What type of trade show exhibit is best for you?
A good trade show strategy requires answers to many key questions to ensure success. And, nothing brings it all together like the right trade show exhibit.
Some key questions to answer:
- How much traffic is expected in your booth?
- How many people will you need to staff your booth?
- What needs to happen in the booth for demonstration, presentations and doing business in general?
- What is my competition doing?
- Are we launching a new product?
- How much space will I need to do this?
- How much do you have to spend?
Exhibit types can generally be categorized into portable exhibits, modular systems or custom.
Portable exhibits:
Portable exhibits are compact to ship UPS, FedEx, or travel in your car. They seldom require the use of tools and can usually be set up in less than an hour. Plus, you don't need show labor to set them up.
Banner stand wall - a series of stands to create a back wall. These are nice because you can get a lot bang for the buck. They work well for trade shows, sales presentations, association meetings and static point-of-purchase displays. This is the ultimate in lightweight and portable presentations.
But, it is a graphics presentation at best.
Classic Pop-up displays - a geodesic pop-up frame covered by a fabric skin for Velcro applied posters, or a full mural graphic.
Pop-ups offer more substantial graphics presentation and can incorporate accessories for monitors, literature and product display.
It's tried and true, but has been so popular that you look like everybody else on the trade show floor.
Fabric Pop-up displays - A more recent trend for pop-ups has been the use of printed fabric finishes. They don't give you the hard, solid look of a laminated plastic mural, but they do reduce the number of parts and pieces which reduces weight and setup time. The graphics typically stay on the frame too. You collapse it, pack it and ship it. That's it.
Some pop-ups offer a "3D" presentation with the fabric. Your mural is produced in a series of patterns. You get a pleasing, dynamic presentation and the ability to inexpensively change a portion of the graphics when needed.
In general, off-the-shelf portable displays are mostly graphic platforms that fit almost any budget. If you need more than a graphics billboard, then modular systems might be what you need.
Modular Exhibit Systems:
Think Lego building blocks. A series of standard components that can be reconfigured into alternate booth setups. The advantage here, especially from a "green" perspective, is the reuse of existing items. Plus, modular systems look more custom.
Panel Exhibit Systems - first generation modular exhibit systems used standardized panels sizes for exhibit designs. Although the panels are stock, the creative use of finishes, graphics and accessories can support your strategies and set you apart from the other exhibits on the trade show floor.
Hybrid Exhibit Systems - the latest evolutions in modular displays. These systems are a collection of panels and aluminum extrusions to create contemporary or high-tech looking exhibits. The hottest look is the use of large format fabric graphics with aluminum.
The drawbacks of the modular systems are the limits of working with stock components. Using them for multiple setups often means you will have parts and pieces to keep up with. And this can cause your I & D labor to be more than a stock kit.
Custom Built Exhibits:
The only limit to a custom built booth is your imagination. Built from scratch exhibits provide the ultimate opportunity to meet your strategic objectives for selling and branding what you have to offer. And, it doesn’t have to cost more than hybrids and modular setups.
It is possible to save labor costs at the show over modular systems. With custom designs, you build and ship with assembled components in mind to save labor on the setup and dismantle at the show.
A custom 20 x 20 booth we have for a client, sets up in 5 hours with a team of 3 people, carpet, electrical, monitors and all. Their old modular booth took 4 guys and 8 hours. And, it was about the same number of crates.
It All Depends
Your final exhibit solution is dependent upon what you want to accomplish and what investment you are willing to make to meet those goals. For some programs the solution is a mix of all these categories for your smaller and larger venues.
Portable exhibits are great for large graphics presentations, traveling light and quick setups.
Modular and hybrid exhibits offer flexibility of setup and a custom look to your exhibit.
Custom fabricated exhibits have no limit to design and can be designed to reinforce your marketing and branding strategies.
