Modern trade show displays are bigger, bolder, and more colorful than ever before. And most include interactive or experiential elements. So much so that designing interactive exhibits and trade show booths has become the rule rather than the exception for exhibition designers and trade show marketers.

Interactive exhibits are designed to actively engage attendees through physical or digital means, encouraging participation and interaction rather than passive observation. In other words, they’re expected to be fun, educational, and memorable for trade show attendees, often incorporating a variety of interactive trade show activities.

One clear example of this trend is the EDPA, a trade association for exhibition builders and suppliers in North America. The organization recently replaced “Exhibition” in their name to “Experiential,” (i.e., Experiential Designers and Producers Association). 

The Power of Interactive Exhibits

Trade shows have always been a competitive landscape where exhibitors fight to attract the attention of attendees. It’s no longer enough to have the largest booth or the biggest hanging sign to guarantee foot traffic. Attendees want an interactive experience, which can be as simple as a Cornhole Contest or as elaborate as a Celebrity Bake Off with an LED Video Wall in the background. The key is to make the experience relevant to your brand and memorable to attendees, regardless of your budget. 

Interactive trade show exhibits offer multiple advantages over traditional static displays. Here are some of the more obvious benefits:

Increased Engagement

• Attention: Interactive elements draw visitors in and keep them engaged.
• Memorable: Provides a unique and memorable experience that attendees are more likely to recall.
• Participation: Invites visitors to actively participate, making them feel more involved.

Improved Brand Awareness

• Visibility: Creates a unique and memorable brand experience that sets you apart from competitors.
• Sharing: Encourages attendees to share their experiences on social media, expanding your reach.
• Positivity: Associates your brand with innovation, technology, and a customer-centric approach.

Effective Product Demonstration

• Hands-on Experience: Allows visitors to interact with your products or services, gaining a better understanding of their features and benefits.
• Personalized Demonstrations: Tailors demonstrations to individual needs and interests.
• Increased Confidence: Helps potential customers feel more confident in their purchasing decisions.

By incorporating interactive elements into your trade show exhibit, you can create a more engaging, effective, and memorable experience for visitors, ultimately driving sales and enhancing your brand’s reputation.

Designing an Interactive Exhibit

Designing an interactive exhibit doesn’t happen without a clear strategy and extensive discussions with an exhibit design. It requires a strategic approach that combines creativity, functionality, and user experience. There are 6 factors to consider:

1. Clear Objectives: What do you want to achieve with your interactive exhibit? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or highlight new products or services? Secondly, do your objectives align with your company’s broader marketing objectives and target market?

2. Target Audience: Do you have a clear understanding of the attendees who will be visiting your booth? Start by researching their interests, demographics, and preferences. Then develop interactive elements that resonate with those attendees and address their needs.

3. Interactive Elements: Choose activities that are fun, engaging and relevant to your culture and brand. In addition, ensure that the interactive activities offer value to visitors such as educational content, product demonstrations, and opportunities to win prizes. 

4. User Experience:  Simplicity and intuitiveness are key. The interactive elements should be easy to navigate and understand. Provide clear instructions and hands-on guidance. Finally, consider the needs of attendees with disabilities, including access to your booth space. 

5. Visual Appeal: An appealing design is half the battle when attracting attendees. Be sure to incorporate your branding to reinforce your identity and keep the messaging clear and concise. 

6. Technology Integration: Whether it’s a wiz-bang hi-tech game or a basic Whack-a-Mole with a mallet, enhance the experience with QR codes, NFC tags, or even augmented reality. Consider incorporating data collection tools to gather valuable insights about attendee preferences and behavior. 

Interactive Trade Show Booth Ideas

Here are some examples of interactive trade show ideas that can inspire your design:

Virtual Reality Experiences

• Product Demonstrations: Allow visitors to virtually experience using your products in different scenarios.
• Immersive Experiences: Transport visitors to a different world or environment related to your brand.

Touchscreen Games

• Quizzes and Trivia: Test visitors’ knowledge and reward them with prizes or discounts.
• Interactive Challenges: Create fun and engaging games that showcase your products or services.

Augmented Reality (AR) Displays

• Product Overlays: Allow visitors to visualize your products in their own environment.
• Interactive Storytelling: Create immersive narratives using AR to engage visitors.

Custom-Built Interactive Stations

• Hands-on Demonstrations: Create interactive stations that allow visitors to experiment with your products or services.
• Post-show Takeaways:  Allow them to share those experiences with colleagues after the show. 

Social Media Integration

• Photo Booths: Encourage visitors to take photos with your brand and share them on social media.
• Live Streaming: Stream live content from your exhibit to reach a wider audience.

