Designing Your Island Booth Rental

ExpoMarketing
3 min readJan 14, 2016

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Trade shows are an excellent way to build your business’s brand awareness and boost sales. Presenting at a trade show gives businesses the chance to place themselves directly in front of their target consumer, and how you present your business is just as important as your actual products or services. Your trade show booth needs to make a big impact because it is how you attract visitors and gain credibility for your business. For your upcoming trade show, consider using an island booth rental to make the most of the space available and to impress attendees. An island booth is a larger model compared to other traditional designs, and they are meant to be 360-degree displays, meaning they are accessible on all four sides.

But how do you design an attention-grabbing island booth display to attract your target consumer? Keep the following design ideas in mind to guide you through the process:

Choose Functionality Before Style
As a business owner, you need to think about the function of your booth more than its style and aesthetic. When first designing your island booth, you need to make sure it can accommodate what you’re hoping to achieve. Do you need space for hosting a private meeting, and will you require a closed off space for some peace and quiet? Or, are you looking for a more casual setting to make attendees feel welcome with comfortable seating? If it’s possible to demonstrate your product or service to trade show attendees, be sure to incorporate a demonstration area into your island booth design. Showing the value your products or services can provide to consumers is the most efficient way to encourage them to give you their business.

Consider the Traffic of Visitors Within and Around Your Island Booth
Envision you’re at the trade show, and attendees are entering and exiting your island booth. How easy is it for them to wander around your booth and gather information? Have you included too many chairs, tables, standing graphics? Do you think your booth visitors would enjoy a spot to sit and watch a demonstration from you or a computer screen? Consider the flow of traffic inside of your booth and let this guide you as you determine its layout. There are island booths with wide open spaces and TV’s on the walls; separate seating areas with a wrap-around “bar” area for visitors to converse with employees, and there are island booths that include a seating lounge that can be completely closed off for private discussions.

Look at the Floor Plans of the Trade Show Space
Design doesn’t only mean thinking about all of the components that go into creating your booth, such as color and layout; you also need to consider what will be surrounding your booth — the things you can’t control. These obstructions might include pillars in a ballroom or electrical columns. As you look at the floor plan of the trade show area, take into account how booths will be set-up and how the flow of traffic will be directed. What layout will be the most convenient for attendees moving through the trade show space?

Think Simple with Graphics and Remember the “3-Second Rule”
Although you most likely want to make your island booth rental as flashy and eye-catching as possible, it’s important not to overthink your design. If a booth has too much going on with colors, graphics, neon lighting, etc., a passerby isn’t going to know what you are representing, and they’ll just move on and quickly forget about you. Do you know what the “3-second rule” is? Your booth should be simple enough so that someone walking by can pick up who you are and what you’re offering in 3 seconds. Branding should be placed at eye-level and include a printed link to your business’s website so a passerby can return to your booth and easily investigate your company as they wish. Think simple, clean graphics, and don’t try to combine every single design element you’ve ever heard of.

Incorporate these design components into your island booth rental and you’ll have the impressive presentation you need to attract your target consumer and experience a high ROI at the upcoming trade show.

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ExpoMarketing

Exhibit design firm in historically grove-laden Orange County. Transforming brands into engaging experiences with custom booth rentals since 1991. #womenowned