Having a ‘green’ trade show booth, or exhibiting sustainably doesn’t have to cost the earth, financially or literally.

Note these small steps toward a sustainable outcome:

Digital Displays

Do you have multiple key messages or graphics that you want to communicate on your trade show booth? Consider using digital displays or even touch displays for a more immersive experience.

Fabric Graphic Displays

If you are going to be exhibiting as part of a roadshow or multiple times, consider printing with fabric graphic displays instead of using vinyl. Fabric graphic displays fold for easy storage and when you are finished using them – they can be sent away to be recycled.

Promotional gifts

There is nothing more powerful than a company that encourages sustainability through every touchpoint. Corporate gifting and promotional items do not have to follow convention – why not stand out from the crowd. You could hand out messaging printed on recycled paper, or even branded re-useable cups.

Sustainable fabrication materials

Discuss with your stand builder about sustainable fabrication materials and designs. At Exhibit Global we offer sustainable fabrication outcomes with maximum flexibility. Ask us about our booth and custom stand installations that can deliver outcomes towards a more sustainable delivery.

If you have an upcoming exhibition in Europe in 2022 then we can help you answer some questions that you may have to enable you to be prepared for an upcoming expo or exhibition in Europe.

At Exhibit Global we have been specializing in international exhibitions for over twenty years, designing and fabricating trade show booths and exhibition stands for some of the world’s best-known brands at exhibitions in Europe and around the world.

What is the biggest exhibition in the world?
What is the difference between an Exhibition and Trade Fair?
What is an Industrial Fair?
Who goes to trade fairs?
Is Tradeshow one word or two words?

What is the largest exhibition in Europe?

With more than 2,400 exhibitors and over 100,000 visitors, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is in our opinion the largest exhibition in Europe and arguably in the world (in competition with CES, Las Vegas a major annual consumer electronics trade show in the USA). All of the big tech brands exhibit at MWC each year because it is the most influential event for the connectivity industry. Not only are there a massive expanse of trade show booths and exhibition stands, but there are networking opportunities and conferences throughout the exhibition.

What is the difference between Exhibition and Trade Fair?

Both are temporary public events, however there is a difference between an Exhibition and a Trade Fair.

Trade Fair:

A trade fare is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and customers, study activities of rivals, and examine recent market trends and opportunities. In contrast to consumer fairs, only some trade fairs are open to the public, while others can only be attended by company representatives (members of the trade, e.g. professionals) and members of the press, therefore trade shows are classified as either “public” or “trade only”. A few fairs are hybrids of the two; one example is the Frankfurt Book Fair, which is trade only for its first three days and open to the general public on its final two days.

Exhibition:

An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within museums, galleries and exhibition halls, and World’s fairs. Exhibitions can include many things such as art in both major museums and smaller galleries, interpretive exhibitions, natural history museums and history museums, and also varieties such as more commercially focused exhibitions and trade fairs. The word “exhibition” is usually, but not always, the word used for a collection of items. Sometimes “exhibit” is synonymous with “exhibition”, but “exhibit” generally refers to a single item being exhibited within an exhibition. Exhibitions may be permanent displays or temporary, but in common usage, “exhibitions” are considered temporary and usually scheduled to open and close on specific dates.

In Europe almost every commercial trade show is referred to as an exhibition or expo, with an ‘exhibition stand’ rather than the US better known ‘tradeshow booth’.

What is an industrial fair?

An Industrial Fair is basically the same as a Trade Fair, however it is focused on a specific industrial sector. For instance, one type of Industrial Fair may be attended by oil, gas and petroleum companies for a fair in that particular sector. Exhibit Global have designed and fabricated stands at ADIPEC in the Middle East. The Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference is the world’s largest and most influential event for the oil and gas industry.

Who goes to trade fairs?

Trade Fairs, by their very nature, are an industry-only event, and therefore only open to industry partners and customers in a specific industry. In contrast to many exhibitions, trade fairs are generally not open to the public, and so are classified as either ‘public’ or ‘trade only’. Therefore, trade fairs are attended by company representatives and customers.

