What makes a good exhibition stand?

A good exhibition stand is one that is instantly recognisable and lastingly memorable.It’s one that, when visitors describe it, they describe your brand attributes. It’s one that considers all the practicalities of achieving your objectives – whether that’s visibility of a brand message, confidentiality of a meeting space or accessibility of a new product.

How to plan an exhibition stand

Generation Exhibitions recommends following a timeline of 10 months / 6 months / three months.10 months before the trade show: review how effective the previous version of the show was – what did you learn, what would you change, what would you keep. 6 months before the trade show: have a written brief for what you want to achieve, know what the key objectives are for each of the different target audiences, have the space booked, have the budget set aside and share this information with your stand design and build company 3 months before the trade show: have your design approved and ready to go; have your timeline agreed for event delivery. If you achieve these three key milestones then you will have planned properly and success should follow.

How to attract people to your exhibition stand

The most crucial element in attracting people to your stand is to know, honestly, why people would want to know more about your organisation. What is it about you that they should really, genuinely care about? Once you’ve honestly answered that question all you really need to do is find a way to bring that proposition to life. There are hundreds of giveaways that you can use, dozens of different, new audio-visual techniques you can use, hundreds of different games you can play or giveaways you can distribute, thousands of different types of catering you can offer – but what matters is finding something that attracts people to your stand for the right reason and makes them think the right thing about you.

How to include your branding in an exhibition?

To be able to represent your branding accurately in our design, we need to gain a strong understanding of your brand. We always encourage clients to share their brand assets and guidelines with us.The longer we work together, the better we will be able to understand your brand identity. One of the important things with exhibition design is making sure your brand is clearly visible and identifiable. Your brand identity includes all the visible elements of your branding, such as colour, design and logo. Those together are what makes your brand recognisable in the consumer’s minds. We’ll work together with you to ensure that your current and potential customers distinguish you from the competitors. Your brand can be experienced in a lot of ways – the hospitality you offer, the furniture that visitors sit on, the content of any TV screens on the stand or the giveaways you hand out. This is why we will also consider all the ways that people engage with your brand when they visit your stand when incorporating branding into your design.

How to tailor a stand to your business?

Design the stand with your brand in mind. Focus on your business’s goals for the exhibition. Ask yourself what you want to achieve, how you can measure your success and how we can design a stand to help exceed your expectations. Think about your customers as well. How will they want to engage with your brand? Are they looking for quick meetings? Do they want a more in depth conversation? Will they want to use or distribute your products? Make sure that your customers get what they want from meeting you. You should also think about the people who will be working on your stand. Make sure that if they’re new to working trade shows you provide them with a full brief. Your staff will ultimately be the ones who deliver your brand experience, so make sure they are all enthusiastic and motivated.

What is included in exhibition stand design?

Our exhibition stand design service takes care of everything from the initial design to the final installation. We start with the very first concept of your stand, which can be a simple pencil sketch or a computer designed visual. Throughout the design process we will refine this idea to get the details just right for your requirements. This includes deciding on the placement and use of graphics, AV technology, furniture, flowers and all the finishing touches. If required we can also create a video animation or walk-through of your stand so you can better envision the finished installation. Once you are happy with the design, we will produce all the technical drawings needed for the approval of the organisers and to ensure the construction is detailed correctly. We provide graphic plans which can be updated as and when needed to include your final brand graphics. With our exhibition stand design we always aim to create an immersive experience, considering everything from first impressions to the finishing touches.

How to make your exhibition stand out

Write a clear brief for your stand designer that explains what your brand is all about and what you are looking to achieve from attending the exhibition Then think about the visitor experience – what type of experience would you like your stand visitors to have? How do you want them to feel when they leave the stand? Don’t get hung up on the structure at this stage – it’s often very tempting to jump very quickly into looking at very polished stand designs with walls, store rooms, hanging signs and reception counters. This can be a mistake, though & it’s why we often start with a sketch as this helps to keep the focus on the visitor experience rather than how glossy and beautiful the wall finish is. It’s really difficult to put a creative idea into a stand after the structure has been designed. Think about all aspects of the experience of visiting your stand – how does it look from the other side of the hall? How does it look from the café or presentation theatre opposite you? How do you get from the reception desk to the meeting room? Are the seats comfy enough (or too comfy?) Is it light enough? If you follow these four steps you should be able to create a stand that is distinctive and memorable for the right reasons.