“What we did yesterday cannot be the same tomorrow”
— Frederic Liebrecht
for better communication among
stakeholders: “Organisers probably
don’t ask enough questions about
how clients want their brands to be
seen on stand,” he added.
There is also the question of whom
to ask. Martin noted that sometimes
the person booking the stand is not
the person doing the marketing. “The
design-making tree can include up to
10 people,” she said, and urged more
thought about the customer journey.
“We can build organic spaces. It
doesn’t all have to look like boxes.”
Seaman said the best sales people
were the ones advising clients to
spend on activation rather than extra
square metres; a thought echoed by
Reid, who advised exhibitors and
sponsors to consider taking a smaller
stand but perhaps doing something in
a show’s feature areas.
Challis said charging per metre for
stands was restrictive and maybe it
was time for a different approach.
“When they don’t charge by square
metre you can do more.”
Millennial approach
Martin noted the challenge of getting
passive and active technologies
to work together and noted some
Millennials were happier to
download and not talk to anyone
on a stand. “We need to let people
decide how they interact,” she said.
Telegraph Events’ Sammy Pearce
agreed some of the old industry
lexicon could be offputting for
younger professionals. Her team
had rebranded Telegraph’s ski and
snowboard show as a ‘festival’, with
great results, she said.
In terms of harnessing new
technology, on stand, Cartmell
noted progress in eye-tracking
research. “It is fascinating in terms
of where people look on a stand,
including what is the best height for
sponsorship to be included in design.
Anything moving on an LED screen
catches the eye. Such technology is
obviously better for the planet, too.”
“Anything that allows gamification
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
on stands will drive interest,” Reid
added. “Good organisers are working
out how they work the visitor/
customer journey around the show to
find things of interest.”
Seaman also warned of neglecting
the human factor at your peril: “You
can have the most beautiful stand
in the world but if you have lazy
exhibitors the effect is lost.”
Linehan flagged one show where
organisers favoured a levelling of the
field with standard stand sizes. “The
cap on spending meant money could
be spent on features,” he said.
beMatrix said it was working with
data on where visitors are going and
have been, and what they’ve looked
at most at a show. “We can give that
information back and offer it on most
stands,” said Burton.
Martin came back to the
fundamental, in her view, that stand
design was about how you get people
to engage with your concept, while
Pearce hailed the role of research.
“We notice customer demographics at
our ski shows. We do a lot of exhibitor
research including on-site.”
Above: Time for
organisers, venues
and stand designers
to communicate
more to achieve
more effective
and sustainable
exhibition stands
Roundtable
Wi-Fi
Many agreed Wi-Fi was seen as the
biggest single complaint issue on-
stand from visitors and exhibitors
alike. Seaman noted it was something
organisers had zero control over.
Clearly Millennials expect Wi-Fi to
be free like oxygen, despite it costing
and someone having to pay.
Seaman added that electricity
charges were still a problem, usually
coming after a stand purchase and
the costis seen as offputting for many.
GES’s team said they had invested
heavily in LED and in products
that can draw less power on stand,
although the flip side was that some
venues charge for a minimum use.
Liebrecht said on the European
Continent, at least, Millennials were
prepared to pay, but only for energy
they actually consumed. We need to
get smarter in measuring, he added.
So, what did our Roundtable think
were good adverts for what the
industry is doing in terms of design?
“Things that make you stop and
look,” said Seaman, “such as bar
areas. I like the way GES made it not
about product but experience here at
International Confex.”
Challis added brands could learn to
appreciate the value of a seating area
and organisers could even turn them
into sponsorship opportunities.
Graphic designer Luke Smith
from GEC added: “There is no point
spending big on a stand if you can’t
spend on a decent screen and content
to back it up. Organisers should also
do more to help sales people on the
stand with training.”
Tom Fisher of Clarion noted his
company had made 9 videos on how
to prepare to exhibit at a show.
Liebrecht concluded with some
words of wisdom: “What we did
yesterday cannot be the same
tomorrow.” And he cited the example
of the Architect@Work event, where
all exhibitors had to have a novelty on
stand, or they didn’t come in.
Time to take a novel stand
approach maybe?
Issue 2 2019
43