Pop up Displays for Exhibitions and Trade Shows

If you are considering the purchase of a pop up displays stand or any kind of portable display for trade shows and conventions, this site is designed to answer all your questions about what is available, how to choose the best options and provide hints and tips on stand design and location.

We provide information and advice on choosing your trade show displays and the right trade shows for your company, to training your stand staff so that you will gain maximum possible benefit from any show you exhibit at and gain more new business and grow your customer base.

Browse through any of the articles on this site by clicking on the Index of Contents tab at the top of the page.

pop up displays

Choosing a Pop up Displays stand will probably be the best decision you ever made if your company is just thinking about getting into exhibiting at Trade Shows and Exhibitions.

Pop up displays are so easy to use and will probably be supplied in a suitable wheeled container or trolley. You only need to take a look at the huge range of pop up displays on some of the bigger sites to realise that you really are spoilt for choice!

One person can take all the equipment from the car to the stand space and erect the stand, a great advantage for small businesses that cannot afford to spare too many staff for the preparatory work of setting up the Exhibition stand. It is a very quick process to put the stand up, some companies advertise that it can be done in 90 seconds but I prefer to say around 15 minutes as a reasonable time for one person to get the job done!

Pop Up Displays, Portable, Easy to Set Up and Affordable

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The Need For Personalised Clothing At Trade Shows

Standing out from the crowd is important at trade shows, and one of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is by using personalised clothing. This article will examine the need for personalised clothing at trades shows and how it can be used to attract trade show attendees, promote brand awareness and show unity amongst employees.

Standing out from the crowd
printed t-shirtHumans have evolved to notice things that stand out in their surroundings. Bright colours, catchy designs and snazzy logos all catch the eye and draw in the viewer. Printed t-shirts, if designed correctly, can be used to stand out from the crowd.

It’s important to use designs that catch the eye, but aren’t garish and off putting. The goal of personalised clothing is to attract trade show attendees, not drive them away. One of the most effective styles of printed t shirt is the plain white tee (or any other sort of plain, understated like grey, black or light pastels) combined with a simple logo, mascot or design on the front.

Different styles of t shirts can also be worn to promote different ideas. A regular cut t shirt promotes a more relaxed style, while a polo shirt is more upmarket and business-like, while still being relatively informal. Dress shirts and sports coats with logos or mascots can also be used by businesses that require a more formal image at their trade show booth.

Personalised clothing as a uniform
Personalised clothing also acts as a uniform while at trade shows. It signifies unity amongst the employees that are running the trade show booth and the uniform helps make it easy for trade show attendees to recognise who they can approach for more information about a particular booth.

Personalised clothing can also help to cement a particular design or piece of branding in the mind of a trade show attendee. Research has found that repeated exposure to a logo, mascot or piece of marketing helps solidify its place in the mind of the viewer; personalised clothing allows for a great deal of repeat exposure to a brand or marketing message in a trade show environment. Continue reading →

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How to Animate your Marketing Mix with Promotional Products

A marketing mix is commonly described as: product, price, place, and promotion. Today, the most important “P” in the marketing mix is Promotion. Promotion really defines the ways in which your brand connects with consumers. Using personalized gifts to engage customers gives your brand a voice, creates a discourse with customers, and when used the right way, forms a framework on which culture can grow.

Promotional Items For Trade Shows

Bags are an excellent promotional item. Visitors need something in which to carry other giveaways - thus toting your brand name around the trade show!

Examples of brands using promotional products as a part of their marketing mix are rampant across the beverage industry. Does a Boston Lager taste better out of a Samuel Adams glass? Maybe or maybe not, but more importantly, it stimulated the conversation. And in a rapidly expanding craft beer market, any attention, especially curious attention, is good.

The Sam Adams glass is almost too good of an example. Does a brand need to create an entire department to engineer and design custom promotional items in order to be the stars of the tradeshow? Certainly not when there are companies like Pinnacle Promotions, who provide a wide array of products to be imprinted in a variety of methods that help to market any brand, event, company, person or thing.

Generate a Buzz Around Your Brand

Generating buzz around a brand doesn’t come without the proper planning, though. Defining the objectives for each promotional initiative is a crucial step in solidifying the direction of the campaign. Ideally, consumer research projects should be answering questions such as:

  • At which tradeshows will we be present?
  • Who is the target audience at these shows?
  • The secondary audience?
  • How do these groups communicate best?
  • What is the competition doing right? Wrong?

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Shipping Cases Will Safeguard Your Trade Show Success

What a networked world we’ve woven for ourselves. Between using social media online to connect with others in our professions, and attending trade shows to physically eyeball our competition and colleagues both, the world has never been a smaller place.

A simple search on a website like LinkedIn can connect us to hundreds of other professionals. And a simple appearance at a networking event or a trade show can open the door to introductions, new customers, new suppliers, and new business.

