IN THIS GUIDE:

• What’s New at Pack Expo 2026
• Make the Booth Work for Your Goals
• Design for Success
• Speak to Your Audience
• Extend Your Exhibit Beyond the Booth Walls
• 5 Pack Expo Mistakes to Avoid
• Post-Show Follow-Up Plan
• Why Choose Apogee
• Are You Ready for Pack Expo?

Pack Expo International 2026 by the Numbers:

• 48,000+ attendees expected at McCormick Place
• 2,600+ exhibitors competing for attention
• 1.3+ million square feet of exhibit space
• 81% of attendees have buying authority
• Average attendee visits 26+ booths during the show

With this level of competition, a well-planned booth strategy isn’t optional—it’s essential.

Chicago is Calling. Are You Ready?

Your pre-Pack Expo to-do list is a long one. It’s a big event in Chicago this year, and your team needs to be well prepared to make it pay off for your sales and revenue goals. Before you pack up your trade show display gear, ship off your supplies and board a plane to Chicago, you should consider some key things to ensure that you’re ready.

It’s wise to invest the time necessary to evaluate your trade show booth. Even if your display is relatively new—but especially if you’ve been toting it around for a few years—asking a few questions about the booth, its various elements, and how it serves your interests (or doesn’t) can help you make sure you’re getting a solid return on your trade show investment. If you’re not sure, you might need to make a few adjustments.

Here’s a pre-show checklist you can use to gauge the show readiness of your booth and determine if some changes are in order. After running through the items, you can be more confident that your booth is good to go.

What’s New at Pack Expo 2026

The packaging and processing industry is evolving fast. Here’s what exhibitors need to know:

Sustainability Takes Center Stage

Expect to see eco-friendly booth materials and messaging around sustainable packaging solutions. Consider how your booth design reflects your commitment to environmental responsibility.

Automation & Smart Manufacturing

With Industry 4.0 dominating conversations, your booth should showcase how your solutions integrate with automated systems. Interactive demos of smart technology will draw crowds.

Hybrid Engagement Strategies

Post-pandemic, many exhibitors are extending their reach with virtual components—live-streamed demos, QR code activations, and digital follow-up campaigns that keep the conversation going long after the show ends.

Data-Driven Lead Qualification

The days of collecting business cards in a fishbowl are over. Top exhibitors are using badge scanners, CRM integrations, and real-time lead scoring to maximize ROI.

Make the Booth Work for Your Goals

Your company and its reasons for exhibiting change over time—either to a small degree, or on a big scale. As a result, it’s essential to ensure your display is aligned with who you are now and what you have to offer the manufacturing industry. Therefore, gather your team together and ask these questions to determine if your Pack Expo booth fits your company and its goals right now.

Specifically, what are you looking to achieve at this show? While you might not check off all the boxes, make sure the ones that are important to you are marked off.

☐ Introducing new products
☐ Boosting awareness of existing lines
☐ Strengthening relationships with existing customers
☐ Connecting with prospects
☐ Generating leads
☐ Expanding brand exposure
☐ Hunting for emerging trends
☐ Increasing press coverage

Once you’ve identified your goals, the design and features of your booth should support them. For example, if you’re looking to showcase products, then consider a custom exhibit booth tailored toward giving those products a spotlight. On the other hand, if you seek to engage current customers and prospects, consider adding technology features like interactive displays.

Design for Success

Pack Expo presents a unique challenge because many exhibits feature machinery, equipment, and operating demos. While these elements serve to engage your audience, careful design planning is essential for optimizing traffic flow, lead qualification, and in-person demo or meeting opportunities. Moreover, the look and feel of an exhibit booth are more than just superficial considerations. In fact, the first impression attendees get of your event displays can make the difference between convincing them to enter your space and engage with your company, or walking on by.

As you plan your booth design, look for these elements. Again, you might not mark off all of them, but make sure you’re hitting the ones that matter most to your company:

☐ Eye-catching, stand-out colors and consistent branding
☐ The latest technology that showcases your offerings
☐ Engaging, clear graphics that identify you, what you do, and your unique benefit
☐ Impactful, eye-friendly lighting that focuses on the important areas of your space
☐ Backlighting key elements
☐ Prominent logos and product information
☐ Dynamic video presentations
☐ Welcoming reception area
☐ Meeting areas that meet new safety protocols

Booth Size Strategy by Goal

Pro tip: McCormick Place has high ceilings—consider a two-story exhibit to maximize visibility.

Speak to Your Audience

Too often, booth planning puts a laser focus on the exhibiting company. However, this approach fails to consider who you are actually exhibiting for. If your Pack Expo plans keep the customer in mind, in turn you are far more likely to draw attendees in and engage them. Therefore, look at your booth through their eyes to determine if it truly speaks to them

Check for these elements:

☐ Places for both product display as well as customer engagement
☐ Data and lead collection mechanisms
☐ A clear call-to-action or next step for visitors
☐ Promotional items
☐ Takeaway information

“Apogee didn’t just build us a booth—they helped us rethink our entire Pack Expo strategy. The result? 3x more qualified conversations than the previous year.”

Director of Marketing, Fortune 500 Packaging Company

Extend Your Exhibit Beyond the Booth Walls

Your Pack Expo booth undoubtedly represents a tremendous opportunity to engage with prospects and create a positive brand experience. The exhibit itself might physically take up only a few hundred square feet.

However, you can significantly expand its impact through strategic content. For this reason, we recommend layering in these activities to maximize your success

Develop Video Content – A quality video can get your value props to event attendees quickly and set you apart from the brand at the booth next to you.

Host an In-Show Seminar – Live interviews and panel discussions with experts or stakeholders are a great way to drive traffic to your booth.

Leverage Social Media – Everything you do for and at the show should be considered for social media. Consider spending time in the months leading up to your event to engage audiences and “prime the pump” for exhibit traffic.

Stay Connected Through Blogging – You should be maintaining an active presence on your company’s blog, even during the show. Incorporate daily updates with images, testimonials, appreciation for partners and share stories of conversations throughout Pack Expo.

Get Your Team Comfortable with The Art of Questioning – Rapport can be built within minutes of meeting a prospect by asking just a few open-ended questions (versus those that result in one-word answers.) Develop a list of industry and brand-appropriate questions that your sales team can leverage to provide you with information on your prospects and what they want.

5 Pack Expo Mistakes That Cost Exhibitors Leads (And How to Avoid Them)

Underestimating Chicago Weather in October

The Problem: October in Chicago can range from 40-60°F with unpredictable conditions.
The Solution: Plan for cooler temps. Ensure outdoor demo equipment works in various conditions. Have backup plans for weather-dependent demonstrations.

Shipping Late to McCormick Place

The Problem: McCormick Place has strict receiving deadlines and charges premium fees for late arrivals.
The Solution: Review the show’s shipping guidelines 60 days out. Ship materials early to avoid rush fees and ensure everything arrives on time.

Booth Staff Sitting or Looking at Phones

The Problem: Disengaged staff signal to attendees that you’re not interested in connecting.
The Solution: Pre-show training and rotating schedules keep your team engaged, alert, and approachable throughout all show hours.

No Pre-Show Outreach

The Problem: Attendees plan their show schedule weeks in advance. If they don’t know you’re exhibiting, they won’t visit.
The Solution: Start promoting your booth location 60 days out via email campaigns, LinkedIn posts, and direct outreach to key accounts.

