Exhibitions, trade shows, conventions, conferences and expos of any type provide a huge opportunity to build reputations, develop corporate identities, launch new products or services, showcase bestsellers and win new clients. You won’t get many better opportunities to promote your brand or attract the attention of potential new customers or clients, so you want to make the most of every opportunity. Whether it’s in a press pack, brochure or leaflet, on a poster, a social media campaign or part of the booth or exhibition stand, it’s imperative that every part of your stand, display and marketing materials is looking its best and telling an engaging and compelling story. Get it right and it will boost your return on the significant investment you’ve made to be there.

Although they can be an important part of trade shows, it’s no longer enough to simply arrive at an exhibition with a few posters to put up and leaflets to hand out. To be considered a success, your presence must be striking, memorable and lucrative. Providing information is much more engaging and memorable through storytelling than providing factual information alone. Combined with powerful graphics, strong messaging is powerful. Each exhibition panel needs to provide enough information but must not overwhelm the audience, so you need to consider how the information is presented to the audience and the time needed to absorb the content without obstructing the natural flow of the people in the space. You don’t queues of frustrated delegates.

When writing, it’s important to keep in mind how the audience will interact with the content and how the content relates to the graphics. Whether as part of eye-catching interpretive display or an interactive touchscreen, you need to consider the exhibition visitor’s journey – footfall and the flow of people, the point at which they will pass or enter. move through and exit the stand. It’s the nature of exhibitions that people meander the floor and won’t always arrive at the stand at the appointed entry point. They might walk in at the end of the exhibit space or join halfway through, browsing as they go along. So, the content on each part of the static or digital display has to make sense as a standalone piece as well as forming part of a wider narrative that walks them through the stand.

If you would like to discuss how captivating exhibition copywriting can play an integral role at your next trade show, convention or conference, please drop me a line.