Nicola Crichton, Marketing Manager at Skyline Whitespace, offers some suggestions for how to liven up your exhibition stand.
Creating an exhibition stand that draws in the crowds is no easy feat when you are surrounded by a sea of competitors.
That’s why you can’t rely on simply handing out a few freebies and business cards and hoping you’ll have some useful leads at the end of your day.
You need to capture people’s imaginations and give them a reason to linger at your stand and engage with your brand. Games are a great way of doing this.
These days, technology can be used to create all sorts of games which will excite people and help your brand make a lasting impression.
Augmented reality
Virtual reality headsets have already proven to be a hit at exhibitions and now the attention is turning to augmented reality.
Unlike virtual reality, which immerses people in a completely different reality, AR overlays virtual scenes over reality. Pokemon Go is arguably the most well-known example of AR and the mania which surrounded it showed how much time people are willing to invest in games that offer something out of the ordinary.
You can use smart glasses, tablets and smartphones to incorporate AR into your exhibition stand games. For example, you could use AR to turn your stand into a jungle where people can go exploring and along the way they could discover information about your company. That’s bound to make more of an impact than information received passively in a leaflet for example.
The possibilities are endless, you just need to think of a theme that will fit in with your brand and appeal to your target audience.
Radio-frequency identification technology
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is on the cusp of becoming more widely used in the events industry but a simple form of it can be used to turn traditional games into interactive ones.
This is likely to make people more engaged when they play. You could use a traditional game which you know is likely to spark an emotional connection in your target audience, perhaps because they played it in their childhood for example.
If you connect with people’s emotions, your game may even become a talking point. The circulation of positive word of mouth will intrigue guests to visit your stand and even after the event, take a second look at your brand.
Depending on your target audience, this can be a great way of showing the human side of your company.
Kinect
Although Microsoft's body-tracking Kinect may not have taken off in the personal gaming world, it has been a hit for businesses.
The motion sensing technology is ideal for bringing together multiple people to play a game. At an exhibition, this can be a brilliant way to ignite a buzz around your stand.
You can even add a competitive element to the game by offering a prize, this can incentivise people to take part and it may even encourage them to hand over their personal information for marketing purposes.
Gathering data is one of the main benefits of using games on your stand. Numerous studies have shown that people are willing to hand over their data in the right circumstances, like if they will get some benefit from doing so.
Live wall
Finally, why not create a game that can be projected onto a live wall so passers-by can be drawn in?
Or, if you have a selfie booth you could project your social media feed onto the wall as people share their photos online. Having something visual on display will give people a reason to linger at your stand.
You could also use a live wall to display scores of the game being played at your stand. This will add an element of anticipation and give people a reason to return to your stand throughout the day.
Conclusion
If you want to highlight your company is keeping up with the modern world, then using games which incorporate the latest technology is a good place to start. They are also good conversation starters and mean you don’t have to launch straight into a sales pitch when you approach attendees.
