Exhibition Stand Trends to Watch in 2020

Making It Comfortable

In 2020, hundreds of thousands of people are going to be attending shows and exhibitions. All crammed into an event hall, (the biggest of which is the Hannover Messegelände Exhibition Hall in Germany) with little time/room to stop and soak things in. Be the booth they’ve been looking for and naturally gravitate towards. Whilst many exhibitors will think more about tech and gimmicks, simple additions such as maximum comfort are often overlooked as a way to attract and retain visitors.

It’s something that quite a few exhibition stand trends in the past have forgotten about, but if you design an exhibition stand with comfort in mind, any customer that crosses your path will be a lot more receptive to what you’re showcasing. And if a potential customer sits down, anyone manning your exhibition stand will have a better chance to run through a sales tactic. They’ll certainly have more time to do so with a visitor that is intent on resting for a while!

Don’t worry about the potential space issues – you’ll be able to build a guaranteed connection here. About 57% of exhibitors have claimed that their staff gain greater sales skills from working at an event, so this chance for a quick breather works out in everyone’s favor.

Keeping The Customer in Mind

It’s been found that 71% of SMEs win business using face to face networking, so, what better place to conduct this than on a trade show or exhibition floor? Any good exhibition stand designers will tell you that it’s important to keep the customer in mind when you’re putting a stand together. If you can keep your booth customer centric, and include them in every part of the set up and overall design, you’ll stand out a lot more on the exhibition floor.

More and more people will be visiting trade shows in 2020, and they’ll all have their own time to get around, and their own differing attention spans. If you keep the customer in mind, you’ll be able to think about the average customer’s day when visiting an exhibition. Start by asking what you would be looking for in a stand, along with:

• Where are they likely to stop?
• Where is the main foot traffic funneled?
• Where will their eyes look?
• Where will their mind wander?
• Will they be pulling their phones out during down periods?

Use a visualisation map to outline the customer journey, and consider touch points away from your stand to increase interactivity and brand awareness once the visitor leaves. Simple, tangible touches such as the classic business card or free merchandise are fantastic, natural ways to keep your brand fresh in their mind.

Contact at All Stages

Contact at all stages means a stand design that allows someone to stay in touch with you and what you’re doing, through all elements of design and stages of your progress. If your stand or booth isn’t interactive, and it doesn’t keep the customer in mind, it’s not going to have the impact you want it to.

On the trade show floor, things are going to be moving fast. So, if you want to keep in contact with the people who visit and pass you, you’ll need to keep information succinct. A quick glance and they’ll be able to understand you, or at least gain an insight into your brand.

Think of your stand as a business card. It needs to have all the right information present in the design; it needs to be flashy and eye catching enough to make sure people come over, pick up the memory, and take it home for reference later.

Allow the stand to speak for itself; draw the eye to the primary touch points, and allow your visual strategy to naturally guide visitors to the points in the stand they need to be.

Social Media Inclusivity

Your stand is the first point of contact, and your social media handle is second. If you want to reach out to a lead, and you want to make a connection, what would be the easiest way to do so? Perhaps using email? 81% of exhibitors tend to rely on this, so you wouldn’t be wrong to use it yourself. But what if all you have is a business name? What do you do then? You log onto a social media platform.

In 2017, the amount of exhibitors using social media to follow up on their leads was at a new high of 27%, and that number is only expected to rise through to 2020. Even just popping up your Instagram username on the outside of your stand, or providing people the link to a Facebook page, means your following on either of these platforms can increase by tenfold with little effort on your part.

Exciting Technological Aspects

This is at the top of exhibition stand trends in the modern day and age, and it’s only expected to get more and more socially crucial in 2020 and beyond. The use of computer software, lighting, sound systems, cinematic systems, as well as auto generated settings, and even robots for events of the future.

Technology means engagement in the modern exhibiting age, and also allows the stand to rise above competitors.

Technology also means live settings. It means the backdrop changes in real time, and as and when it’s needed, and it’s all interconnected in a way that creates an impact. When the average attendee spends 5 and a half hours at an event, you’ll need to keep your stand fresh!

Technology allows you to very easily reuse and change assets; it can be eco friendly to plug in a laptop and allow a presentation to play, but it can also be cost effective and schedule-freeing for any smaller enterprise that needs to showcase their company. And in 2020, you should certainly keep an eye on the tech that’ll be incorporated into trade shows.

The Use Of VR

Speaking of technological aspects, one of the main design trends extending into 2020 is the use of VR in an exhibition stand set up. Considering that interactivity is something more and more attendees are crying out for, being able to deliver a snapshot of your service in a virtual environment makes for a memorable experience, and gives you a lot more space to work with than the show floor itself!

Why does it work? Because VR tech and VR programs give your attendees something to compete for. It gives them something to work towards, in the fastest time possible, with the highest score possible. This creates a working culture of competitiveness, meaning more and more people will be brought to your booth, and the word of your set up will spread a lot further and faster over the show floor.

And VR can be whatever you need it to be. It can be informative and educational. It can provide an exciting and fast paced experience. But most of all, it’s an immersive way to bring your company to the masses, and in 2020, the tech available for such a pursuit will be better than ever before.

Live Streaming the Event

If you want to maximise on your customer and contact outreach in 2020, you’re going to need to keep your entire demographic in mind. Exhibitions are limited time events, and only a certain amount of attendees will make it through the door; but what about the people who couldn’t make it? Who amongst them could be key for your business? 46% of attendees only attend one trade show per year, after all, and that’s nearly half of the people you could come into contact with.

A lack of latency on a stream itself is at the forefront of streaming technological development right now, ensuring all action is delivered on time and in real time.

You won’t have to search far to find a professional that’ll help you set up a booth like this. More and more exhibition stand designers are keeping the element of live streaming in mind – presenting the best angle, with the best lighting and the right camera set up, goes a long way to painting a stand in the best light (and consistently attracting visitors your way).

Enhanced Lighting

The way your exhibition stand is lit will make a lot of difference in the amount of impact you’ll deliver on a trade show floor. Of course, you’ll be using lights in every design you can come up with, but the more enhanced and immersive the lighting is, the better the impression you’re going to make.

It’s common to incorporate lighting with quite a few other elements of stand design. So, what about making your lighting sound or movement responsive? Mix and match the music with the lighting, and make it boom alongside the beat? Or maybe the closer an attendee stands to your booth, the brighter the lights shine on them? You want attention, and that’s a key element that’ll draw it in and bring people closer and closer to your exhibition stand.

It’ll take some planning ahead of time to set up something advanced like this. And quite a few people are jumping on this trend, so you’ll need to come up with something unique in 2020! Thankfully, only 18% of exhibitors start planning 4 to 6 months in advance, so you’ll be able to get a jump on the competition if you start right now (or choose to get in touch with a team who can do the planning and design for you).

Choosing the integrations for your stand

It’s easy to get overwhelmed or experience overload when trying to choose the type of integrations or aspects that are going to be vital to your stand. Even simple stand aspects can be scrutinised, only to waste time worrying and ultimately have less time to spend actually putting your stand strategy together!

From initial blueprints and designs to the actual build, relying on a team of bespoke exhibition stand designers will make the job of exhibiting a lot easier for both you and your team. Want to discuss the benefits of using a team of reputable designers? We’d love to hear from you. Call the Focal Exhibitions team today on +44 (0)1663 744 066.