Top 5 exhibition engagement strategies

Published: February 2023

UK exhibitions saw a whopping average of 13 million in-person visitors a year pre-Covid. Whilst this took a slight pause during Covid and we saw a huge rise in virtual and hybrid exhibitions instead, the face-to-face exhibition industry is back with a bang and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 12.96% over the forecast period of 2022-2026.

We believe that exhibition design should be centred around the audience, not the exhibition square footage. We’ve seen time and time again how taking this approach has led to a better experience, engagement, lead generation and ultimately ROI.

Here are our top 5 strategies for optimum exhibition engagement…

1. Audience first

Our unique approach to experiential design is to always put the audience first. With exhibitions specifically, this starts with putting time and effort into understanding why your audience is attending in the first place. Once you’ve understood your audience’s goals and needs for attending, you can begin to craft an experience that answers these needs, naturally increasing dwell time and engagement. It’s important to remember that even if these needs seem minuscule - they carry a big impact. It might be as simple as providing access to a phone charger, comfortable seating or refreshments through to hands-on demos or 1-1 time with product experts.

As an example from our work with Google Cloud, there is always a huge variety of audiences to consider from healthcare to information security professionals. Even though there’s a unified design approach, we make sure to tailor everything at these different exhibitions to the audience's needs, from altering the on-stand refreshments to appropriate staffing and complex, relatable storytelling.

Takeaway: start with your audience and design an experience based on their needs and objectives.

2. Tell a story

Exhibition storytelling is often overlooked in the desire to fill square footage and ensure maximum brand visibility. However, as with all good marketing a narrative with a beginning, middle and end will always win:

• The beginning starts with attracting visitors to your stand through pre-comms or a stand attracter. In our experience with Google Cloud, we tend to attract the most audience engagement through guest speakers and yummy refreshments alongside a well-designed, inviting stand.
• The middle should be a unique experience only accessible by engaging with the stand, for example, a product demonstration or an interactive experience.
• The end should focus on the next steps relevant only to your audience’s needs, these can vary from follow-ups to gamification or time-restricted offers.

Takeaway: An exhibition is a physical piece of marketing material that deserves a narrative.

3. Exhibitions are an extension of your brand

The main reason that businesses participate in a trade show is to raise brand awareness - a huge 88% cite it as the key factor to be precise. As such, an exhibition should be seen as a physical incarnation of your brand. Consistency is key and an exhibition stand should feel like stepping into your brand world or retail environment.

Our work with Google Cloud is a great example of this in action. As a globally recognised brand, it was imperative that the design and mobilisation of the modular exhibition pods we delivered were both sustainable and efficient - but undeniably, Google Cloud. We adapt the content and experience regularly to match each new audience exhibition's objectives, whilst maintaining Google Cloud's strict brand guidelines. We make sure that our design flexibility always meets Google’s sustainability objectives whilst attempting to save money and create scalable efficiencies in other areas too.

Takeaway: exhibitions are a physical incarnation of your brand that deserves investment in longer-term design solutions and staffing

4. Create a value exchange

Exhibitions are unique experiences that bring a certain audience demographic into the same area for a fixed period of time. You must value your audience’s attention by giving them something that can only be experienced within that time and space, whether it’s the launch of a new product or access to experts or an opportunity for co-creation. A staggering 92% of attendees visit a trade show to learn about new and exciting products and services. With Google Cloud, they regularly utilise this statistic by showcasing new products whilst providing their audiences with unprecedented access to technical experts or new product demos.

Whilst we’re talking about value exchange - it’s important not to underestimate the power of the team you bring along - a new statistic has been uncovered that a huge 85% of an exhibitor’s success is dependent on the performance of the staff they bring. So, vet your team well. It will be worth your time in the long run.

Takeaway: think about what unique access you can offer your audience within the time and space of the exhibition.

5. Measurement

Exhibitions provide opportunities to gain valuable insights from your target audiences through measurement that not only helps refine future exhibition strategies but can also help with business intelligence - double win. A great way to measure audience data is through WiFi analytics - logging metrics like audience dwell time along with facial detection technology to understand attendee emotions. This combined with customer conversion rates give a very realistic snapshot of your offering.

Takeaway: don’t forget to set KPIs and measure audience engagement and interaction within the exhibition environment for future improvements.

Check out our exhibition design for Google Cloud at HIMSS 2022 and InfoSec 2022.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss how we can help increase engagement and ROI for your next exhibition.