Forgetting to Capture Leads from Day 1

The Problem: Technical issues with badge scanners or CRM systems waste valuable Day 1 traffic.
The Solution: Test your lead capture technology before the show floor opens. Have backup systems (paper forms, mobile apps) ready to go.

Want a complete pre-show checklist? Contact our Pack Expo specialists →

Don’t Let Your Leads Go Cold: The Post-Pack Expo Plan

The show doesn’t just end when you leave McCormick Place. Top exhibitors follow this timeline:

24 Hours:

• Send personalized emails to VIP prospects met at the booth
• Post show highlights and thank-yous on LinkedIn
• Debrief with your team while conversations are fresh

1 Week:

• Qualify and score all leads captured
• Schedule follow-up calls with hot prospects
• Send recap video or whitepaper to all booth visitors
• Share internally: what worked, what didn’t

30 Days:

• Analyze ROI metrics (cost per lead, conversion rate, pipeline value)
• Document lessons learned for the next show
• Continue nurturing warm leads through your sales funnel

Need help with post-show follow-up strategy? Apogee offers consultation services to maximize your Pack Expo ROI long after the show ends. Learn more →

Why Pack Expo Exhibitors Choose Apogee

For over 35 years, Apogee Exhibits has helped manufacturers, packaging companies, and processing equipment suppliers dominate the show floor at Pack Expo.

What sets us apart:

✓ 35+ Years of Experience – Since 1991, we’ve helped exhibitors across industries maximize ROI
✓ Full-Service Support – From concept to installation to tear-down, we handle everything
✓ ROI-Focused Design – Every element is engineered to drive engagement and capture leads
✓ Industry Versatility – We design for manufacturing, packaging, technology, and more
✓ Turnkey Solutions – Graphics, A/V, demos, promotional items, and more under one roof

Ready to Make Pack Expo 2026 Your Most Successful Show Yet?

You’ve got the checklist. You know what’s new. You understand the mistakes to avoid.

Now it’s time to put it all into action.

Regardless of whether you’re designing your first Pack Expo booth or refining a strategy that’s worked for years, Apogee Exhibits is ready to help. In fact, we bring 35+ years of trade show expertise to your project. Consequently, we ensure you stand out on the competitive McCormick Place show floor.

Let’s Talk About Your Pack Expo Strategy

Our team specializes in creating booth experiences that don’t just look good—they generate leads, start conversations, and deliver measurable ROI.

Schedule a free consultation:

• Call: (315) 986-4600
• Email: Request a consultation →

No pressure. No obligation. Just expert guidance from people who’ve been doing this since 1991.

Together, we’ll make Pack Expo 2026 your best event yet.

BRAND EXPERIENCES. ELEVATED.

Apogee Exhibits | Custom Trade Show Displays & Exhibit Design Celebrating 35 Years of Excellence | 1991-2026

The post The Ultimate Exhibitor’s Guide to Pack Expo International 2026 appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

As the Trump Administration introduces new tariffs impacting a wide range of imported goods and raw materials, businesses across industries are feeling the pinch — and the trade show world is no exception. Increased costs for materials like aluminum, steel, and electronics are creating challenges for many industries, including those like us, who design and build custom exhibits for our clients.

We understand how important it is to maintain a strong presence on the trade show floor without breaking your marketing budget. That’s why we’re encouraging our clients to consider rental exhibits as a smart, flexible, and cost-effective solution during this period of economic uncertainty.

The new wave of tariffs affects many of the materials and components that go into custom-built trade show exhibits — from structural framing and lighting to digital displays and furnishings. This means:

Higher Production Costs

Longer Lead Times due to possible Supply chain disruptions

Unexpected budget overruns

The Case for Rental Exhibits

Rental exhibits offer a timely solution to the challenges created by rising material costs. Here’s how:

1. Immediate Cost Savings

Renting an exhibit can cost 30–50% less than building a custom one — even more when material prices are inflated by tariffs. With rentals, you pay for usage, not ownership. Rentals are mostly insulated from any potential changes in cost due to tariffs.

2. No Long-Term Storage or Maintenance Fees

Avoid the added expenses of storing and maintaining your exhibit between shows. Rental exhibits are turnkey — they arrive ready to go and are removed when the show ends. The assets used in your rental are then made available for the next project, with no client-associated storage costs.

3. Design Flexibility

Think rentals can’t look custom? Think again. Our modular rental inventory includes modern, customizable components that allow your brand to stand out — with high-end finishes, digital integrations, and tailored layouts.

4. Scalability for Multiple Events

Need different booth sizes or configurations for various shows? Rentals make it easy to scale your presence without re-investing in new hardware each time.

5. Faster Turnaround Times

With tariffs slowing down supply chains, rental options reduce risk and improve speed-to-show. Our ready-to-go inventory helps you meet deadlines — no matter how tight.

Cost Saving Tips (beyond rentals)

Reuse Graphics: Design modular graphic panels that work across multiple shows and booth sizes.

Bundle Services: Work with a single provider for design, logistics, and show services to consolidate costs.

Plan Ahead: Early planning can help you avoid rush fees and lock in favorable rates before tariff impacts escalate.

Let us help you stay ahead

Tariffs may be outside your control, but how you respond to them is not. Whether you’re looking to pivot to rentals, refresh your design, or strategize for your full event calendar, Apogee Exhibits is here to guide you.

Let’s talk about how to make your next event more cost-effective — without compromising on impact.

For more information on rentals see our recent blog post about them!

The post Navigating Tariffs: How to Manage Trade Show Costs appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

What to expect in this year

Key Trends to Expect

1. Technology-Driven Experiences

In 2025, integrating advanced technology will be critical for engaging attendees and enhancing event experiences:

• Immersive Technologies: Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are becoming mainstream. According to Freeman’s insights, 70% of exhibitors plan to use AR/VR to create memorable, interactive displays.
• AI and Personalization: Artificial intelligence is powering personalized attendee journeys, from tailored recommendations to chatbots that enhance customer service.
• Hybrid Events Evolved: CEIR’s recent report indicates that hybrid events remain popular, with 58% of organizers planning a dual-format approach to capture both in-person and virtual audiences.

2. Sustainability as a Priority

Sustainability continues to dominate decision-making processes:

• Eco-Friendly Materials: Freeman reports a 50% increase in exhibitors adopting sustainable booth designs, reducing waste and environmental impact. In fact our industry recently released a new sustainability best-practices initiative.
• Carbon Footprint Tracking: Event planners are increasingly using tools to measure and mitigate carbon emissions, aligning with corporate ESG goals.

3. Focus on ROI and Data Analytics

Return on investment (ROI) is under scrutiny like never before:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: CEIR’s data highlights that 85% of organizers now rely on real-time analytics to adjust event strategies on the fly.
• Lead Quality Over Quantity: Organizers are focusing on attracting highly qualified attendees to maximize exhibitor satisfaction.

4. Smaller, Niche Events

The trend toward smaller, more targeted events continues to grow. These niche gatherings foster deeper connections and higher-value engagements, catering to specific industries or audiences.