Interactive Displays

• Touchscreen Kiosks: Provide information, product demonstrations, and interactive experiences.
• Digital Signage: Use dynamic displays to showcase your brand’s messaging and engage visitors.

Remember: The best interactive elements will depend on your specific brand, target audience, and desired outcomes. Experiment with different ideas and gather feedback to create an exhibit that truly resonates with your visitors.

Engaging Visitors with Interactive Trade Show Booth Games

Drive traffic to your booth with Games and Digital Activations that educate, entertain, and encourage friendly competition. Digital Activations take gamification to the next level with customizable forms, rewards, leaderboards, player profiles, and more! Plus, launch automated emails and texts, sending requested documentation and scheduling meetings.

Trivia | CPN-02: Use custom questions to address problems that your product or service solves, or educate prospects about your brand, values, products, and services. Collect lead data with customizable forms. 

Target | CPN-03: Swap out hostile and friendly targets, branding, sounds, and more with any theme you can imagine. Incentivize gameplay with prizes, gift cards, and more easily with the included Rewards Center.

Swipe | CPN-04: Build your own deck of Swipe cards with custom images and text, then add company or sponsor logos, questions, background and game elements to complete the build. Add your brand to QR Codes for a customizable scan-and-play experience. 

Bingo | CPN-07: Set up Group Bingo, or Solo Bingo for a completely immersive experience packed with your company branding, colors, messaging and more. BINGO graphics and settings can be customized by any licensed user in a matter of minutes, complete with e-gift card rewards, automatic prize redemption and much more.

Spin to Win | CPN-06: Spin to Win is just the answer when offering prizes and incentives. Customize gameplay with your brand colors and identity. Add custom prizes with individual odds to win, shared prizes and more. Collect leads quickly at virtual or face-to-face events, in digital marketing campaigns, or just add fun to an office event without lead capture.

Memory Match | CPN-11: Make your brand and product line unforgettable with challenging games of Memory Match. Players will keep coming back to compare leaderboard scores and play for chances to win exciting prizes and incentives. Brand images, prizes, and leaderboard elements are all easily and quickly customizable.

Wheel of Riches | CPN-09: With Wheel of Riches, you can play solo or against competitors. Adjust level of difficulty and control all aspects of game customization including messaging, branding, background graphics, wedge settings, and more in a matter of minutes. Add e-gift card rewards and automatic prize redemption for even more excitement.

Crush | CPN-12: Customize CRUSH game elements on the fly. Use the activations builder to add your own brand, objects, background, and more. CRUSH will have people lining up to interact with your booth, products, and sales team. Get more engagement by including incentives like gift cards or prizes.

Using LED Video Walls for Interactive Exhibits

LED video walls can be a powerful tool for creating immersive and interactive trade show exhibits. An LED video wall is a large-scale display composed of multiple individual LED (Light-Emitting Diode) modules. These modules are arranged together to form a seamless, high-resolution screen. By leveraging the capabilities of LED video walls, you can create interactive exhibits that are visually stunning, engaging, and memorable. Here are 7 ways to use them effectively:

1. Dynamic Content Displays. Combine high-quality visuals like animations with real-time updates to show up-to-date information. 
2. Interactive Games and Activities. LED video walls with touchscreens or gesture-based capabilities are ideal for games, quizzes, or product demonstrations.
3. Personalized Experiences. Use dynamic visitor behavior to offer recommendations based on attendee interactions. 
4. Immersive Environments. Panoramic videos transport attendees to different locations or scenarios. Add virtual reality headsets for a fully immersive experience. 
5. Social Media Integration. Streaming live content allows exhibitors to reach a larger audience and their user-generated content fosters a sense of community and personal engagement. 
6. Product Demonstrations. LED video walls transform the typical product demonstration into a high-tech experience that offers a deeper dive into features and benefits and virtual engagement. 
7. Data Visualization. Display real-time analytics and metrics in a visually appealing and understandable way. 

Maximizing Impact with Interactive Exhibits

Interactive exhibits and trade show booths have gone mainstream. Inlines and islands of all sizes are now incorporating games, videos, touchscreens, and product demonstrations into their designs and strategies. At Exhibits Northwest, we’re assisting clients with their trade show strategy to include interactive elements while remaining true to their branding and their budget. 

The professionals at Exhibits Northwest know this and have assisted thousands of clients with creating and refining their ROI strategies. You can rely on their professional trade show management services.

With over twenty years of experience designing, building, shipping, and storing trade show displays, the ENW team can assist you with the nuances and complexity of trade show marketing. And if you want your new exhibit to impress trade show attendees and draw crowds to your booth, then we’ve got that covered too.