Trade Show Planner: Booth Design
Your 12 month trade show checklist
Starting your booth design is just one task in a large checklist you’ll need to complete as a trade show exhibitor. Review my entire pre-show, on-site, and post-show checklist of exhibitor planning activities.
Trade Show Planning:
Start Trade Show Booth Design and Graphics
9-6 MONTHS TO GO. PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES.
Whether you are purchasing a new custom booth, renting a booth, or creating new graphics for your existing booth, it's time to begin the development process. The type of show you select, the audience, the goals and objectives you establish, and how you want to position your company will determine your design.
If you are simply creating new signage for a booth you already own, you could work with a designer who is part of your in-house marketing team or an external graphic design firm.
If you build a new booth from scratch, you will work with a full-service exhibit house to design and construct the structure, graphics, and all other elements.
Will you conduct live, in-booth product demos? If so, bring together your internal team to determine what you will demonstrate and what will be required, such as engineering development or product acquisition. Since the design, review, approval, and development of booth components take time, it's never too early to start this process.
Once you work with your exhibit house or booth vendor to design and build the structural elements, it’s then time to create the graphics, determine sign placement, and the types of materials to be used. That is fabric, plastic, foam core, etc.
If you are reusing an existing booth for the upcoming show, be sure to evaluate the booth's graphics. Is the condition good enough to use the graphics over again? Do they need to be cleaned? Is the messaging still correct? Does it express the tone and the themes you want to get across to your target audience? Do the graphics have to be resized to fit in a larger or smaller space?
CONTINUE YOUR TRADE SHOW PLANNING WITH RELATED CHECKLIST ITEMS.
Are you new to trade show exhibiting and feel completely overwhelmed?
Trade Show 411: The Essential Guide to Exhibiting Like a Pro is a must-have for marketers and small business owners. It gives you both the strategy and action plan to set you off on the right foot. By linking your pre-show marketing strategy to onsite activities and post-show follow-up, you’ll get the most out of your sales and marketing efforts and maximize your trade show results.