5. Globalization of Events

International trade shows are expected to rebound strongly:

• According to CEIR, 2024 saw a 25% increase in international exhibitors, and this trend is projected to accelerate in 2025 as global travel normalizes.
• Multilingual and culturally tailored experiences will play a significant role in attracting diverse audiences.

Obstacles to avoid

• 1. Rising Costs and Budget Constraints
  • Freeman’s recent survey revealed that 60% of event planners cite rising operational costs as a top challenge. Factors like inflation and supply chain issues can strain budgets, requiring careful financial planning and vendor negotiations.
• 2. Overreliance on Technology
  • While technology enhances experiences, an overreliance can alienate less tech-savvy attendees. Balancing digital and physical touchpoints will be essential to maintain accessibility.
• 3. Attendee Fatigue
  • After the pandemic-driven surge in virtual and hybrid events, attendee burnout is a real concern. CEIR’s studies suggest that overly frequent or poorly differentiated events risk diminishing attendance and engagement.
• 4. Navigating Uncertain Economic Conditions
  • Economic uncertainties, including potential recessions, could impact exhibitor and attendee budgets. Building flexible pricing models and sponsorship packages can help mitigate financial risks.
• 5. Inadequate Focus on Safety
  • Health and safety concerns remain a priority. Ignoring protocols or failing to adapt to unforeseen health crises can damage an event’s reputation and deter participation.

Check out our planning e-book

Our 2025 Trade Show planning Guide will help you plan and execute a successful event schedule next year and beyond. Get it here.

The post Trade Shows and Events 2025: What To Expect appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

Cost:

As a general rule of thumb, a rental exhibit will run about 30-50% of the cost of owning the same exhibit (not including design services, show site and other ancillary services common to any exhibit whether it’s rented or purchased).  Generally if you’re going to use the same rental properties more than three times you’d likely consider ownership.  However it goes deeper than that!

With any rental exhibit there are virtually no other “cost of ownership” fees such as storage, booth prep, inventory management and more.  The exhibit house is doing this all for you at no added cost (in most cases) because you actually don’t own anything but the branding/graphics that were developed for the rental exhibit.

Additionally and more importantly your exhibit dollar goes quite a lot further with a rental than a purchased exhibit.  Companies with strict or limited marketing budgets can stretch their dollar a bit further with rental.  You can project the same eye-catching look in a rental for a fraction of the cost.  On the show floor your rental can project your companies branding and image as equally as “the big guys”, who may have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their booth.  Other savings are realized through reduced (or zero) repair or refurbishment costs, and in some cases transportation costs as your rental exhibit may come from a strategically located facility near your show venue.

Flexibility

If your exhibit house is looking out for your long-term interests and (hopefully they are) and overall effective program management, then they should be designing your rental exhibit to fit your changing space needs as well as your budget.  Rentals offer the added flexibility of not being tied to any one particular layout for a given show.  Exhibit designers can see future needs with you and drive the design to meet different show layouts and needs, and even re-purpose graphics and branding to be re-configured for those needs.

Another great use of rental is “duplication” of shows.  From time to time many exhibitors have events occurring simultaneously and their owned exhibit properties aren’t available for both events.  Rental solves that problem easily and also reduces the risk and wear and tear of cross-shipping exhibits from show to show without proper care and inspection.

• Adapt to Market Changes: Inflationary periods are often marked by market volatility. As already mentioned above, Renting allows you to adapt more easily to changing market conditions or business needs without the commitment of a large investment.
• Customization Opportunities: Renting enables you to tailor the design, layout, and features of your booth to different audiences or trade shows without the cost of owning multiple setups.

Capital One Rental Exhibit at NADA 2024

Risk Mitigation

• Trial and Error: Experiment with different booth sizes and layouts across various events without the commitment of purchase. This can be particularly useful in finding what works best for your brand without the long-term risk.
• Economic Uncertainty: In uncertain economic times, the flexibility of renting over buying can be a significant advantage, allowing businesses to react more dynamically to economic conditions.

Ease of use

Making the decision to rent versus buy is one that can only be determined through due diligence to see what fits the best for many organizations.  Many exhibit manager’s want to hand off their show site responsibilities and let their exhibit house manage the details.  With any exhibit, show site logistics are just as important as the booth itself.  Rental furniture, A/V, lead gathering are all integral to a successful event.  Your exhibit house should be offering to handle all related logistics so you can focus on your real job, growing and promoting your companies brand in other areas that most marketing folks are responsible for.  After all trade shows are only a part of the picture, but an important part! In conclusion, renting a trade show booth can offer significant economic benefits, particularly during inflationary periods. It provides cost savings, flexibility, and the opportunity to maintain a dynamic and engaging presence at trade shows without the financial burden and risks associated with ownership.

The post Why Rent my Trade Show Exhibit? appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

Recent evidence from many larger shows, such as MD&M West, NAB, and others have shown that the quality of the attendee is actually higher now than it was prior to the pandemic.  This re-enforces the justification for going to trade shows, even with inflation and increased costs.  Here’ are a few methods to help offset some of those increased costs:

Lighten your load:

Review your current exhibit to see if you can shed a few pounds.  This saves you in 2 areas.  The first is that it reduces the overall cost of shipping to and from a show.  The second (and sometimes more costly) is in Material Handling at show site.  This is the cost of the decorator to unload and move your freight to and from your booth space.  “Drayage” as it’s commonly referred to can be as costly, or more costly, in some cases, depending upon the show.   Some shows, such as NAB, have gone to a flat rate fee structure to help reduce that cost.  We hope to see more shows follow suit.

If you own flooring, leave it home and rent from the show.  You are paying both freight and material handling on this element.  Rental carpet from the show decorator may be more cost-effective, and the carbon footprint for doing this is smaller, and hence better for the environment.

Plan ahead and look at where your shows are taking place:

If you have shows that are not near your home base, or where your exhibit is being stored, ask your exhibit house for options for temporary storage in a central location, to shorten freight routes.  We are currently offering West Coast storage to our clients that primarily exhibit out there.  If you have back to back shows in a specific region, explore the possibility of leaving your exhibit there, temporarily.

Avoid “hidden” Special handling fees:

If you’re shipping things directly to the show hall uncrated or un-skidded (such as giveaways and literature), consider palletizing them .  Nearly all show decorators charge a special handling fee for loose box handling.  If you are considering handing out literature, consider doing it via electronic fulfillment.  Studies show that 80% of all literature handed out at an event never leaves that city (it goes in the trash).  Be mindful of Advance Warehouse and Direct to show delivery dates. If you have a targeted move-in and your freight doesn’t arrive on the assigned date you can also incur added fees.

Review the demo equipment you need in your booth

Shipping heavy machinery may be required if you need to demo production processes, or equipment features.  It’s sometimes hard to consider exhibiting without equipment, but there are ways around it.  Heavy machinery adds to your freight and material handling (and labor) bill.  Consider a 3-D interactive or virtual demo of your equipment.  Here’s an example to a virtual “showroom” that Apogee developed for a client that could not manage to ship all of their industrial printing machines to an event.

Effective planning in advance of your events can also help you budget for, and anticipate higher operating costs at your live business events.  It’s important to remember that these valuable events still provide a higher ROI than other direct selling activities.  The cost to close a lead on the show floor is still much less than the cost of doing so with a direct field sales call.  Events have and will continue to be one of the most cost-effective part of your overall Marketing strategy.

