Design For Functionality
Your exhibit is more than a three-dimensional ad. It's actually a temporary workspace, filled with booth staffers there for hours or days, and visitors there for just a few minutes. Increase productivity by giving them enough space to work in, and by designing around their needs. Most exhibits are designed around 7 major functions:
- 1. Brand Messaging
- Your exhibit architecture is often just a carrier for graphics. Graphics get visitors' attention, create a mood or personality, communicate a message and benefit, and identify products and services.
- 2. Reception / Lead Gathering
- Your booth staffers will need a place or places to write and record leads. Larger exhibits may have a dedicated reception counter.
- 3. Storage
- You've got a lot of stuff to hide inside tables and closets: Literature, giveaways, staffers' bags, purses, planners and coats. Best of all: a place to store all those leads you're taking.
- 4. Product Demonstration
- People come to get their hands on your products or to see your staffers demonstrate them. You may demo a physical product on a table, counter or in a space set aside for it, or demonstrate a software or system via a computer on a kiosk or table.
- 5. Product Display
- Big or little, you can display products on kiosks, pedestals, tables, shelving, and merchandising accessories. But consider bringing only your biggest sellers or your key new products, and relying more on graphics.
- 6. Meeting / Conferencing
- Do you exhibit at shows to get lots of one-on-one time with key customers, dealers, and partners? Depending on your discussions, you may want open, semi-private, or private - even with lockable doors.
- 7. Live Presentations
- You may need seating, a raised platform for presenters, and audio/visual technology, such as a plasma screen, ranging from intimate seating for two to theatre seating for dozens - or more.