7 Big Hairy Exhibit Design Questions
In designing an exhibit that fits your needs, you have to ask a lot of questions. Here are 7 essential questions - and why they matter.
Your exhibit conveys your company's personality - worthwhile because it creates an emotional reaction with your customers, and people buy for emotional reasons. The shapes, materials, surface treatments, colors, images, and even typography you choose help convey your company image. A company that wants a high-tech, innovative look will end up with a completely different exhibit than one that seeks a professional, established image.
Believe it or not, your objectives can dictate the actual shape of your exhibit. If you want to generate a lot of leads, you need an open, inviting space that allows easy entry for attendees and open sightlines for booth staffers. On the other hand, if you're looking to build relationships with a select number of key individuals, then you need an exhibit with conference rooms where you can spend quality time closing sales. Two different objectives, two radically different exhibit designs. Exhibitors that want to build their image tend to go for bigger graphic images and larger architectural elements to create a bigger impression.
Many companies use several booth sizes - island exhibits for their national shows, and then inline exhibits for their regional or vertical market shows. With foresight and planning, exhibitors can design one large exhibit that can be reconfigured for their smaller booth spaces. Not only do they save money by not having to purchase multiple exhibit properties, but they also present a more consistent look at all their shows.
Everyone wants the Taj Mahal. Yet everyone must come up with a justifiable budget. Balancing those needs is the goal of every exhibit designer. Skyline uses its compact, lightweight exhibit materials to deliver an effective exhibit that still saves clients thousands of dollars in operating costs compared to traditional custom exhibits. For some exhibitors who need to preserve capital or only exhibit in a big space once a year, rental exhibits help maximize the budget. And reconfigurable components let exhibitors create many exhibits from one.
Answer this question, then make sure that's what you're showing on your exhibit. You'll get to what matters by determining the benefits your clients are seeking and then what your key advantages are. It can take a lot of discussion to arrive at this, starting with what your products are, moving to their features, then the benefits of these features, until you distill the message down to the key benefits that drive your buyers' purchasing decisions.
Do you want them to remember your new products? Your competitive advantage? Or your company's brand image? Keep it simple. Designers who are used to creating brochures or ads have a tendency to overload exhibit graphics with way too much information to be effective in a trade show exhibit. Think billboard, not bulletin board. It's better to go for impact -- less is definitely more in trade show exhibit copy.
In creating an exhibit, you're also creating a temporary workspace for your booth staffers. What are their needs? You may need to create areas for demos, presentations, conferences, and storage. And still balance that with your need to create an accessible exhibit with graphic messages.