For more information on effective planning visit our 2022 Planning guide here.

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“Nothing will ever replace the face to face opportunity that trade shows offer”

Trade shows resumed in 2021 and we witnessed a changed landscape with regard to budgeting, planning, and execution of events.

One key to ensuring your investment in attending these dynamic events still pays off: properly planning your overall trade show approach to ensure it is still aligned with your overall Marketing strategy. By asking crucial questions, creating a strategy, managing a budget and planning your message, your company will be better positioned to connect attendees, make connections, and convert prospects into customers.

What to expect…

Before you get into the thick of developing your Marketing Strategy for upcoming events, it’s a good idea to analyze what happened in the past. What worked, and what didn’t? What exhibit components did visitors respond to enthusiastically—and what left them cold? How effective was your booth staff in engaging prospects on the show floor?  Do you need a short booth staff training session to re-enforce best practices?  Based on that look back, you might decide your booth needs some freshening up as well.  Are all of your branding elements in your booth consistent with your brand guide?  Are all graphics up to date?  If so, then it’s now time to plan on what to that look forward to:

Here are three questions for your planning team to ask, to determine how to plan effectively for your return to the show floor as we continue to deal with the ramifications of the pandemic, as well as its effects on the supply-chain.

Will attendance be down?

There’s little doubt that when shows gradually ramp back up attendance may be down at first.  There may be hesitancy to travel, or lingering travel restrictions placed upon your attendees.  Advance marketing prior to an event will help drive traffic back to the event.  An important thing to remember that while audience participation may be lower at shows that are re-emerging, the quality and buying power of those that do attend will be higher. Hosting a “virtual event” or webinar prior to your show will also create a lasting memory for those about to travel and perhaps put you on their agenda. The audience will be less diluted with non-qualified prospects as shows resume.  Your online hosted event may allow those who aren’t traveling to interact with you.  See more about our outlook in the next topic about attendance.

How will the show organizer help in promoting a newly rescheduled show?

In an April 3 survey of 1,000 Americans forced to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, 83 percent of respondents said they miss attending meetings, conventions, and trade shows. Further, the study, conducted by APCO Insight on behalf of the Meetings Mean Business coalition, reports that 78 percent of respondents plan to attend as many or more business events once the pandemic ends and it is deemed safe to do so. This means business, and your show organizer should be helping boost attendance for you.  There may also be added sponsor incentives that you can cash in on to create a larger brand presence.  Reach out to your organizer and see what they have to offer!

Can we host a “safe” environment?

Of course you can.  There will no doubt be an increased sensitivity to hand-shakes, and close social distance challenges in a busy trade show booth.  Brainstorm with your booth staff team to offer reassurances of a clean, healthy booth space.  Many show organizers are going to great lengths to host a safe meeting.  With vaccine and testing requirements at these events, many organizations are willing to participate knowing that these safety protocols are in effect.  Attendees are eager to get back to face to face as well.

Getting What You Need out of your event

Your exhibit environment is more than just a collection of walls, tables and graphics. It’s a powerful tool that, executed correctly, can help your company build its brand and increase business. In order to accomplish that, however, your booth needs to hit some key targets.

Business goals

At the onset of event planning, your team should know what your goals are in exhibiting. For example, if you wish to promote your products, make those the star of your trade show exhibit. Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Then put your brand front and center.  Consider advanced marketing tactics prior to the event, such as a webinar, virtual exhibits/environment, and other pre-event marketing initiatives.

Professional audience

Who is your company trying to reach at the event? There might be more than one answer to that question—for example, you might be looking to connect at a healthcare event with corporate leadership as well as medical staff. Make sure your booth speaks to the most important stakeholders and prospects.  One thing that has happened with reduced audiences in 2021 was the increased number of key decision makers attending these shows.  Many organizations eliminated the scores of people they used to send out to shows as a cost-savings measure.  Recently only the most qualified decision makers attended, which created a “target rich environment”.

Fostering communication

From the initial greeting of a prospect, to sitting down to talk about a possible deal, your booth should facilitate conversations. Think about what types of interactions you want, and work to ensure your booth can handle them.  Our focus in designing exhibit spaces post-covid is to be aware of social distancing guidelines and creating safe spaces where meetings can still take place.

For more advice and questions to ask your team when planning and evaluating your booth, read here.

Tracking your budget

Figuring out the financial outlay you will need for your 2022 tradeshows calls for balancing a number of factors—what features you must have, the people you need to effectively run it, how much you can afford, etc. Walking through a few steps will help budget planning for your upcoming trade show exhibits run smoothly.  Budgets may have been cut due to the pandemic, so it’s important to focus your remaining dollars wisely.  Consider re-using existing components, or renting instead of purchasing in the short term.  While budget planning likely happened months ago it’s a good idea to be prepared for some unexpected budget changes.

Set objectives

We talked about business goals above—these will help inform the remainder of your planning efforts. Keep them in mind, and your team will be better equipped to determine what resources you need—type of booth, amount of space required, number of staff, and more.

Estimate a budget

Breaking down the costs is necessary. Expenses essentially will fall into four columns: exhibit-related costs, service costs, promotional costs and staff costs. A good rule of thumb: take the amount you plant to spend on the exhibit space itself, then multiply by 3.

Break it down

Roughly, your allocation for the various trade show expenses you will need should break down like this:

• Exhibit space: 30%
• Show services: 20%
• Booth design: 15%
• Shipping and drayage: 10%
• Promotions: 5%
• Staffing and travel: 15%

That does not add up to 100%, giving your budget planner some wiggle room to add some funds in one area or another if needed. If one area gets too big, though, consider dialing back.  In fact there may be some “left over” budget money due to previously cancelled events.  You can use this to increase sponsorship’s, update your booth, or other marketing incentives to drive business.  Supply chain and labor issues have arisen as a result of the pandemic (and other factors).  Careful planning ahead may allow you to dodge a few unforseen costs, but be prepared for increases through the year in a few areas:

Material costs:  Material costs have sky-rocketed in the past 18 months.  While some raw materials have stabilized there is still an increased cost in lumber and construction materials.  New exhibit construction may cost a bit more this year.  We’ve already mentioned renting an exhibit in lieu of building new.

Transportation:  Transportation costs and fuel surcharges have impacted both the supply chain and the exhibitions industry.  Shipping costs will likely remain higher in 2022.  Meet with your exhibit partner to explore ways to save on these costs.  For example, if your shows primarily happen on the West Coast, ask your exhibit house if they have a partner who can manage storing your assets while your West Coast shows are executed.

Show site costs:  Material handling and labor costs are likely to be slightly higher in some markets.  Some shows (like NAB) have gone to a flat rate for material handling (also referred to as “drayage”).  This has helped offset operating costs, and we’re confident many other shows will follow suit eventually.  An easy way to avoid increased costs for this is to avoid shipping loose materials or boxed (non-skidded) materials that require special handling to your shows.  Show contractors love to charge a premium fee for boxes that arrive via fedex for example.  Consider sending them to your hotel and hand-carrying them if you must.

Want to learn more about building a trade show budget? Take a look at a simple guide here.

