Stay Connected on and off the Trade Show Floor

If you don’t have a Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn account by now, it is time to sign up. By using social media before and during the event, you’ll have the opportunity of connecting with other attendees and exhibitors, as well as intrigue some of your followers and fans to stop by your booth who may not have necessarily planned on going to the show in the first place. There are also a variety of mobile apps available specifically for the trade show industry that will allow your customers to find out where your show booth is located and get an itinerary for what activities they should plan on seeing at your display system.

Incorporate iPads

Everyone seems interested in what the iPad has to offer, so why not bring one or two to the show. They can be used to fill out lead forms, if you are using electronic forms, to show attendees your company’s website, or iPads can even be given away as a drawing prize.

More Live Video Streaming

More businesses are beginning to integrate live video streaming into their exhibit booth. This is a great way to keep your audience engaged and show them exactly why they should stop by your trade show exhibit.

Free Wi-Fi

Offering free Wi-Fi will cause people to flock towards your booth display since they will be able to use the Internet without any charges. It will also give your booth visitors the opportunity check out your website.

Trade Show Exhibits are Going Green

Sustainability has become a major trend in the industry through more eco-friendly show displays and promotional items. There are some display systems that are made entirely out of recycled material, such as Eco System Show Displays. Exhibitors are also printing their company literature on recycled paper or are ditching the paper altogether by using the social media, QR codes, and mobile apps to relay any information they want their target audience to know.

The exhibit industry is booming and will continue to grow in 2012 due to the effectiveness of face-to-face contact trade shows provide. These ideas should help get you on the right track to becoming a hit at your next event.

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Know Your Vision

Before you can jump right in and begin designing your trade show exhibit visuals, know your vision and your audience. What message are you trying to communicate? Who’s your audience? What will the overall theme of my exhibit booth be? These are just a few questions to ask yourself to get a better understanding of how to design your graphics– and trust me, they DO matter!

If you would like to include text on your display systems, keep it short and to the point. No matter what audience you are targeting, no one will stick around and read lengthy paragraphs of information on your display system. Instead, save this information for brochures or pamphlets. Bullet point lists with short sentences that explain the benefits of your products or services can be extremely effective and easy to read from the aisles.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

It can be fun going through some of your product pictures and deciding which ones to use. Trade show booths that display a collage of pictures can be forgettable and overwhelming. Choose one powerful photo that will scream to your audience, “Look at me!” Of course, it should answer all of the questions I have stated in the above section in order to draw in the right people and hopefully get some new leads.

Know Your Goal at the Trade Show

As important as graphics for trade show exhibits are, it is equally as important to have a goal in place. Picking the proper trade shows and events for your industry, pre-show marketing campaigns that include your booth number and the time and dates of the convention, and free gifts or drawings are all great ways to increase the number of people who come to your show booth and meet those goals you have set for yourself and your team.

Whether you are using and exhibition truss, pop up displays, custom displays, or even exhibit rentals, these tips can make all the different between a display booth that gets result and one that sits back and watches their competitors reap all the benefits! Best of luck to you and happy exhibiting!

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Become an Attendee

If you have never been an exhibitor before, then walking the show floors is a great first step. You’ll be able to check out all of the other trade show displays and find out what some people are doing to draw in a crowd to their booth and what ideas others are using that aren’t working. From the design of the exhibit to the promotional products, you’ll be able to incorporate some of these ideas into your display.

Pre-Show Marketing

Before anyone is able to go to the event, they need to know about it. Send out pre-show mailers to customers or in local newspapers to get the word out. Email marketing and social media are other excellent ways of reaching out to your target demographic. Include your booth number, location, and the times and dates of the convention.

Bring Good Communicators with You

Visitors to your booth exhibit are going to have some questions about your products or services. Choose your staff wisely by bringing the employees who are able to communicate and thoroughly explain each offering well. If they are unable to speak well, attendees may leave your show display more confused than when they arrived.

Keep Your Show Display Open

The more room there is in your show display, the more people will want to stop by. You don’t necessarily need a custom 20×30 display, but just rearranging your exhibit booth strategically will help it look larger. Keep all furniture and accessories out of the center and entrance by displaying them along the sides of the display stand for a more welcoming layout.

