Trade Show Trends for 2018

There are a few surefire ways to look inferior to a competitor at a trade show: unimpressive trade show displays and graphics and falling behind current trends. Post-Up Stand can help make sure you have all of these issues covered from trade show displays, to graphic design and by taking a look at some potential trade show trends for 2018.

Every year there are a bevy of new trends at trade shows that can apply to almost every industry. There are new booth concepts, new ways to engage attendees, new evaluation tools and new ways to market your company at trade shows.

Some trends are just evolving trends and some will be new to 2018. Technology is one of the ever-evolving constant trends that affect your trade show success.

More Technology
Every subsequent trade show you attend or exhibit at, the next one always has more technology integrated into everything. Every company is using more technology in their booths and the entire conference is coordinated using more technology. This doesn’t mean you need to add more devices that take up more space in your booth or add more sophisticated technology. Use technology to simply things. Use more technology to collect attendee data, make collecting that data easier and use it to communicate what your company is about to attendees in an easier way and use to help to connect to them easier. Draw attendees in with technology as a way to make their lives and jobs easier and make interactions with all potential leads and customers easier as well.

Technologies that continue to grow in popularity are virtual reality, which could give exhibitors a way to connect to interested people in the industry who were unable to attend a particular trade show, better artificial intelligence to collect and sort lead data, and interactive games as a way to improve and enhance attendee engagement with brands as well as a gateway to collecting information and data from potential leads.

Personal Connections
While technology continues to play a larger and vital role at new trade show and it dominates the trends, connecting with people on a professional, personal level can’t be replaced or overstated. Attendees who visit your booth will leave the show talking about your company one way or another and genuine conversations with your staff to learn about your company will have a lasting impact on whether they become a lead and a customer long term. Much like technology, this is a trend that isn’t going away and only gets more important.

Themes
Just about every trade show or conference has its own theme to support the direction and content that will be featured throughout the event. It helps to solidify the message that the show or conference wants to convey. Companies exhibiting at trade shows are adopting themes to simplify their marketing efforts but also create continuity in those efforts that help communicate their message to attendees at a trade show. A themed marketing plan for your trade show allows you go into each event with a plan and how to communicate with attendees. It gives a clear sense of uniform direction of your company at the trade show as an arm of your marketing team. It also allows brands to show their creative sign when developing these themes and gives you an opportunity to show a fresh look everywhere.

New Texture Graphics
More and more brands may look to explore creative booth designs using textures to speak to the uniqueness of the brand and bring a bit of that brand personality to the trade show floor. Booth displays and graphics should be a direct extension of your company and marketing efforts. Graphics printed on different textures like wood, metallic or other materials gives brands a level of personality that can be physically represented on the trade show floor and make them more unique. It may also allow brands to continue to have community in their marketing materials from their home offices right to the trade show floor.