Pre Covid, trade shows contributed around £11bn to the UK economy each year. 1,100 exhibitions would welcome 9.1 million visitors and around 178,000 exhibitors. Now, with social distancing behind us, it’s an exciting time for businesses to get back to trade shows and the indisputable benefits that they offer to organisations of all sizes.

Trade shows provide a great opportunity to enhance your own knowledge about your industry, to promote your brand and its products to a highly targeted market, and to meet lots of customers and suppliers in one place, in a relatively small amount of time.

Stands at trade shows can start from just a couple of hundred pounds, however the cost to your brand could be substantial if you don’t make time to plan the best way to make a good first impression.

How to get the best RoI from your trade show stand

Amanda Hatcher, has more than 25 years’ experience in the industry and says “Whether you are a start-up or an established corporate the rules are very similar. It is all in the pre-planning and marketing of your attendance at an event.”

Amanda, a Director at Inizio Events, tells her customers to let [Inizio] concentrate on their design, build and event logistics so they can focus on the content and pre-event marketing campaigns. In doing so, together they can optimise the ROI from trade show events”.

Amanda says “Often, trade show events are the only time you can get your whole industry eco-system in one place together and your customers and partners know this.  It creates a hive of activity for everyone, but never leave it to the speculative visitors, know your audience and reach out and arrange meetings pre-show – fill up that diary. Practical stand designs always work with various elements as outlined below, creating an easy and interesting visitor experience, but this needs to be alongside strong branding opportunities across fixed board and even, where suitable, back lit branding that can be seen from various angles to reaffirm or introduce your brand. Moving images on screens add a further element with movement to draw in interest and make your brand and messaging stand out from the crowd.”

How to create a welcoming environment for customers

There are certain components that can help you to create a welcoming and practical environment for customers, potential customers and suppliers who may be visiting or passing your stand.

Consider making space for a seating area. It doesn’t have to be big. A small bistro table and three or four stools will give you the space to sit comfortably for a meeting, take notes, rest coffee cups (and tired feet) and collect leads.

Think about power and connectivity. In addition to needing power for any interactive elements on the stand, staff will need to charge phones, laptops and tablets to arrange and rearrange meetings, demo products and capture leads. A power bank may be the best solution if you don’t have power to your stand or, for those that do have power, free-standing power modules offer a convenient solution that doesn’t take up much space but provides plenty of charging points.

Trade shows can be notoriously noisy so consider using perspex dividers or partitions to create an area where people can have a conversation or make a phone call in a quieter space.

Outward aisle-facing interactive screens (subject to event regulations) let you extend the reach of your precious stand footprint and enable the passer-by to interact without feeling committed. Amanda says “this is something we have wonderful feedback on.  It allows staff to casually interact with people in the aisle and creates more space on the stand. It’s important to allow room for people to move around and feel welcome as they enter your space – not feel outnumbered by too many staff”. Using a tablet mounts that can be fixed to a hard surface can help to protect your hardware and maximise the space within the stand.

You can get all of these event essentials from Box15 or, if you’re not sure what you need, you can chat with our friendly advisors online or call us on 01295 565001.