7 Innovative Audience Engagement Ideas for Your Next Exhibition
We’ve all trudged round those exhibition halls, collecting meaningless brochures that you felt obliged to take, and collecting any random freebees that are worth fighting the crowds for. But there are always one or two stands that are innovative and engaging enough to stick out in your mind. Why can’t your business be one of these rare gems at the exhibition?
Exhibitions can be an expensive endeavour so you really want to engage as many potential customers or clients as possible, maximising both time and money so that the exhibition doesn’t become a lost opportunity. The aesthetics of your stand and successful engagement combined will help you stand out from the crowd and provide experiences that deliver real value to your audience.
Here are 7 audience engagement ideas to entice visitors to your stand:
1/ The aesthetics and layout of your stand
Don’t focus solely on conveying information in your stand design. SD Displays can help you design and create a bespoke stand that is colourful, dramatic and intriguing for your visitors, whilst integrating the information that you want to communicate to your audience. The layout of your stand should be easy to enter and get comfortable in; use accessories and furniture to create social spaces in your stand to discuss ideas with your audience.
2/ Refreshments
Consider offering decent coffee or other refreshments at your stand as this initially attracts people and makes your visitors feel more comfortable. As the coffee cools, a great opportunity is created to engage the customer, even if they only visited for the coffee. The caffeine also gives them more energy to beat exhibition lethargy. Plus, caffeine engages their pleasure receptors, creating a positive psychological link with your brand!
3/ Use Gadgets
Using new technology is always a great idea at your stand (as long as you know how to use it!). Gadgets attract intrigued visitors to your stand, but they can also be perfect for gathering contact details. What would you rather do? Write your details on a crumpled sheet of paper, or type it into the latest i-pad? This also creates he perception that you are up-and-coming, engaging with the technology of the future. Also, with clever software like qbit (developed by Quatreus), contact details can be collated instantly off-site via internet connection, allowing your sales team to get a head start on your lead nurturing process.4/ Your Staff
There is no point in having an incredible innovative stand and all the gadgets in the world, if you don’t have engaging, confident staff manning your stand. A combination of knowledgeable and experienced staff, with younger, engaging and confident interns or apprentices is ideal. The younger staff can attract a variety of visitors through their engagement, excitement and enthusiasm about the business, whereas more experienced staff are essential to giving the stand authenticity and esteem.
5/ Visual Recordings
Although your staff may be the most engaging, interesting and sparky crew you could find, they can’t focus on too many people at once. Therefore a visual recording on loop (with subtitles in case the noise is too much) on what your company does is perfect for engaging visitors on the peripheral, who can then get more information from the staff when they are free. Animated videos are the big thing of 2016 so it is worth investing in an original and appealing animation for your company.
6/ Photobooths
Photobooths give a stand an extra interactive factor, appealing to the fun factor of an audience often a bit fed up of wandering around uninteresting stands. Ensure some kind of prop, background or watermark relates to your business, so you can then live stream these photos onto your Twitter feed.
7/ Interesting Demos
If your business has the potential to do demonstrations of certain fascinating products then go for it! For example, kitchen companies often sell weird gadgets and utensils; these would be great to demo at an exhibition stand. Even better if using those utensils can produce edible treats to give away. If you are selling software then onscreen large-scale demos are a great way to give visitors an insight into your product and how it can be utilised for their business.
Ensure you follow up on all the leads you get at the exhibition sooner rather than later. If you have the resources, make the contact as personal as possible. The email is more likely to be opened, and will then be more memorable to the potential client, doing wonders for the perception of your brand. Maintain the colour scheme of the exhibition stand and brochures to the email campaign design; this will help the lead recall their amazing experience at your stand. Exhibitions are a big investment, but with these tips, they are sure to deliver huge rewards. So book that exhibition and get in contact to start creating your perfect exhibition stand.