Is Tradeshow one or two words?

Officially, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, trade show is two words, meaning:
‘A large gathering in which different companies in a particular field or industry show their products to possible customers.’

Here we aim to help answer some key questions that you may have about exhibition stand design, and how to design your stand based on budget, function, layout and marketing approach. Examples of exhibition stands can be found on our website. At Exhibit Global we specialize in exhibition stand design and fabrication for some of the top brands globally. We would be delighted to help design and fabricate you trade show booth or exhibition stand, in the USA and Europe.

• How do you make an exhibition booth stand out?
• What makes a good exhibition stand?
• How much does an exhibition stand cost?
• How do you decorate a stand for an exhibition?

How do you make your exhibition booth stand out?

At most large trade shows and exhibitions there are literally thousands of exhibitors, all competing for the same visitors. The average attendee spends almost 8.5 hours viewing exhibition stands at a single show, so you need to ensure that yours will stand out from the crowd. A successful exhibition stand design will result in a greater number of visitors, longer dwell time and more interaction, which in turn results in more leads.

Use of color:

We work on a 60:30:10 design rule in general across our exhibit stand and trade show booth designs.

This means that your primary color is used across 60% of your stand, unifying elements of your design. Your secondary color is used across a further 30% of your space, creating contrast and establishing visual interest. Finally, your accent color is used across 10% of your stand space, to emphasize important elements, graphics and text.

Remember that too many colors can be confusing. Choose colors that are on brand, and on trend – for instance now we are seeing a lot of natural colors and textures, as well as cool grays, white and black.

What makes a good exhibition stand?

When designing a unique trade show booth display, we always consider how to maximize the space throughout the stand to your advantage. This doesn’t mean filling every inch with product or furniture and displays.

Just like a successful website, empty space is vital to create a good flow through the stand. Empty space in your exhibition stand design helps balance your exhibit, create a more visually appealing display, and draw your visitor’s attention to your most important messages.

Think hard about the proportions of your exhibition stand design. A good rule of thumb is to ensure that 40% of your space is empty.

When we created a futuristic stand design for a gaming software company at a large international gambling trade show, we ensured that visitors were not overwhelmed by the stunning architecture and lighting, with enough space to move around the booth at their leisure.

How much does an exhibition stand cost?

Trade shows in Europe are cheaper than in the USA, so you can expect to pay 2-3 times less for an exhibition stand design and build in Europe versus the USA. Cost is wholly dependent on design though and can range from $400/sqm to $1200/sqm, however at Exhibit Global we aim to match our exhibition stand designs to your budget, which is why it is so important to decide upon a budget, however rough, before engaging us for a trade show booth or exhibition stand design.

How do you decorate an exhibition stand for a trade show?

If you are like almost every other trade show exhibitor, you attend trade shows to raise awareness about your company and products. One of the best ways to do this is to incorporate your product into the design of your stand, which will ensure that you have a truly unique booth.

For instance, if you manufacture materials, be it wood, aluminium or composites, then parts of your stand design could be fabricated from these materials.

If you have a specific product to display, then we will come up with a novel approach to displaying it. Rather than using boring old displays, we will ensure that the product looks its best through innovative settings and great lighting.

The trade show world can be a very confusing one, from start to finish. For new exhibitors it can be a minefield of rules, regulations and dodgy contractors. At Exhibit Global we take all of the guesswork out of exhibiting for our clients, and help them throughout the entire process.

Local knowledge is vital in the region, and even the city, where you are exhibiting. Even though English is a common language within the trade show and exhibition industry, you can’t guarantee that everyone will speak it. What will you do when the French-speaking electrician arrives on your booth to fix the power problem, and you are unable to explain why your Nespresso machine keeps tripping out the entire stand. Our experience team of project managers speak the local language and know each show completely.

Trade show booth layouts:

Corner, peninsula, island, open-on-one side…..are a few of the various names for tarde show booth layouts. Some are self-explainaotry, but do you know what a peninsula booth is? Sure you did, it is one that is on the end of a row with one shared wall….like a peninsula jutting out into the sea!

