Trade Show Displays
Theatre Cedar Rapids
VisionWorks
Medical Perceptions (see entire program, plus display)

Most Effective ad in the history of the studio (coming soon).

Trade show displays, like other forms of advertising, serve to help make communication to strangers easier. Strangers become prospects, prospects become clients. But it all starts the same way it does in a school yard with kids. Do you seem nice? Approachable? Do you have character? Are you interesting?

Selling is nothing more than relationship building with a quality product.

I spent a year or more selling and designing trade show displays for Skyline Displays, and saw many of the very consistent errors made by ad agencies when designing displays. Too much text. Small or illegible text. Feature-oriented displays, when they should be benefit-oriented. Or, most commonly, the display was designed as if 500 attendees of a trade show would gasp in awe of the display's beauty and scale every inch of the creation. In other words, it was more about the designer's style than what the company needed to generate sales.

Displays are like billboards. They are large, 3-second tools. You have 3 seconds to get attention, and that's it.

As a sales rep I have worked trade shows before, and appreciate the difference in attention received when you're standing in front of a smartly designed display. It really makes a difference. I have also sold on the crumby side for companies not willing to invest in good display and sales/collateral material design. Those who wrongly (in my opinion) invest on the ultra-cheezy - like inflatable mini-air balloons with their logo on it. Which is awesome if you sell hot air ballons, or have an outdoor theme for your display, but not if you're simply selling copiers.

The difference is 2-fold.

First, companies who invest in smart trade show graphics and professional sales literalture appear solid and confident not only to potential customers, but to their sales force as well. Sales reps who are proud to hand out information, hand out more of it. This makes it much easier to seguay into a conversation with someone new. The literature becomes an instruction guide - the prospect is the student; the sales rep the instructor. When used in this manner, the materials reinforce the memory of the prospect, causing him to enter the selling process faster.

Secondly, regardless of the size of your booth, you should strive to provide a general feel to create a mini-market place. This allows the sales rep working the booth to control their environment. Look at it this way - if you are a shy person, would you rather attend a party at a stranger's house, where you didn't know anyone? Or would you rather throw a party at your house and invite new people in? This is simple psychology. If you control your surroundings, you're more willing to take control in other situations, like intiating communication. Take that from someone who sells - it's not just speculation. Creating this kind of environment is an achievable goal in almost every instance, and will help your sales force as soon as the display is set up.

Every trade show has a few popular booths. They'te the ones giving away a laptop or food, and their are long lines of people trying to get in. Popularity is not the main purpose of designing a display. You don't really want everyone. You only want quality prospects. If your only goals is to leave the show with a bunch of names, don't go to the show. You can get a huge list of random names for cold calling from the phone book - it's much cheaper than a trade show!

To maximize attendance to your booth, pre-show promotion should be done to let local prospects and customers know where you'll be on the show floor. Companies spend a great deal on displays and booth space, so it makes sense to ensure you as many to attend as possible.