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You will find out shortly that my title is a play on words. The intention isn’t to mislead you about sustainability, but instead to apply the term in another fashion. When you’ve approached the process of designing an exhibit, how much thought do you put into how the style and tone of the space will effect people’s perception of your brand?

Can you recall walking into a cathedral and find that you’ve automatically started to whisper? How about the last time you met with a senior executive for another company; were you able to draw any ideas on how to act from their office? You would automatically adjust your behavior in a five star restaurant differently than you would at the local arcade and pizza place with your kids, right? There is a natural effect that environment has on the way most of us behave (the “most of us” part is because I have some of “those” relatives too).

Do a web search on hiring models for your trade show and you’ll find not just a few articles that decry the practice.  There are a lot of reasons to be cautious in the use of models.  For one thing, having a gaggle of hot models in your exhibit can actually intimidate some people.  That high energy and frankly “intense” atmosphere that is often associated with the proverbial “booth babe” environment is tough for the more reserved people, and can even cause anxiety just by being in the area.

Almost without fail, the last thing anyone … even experienced exhibit designers … think about is what your exhibit smells like. Even now, after reading that last line you’re wondering where can I possibly be going with this?

For a moment, stop. Close your eyes and put yourself in a place you can recall by smell. I can easily recall the smell of baking bread with my grandmother, my grandfather’s pipe tobacco, apple orchards and burning pine needles in the fall at our family cottage. It’s amazing how well you can mentally recreate the smell without really having it available. Equally amazing is how a smell you encounter can trigger a memory. My mom used to decorate cakes for fun, and when we were kids she would make all kinds of fun cakes for birthdays and holidays. I can’t smell buttercream frosting anymore without seeing my favorite sailboat cake … chocolate buttercream frosting, coconut on the sail and peppermint ring candies for portholes (seriously, it’s pretty stellar) … and I haven’t had one in nearly 35 years (mental note: put in order with mom). Why does it work that way, and how does it relate to exhibiting?

A shorthand formula to help with exhibit design goes like this: "Exhibit design should compel a particular audience into a specific conversation to achieve a measurable outcome." It doesn't cover every situation, but it does help set a pace for most design scenarios. Let's go phrase by phrase:

Obviously, we advocate exhibit design. Intentional, evocative and relevant design is important to any good face-to-face marketing endeavor. Commodity exhibits are available, and you can buy nearly anything off the internet. 

Telling Your Company Story

Story telling has been a popular topic in exhibiting over the last several years.  I’ve used the term myself when talking with clients.  And I do agree that when we are designing a space we have a story to communicate.  But I also caution our clients that you need to be savvy as to what story you are telling.  You have to sort out what story you want to tell about your company.

A shorthand formula to help with exhibit design goes like this: "Exhibit design should compel a particular audience into a specific conversation to achieve a measurable outcome." It doesn't cover every situation, but it does help set a pace for most design scenarios. Let's go phrase by phrase:

Obviously, we advocate exhibit design. Intentional, evocative and relevant design is important to any good face to face marketing endeavor. Commodity exhibits are available, and you can buy nearly anything off the internet. Surely, budgets and limiting factors come into play and can't be ignored. But the reality is if you want successful show marketing strategies, you need intentional design - even in pop-ups and banner stands.

That design is necessary to compel, not just any audience, but a particular audience. Some shows you go to may be made up 100% of the audience your marketing efforts work with, and everyone is a qualified lead. But more often than not, you need to weed out many of the attendees in order to meet the ones who will really do business with you. Those qualified leads are a particular group of people. You have a profile of them already: your current customers. You know what that audience looks like. So how do you compel them? How do you catch the attention of more people just like that, and draw them in? How do you compel that particular group? That's the foot you want to put forward on the show floor.