Defining a Marketing Strategy to get the most ROI

Once you have set your marketing strategy and objectives, your trade show booth planning team is better poised to craft the content. The graphics, technology, marketing pieces, branding strategy—each piece helps tell attendees and prospects who you are, and what your company can help them accomplish. Your trade show booth is an important component of communicating that content. How do you bring your content across? If your event has been outright cancelled you can pivot to a Virtual booth or online hosted event.

Content components

There are several things you can incorporate into your  booth to communicate your story with attendees, both online or in-person. Each component should fit into your company’s overall goals in attending the event.  A good example of promoting your company via a virtual event is to create a “tradeshow” around it.  And you’re the only exhibitor!  A hosted webinar using a virtual booth as the “tour guide” to your company’s products and services.  Here you can highlight:

• Company Videos
• Brochures/Literature
• Video testimonials
• Live interviews
• Online Chat
• Infographics
• Social media channels
• Group Q&A.
• 3-D rendered models of your product or equipment

This tool can also be used as a pre-show marketing tool that you can share via mass email, webinar, or special online event combined with a livestream “from the booth” or from your offices.  You can create a landing page dedicated to the audience from the event you may not be able to attend, and let them do a “self-guided” tour of your “booth” to learn more.

Develop a timeline

Putting together a solid content plan takes time and effort. Make sure to allow time not just for creating messaging, but also for reviewing, sharing with stakeholders, and refining as needed. Here’s how such a timeline might look:

• 6 months out: create and finalize your overall content strategy
• 5 months out: outline your whitepaper and landing page, develop a video script and storyboard
• 4 months out: create the whitepaper, film/edit our video, plan/research blog topics, outline infographic
• 3 months out: publish gated whitepaper, publish/promote video on social media, create social posts to promote the whitepaper, create/send an email to promote the whitepaper, create the infographic
• 2 months out: write/post blogs about your trade show offerings, post 1 or 2 blogs weekly until the show, post and share the infographic
• 1 month out: increase social engagement (following attendees, posting about your booth offerings, include event hashtags), print the infographic and plan its position in the booth
• Day before: post your final blog, post on social media about booth, email attendees

The post 2022 Trade Show Planning Guide appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

As our nation and our economy gradually recover, and there will be a pent up demand for folks to get back to live events and continue promoting their brand in person.

One key to ensuring your investment in attending these dynamic events pays off: properly planning your overall trade show approach to ensure it is still aligned with your overall Marketing strategy. By asking crucial questions, creating a strategy, crafting a budget and planning your message, your company will be better positioned to connect attendees, make connections, and convert prospects into customers.

Plan ahead…by looking back

Before you get into the thick of developing your Marketing Strategy for upcoming events, it’s a good idea to analyze what happened in the past. What worked, and what didn’t? What exhibit components did visitors respond to enthusiastically—and what left them cold? How effective was your booth staff in engaging prospects on the show floor?  Do you need a short booth staff training session to re-enforce best practices?  Based on that look back, you might decide your booth needs some freshening up as well.  Are all of your branding elements in your booth consistent with your brand guide?  Are all graphics up to date?  If so, then it’s now time to plan on what to that look forward to:

Here are three questions for your planning team to ask, to determine how to plan effectively for your return to the show floor after the Covid-19 crisis ends.

Will attendance drop?
There’s little doubt that when shows gradually ramp back up attendance may be down at first.  There may be hesitancy to travel, or lingering travel restrictions placed upon your attendees.  Advance marketing prior to an event will help drive traffic back to the event.  An important thing to remember that while audience participation may be lower at shows that are re-emerging, the quality and buying power of those that do attend will be higher. Hosting a “virtual event” or webinar prior to your show will also create a lasting memory for those about to travel and perhaps put you on their agenda. The audience will be less diluted with non-qualified prospects as shows resume.  Your online hosted event may allow those who aren’t traveling to interact with you.  See more about our outlook in the next topic about attendance.

How will the show organizer help in promoting a newly rescheduled show?
In an April 3 survey of 1,000 Americans forced to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, 83 percent of respondents said they miss attending meetings, conventions, and trade shows. Further, the study, conducted by APCO Insight on behalf of the Meetings Mean Business coalition, reports that 78 percent of respondents plan to attend as many or more business events once the pandemic ends and it is deemed safe to do so. This means business, and your show organizer should be helping boost attendance for you.  There may also be added sponsor incentives that you can cash in on to create a larger brand presence.  Reach out to your organizer and see what they have to offer!

Can we host a “safe” environment?
Of course you can.  There will no doubt be an increased sensitivity to hand-shakes, and close social distance challenges in a busy trade show booth.  Brainstorm with your booth staff team to offer reassurances of a clean, healthy booth space.  Include hand sanitizer stations, wipe down surfaces often, and consider even offering masks for those who would use them.  Consider implementing a safety and disinfection protocol for your exhibit space and staffers.  Some exhibitors are investing in portable disinfectant sprayers to help keep their spaces germ free.

Getting What You Need

Your exhibit environment is more than just a collection of walls, tables and graphics. It’s a powerful tool that, executed correctly, can help your company build its brand and increase business. In order to accomplish that, however, your booth needs to hit some key targets.

Business goals
At the onset of event planning, your team should know what your goals are in exhibiting. For example, if you wish to promote your products, make those the star of your trade show exhibit. Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Then put your brand front and center.  Consider advanced marketing tactics prior to the event, such as a webinar, virtual exhibits/environment, and other pre-event marketing initiatives.

Professional audience
Who is your company trying to reach at the event? There might be more than one answer to that question—for example, you might be looking to connect at a healthcare event with corporate leadership as well as medical staff. Make sure your booth speaks to the most important stakeholders and prospects.

Fostering communication
From the initial greeting of a prospect, to sitting down to talk about a possible deal, your booth should facilitate conversations. Think about what types of interactions you want, and work to ensure your booth can handle them.  Our focus in designing exhibit spaces post-covid is to be aware of social distancing guidelines and creating safe spaces where meetings can still take place.

For more advice and questions to ask your team when planning and evaluating your booth, read here.

Building a budget

Figuring out the financial outlay you will need for your 2021 tradeshows calls for balancing a number of factors—what features you must have, the people you need to effectively run it, how much you can afford, etc. Walking through a few steps will help budget planning for your upcoming trade show exhibits run smoothly.  Budgets may have been cut due to the pandemic, so it’s important to focus your remaining dollars wisely.  Consider re-using existing components, or renting instead of purchasing in the short term.

Set objectives
We talked about business goals above—these will help inform the remainder of your planning efforts. Keep them in mind, and your team will be better equipped to determine what resources you need—type of booth, amount of space required, number of staff, and more.

Estimate a budget
Breaking down the costs is necessary. Expenses essentially will fall into four columns: exhibit-related costs, service costs, promotional costs and staff costs. A good rule of thumb: take the amount you plant to spend on the exhibit space itself, then multiply by 3.

Break it down
Roughly, your allocation for the various trade show expenses you will need should break down like this:

• Exhibit space: 30%
• Show services: 20%
• Booth design: 15%
• Shipping and drayage: 10%
• Promotions: 5%
• Staffing and travel: 15%

That does not add up to 100%, giving your budget planner some wiggle room to add some funds in one area or another if needed. If one area gets too big, though, consider dialing back.  In fact there may be some “left over” budget money due to previously cancelled events.  You can use this to increase sponsorship’s, update your booth, or other marketing incentives to drive business.

