I love Jane Button from Creative Product Blueprint signage and show booth design *rant*. Honestly, I thoroughly enjoy all her *rants* — which are right on target — probably why I like them so much!
The following is her reaction to the booth designs she observed at a local festival and craft show.
Decadence! – Spokane Chocolate Festival …
… what was astounding to me was the lack of signage and booth design! The event was at the gorgeous Davenport Hotel in one of their ballrooms and these folks had one chance to make a first impression! And even though the food was great, many of the booths lacked any evidence that they’d given any thought to their displays or message or branding.
One chance! And they blew it!
People bought tickets to attend, so these vendors had a captive audience: people who love chocolate! Would you not want to captivate them from a visual point of view as well?
And BTW don’t you want people to buy your products and not just sample?
I’m thinking to myself these vendors need a course in selling / booth design and marketing!
Only one booth had a sign up for winning a basket. Which of course means the vendor has your info to reach out to you after the show!
Planning a booth to entice, entertain, and show off your products in a memorable way is essential if you’re going to spend the time and money to be part of an event, festival, market, trade show or corporate event.
Portland Wholesale Gift Show
Jane’s post reminded me of the Portland Gift Show where we exhibited (as sales reps) during the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Commemoration. You are not able to see from the picture, but we had good signage (Lewis Clark Gifts was our company name at that time). Since this was not a retail show, we did not conduct a drawing (I guess we could have!). But we did have chocolate samples as well as a place for folks to leave their business card to receive the details on the show special(s).
But, of course, the most memorable show booth design we had was our theme and costumes. People remembered us for months afterward because we dressed in “Lewis/Clark and Sacagewea outfits!