Top Tips To Prepare For A Business Exhibition
Business exhibitions are an essential networking opportunity, allowing you to connect with key members of your target audience if successful. This will, in turn, increase brand awareness, engagement and sales, highlighting the importance of preparing for your next trade show as meticulously as possible.
Given the specific nature of business exhibition events, it’s likely that those attending are already interested or invested in your field in some way. It’s your job to ensure that your stall is the one to grab their attention. You’ll want people to instantly identify who you are, what you do and the unique benefits your company has to offer.
With the UK’s trade exhibition industry contributing an estimated £11bn to the economy each year, it’s safe to say that competition is high. Fortunately, there’s no need to worry. The team at VKF Renzel has put together ten helpful tips on preparing for a business exhibition, to ensure your event is a roaring success.
1. Create an eye-catching area
Step one is getting noticed in the first place. Well-designed poster and banner displays are one of the most common, yet most effective, ways of enticing people to come over to your stand. You could keep things simple with a selection of easily manoeuvrable floor-standing banner displays or go all out and take your signposting to the next level with the Bannerbow Indoor – a large, fabric arch that can be printed with your branding and placed over your indoor spot to draw visitors in. Available in a range of sizes, it works incredibly well in all kinds of exhibition spaces.2. Set the scene
If you’re organising your own, larger event, you’ll have plenty of additional responsibilities to think about, starting with how you want to set up your exhibition area. The layout you choose will ultimately depend on how much space you have and whether you will be indoors or outdoors. It’s worth noting that it is possible to purchase pre-packaged set-ups of any size, saving you a lot of time and effort when it comes to planning. If you’re in charge of the position of your set, it’s also really important to think about appropriate lighting.Exhibition counters are another great way of grabbing people’s attention and work well in all areas, large or small. At VKF Renzel, in addition to supplying a full range of aesthetically pleasing exhibition counters, we also stock a number of eye-catching LED counters, allowing you to easily change your message and promotional material to suit your audience.
3. Make it fun
Businesses that get the most from trade shows aren’t afraid to think outside the box. The more interactive your stall can be, the better. For instance, you might also decide to inject some fun through a little healthy competition, be it a tempting raffle or a wheel-of-fortune-–style interaction.Whatever you do, make sure its memorable. Sometimes, fun and simple is best. Attendees are likely to have absorbed an inordinate amount of new information throughout the day and are likely to remember you for moments that stand out, rather than for your superior services and products.
Handing out branded merchandise – like pens, magnets and keyrings – after their experience with you can also help you to remain top of mind, encouraging them to find out more about you post-event. This works particularly well if your give-away items will be useful in some way, as the more often people pick them up, the more often they will be reminded of your brand and services.
4. Create a practical space
If you are organising a larger business event that will involve seminars, talks and presentations, it’s important to consider the comfort of your attendees. You will need to provide adequate seating for expected numbers and ensure that it is placed in such a way that people can see the speaker and any projectors clearly, whilst also being able to move around freely afterwards to participate in discussions.5. Think outside the box
Of course, most business exhibition spaces are limited in scope. If you only have a small area to work with, you may wish to consider alternative advertising spaces. For instance, why not use floor stickers to lead people to your stall?You could also place a large, branded mat in front of your table or stall. They can be utilised both indoors and out, making them an ideal solution in any business exhibition setting. What’s more, in addition to making your business stand out to those looking down at the ground as they walk past, mats will create a natural separation between your space and the rest of the event, making it feel a little more private. This brings us nicely onto our next point – crowd control.
6. Don’t let it get too crowded
If there are too many visitors jostling to get to your counter or display, people might be put off and go elsewhere, especially as you’ll be unable to answer all those burning questions all at once. Investing in barrier solutions can help to limit the number of people in your area at any one time, significantly improving your visitor’s experience whilst interacting with your brand.Folding walls and partitions are another excellent way of separating your area from the surrounding exhibition, creating a welcoming oasis people are guaranteed to want to visit.
7. Remove the guess work
The last thing your visitors want to do after making their way to your exhibition stand is guess who they are speaking to. Name badges are a simple yet effective way to do the main introductions for you. People will immediately know who you are and what you can help with, allowing them to instantly strike more meaningful conversations with your brand representatives.8. Make sure you get their details
Make signing up to your newsletter or requesting further information more convenient by doing things digitally. Interactive point-of-sales (POS) tablets are a great way of encouraging potential customers to engage with you, whether they’re registering for updates or participating in a competition.9. Give them something to take away
Once you’ve got people to visit your stand, you’ll want to make sure that they have something to take away with them. This allows them to process the information at their own pace and provides them with an easy, no-pressure reminder of your contact details. This is particularly important when presenting at larger events, where guests are likely to have spoken to a myriad of other companies similar to yours. Leaflets, flyers and brochures are all great options.To learn more about designing powerful print marketing, read our handy tips here.
Trust in the experts
As you can see, there are an assortment of products available to help make your business exhibition event a success. With a little planning and imagination, you can transform a relatively plain area into an exciting place of discovery, whether you need to furnish entire rooms with lecterns and chairs for inspiring conferences and seminars or simply want to showcase your best-selling products.If you are interested in any of the products mentioned in this blog, you might like to browse our catalogue. VKF Renzel offers an extensive range of personalised exhibition and event equipment perfect for your next business event.