Trade shows can help increase leads and sales dramatically if done correctly. With these tips, you should be more than prepared to participate in your first or fiftieth trade show.

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Fill out Profiles Completely

One of the best ways to be found is through profiles on social networking sites. Although you have a limited amount of space, fill it out as completely as you can in order to let your audience know who you are and what your business does. Most social media accounts have a place to list your website, so make sure to take advantage of this little box that’s available for you. There are also plenty of tools that allow you to shorten the URL – stay away from these because you want people to remember your URL and not have to struggle finding it.

Create a Live Blog

If exhibitors are holding presentations at their show displays or if your staff will be having a presentation, have someone take notes and blog about it while still on the show floor. As long as the post is informative and not an advertisement, your audience will enjoy reading it and will hopefully pass it along to their coworkers, friends, or family.

Make it Fun

Even the most serious business professionals can be a little goofy at trade shows. Take pictures of your staff or other exhibitors and attendees at their funniest. This could mean wearing silly hats, making funny faces, something at yours or other trade show exhibits that is hilarious. This will show the lighter side of trade shows and that, although portable displays are often used for networking or generating links, that it can also be fun. Post these pictures to Facebook for your fans to see.

Get Chummy with Trade Show Organizers

The closer you are to the organizers, the more exposure you will most likely receive on their websites. If they are planning on writing a press release or blog, hopefully they will ask you or your staff for an interview.

Pop up displays and other trade show booths are an investment for your company’s future that will pay off within a couple of shows. Hopefully these tips will help you make the most of social media for your next event.

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If you are one of the many business owners who are interested in becoming frequent exhibitors, then portable displays are the way to go. They are lightweight, set up and disassemble very quickly, and are affordable. Here are some of the portable trade show displays to look for.

Pop up Displays

This is the most popular trade show booth on the market because of its portability. The frame is quickly put together with a simple small-to-large pop open design, taking minutes to complete. Some pop up booths have magnetic channel bars to firmly attach the graphic panels. These display booths come in several sizes including table top displays, 8 foot, 10 foot, and 20 foot trade show exhibits.

Banner Stands

If you are short on space, banner stands are perfect for you. They may take up very little space width-wise, but can be as tall as 10 feet high. An average of 5 minutes is required to put trade show banners together. These display booths can be used either alone or paired up with larger trade show exhibits, such as truss systems, for a more eye-catching show booth.

Fabric Tension Displays

Fabric tension display systems are very similar to pop up displays since the frame can also pop open and lock into place. What makes these booth exhibits different is the fact that durable tension fabric is stretched across the entire frame instead of needing to use panels. The tension fabric creates a flawless, refreshing look that is unlike traditional trade show booths.

These are just a few of the show exhibits that can easily be transported from one trade show to the next without breaking the bank. For more convention booth ideas, please visit Smash Hit Displays website.

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Do You Plan on Traveling to the Event?

Pop up booths is one of the most portable trade show exhibits on the market since they are extremely lightweight and take minutes to assemble. The heavy-duty aluminum frame simply pops open in an accordion-like fashion and locks into place. It is equally as easy to pack up in the durable shipping case.

What is the Size of Your Booth Space?

Knowing the answer to this question is extremely important in discovering how much room you have to work with. It would be impossible to have a 20 foot trade show booth if you only had a 10×10 space, right? Luckily, trade show pop up displays come in a variety of sizes, including table top, 8, 10, and 20 foot display booths.

Do You Need a Trade Show Display in a Hurry?

Pop up exhibits with graphics can be shipped in less than a week, whereas some convention booths can take weeks before they are shipped.

There are plenty of attractive booth exhibits on the market, but pop up displays are a reliable choice if you need an exhibit that is portable, fits into your booth space, and can be shipped quickly. For more tips, give Smash Hit Displays a call or check out our blog: http://www.smashhitdisplays.com/blog/.

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There is no reason to use Xpressions Pop up Booths exclusively for trade shows. In fact, they can be used in a variety of ways, including media presentations, retail showrooms, meetings, and more. The graphics can easily be changed to create a fresh look from one event to the next. The graphics have an elaborate look since they are twisted, creating the ultimate 3 dimension trade show exhibit. The Graphic skins are also attached firmly to the durable aluminum frame for a flawless look. Dye sublimation is used to print the images and text on stretch fabric, to create brilliant colors and life-like people and objects.

