Build it and they will come. Some people believe that’s all it takes to create a winning trade show booth.
The truth is, in today’s highly technological world, there are some pretty unbelievable trade show booth ideas you never knew existed.
The days of simply handing out promotional products and flashing a smile are gone. Your trade show booth design needs to be strategic and secure.
Ready to learn more? Want to get the most out of your trade show booth?
Keep reading for six trade show booth ideas that’ll guarantee your the busiest booth at the event.
1. Consider Security Measures
When you travel to a trade show you likely bring plenty of valuable merchandise, technology, and equipment. And while you’re likely manning your booth a majority of the time, what happens for those few moments that you step away?
Video surveillance reduces the risk of vandalism and theft. Security cameras monitor your booth and exhibit in real-time. This footage comes in handy as visual evidence if a crime is committed.
The overnight hours are often most neglected. When your booth is unattended, anything can happen. Mobile security cameras monitor all activity and alert the venue, you, and the police in the event of a crime.
Keep your booth well-lit to deter those looking to do harm.
Take things one step further and install speakers around your trade show booth. You can now communicate and talk directly to your booth by welcoming attendees, checking in with your staff, or deterring criminals.
2. Use Heat Maps to Make Sales Adjustments
The whole idea of attending a trade show is to increase your company’s visibility. But what if no one is visiting your booth? Are all the attendees on the other side of the convention center?
Heat maps not only detect where people are but can help you adjust your marketing efforts or strategy to increase traffic.
Using a Wi-Fi connection, sensors pick up the movement and proximity of attendees to your booth. This information is then visible to you through a graphic heat map.
Another awesome feature is that these sensors ignore the signals of staff and vendors so that you only receive information that matters.
Looking to attract more people? Send a staff member to the area of the floor where most attendees are located and encourage them to check you out!
3. Use Time-Lapse Video to Create Promotional Content
What better way to attract new guests to your next trade show than showcasing what happened at your last one?
Time-lapse videos help your marketing team create a show-stopping recap video. Most cameras are recording 24-hours a day thanks to motion sensors.
That means you’ll never miss a minute of the action and your marketing team will have plenty of promotional material to work with.
4. Badge Scanners Track Visitor Interests
People counting is a common trade show practice. Monitoring how many people attend your booth can help you adjust your sales goals and marketing efforts.
But the days of simply having people sign a logbook or using a counter are gone. Not only are these methods inaccurate but outdated.
Badge scanners make the people counting process fun and easy for both you and attendees.
Set up badge scanner kiosks that guests can use to check-in at each booth. Visitors receive points every time they check-in.
The venue can display a leaderboard, showing which guest has the most points. This drives more traffic to the kiosks and your booth.
You also get insight into how many people are in attendance and where they’re spending the most time. What booths are the busiest and why? Learning from your competition is an important part of running a successful business.
5. Use Wearable Technology to Track Attendee Movement
Wearable technology took the world by storm in recent years. Most people don’t realize that it actually dates back to the thirteenth century.
But today’s technology isn’t your grandfather’s pocket watch. Instead, it’s wearable devices like watches and medallions that track where attendees are, how long they stay, and when they arrived.
These devices can even detect how many people are in a single room at a given time. Most trade shows are equipped with scanners that detect people’s movements as they pass through.
Another popular choice is name badges that not only replace the outdated “Hello My Name Is…” sticker but also track attendees’ movements. Think outside the box and create a wearable tracker that coincides with the trade shows theme.
The only problem is that if attendees don’t where the devices, your results may not be 100 percent accurate.
6. Drones
It’s no surprise that drones are included on a list discussing technology and how it can “up” your trade show booth game.
Drones are visible in the sky at most large-scale events. Not only do they provide a completely different view, but they captivate and excite audiences. We’ve all seen crowds looking up, waving, and snapping photos as a drone flies overhead.
If nothing else, drones get people talking so be sure your brand and company name is clearly visible on the device.
In addition to free ariel advertising, drones are the perfect way to get a birds-eye view of where guests are and what they’re doing.
You can also snap useful photos to incorporate in your promotional video. Drones come in handy when it’s time to count people.
Using a grid method, count how many people you see in every 100ft x 100ft area. This will help determine overall attendance and how your booth traffic stands up to others.
Just remember, you’ll need an extra trade booth staff member on hand to man your drone.
Get Creative with These Trade Show Booth Ideas
As you prepare for your next trade show, it’s time to get creative! The use of security cameras, trackers, and surveillance can all guarantee you get the most out of the event.
Not only do these trade show booth ideas help you track and attract attendees but they give you plenty of material to market yourself for next year.
Looking to heighten the security at your place of business, too?
Learn about the work we do here and contact one of our professionals today for pricing and more information.
