed booth design for a friend and see if they can repeat what your company does within those 10 seconds. If they can, you are ready to move forward! If not, you may need to go back to the drawing board.
Billboard vs. Three Foot Rule
Your trade show booth is meant to pique the interest of passersby, entice them to walk over to your booth and speak with your sales team. The phrase “a picture is worth one thousand words holds here, where a compelling image or diagram can serve a better purpose on your booth than a row of text. The history of your company and your entire product line should not be listed on your booth – this information should go in your product datasheets and other relevant marketing materials.
Additionally, all critical information should be located above the three foot level. Why is this? If you have a rockstar booth and a bunch of interested parties standing in front… you lose the view!
Lighting is Key
Light it up! Although a convention hall is indoors and the lights are on, it is surprising just how dark a trade show booth can be without direct light. Work with your booth design company to incorporate downlights to highlight the design and other important product features you worked so hard to put together.
PVC Board vs. Fabric Walls
As you begin to design the booth and graphics, there is one more important consideration to be had – do you want fabric or hard panel walls? Both come with their pros and cons, but here are a few items to consider:
PVC Board Walls:
- Pre-fabricated, or “pre-fab,” booths (displayed above) are ubiquitous in Europe and expanding to trade shows in North America. With a pre-fab booth, the panels are printed by the show’s exhibit company and will charge you by printed panel accordingly. When budgeting for a show, be sure to include the booth rental costs plus the printing.
- Will you be reusing your booth or attending events with other pre-fab booths? If so, hard panels are an excellent option for longevity as the panels are relatively sturdy in transport. Consequently, the panel’s sturdiness adds weight and increases your dryage costs.
Fabric Walls
- Fabric walls are light and easy to transport – easy on the dryage budget!
- Fabric stains easily as people’s shoes hit the walls and leave smudges. You can use a fabric cleaner, but it can only remove so much.
Stay tuned as we continue the series on trade show tips and tricks! If you would like to learn more in the meantime, please read our other blog What I’ve Learn from Planning and Attending 250+ Trade Shows and Events.
Interested in speaking at top industry conferences? Here are some of the top 2019 trade shows and conferences with their speaking deadlines:
Cybersecurity/infosec trade shows and conferences: https://upraisepr.com/top-2019-cybersecurity-and-infosec-conferences/
Public relations trade shows and conferences: https://upraisepr.com/2019-public-relations-conferences/