Although these portable displays are extremely lightweight, they are also built to be durable and long-lasting. The Xpressions Display fits compactly into carrying cases to ensure to save space and money as you travel.

These are just a few of the benefits of the Xpressions Pop up Display. Smash Hit Displays carries these display systems as well as many others, including traditional pop up displays, banner stands, truss systems, custom displays, and more.

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Pop up Displays

One of the most popular display booths is the trade show pop up displays because the frame simply pops open and locks into position in no more than 20 minutes. There are also a variety of sizes and configurations available to fit the needs of all exhibitors.

Table top Displays

Since they take up very little space, tabletop displays are a more cost-efficient choice. These mini trade show displays can be used alone or with another display system for increased visibility. One of the newest table top booths is the Linear Display Systems, which come with headers that will make your company’s name the focal point of the convention booth.

Banner Stands

Banner stands, especially retractable banner stands, are often used for more than one purpose. Many owners of trade show banners use them both on the trade show floor and in their business as additional advertising or sidewalk signage to bring awareness to sales or specific products. The graphic banner can easily be interchanged, allowing you to promote as many sales, products, or services as you would like.

Fabric Tension Displays

Similar to pop-up stands, fabric tension displays can be assembled in minutes since the frame pops open and locks into place. The only difference between these show displays is the graphics, since these displays use tension fabric, which stretches across the frame for a wrinkle-resistant and seamless look.

These are all excellent trade show booths if you need something more portable, but if you are looking for something a little more permanent, you may want to check out the custom displays from Smash Hit Displays. Best of luck to you!

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Aluminum Frame and Trade Show Graphics

Recycled/Reusable materials are used to create the heavy-duty frame and quality graphic panels.

Fabric Panels

If you opt to use fabric panels instead of graphics, these brilliantly-colored fabric panels are created using post-consumer recycled plastic.

Lightweight and Portable

Eco-friendly trade show displays aren’t limited to just what materials are used, but also how much fuel and shipping costs are. These pop-up stands are extremely lightweight, weighing less than 20 lbs.

These pop up trade show displays are stylish and eye-catching, while also being good for the environment. There are two lines of pop up displays that are known for being earth-friendly: Coyote and Eco Systems Pop up Displays. Both are created in the US to ensure they are built of quality materials; however, the Eco Systems Display Booths are the only trade show booth that is made 100% out of sustainable and recycled materials. Not only do they include the previous components, but they also use bamboo shelves and LED lights to cut down on energy usage.

If you aren’t ready to make the commitment to these attractive portable displays, then you also have the option of renting, which costs a fraction of what a brand-new display booth costs to purchase. If you are still unsure if these pop up displays are right for you, give Smash Hit Displays a call and let them help you find the trade show booth that will fit your needs.

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Pop up Displays

One of the most popular display booths is the trade show pop up displays because the frame simply pops open and locks into position in no more than 20 minutes. There are also a variety of sizes and configurations available to fit the needs of all exhibitors.

Table top Displays

Since they take up very little space, tabletop displays are a more cost-efficient choice. These mini trade show displays can be used alone or with another display system for increased visibility. One of the newest table top booths is the Linear Display Systems, which come with headers that will make your company’s name the focal point of the convention booth.

Banner Stands

Banner stands, especially retractable banner stands, are often used for more than one purpose. Many owners of trade show banners use them both on the trade show floor and in their business as additional advertising or sidewalk signage to bring awareness to sales or specific products. The graphic banner can easily be interchanged, allowing you to promote as many sales, products, or services as you would like.

Fabric Tension Displays

Similar to pop-up stands, fabric tension displays can be assembled in minutes since the frame pops open and locks into place. The only difference between these show displays is the graphics, since these displays use tension fabric, which stretches across the frame for a wrinkle-resistant and seamless look.

These are all excellent trade show booths if you need something more portable, but if you are looking for something a little more permanent, you may want to check out the custom displays from Smash Hit Displays. Best of luck to you!

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