Tradeshow Marketing

How to Make Your Trade Shows More Fun? 5 Fun Ideas

Add a fun element to your trade show booth with these 5 fun trade show ideas. Keep reading.

Trade shows are recovering and recovering fast. But while many events are attracting a record number of attendees, you cannot just rent a booth space, display your product/service, and expect people to throng your booth.

You need a create booth strategy that attracts and engages the crowd, helps you with your event objectives, and, most importantly – ensures people have fun. Sure, you and the attendees have serious reasons to be at the event, but that doesn't mean people cannot have a good time at your booth.

Adding something fun and exciting helps break the monotony for the visitors, making your booth and business memorable. And the more the people remember you, the easier it’ll be for your sales staff to follow up with them after the event. Here are 5 fun trade show ideas that can help-

[READ: Trade Show Lead Management Planning]

Tips to Make Your Trade Show Booth ‘FUN - tastic’

1. Booth Gamification

Booth gamification is about adding a game element to the exhibit. People love playing games, especially when they're at a trade show and tired of visiting booths that generally don't have anything interesting to offer.

You can take things a step further by choosing a game where the attendees can score points and even win prizes. Team it up with a live leaderboard and watch people having the time of their lives.

Games like trade show trivia fit the bill as they can be customized to help exhibitors with their event objectives.

Some other game options include virtual prize wheels, scavenger hunts, AR/VR games, raffles, and arcade games.

[READ: Top 10 Trade Show Games and Activities]

When choosing the game, keeps these points in mind-

  • Ensure the game hits the sweet spot between easy, fun, and challenging. 
  • The trade show game should be customizable.
  • It should be easy to set up and manage so that the booth staff can focus on other important tasks.

2. Deploy a Photo Booth

The age of social media has made us fall in love with mobile photography. You can use it to your advantage by deploying a photo booth at your exhibit.

But the booth should be creative and attractive enough to encourage people to click pictures.

The photo booth is one of the trade show ideas that will add a fun element to the exhibit and also bring you free publicity. Think about all the pictures the attendees take at your booth and share them on popular social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  

Here are some tips to make the photo booth work for you-

  • Personalize the photo booth so that it aligns with your brand guidelines
  • Ensure there is enough space at your exhibit to deploy the photo booth
  • Offer giveaways to people who click pictures at your booth

[READ: Choose the Perfect Giveaway for Your Trade Show Booth]

3. Look for a Unique Way to Tell the Brand Story

If you’re looking for trade show tips that can help you stand out from the crowd, telling your brand story creatively and innovatively could help.

While every other booth uses company logos, large headers, banners, and branded graphics, most fail to explain the story in a manner that builds a connection with the prospects and encourages them to take the required action.

The reason why the company was established, why people should trust your brand, and your USPs are some of the things that your story should speak about. You can use these tips to tell your brand story in a fun and engaging manner-

  • Incorporate the brand story in booth design, messaging, graphics, layouts, etc.
  • Use AR/VR setups to tell your brand story
  • Deploy large interactive displays to run pre-recorded brand videos
  • Games like trade show trivia can also help you tell your brand story while keeping it fun

4. Use Colors and Lighting to Your Advantage

The colors and lighting also play a role in setting the right mood at the booth and attracting visitors. They can assist in making the brand recognizable and effectively highlight display elements and brand messaging.

When selecting booth colors, you can use the 60%, 30%, and 10% design rule where the primary color covers 60% of the booth, the secondary color captures 30%, and the accent color is used for the remaining 10%.

As for lighting, you can use spotlights, hanging lights, ambient lighting, and strobe lights to keep things fun and welcoming. Here are some tips to help you design the booth-

  • Think about your target audience, their preferences, gender, age, and culture when finalizing the colors and lighting.
  • Don't deviate too much from the brand aesthetics.
  • Avoid using colors and lighting that are too loud unless that's the kind of impact you're trying to create.

5. How About Some Food and Drinks?

How about talking about your product with a potential lead over a cup of coffee or a plate of lip-smacking finger foods? Food and drinks are a big hit among exhibitors and a sure-shot way to attract trade show attendees if you have the budget, space, and staff.

[READ: How to Create a Trade Show Budget?]

If not for all the visitors, you can also think about setting up a small meeting room at the booth where potential customers can enjoy the food and drinks while learning more about you and your offerings. Here are some ideas to make this work for your booth-

  • Avoid foods that have a strong scent or are sticky and messy
  • Don’t forget to brand the coffee sleeves, plates, and napkins
  • Prefer finger foods that won’t require elaborate setups for heating

Stand Out with a Fun and Exciting Trade Show Booth

When it comes to trade shows, fun, and success can go hand in hand. You can ensure people have a good time at your booth and also achieve your event objectives. If this is what you’re aiming for, the tips discussed above can help.

You can also consider deploying custom trade show trivia to take your exhibit to the next level. Register for a free demo to see how our custom games help exhibitors with their business while also ensuring visitors have a fun and memorable experience.

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