Want to learn more about building a trade show budget? Take a look at a simple guide here.

Telling a story with your booth Virtually as well as in person

Once you have set your marketing objectives, your trade show booth planning team is better poised to craft the content. The graphics, technology, marketing pieces, branding strategy—each piece helps tell attendees and prospects who you are, and what your company can help them accomplish. Your trade show booth is an important component of communicating that content. How do you bring your content across? If your event has been outright cancelled you can pivot to a Virtual booth or online hosted event.

Content components

There are several things you can incorporate into your  booth to communicate your story with attendees, both online or in-person. Each component should fit into your company’s overall goals in attending the event.  A good example of promoting your company via a virtual event is to create a “tradeshow” around it.  And you’re the only exhibitor!  A hosted webinar using a virtual booth as the “tour guide” to your company’s products and services.  Here you can highlight:

• Company Videos
• Brochures/Literature
• Video testimonials
• Live interviews
• Online Chat
• Infographics
• Social media channels
• Group Q&A.
• 3-D rendered models of your product or equipment

This tool can also be used as a pre-show marketing tool that you can share via mass email, webinar, or special online event combined with a livestream “from the booth” or from your offices.  You can create a landing page dedicated to the audience from the event you may not be able to attend, and let them do a “self-guided” tour of your “booth” to learn more.

Develop a timeline
Putting together a solid content plan takes time and effort. Make sure to allow time not just for creating messaging, but also for reviewing, sharing with stakeholders, and refining as needed. Here’s how such a timeline might look:

• 6 months out: create and finalize your overall content strategy
• 5 months out: outline your whitepaper and landing page, develop a video script and storyboard
• 4 months out: create the whitepaper, film/edit our video, plan/research blog topics, outline infographic
• 3 months out: publish gated whitepaper, publish/promote video on social media, create social posts to promote the whitepaper, create/send an email to promote the whitepaper, create the infographic
• 2 months out: write/post blogs about your trade show offerings, post 1 or 2 blogs weekly until the show, post and share the infographic
• 1 month out: increase social engagement (following attendees, posting about your booth offerings, include event hashtags), print the infographic and plan its position in the booth
• Day before: post your final blog, post on social media about booth, email attendees

Ready to get started?

Apogee’s exhibit and event experts would be happy to assist your company in putting together a booth that perfectly matches your company’s goals, messaging and budget. Whether you’re looking for a modular design, a custom exhibit, high-tech features or other components, we will partner with you to create the ideal display. Our specialists have crafted eye-catching booths for clients in all industries, and we would love to create one for you.

Call us at (315) 986-4600 or request a consult online, and we can help your organization finish 2020 strong.

The post 2021 Trade Show Planning Guide-Post Covid-19 appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

One day in the near future our country will re-open for business, and there will be a pent up demand for folks to get back to work, and continue promoting their brand. While things are on hold, it’s a good idea to put any free time you have to work on careful planning and execution of your events once they start up again.

One key to ensuring your investment in attending these dynamic events pays off: properly planning your trade show approach. By asking crucial questions, creating a strategy, crafting a budget and planning your message, your company will be better positioned to connect attendees, make connections, and convert prospects into customers.

Plan ahead…by looking back

Before you get into the thick of crafting your trade show display for upcoming events, it’s a good idea to analyze what happened in the past. What worked, and what didn’t? What components did visitors respond to enthusiastically—and what left them cold? Based on that look back, you might decide your booth needs some freshening up.  Are all of your branding elements in your booth consistent with your brand guide?  Are all graphics up to date?    If so, then it’s now time to plan on what to look forward to:

Here are three questions for your planning team to ask, to determine how to plan effectively for your return to the show floor after the Covid-19 crisis ends.

1. Will attendance drop?
   There’s little doubt that when shows gradually ramp back up attendance may be down at first.  There may be hesitancy to travel, or lingering travel restrictions placed upon your attendees.  Advance marketing prior to an event will help drive traffic back to the event.  Hosting a “virtual event” or webinar prior to your show will also create a lasting memory for those about to travel and perhaps put you on their agenda.  Your online hosted event may allow those who aren’t traveling to interact with you.  See more about our outlook in the next topic about attendance.
2. How will the show organizer help in promoting a newly rescheduled show?
   In an April 3 survey of 1,000 Americans forced to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, 83 percent of respondents said they miss attending meetings, conventions, and trade shows. Further, the study, conducted by APCO Insight on behalf of the Meetings Mean Business coalition, reports that 78 percent of respondents plan to attend as many or more business events once the pandemic ends and it is deemed safe to do so. This means business, and your show organizer should be helping boost attendance for you.  There may also be added sponsor incentives that you can cash in on to create a larger brand presence.  Reach out to your organizer and see what they have to offer!
3. Can we host a “safe” environment?
   There will no doubt be an increased sensitivity to hand-shakes, and close social distance challenges in a busy trade show booth.  Brainstorm with your booth staff team to offer reassurances of a clean, healthy booth space.  Include hand sanitizer stations, wipe down surfaces often, and consider even offering masks for those who would use them.

Getting What You Need

Your trade show display is more than just a collection of walls, tables and graphics. It’s a powerful tool that, executed correctly, can help your company build its brand and increase business. In order to accomplish that, however, your booth needs to hit some key targets.

Business goals
At the onset of event planning, your team should know what your goals are in exhibiting. For example, if you wish to promote your products, make those the star of your trade show exhibit. Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Then put your brand front and center.

Professional audience
Who is your company trying to reach at the event? There might be more than one answer to that question—for example, you might be looking to connect at a healthcare event with corporate leadership as well as medical staff. Make sure your booth speaks to the most important stakeholders and prospects.

Fostering communication
From the initial greeting of a prospect, to sitting down to talk about a possible deal, your booth should facilitate conversations. Think about what types of interactions you want, and work to ensure your booth can handle them.

For more advice and questions to ask your team when planning and evaluating your booth, read here.

Building a budget

Figuring out the financial outlay you will need for your 2020 tradeshows calls for balancing a number of factors—what features you must have, the people you need to effectively run it, how much you can afford, etc. Walking through a few steps will help budget planning for your upcoming trade show exhibits run smoothly.

Set objectives
We talked about business goals above—these will help inform the remainder of your planning efforts. Keep them in mind, and your team will be better equipped to determine what resources you need—type of booth, amount of space required, number of staff, and more.

Estimate a budget
Breaking down the costs is necessary. Expenses essentially will fall into four columns: exhibit-related costs, service costs, promotional costs and staff costs. A good rule of thumb: take the amount you plant to spend on the exhibit space itself, then multiply by 3.

Break it down
Roughly, your allocation for the various trade show expenses you will need should break down like this:

• Exhibit space: 30%
• Show services: 20%
• Booth design: 15%
• Shipping and drayage: 10%
• Promotions: 5%
• Staffing and travel: 15%

That does not add up to 100%, giving your budget planner some wiggle room to add some funds in one area or another if needed. If one area gets too big, though, consider dialing back.  In fact there may be some “left over” budget money due to previously cancelled events.  You can use this to increase sponsorship’s, update your booth, or other marketing incentives to drive business.

Want to learn more about building a trade show budget? Take a look at a simple guide here.

