4 Things You Should Know About Outdoor Trade Show Displays

By xibitsolutions Posted On February 18, 2014 Trade Show Booth Design No Comments

Exhibiting at an outdoor trade show can provide an excellent opportunity to interact with potential customers in fun and creative ways that aren’t always possible to achieve at indoor events. Designing an effective and attractive display that can weather the elements, however, requires a little know-how and advance preparation. Here are 4 tips to help you create an outdoor trade show booth that will not only get you noticed, but ensure that staff and visitors to your exhibit have a smooth and positive experience.

Tailor Your Design to Your Outdoor Audience

The first thing you should consider when planning an outdoor display design strategy should be the atmosphere of the trade show itself. Outdoor shows are usually more casual affairs than those staged indoors, and exhibitors tend to eschew suits and ties for weather-appropriate casual wear. If you can dress down without compromising your brand’s identity, have those staffing your booth adopt a more informal style. Find ways to incorporate information about your company into their attire, with t-shirts or hats featuring your business logo, you can go online to sites such as https://www.graphicsprings.com/start-your-logo to help you get started on creating it. Better yet, hand such items out to visitors, so they can advertise for you.

Make Sure Your Display Is Durable

Outdoor trade show booths have to remain visually appealing and provide visitors with a pleasant experience, even in the face of unpredictable and/or harsh weather conditions. While you may be able to take a display you’ve used at indoor shows and modify it for an outdoor event, it’s important to understand how weather can affect a display when it’s placed outdoors first.

Logos and other printed design elements can easily fade after only a short time in the sun, and this can make your booth look unprofessional and unattractive. It’s important to purchase banners, flags and tents with prints that can withstand sun exposure, especially if you plan to reuse them in the future. It’s also important to consider how high winds or rain might change the look of your exhibit during a show. If you use equipment not expressly designed for the outdoors, you’ll want to mount it much more securely than you would if exhibiting indoors.

Offer Shelter

Even if you anticipate excellent weather, you’ll still need to furnish exhibitors and guests with some form of overhead shelter. Providing a tent or canopy will shield guests from the sun and protect them from unexpected weather conditions like rain, ice and snow. No matter how simple or elaborate your shelter is, you can use it as a vehicle for inviting guests to visit your display. Advertising your booth with messages like, “Come in from the cold,” or “Beat the heat,” can be a great way to get noticed.

Don’t Be Afraid to Overpack

Photo by John Benson

Keep in mind that your access to things like refrigeration, air conditioning, heat and quick runs to a restroom or business office for last-minute necessities will likely be limited or nonexistent during the show. Be sure to find out ahead of time what you can expect from the services and supplies at the event. Then, take the time to create a comprehensive list of everything you might need to run your display and provide for your staff and visitors. In addition to equipment like ice and coolers, space heaters, computers, printers and fans, you’ll probably want to pack less obvious things like hand sanitizer, paper towels, tape and other frequently-needed items from your company’s supply closet.

Designing and running a trade show booth at an outdoor event can be labor-intensive experience, but the potential rewards make it worth the effort. Participating in an outdoor show offers you an opportunity to learn more about potential customers by interacting with them in a different, and more relaxed setting, and provides you with a chance to expand your marketing efforts and find new, creative ways to sell your brand.

Featured image by taliesin

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