How to Encourage Trade Show Visitors to Stop at Your Stand
Trade shows are busy environments. Visitors tend to move quickly between stands, presentations, and networking areas, which often means they have limited time to explore everything that’s available at the event. So, for exhibitors, the challenge is not just attract attention but get visitors to want to stop.
The most effective stands usually include something interactive or visually engaging that invites visitors to pause for a moment. Once someone stops, the conversation can start, or they can leave their contact data.
Yet, creating an experience that sparks curiosity just enough for people to stay on your stand without feeling pressured is not easy.
Quality Conference Display
Many trade shows include keynote talks, expert panels, and many more industry presentations that tend to take place in a dedicated conference area. While these sessions attract interest, they are also physically separated from the exhibition floor. Besides, not everyone is willing to attend sessions, especially when visitors have only a limited time at the trade show.
Businesses can bring the conference to their stand with professional audio visual hire solutions that let them set up clear screens and sound as a live or delayed broadcast. This gives visitors an excuse to stop and watch, but it also helps start the conversation.
Interactive Touchscreen Ports
Interactive screens are one of the fastest and easiest ways to get visitors to engage without forcing them to talk to a sales rep. The sales conversation tends to happen too early in the trade show interactions, which can put off visitors.
If you use a standing touchscreen that enables people to explore your services easily, you instantly have a lead-generating system that filters visitors’ commercial readiness. For example, a B2B business could use the touchscreen port to provide estimates of how much time or money their solution could save companies based on size and sector.
This can be enough to get visitors to stop and want to find out more.
Social Media Live Discussions
Trade shows provide a fantastic opportunity to drive online conversations.
You can place a screen on the stand that displays a live social media feed featuring an interactive discussion for both visitors and remote audiences. For example, this can be done by asking sector-relevant questions along with the event hashtag:
- What do you think will be the biggest challenges in this industry over the next 5 years? #TradeShowName
- Which innovative technology are you the most excited about? #TradeShowName
Responses appear live on the screen, and your visitors can be tempted to contribute their own opinions. It’s both a great way to drive your brand’s online visibility and also encourage visitors to engage.
Competitions
Everyone loves joining a prize draw or a spin-the-wheel game. These may be simple additions to the stand, but they get visitors to stop and engage.
The key, here, is to make it relevant to your target audience. Visitors could win something that still fits within the general concept of the trade show, such as a free service or a discount on one of your products.
This simple technique is central to capturing valuable contact data.
Do visitors still stop at trade show stands? More often than not, they simply walk past, unless there is something that draws their interest. That’s why creating interactive activities that specifically drive engagement from your audience is crucial.
Image sources: Product School and Berke Citak via Unsplash.