The gizmos that professionals pack in shipping cases and cart to trade shows are getting more complex than yesteryear’s keychains, which were often given out as freebies along with a brochure or two. Today, information that is shared at trade shows and networking events is often more high-tech than just getting a promo item with a logo, and thus brand recognition, under somebody’s nose. Often, technology is so specialized that in order for a vendor at a trade show to make an impression on the attendees, he has to give them a memorable experience more so than a free pen.

trade show shipping case

Protecting your stand and your display items in shipping cases can save money and the frustration of arriving at a show with your stock or your stand, damaged.

So what’s your profession? Are you an educator, looking at the new technology involving interactive classrooms? Are you a pharmaceutical rep, hoping to learn about the cutting edge of diabetes testing? Are you a photographer or videographer, hoping to find wholesalers of a whole new kind of lens cap? Whoever you are, the booths you will see at a trade show or networking event will be myriad. The vendors will differentiate themselves by having working equipment, interesting presentations, knowledgeable sales people, and even crisp visuals and a clean tablecloth. It’s the details that charm, sometimes, and perfected details can set off a professional as a person who truly cares.

The shipping cases in which the items are transported are more important than the average attendee may realize. Trade shows, often national events, draw professionals from every corner of the country and even internationally. Any kind of specialized, fragile, or high-tech equipment needs to be packed and protected in a way that’s safe for travel. Most shipping cases are customizable to make sure even the most unusual and fragile items can arrive at its show safely. Continue reading →

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Etiquette Tips For the First Time Trade Show Exhibitor

I was a wreck. I had decided to make the investment, a sizable one at the time, and rent a booth at SURTEX, an annual trade show for textile designers held each year at the Jacob Javitts Center

in New York City. When you spend a lot of money on a trade show booth, even if the expense is tax deductible, the pressure to sell something, anything, is intense. I remember thinking that if I broke even it would be considered a success.

Big or small, your business has a lot at stake. Here’s a few tips that will hopefully relieve a bit of the stress that comes along with your first trade show:

Smile and Dress Appropriately

This goes for anyone but particularly those have not spent much time acting in a sales capacity. Idea people are a temperamental lot. As a general rule, the idea of selling our “product” makes us bristle.

Our ideas should sell themselves, we say. Get over yourself. You’re not above “selling” what you do. Its nice to think that people will choose you just for your superior product but lets face it, people want to deal with folks who are likable. Make eye content and engage visitors in conversation. You may make a sale when you least expect it.

Don’t: Do not engage people in conversation in front of another exhibitor’s booth in an effort to bring them to yours. This rule seems like a no-brainer until it happens to you. Floor conflicts are never a good thing. Don’t be the cause of one.

Make Your Booth Inviting and Entertaining

make your booth invitingGive people an added incentive to stop and check out your product by placing a bowl of candy near your displays. Its amazing how many folks reach for a gum drop only to notice something at your booth they never would have seen otherwise.

Resist the urge to sit down at your booth toward the end of the day. Standing tells folks you’re ready for business. if your body language says otherwise then they’ll move on to the next booth.

One year a fellow exhibitor set up a laptop with a cartoon animation. The lead character (who bore a more than a passing resemblance the the exhibitor) sung the praises of his product. That was a novel idea, one that garnered some attention, no doubt making a few sales. He had worked out all the details with the trade show organizers in advance, renting the equipment from them and making sure there was adequate power supply available.

Have a “sign-in” sheet available at your booth so that those who wish to voluntarily receive updates about your product can be contacted easily.

Don’t: Do not ask your visitors to sign in. Its intrusive and will not likely be received well. Continue reading →

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Promote Your Small Business at Trade Shows on a Budget

Trade shows are an excellent way to promote your business. They are expensive though. The smallest 10 by 10 space in the convention center can cost thousands of dollars. With some planning and creativity, small businesses can attend trade shows on a budget.

  • Book your flight and hotel rooms in advance. The best deals on travel and lodging go to the people who book early. In addition to discounts for advance reservations, be sure to find out if you are eligible for any other deals based on professional affiliations. Some hotels give discounts to military and AAA members. Hotels fill up fast for popular trade shows, so reserve your room early if you want to be close to the convention center.
  • Do something creative. In a convention with hundreds of exhibitors, your business has to stand out from the crowd to get noticed. Without a huge budget, you have to be creative. If your creativity takes you out of what can normally be expected at a trade show, talk with the organizers before moving ahead with your plans.
  • Learn about the competition before you register. Use an online resource such as http://www.sba.com/business-resources. When you know who the other attendees are and what they will be presenting, you put your business in a better position to compete. If you do not get the attention of the trade show attendees and convert them into customers, you will be wasting a lot of money.

    • Alvin Keung Presents His Work at SIGGRAPH Continue reading →

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