Telling a story with your booth Virtually as well as in person

Once you have set your marketing objectives, your trade show booth planning team is better poised to craft the content. The graphics, technology, marketing pieces, branding strategy—each piece helps tell attendees and prospects who you are, and what your company can help them accomplish. Your trade show booth is an important component of communicating that content. How do you bring your content across? If your event has been outright cancelled you can pivot to a Virtual booth or online hosted event.

Content components

There are several things you can incorporate into your  booth to communicate your story with attendees, both online or in-person. Each component should fit into your company’s overall goals in attending the event.  A good example of promoting your company via a virtual event is to create a “tradeshow” around it.  And you’re the only exhibitor!  A hosted webinar using a virtual booth as the “tour guide” to your company’s products and services.  Here you can highlight:

• Company Videos
• Brochures/Literature
• Video testamonials
• Live interviews
• Online Chat
• Infographics
• Social media channels
• Group Q&A.

This tool can also be used as a pre-show marketing tool that you can share via mass email, webinar, or special online event combined with a livestream “from the booth” or from your offices.  You can create a landing page dedicated to the audience from the event you may not be able to attend, and let them do a “self-guided” tour of your “booth” to learn more.

Develop a timeline
Putting together a solid content plan takes time and effort. Make sure to allow time not just for creating messaging, but also for reviewing, sharing with stakeholders, and refining as needed. Here’s how such a timeline might look:

• 6 months out: create and finalize your overall content strategy
• 5 months out: outline your whitepaper and landing page, develop a video script and storyboard
• 4 months out: create the whitepaper, film/edit our video, plan/research blog topics, outline infographic
• 3 months out: publish gated whitepaper, publish/promote video on social media, create social posts to promote the whitepaper, create/send an email to promote the whitepaper, create the infographic
• 2 months out: write/post blogs about your trade show offerings, post 1 or 2 blogs weekly until the show, post and share the infographic
• 1 month out: increase social engagement (following attendees, posting about your booth offerings, include event hashtags), print the infographic and plan its position in the booth
• Day before: post your final blog, post on social media about booth, email attendees

Ready to get started?

Apogee’s exhibit and event experts would be happy to assist your company in putting together a booth that perfectly matches your company’s goals, messaging and budget. Whether you’re looking for a modular design, a custom exhibit, high-tech features or other components, we will partner with you to create the ideal display. Our specialists have crafted eye-catching booths for clients in all industries, and we would love to create one for you.

Call us at (315) 986-4600 or request a consult online, and we can help your organization finish 2020 strong.

The post 2020 Trade Show Planning Guide-After Covid-19 appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

An international rental allows you to project your brand across the globe. This stunning booth at CPHI WorldWide 2019 was a rental!

Cost:

As a general rule of thumb, a rental exhibit will run about 30-50% of the cost of owning the same exhibit (not including design services, show site and other ancillary services common to any exhibit whether it’s rented or purchased).  Generally if you’re going to use the same rental properties more than three times you’d likely consider ownership.  However it goes deeper than that!

With any rental exhibit there are virtually no other “cost of ownership” fees such as storage, booth prep, inventory management and more.  The exhibit house is doing this all for you at no added cost (in most cases) because you actually don’t own anything but the branding/graphics that were developed for the rental exhibit.

Additionally and more importantly your exhibit dollar goes quite a lot further with a rental than a purchased exhibit.  Companies with strict or limited marketing budgets can stretch their dollar a bit further with rental.  You can project the same eye-catching look in a rental for a fraction of the cost.  On the show floor your rental can project your companies branding and image as equally as “the big guys”, who may have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their booth.  Other savings are realized through reduced (or zero) repair or refurbishment costs, and in some cases transportation costs as your rental exhibit may come from a strategically located facility near your show venue.

Flexibility

If your exhibit house is looking out for your long-term interests and (hopefully they are) and overall effective program management, then they should be designing your rental exhibit to fit your changing space needs as well as your budget.  Rentals offer the added flexibility of not being tied to any one particular layout for a given show.  Exhibit designers can see future needs with you and drive the design to meet different show layouts and needs, and even re-purpose graphics and branding to be re-configured for those needs.

Another great use of rental is “duplication” of shows.  From time to time many exhibitors have events occurring simultaneously and their owned exhibit properties aren’t available for both events.  Rental solves that problem easily and also reduces the risk and wear and tear of cross-shipping exhibits from show to show without proper care and inspection.

This rental exhibit from SHRM 2021 for Paychex was designed to allow them maximum flexibility for several space configurations.

Ease of use

Making the decision to rent versus buy is one that can only be determined through due diligence to see what fits the best for many organizations.  Many exhibit manager’s want to hand off their show site responsibilities and let their exhibit house manage the details.  With any exhibit, show site logisitics are just as important as the booth itself.  Rental furniture, A/V, lead gathering are all integral to a successful event.  Your exhibit house should be offering to handle all related logistics so you can focus on your real job, growing and promoting your companies brand in other areas that most marketing folks are responsible for.  After all trade shows are only a part of the picture, but an important part!

The post Should I Rent or Buy my Exhibit? appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

One key to ensuring your investment in attending these dynamic events pays off: properly planning your trade show booth. By asking crucial questions, creating a strategy, crafting a budget and planning your message, your company will be better positioned to connect attendees, make connections, and convert prospects into customers.

Looking back

Before you get into the thick of crafting your trade show display for upcoming events, it’s a good idea to analyze what happened in the past. What worked, and what didn’t? What components did visitors respond to enthusiastically—and what left them cold? Based on that look back, you might decide your booth needs some freshening up.

Here are three questions for your planning team to ask, to determine if it’s time for a trade show booth makeover.

1. Did attendees pass us by?
   If no one is stopping, you might wish to upgrade to a more appealing trade show exhibit. Your booth should encourage an initial connection with attendees, or you won’t be able to connect with your prospects on a deeper level.
2. Was the booth too cramped?
   A crammed, noisy space isn’t conducive to doing business. What’s more, attendees that wanted to stop might see the ears-to-elbows crowd and think again. Give your prospects room to breathe with a larger booth.
3. Can our booth handle tech?
   Video displays, laptops, interactive kiosks and other technology features serve a number of important features, including boosting visitor engagement and facilitating data collection. If your space isn’t prepped to incorporate these features, consider a change to one that is.

If you answered “yes” to even one of these questions, your booth needs a change—new graphics, updated furniture, tweaked layout, high-tech features or other upgrades could help.

Getting What You Need

Your trade show display is more than just a collection of walls, tables and graphics. It’s a powerful tool that, executed correctly, can help your company build its brand and increase business. In order to accomplish that, however, your booth needs to hit some key targets.

Business goals
At the onset of event planning, your team should know what your goals are in exhibiting. For example, if you wish to promote your products, make those the star of your trade show exhibit. Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Then put your brand front and center.

Professional audience
Who is your company trying to reach at the event? There might be more than one answer to that question—for example, you might be looking to connect at a healthcare event with corporate leadership as well as medical staff. Make sure your booth speaks to the most important stakeholders and prospects.

Fostering communication
From the initial greeting of a prospect, to sitting down to talk about a possible deal, your booth should facilitate conversations. Think about what types of interactions you want, and work to ensure your booth can handle them.

