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Euroshop Exhibition: Very little Interactive Tools around?
After being at Nimlok UK for at least 6 months I was amazed to see this year at Euroshop, that they were no interactive tools on the exhibition! I took for granted the “exhibition games” and digital engagement that we offer!
The most interactive element I found was an iPad integrated on the Burkhardt Lietner Stand, allowing the visitor to flick through some of their pictures! No surveys, quizzes or interactive games that were branded or had to do with the client themselves!
The only “exhibition game” or digital engagement I found was this car racing game, that was a stock standard Grand Tourisma game plonked on to the stand, without even the remotest reason why they connected racing to the brand! I see a lot of exhibition stands using the “normal” games, like a
playstation connected to a plasma with all the guts hanging out the back, and I also think that that is only half way too – not exactly the way to interact with the brand is it!
So why am I going on about interactive tools? I have worked on two exhibition stands with them and provided many clients now with them and they are no doubt an eye-catcher, lead gatherer and can either be a fun or informative way for visitors to interact with your brand, the stand and your message. It works on a couple of levels and I have seen the effect that it has on people and they tend to take a bit more away from them than some bumf and a pen if you know what I mean. It also helps the follow up with clients easier, as I do not think I have followed up one client that has not remembered our stand, even if it’s following up with them a couple of months after the exhibition!
Getting someone’s business card is one thing, but making them laugh, competitive and capturing their interest or even better, their imagination is totally another!
In the next couple of posts I will show some examples of interactive tools out there, like exhibition games, interactive surveys and digital brochures and more importantly how to use them on an exhibition stand!
Stefan Buss
4. Exhibition Stand Trend from Euroshop No. 4 – Using Height and Light
I suspect this is not a new trend, but it something that definitely stood out for me from my experience in South Africa and recently here in the UK, it seems the Germans were very good at using both Height and Light very well and it definitely has its benefits and impacts!
Take a look at some of the pictures below as example, some clients used this for messaging, some even to display pics of their samples, logos or particular props in an eye catching way that literally stands ABOVE the crowd!
One particular exhibition stand really used height and light very creatively and practically (brilliant exhibition design!), they used the height to showcase their samples, back lit it, but had the bottom of the light box open to light up and focus the attention on the sample tables that were below that clients could come along and view more of their samples. Just great design!
See more exhibition design tips or Euroshop Pics
Stefan Buss
2. Euroshop Trend #3: “Can I Help You?” – NOT, An Example of Poor Exhibition Selling!
Before having attended this year, I went about 6 years ago and I found the same thing, the sales interaction on the stands was appalling!
After walking briefly through two full huge halls of stands, me and my 2 friends were stopped a total of twice to be asked who we were, where we were from & more importantly what we were looking for! My fellow Nimlok designers, who spent a couple of days there, even reported having gone to a few stands for drinks, coffee without even being talked to – WTF?
So it goes without saying that the masters of the job, and customer service in general, the Americans were the only stand to do this properly in my opinion. So I must congratulate KYDEX who deal in Thermoplastic Sheet, who did exactly what you should do – the basics of exhibition selling! I can imagine they came back from Euroshop having made their money to pay for their stand and more from the next couple of months of leads!
What a breath of fresh air, after being asked once or twice “How can 
I help you?” from some vendors, which of course is not a great question in itself, or just being smiled at, or given a bit of a pitch without introduction or better yet – just flatly ignored to get some piece and quiet like this poor company!:
Everyone has told me that Euroshop is more of a showcase and companies are not really interested in generating leads, but I don’t buy that argument, there is a ton of money being spent on those exhibition stands, let alone the space to rent them! Either every single stand are up to their eyeballs in pre-arranged appointments, or they are simply not taking advantage of the passing trade, no matter how diverse and international they might be!
It’s amazing how you remember certain stands, within an exhibition stand and for completely different reasons! So the question is, how will you and your company be remembered?
Euro Shop Review: Exhibitions Going Green – Both Ways!
Something else I found jumping out at me on my recent visit to Euroshop, was the trend towards green exhibition stands, in two ways I found!
Many of the exhibition systems, or products like flooring, laminates ect, are all advertising their products or services with the “green” label on them, being more environmentally sensitive. This shows me there must be more of a market for environmental exhibition stands out there, as this is becoming more of an issue for larger corporate companies than before.
The other trend at Euroshop 2011 was that green seems to be the new black when it comes to exhibition fashion, not the marketing lime green, but a leaf green, seems to be the new fresh colour out there! Natural stone & wood grains have always been out there, but also seem to be used in interior finishes more than ever, including a couple of example of real green walls of plants being used.
Exhibition Review: Euroshop – Fabric is Here to Stay
Fabric, being introduced many years ago as an exhibition graphic substrate, has been quite a nice versatile material, allowing different stretched shapes, and graphics to be applied in a 3D plane. Being light and flexible has brought a range of possibilities. I find the graphic printing on fabric brings quite a nice texture to the graphics. Euroshop this year saw Fabrics not only being used in a stretched 3D application but more commonly on Panels. I found fabric panels being integrated into many, many stands. Some being light boxes, some 4 – 5m high and some with integrated lights or LEDs in them, or just plain graphic walls.
The point is it’s everywhere, and here to stay!
FABRIC WALL
Nimlok has integrated fabrics in many of their stands and has just released a new ange of portable fabric wall kits, check it out, and if you interested give me a shout here.
Download Nimlok’s new Fabric Display: Fabric Portable Display – high res
Exhibition Review: Euroshop 2011
Went for a quick and dirty one day walk around the exhibition of exhibition part of this year’s Euroshop called Euro Expo, Hall 9 & 10 on Monday and had good look around!
I have not been there in around 6 years, and being THE exhibition of exhibitions in Europe, it tends to display many of the trends, and debut whatever there is new in the world of exhibition systems in the world, or does it?
Well I saw some interestingly new trends, new systems and some of the same oddities and shortfalls too. Over the next couple of weeks I will be talking about the trends and shortfalls of what I saw and sharing some pics and examples of these in between my other exhibition blog post tips, namely:
- Fabric is here to stay!
- Trend to Green, both ways
- “Can I Help You?” – NOT
- Height and Light
- Where’s the Interaction?
- Finishing touches!
But here are some pics to wet your lips:
What is the Euroshop Exhibition?
For those who do not know it is one of the largest exhibitions for the retail and event industry, every two years it opens it doors to more than 100, 000 visitors and there are 1,800 exhibitors in 4 disticnt industries. It showcases many trends in these
Euro Sales – For retail, visual merchandising and point of sales industry
Euro Concept – For Shopfitting, Lighting, Flooring and Architecture
Euro Expo – for exhibitions and special events
Euro CIT – for IT and security solutions
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