Anyone who’s attended a large trade show or conference can tell you that they are basically competitions for limited amounts of attention. It takes just seconds for a person to walk past a booth, look at it, and decide whether to stop and check it out. That isn’t much time to grab someone’s attention. And every other booth in the conference is vying for the same attention. If you want to stand out on the trade show floor, add video to your booth design.

Here’s a quick look at our collaboration with Webroot at RSA – a conference with over 600 companies on the expo floor. Together, we created a dynamic booth experiences that drew attendees in and kept them engaged.

Now that you’ve seen what we can accomplish together, here are some short tips on how to incorporate video into your trade show presence – and how to be more interesting and relevant than your competition.

1. Shorter is better

You have seconds to capture someone’s attention. Don’t miss your chance with boring information. Try to create a short tagline that attendees can read within 3 seconds. Nothing too complex – and it should get right to the heart of the message you want them to walk away with. An expo video isn’t the place to explain your company story. Save your origin history for a later conversation. Just enough here to entice people and tee up your sales associates.

2. Visual Appeal

We call it eye candy, sometimes “the bug zapper.” But we’re basically looking to attract people to the booth with excellent graphics. First impressions are the most important impressions on the expo floor – you might not get a second look. Exciting graphics can explain important information in a visual way. Invest in professional video content for your booth screens. Quality visuals convey experience, expertise, and trustworthiness.

3. Be Specific

It can be tempting to reuse a booth design from conference to conference. And honestly, based on budget it might be a necessity. But video, graphics, and imagery can easily be changed out on digital displays without redesigning an entire booth. There will be overlap in the attendees between events, and you don’t want potential customers walking past just because they saw your booth at the last show.

4. Don’t Bother with Audio

Sure, you might want to use your booth video online or in some other promotion. And in those use cases, audio might be downright necessary. But the expo floor is not the place for a voice over and trendy music bed. Trade shows are already noisy places that tend to toe the line of overstimulation. Give your customers and sales staff a little break from the madness and leave the audio at home.

5. Get High

Trade shows are packed full of vendors, and people often can’t take everything in. Small video screens and ground level graphics could be overlooked in all the madness. Big digital displays raised above the high above the floor offer a clear advantage. Attendees can see your display above others and from farther away. Just make sure your video is high resolution and looks good from far away.

Contact One Floor Up and get expert help with your booth design.