For more advice and questions to ask your team when planning and evaluating your booth, read here.

Building a budget

Figuring out the financial outlay you will need for your 2020 tradeshows calls for balancing a number of factors—what features you must have, the people you need to effectively run it, how much you can afford, etc. Walking through a few steps will help budget planning for your upcoming trade show exhibits run smoothly.

Set objectives
We talked about business goals above—these will help inform the remainder of your planning efforts. Keep them in mind, and your team will be better equipped to determine what resources you need—type of booth, amount of space required, number of staff, and more.

Estimate a budget
Breaking down the costs is necessary. Expenses essentially will fall into four columns: exhibit-related costs, service costs, promotional costs and staff costs. A good rule of thumb: take the amount you plant to spend on the exhibit space itself, then multiply by 3.

Break it down
Roughly, your allocation for the various trade show expenses you will need should break down like this:

• Exhibit space: 30%
• Show services: 20%
• Booth design: 15%
• Shipping and drayage: 10%
• Promotions: 5%
• Staffing and travel: 15%

That does not add up to 100%, giving your budget planner some wiggle room to add some funds in one area or another if needed. If one area gets too big, though, consider dialing back.

Want to learn more about building a trade show budget? Take a look at a simple guide here.

Telling a story

Once you have set your marketing objectives, your trade show booth planning team is better poised to craft the content. The graphics, technology, marketing pieces, branding strategy—each piece helps tell attendees and prospects who you are, and what your company can help them accomplish. Your trade show booth is an important component of communicating that content.

Content components
How do you bring your content across? There are several things you can incorporate into your booth to communicate your story with attendees. Each component should fit into your company’s overall goals in attending the event.

• Copywriting
• Booth and material design
• Video displays
• Live interviews
• Whitepapers
• Infographics
• Social media
• Blogs

Develop a timeline
Putting together a solid content plan takes time and effort. Make sure to allow time not just for creating messaging, but also for reviewing, sharing with stakeholders, and refining as needed. Here’s how such a timeline might look:

• 6 months out: create and finalize your overall content strategy
• 5 months out: outline your whitepaper and landing page, develop a video script and storyboard
• 4 months out: create the whitepaper, film/edit our video, plan/research blog topics, outline infographic
• 3 months out: publish gated whitepaper, publish/promote video on social media, create social posts to promote the whitepaper, create/send an email to promote the whitepaper, create the infographic
• 2 months out: write/post blogs about your trade show offerings, post 1 or 2 blogs weekly until the show, post and share the infographic
• 1 month out: increase social engagement (following attendees, posting about your booth offerings, include event hashtags), print the infographic and plan its position in the booth
• Day before: post your final blog, post on social media about booth, email attendees

Ready to get started?

Apogee’s exhibit and event experts would be happy to assist your company in putting together a booth that perfectly matches your company’s goals, messaging and budget. Whether you’re looking for a modular design, a custom exhibit, high-tech features or other components, we will partner with you to create the ideal display. Our specialists have crafted eye-catching booths for clients in all industries, and we would love to create one for you.

Call us at (315) 986-4600 or request a consult online, and we can help make 2020 your best trade show year yet.

The post 2020 Trade Show Planning Guide appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

Without the right lighting to illuminate your booth, your chances of attracting customers will be dim. Keep in mind, though, that to succeed, booth lighting has to do more than simply enable the visitors to view what you’re showcasing in your exhibit. The lighting fixtures should create a mood that fits your brand goals—it can leave attendees feeling energized, soothed, warm and welcome, or a combination. Also, lighting can serve to draw attention to the products and features you want to emphasize.

For the best and brightest results, make sure you don’t treat lighting as an afterthought. Instead, keep it in mind during the planning and design process. Here are some ideas to keep in mind along the way:

Spotlight sustainability

In another recent post, we discussed how incorporating eco-minded elements throughout your booth can connect with sustainability-minded customers. Lighting is one area with a great deal of sustainability potential. Incorporating lamps, fixtures and other lighting components that conserve less energy than conventional lighting products demonstrates your company’s focus on sustainability. Consider including in-booth messaging informing visitors that your display makes use of planet-friendly lighting products, so they are aware that you’re backing eco concerns with action.

Add a touch of color

The phrase “colored lighting” might bring to mind a circus, disco or some other high-energy environment where the colors are anything but subtle. That isn’t necessarily the case with colored lighting in a trade show environment. A hint of color in your lighting can be barely detectable to the human high but still have a notable impact on the people streaming through your booth. A bit of an orange tinge, for example, can contribute to a warm, inviting feeling, which can make attendees feel more welcome in your space. Lighting that includes a touch of blue can contribute to an increased energy level, or amplify the feeling that your products and services are high tech and advanced.

Incorporate modern fixtures

While the bulbs and lamps light up your display, the fixtures also play a part in the overall look and feel of your company’s booth. When planning your setup, consider the appearance of the lighting fixtures. If you’re bringing a booth display that your company has used before, consider updating the fixtures. It sounds like a minor change but updating the look of the fixture and brightening up the aesthetics can increase the positive impression that booth visitors come away with.

There are numerous ways to keep your trade show booth on trend.
Check out our Trade Shows 2020: Trends for Next Year’s Successful Exhibits for a wealth of bright ideas.

Get the Ebook

The post “Illuminating” Lighting Ideas appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.

However, when incorporating sustainable messaging and design elements into your booth, it’s important that you go beyond the surface. Companies, like consumers, are leery of “greenwashing,” which involves claiming commitment to sustainability with no real action to back those claims up. Work to support your sustainability messaging with evidence and action to build trust in your environmental efforts.

Here are a few ways you can communicate sustainability to booth visitors:

Share your company’s sustainability achievements

Multinational corporations like Coca-Cola and Walmart put together detailed, complex documents outlining their organization’s sustainability achievements, and their goals for the future. They also share them publicly, so that shareholders, industry partners, and even consumers know what they’re up to. Consider doing the same with your company’s environmental activity. You can offer copies of your report to booth visitors and include notable achievements and goals in display messaging.

Offer sustainability-minded promotional products

Branded handouts are a popular way to create a positive impression with trade show attendees. Instead of offering visitors pens with plastic barrels or synthetic drawstring bags bearing your logo, consider an eco-friendly alternative. Many promotional product producers offer a variety of eco-friendly items that could help you underscore your company’s sustainability message. These include bags made from natural fibers, pens with bamboo barrels, travel mugs made of post-consumer recycled content, and more. Consider fulfilling literature requests via email or electronic means instead of printing. Email fulfillment of requested information gets into the inbox of your attendee immediately, reducing waste and the risk that your literature doesn’t end up in the landfill.

Let your booth do the talking

Choosing a trade show display composed of sustainable materials is a great way to communicate to visitors at first sight that your company is interested in sustainability. What’s more, incorporating natural walls, surfaces and accents into your display elements can serve to give your booth a standout appearance that sets your display apart from other companies exhibiting at the event. Your trade show display partner can work with you to come up with eco elements that send a solid message to visitors and fit in with your company’s goals.

Looking for more on-trend booth ideas?
Download our Trade Shows 2020: Trends for Next Year’s Successful Exhibits resource for more inspiration.

Get the Ebook

The post Showcasing Sustainability in your Trade Show Exhibit appeared first on Apogee Exhibits.