Trade show booth sizes:

So you have booked a 10 x 10 trade show booth, or maybe a 20 x 20. BEWARE!! In Europe they use metres not feet and inches. So a 10 x 10 booth may actually be a 10m x 10m (roughly 30ft x 30ft, which is nine times bigger than a 10’ x 10’ booth!).

Just to be sure, always get the area of the stand space, which will be in sqft or sqm.

Your stand builder will always need the layout of the booth for a trade show that you have been given by the show organisers. This shows the exact dimensions, floor area and if there are any shared wals or venue structures (such as columns or fire extinguishers).

Trade show booth ideas to attract visitors:

Besides an eye-catching trade show booth design (see our other ideas page), how else can you attract visitors to your trade show booth and how do you make a trade show booth interesting?

Depending on what industry you are in, some great ideas to atrtract visitors would be live displays (e.g. live cookery displays featuring your product at a food fair, or ‘how to displays’ featuring your product); presentations by guest speakers on your stand (e.g. at a military/weapons show where you can’t use the actual product); an eye-catching prop to attract visitors to your booth (we once used the Batpod from Batman, The Dark Knight Rises, to bring visitors onto a booth)

Lighting:

Never underestimate the power of good lighting on a trade show booth. It will highlight your displays, bring your booth to life, make it ‘pop’ and make yourtarde show booth interesting. Always ensure that you have some budget allocated for lighting and rigging in your overall trade show booth costs.

Modular v Custom:

The choice of a modular or custom trade show booth is generally decided by budget, and very seldom by personal preference. If you are part of a larger ‘pavilion’ of booths (e.g. a country pavilion at a travel fair) then you will have no choice but to use whatever they are providing – which is generally modular.

Modular booths are those constructed from a reusable ‘system’ such as Maxima or Octanorm. They use a framework of steel or aluminum extrusions, with infill panels to create the walls. These are often referred to as ‘shell-scheme’ in the UK and Europe, and are the cheapest form of trade show booth that you can use, especially since they are always rentals.

Custom booths are exactly what they sound like – custom designed and fabricated booths, created from a unique design. In Europe they are always purchased by the client, including the floor, unlike the USA where you can often rent the stand, even though it is a custom build. Your European fabricater will manufacture, deliver, install and dismantle your booth. There are no unions in Europe, so when we fabricate a booth for a client it is our own team who install it on site (at the trade show/exhibition). This is usually the same team who actually fabricated the booth elements in the workshop, so they already know it thoroughly before they install it.

Whether you are attending an international exhibition in 2022, or you are just thinking about exhibiting at an international exhibition in general, here we aim to answer some common questions that you may have.

Exhibitions are held throughout the world, and are made up of ‘trade-only’ and ‘public’ trade shows, exhibitions, expos, fairs, world fairs and confex’s (conference & exhibition). One good example of a ‘public’ international exhibition would be the Dubai World Expo held between 1 October 2021 and 31 March 2022 (it was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic).

What is the largest exhibition in the world?

CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is the world’s largest technology conference, set in Las Vegas, USA. Held annually in January, CES brings together the biggest brands in technology under one roof. There are over 180,000 attendees and 4,400+ exhibitors.

MWC Barcelona (Mobile World Congress) in Spain is the largest mobile event in the world. Known by its original name of Mobile World Congress, it is THE event for smartphones and connectivity technology. There are more than 2,400 exhibitors and 100,000 attendees.

Geneva International Motor Show is where the world’s best new cars make their debut. It is held annually in March and is the biggest of the motor shows throughout the year with over 600,000 public visitors.

Kolkata Book Fair in India has the most visitors of any trade fair, hands down, with 2.2 million visitors in 2018. Kolkata has been the centre of books and printing globally, and has hosted the book fair since 1976.

How do I find trade shows?

There are a multitude of online guides to trade shows available, with almost too much information there at your fingertips. Each industry has its own specific trade shows around the world – for instance there are almost 3000 trade shows for Arts & Crafts globally.

Check out what shows your competitors attend, which will give you a good idea of where you should be.