Getting Creative with your Trade Show Displays
It’s important that businesses pay attention to one undeniable fact: the time for boring trade show displays has come and gone. In order to stand out among the sea of vendors that crowd the typical convention floor, it’s essential for a business to do something creative, innovative, and multidimensional to encourage potential customers to visit its exhibition stand. And in order to keep those potential customers there long enough to turn into actual customers, it is imperative that the trade show displays are engaging enough to keep them around.
While it is true that most trade show displays designs have been around for a while, it is possible to “dress up” your standard booth 
displays (including tabletop displays and the ever-popular pop-up and panel displays). The most cutting edge companies, and the ones that typically have the most buzz surrounding their booths, find a way to get a little bit outside the box, to attract and to keep potential customers hanging around.
There have been a number of examples of vibrant, exciting, and engaging trade show displays in recent years, ranging from consumer to professional trade shows, high-end products to everyday consumer products. A few examples of great trade show displays that go above and beyond the typical pop-up.
At a recent automotive trade show, Jeep/Chrysler set up an incredible multi-layered display to maximize visibility as well as user participation. They created a multi-laned dirt track complete with their Jeep products which visitors could actually take for test around this all-terrain course. In addition, the company set up video game stations to those not quite of age could also have a driving experience while their parents got to do the real thing. Trade show displays such as this one are grand in scale, and not inexpensive, but carry a massive punch.
Microsoft also has been a pioneer in trade show exhibit design, finding new ways to be creative on a seemingly annual basis. Many, however, consider their extravagant setup at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo to be one of their finest. This display featured, in addition to an extensive gaming experience, a wide array of seemingly “straight from the future” design and comfort elements including 24 foot high curved exterior walls, and laser cut “gaming rings”.
For a slightly less futuristic but no less intricately crated example of superior design in trade show exhibits, a great example would can be found in the display featured by Keen Inc. at the 2010 Outdoor Retailer Show. Keen, a shoe company which prides itself on innovation, wanted to create a display that was created completely out of recycled, reused, and sustainable items. But at the same time, the company still wanted something that looked really cool. At the end of the day, the company created a very engaging wood-paneled “meeting room” created completely out of found items (for example, walls were made from recycled wooden pallets).
Now, while not every company can afford displays that are this elaborate, everyone can afford to invest some thought and imagination, so the overriding message here is clear. It is imperative to add some creativity, originality, and excitement your trade show display – these factors are key to keeping potential customers engaged. And keeping potential customers at your booth and engaged with your staff is crucial if you want to turn them into actual customers.