Editor’s note: This is the first part in a six series installment of Overlooked Aspects of Trade Show Displays Series. This part examines the right combination of pre-show planning and trade show display size for two different styles of trade shows.
20' Alumalite Display
We start our first part in this series looking at how you need to approach not just the size of you trade show display, but also the size of trade shows you will be exhibiting and the best approach to for both a small and large show.
There is always a fine line when balancing your new design. How much is too much and how little is too little? What kind of return on investment are we going to get with this display as opposed to this display? Maybe there is a better way to spend this money that could help us?
There are many other questions to ask before moving ahead with buying a trade show display, either way proper planning is usually the best place to start and it starts with where you plan to exhibit. Either way you have to be smart about choosing your trade show display and choosing the right trade show event.
Smaller Shows
Usually smaller show are the ones where your chance of reaching a greater percentage of the audience and have a better leads to sales conversion rate is higher.
Some marketers may try to justify that having the biggest and brightest display at conventions will attract people like moths to a light bulb. But can a company really justify spending a tremendous amount of money for this type of display for smaller shows? You probably also don’t want to surround yourself with the negative attention of sticking out like a sore thumb as well.
Your best strategy is finding a right combination of displays and accessories that will bring in your audience and out do your closet competitors, while saving you costs. You can then reallocate the time and money to redefining your message potentially creating a stronger lead-to-sale conversion rate.
There are additional benefits as well as saving money up front. For example you may be able to attend that extra convention a year and create even more networks and leads or send one extra sales person to help with the increase in traffic.
Smaller shows give you the luxury of having anything from banner stands, pop up displays, Alumalite and even custom displays. But as previously mentioned spending just because you can doesn’t mean this is the best idea.
Banner stands are inexpensive with several being used at a time, potentially attracting more walk ups. Another attractive feature is that banner stands can also be easily moved and can help draw attention from other places in the event to your booth.
If you are looking for a little more flair, an pop up display or even Alumalite display could work well. The pop up display is a very common display and come in six, eight, 10 and 20 feet models and can include custom graphics, much like the Alumalite, making it customizable.
A custom display, may always work for smaller trade shows. These displays give you the options to create a truly unique display. However, custom displays are usually more expensive from the display to transportation and staging costs.
There are also trade show display rental programs out there for companies who don’t attend shows enough throughout the year to justify purchasing a display.
Larger Shows
The main reason for every company to participate in conventions is to increase their bottom line. And when you have a bottom line that is running seven figures or you are probably finding a way to increase that.
This is why larger shows are really the polar opposites of the smaller shows. With many of the most prominent companies in the country and world attending these events, trade show display style points matter and so do larger and unique displays.
But face it, your company probably doesn’t have the resources for a multi-thousand dollar display, so you need to focus on maximizing every single trade show dollar that you can into not being overlooked or overshadowed.
At larger shows it is impossible for every person to visit your booth, so it is better that use pre-show marketing and communications to let your target audience that you will be attending a certain event.
The hope is this will draw people to your booth that have an interest in your company before the show, making for easier leads and sales. Other groups and individuals that visit the booth can be considered a bonus.
But imagine creating a buzz around your exhibit and being able to draw people to your booth, only to have those interested see your booth and immediately lose interest. This could happen for a number of reasons, too crowded, too small or completely something that they didn’t imagine.
If you are expecting to generate a lot of traffic, it is best that you have a trade show display that will allow flow and keep the exhibit as open as possible even when crowded.
Your best bet in these situations is creating a custom booth. Custom booths work not only for the typical 10×10 floor space, but can also be designed to fit any size that you have rented. These displays, always one-of-a-kind, usually require additional setup that is mostly performed by trade show staff. It is a safe bet that the costs of custom displays are higher than any others.
The bottom line for all custom displays is that the return on investment (ROI) needs to be the reason for building this display. Remember that ROIs may also be seen down the road, if you are able to market your display in a way to garner more coverage from blogs, press or trade magazines. This can be done through other marketing strategies before and during the show.
Other trade show displays that can meet the criteria for a large trade show include any of the three Alumalite displays, including the 20-foot displays, and the new Echo. These displays have the capabilities of being customized with graphic panels, frosted headers, wings and support monitors.
The Alumalite is the most popular hybrid display and just recently launched the Alumalite Zero and Alumalite Lineare to its product line.
The Echo display is also a new product to the market and can hold up to a 32-inch monitor. It also features a variety of color for the display’s LED lights.
Now that you have your trade show display, what can I add next or in the future that will let me stretch the life of my display and will keep it up to date. That answer will be provided tomorrow when we examine adding new products and accessories to an existing trade show display.
Posted by tradeshowemporium 
Posted by tradeshowemporium 
Posted by tradeshowemporium 