With more than 1,000 trade and consumer shows now held annually in Canada, there can no longer be any doubt about the importance of these events in the marketing mix.

Shows have evolved in recent years, becoming places not just to educate customers, but to do business as well.

As a result, says Mark LaRochelle, president of Toronto-based exhibit design firm Dimensional Communications Group, these events are attracting more qualified attendees – ‘people who are decision-makers or decision-influencers.’

The growing significance of these shows, of course, means heightened competition to attract the attention of visitors – which in turn puts a premium on outstanding exhibit design.

‘Good exhibits,’ says LaRochelle, ‘are environments where clients can conduct business comfortably – and most important, quickly – leading to the next step in the process, which is for them either to buy or to get more information.’

The companies that get results, exhibit designers agree, are those that understand the importance of setting clear objectives and create their displays with these objectives in mind.

Adherence to this general principle aside, there are some tricks that can help an exhibitor stand out in the crowd.

Strong corporate graphics and large, well-illuminated, highly visible signage are obvious essentials.

In addition, exhibit designers agree, color, backlit photographs and motion are all effective means of attracting visitors to your booth, regardless of the product.

Escalator Handrail Company of Oshawa, Ont., for instance, used an element of motion to draw attention to its booth at an international show in Boston last year.

Tom Rennick, the company’s general manager of sales and marketing, says Escalator Handrail was concerned about generating interest in what is not, after all, a flashy product.

So Nimlok Canada, a Toronto-based modular system design house, came up with an unusual concept.

They created a simulated escalator, explains Rennick, ‘with moving handrails in blue, yellow, and red – our corporate colors – that rose up through the booth to a backlit montage of people and places around the world.’

Visitors, he says, were intrigued both by the motion and by the colored handrails, which aren’t often seen in North America, although they make up about a quarter of the company’s product mix.

Escalator Handrail commits as much as 30% of its marketing budget to two or three major international shows each year, Rennick says.

‘They are an important element of our marketing strategy, because they are important to our customers.’

Generating interest, of course, is only part of the challenge. Exhibitors must also deliver the hard facts about their products to customers.

Interactive displays, live demonstrations and theatre-style presentations can help achieve this end.

Interactive touch-screen displays are effective, for example, because they give individuals direct access to whatever interests them, and allow them to browse on their own. They also appeal to those visitors who don’t want to feel obligated to speak to the in-booth personnel.

‘People are now geared to make things happen for themselves, having been trained on bank machines,’ explains Nimlok president Gordon Wheeler.

Live presentations, when done well, will also serve to hold people’s attention.

To accommodate presentations, designers recommend that exhibitors set aside an area of the booth where they can control lighting and acoustics. As well, experts agree it helps to position walls, plants or other equipment as a barrier to minimize distractions from adjacent booths.

Seating is another consideration. LaRochelle recommends placing it near an aisle to ensure sufficient standing room, and give people easy access in and out.

‘Visitors don’t want to commit to [sitting through] the presentation if they find it’s not relevant to their business,’ he explains.

Alph Laydon, creative director and vice-president of Toronto exhibit designer Taylor Manufacturing, offers this practical tip on presentations: Don’t have more chairs than you need.

‘Empty seats look bad,’ he explains. ‘If your booth looks busy, then it will attract people.’

Charles Pollacco, general manager of Mississauga, Ont. exhibit designer Skyline Displays & Graphics, suggests using the wall behind the presenter to create an appropriate environment.

For one client, he placed a real gas fireplace into a mural that showed people in a family room, relaxing in comfortable chairs. The image, he says, helped produce the homey feel that his client wanted visitors to associate with the product.

Pollacco also advises hiring a professional presenter who, working with a well-written script, can stay ‘on’ for the required eight or more hours a day.

Toronto software company SoftQuad, meanwhile, has gone so far as to add a scripted theatre presentation to its recent exhibits.

Joanne St. Louis, the company’s marketing project manager, says this new feature has drawn crowds as large as 50 people and helped double product sales at shows.

Videos, frequently a favorite of exhibitors because they’re simple to set up and play, get a thumbs-down from many exhibit designers. Why? Because people have short attention spans, and because many corporate productions are, frankly, boring.

Video is a waste of money, argues LaRochelle, unless it is extremely well done, which demands a substantial budget.

‘People are exposed to good television production,’ he says, ‘so they expect Hollywood quality.’

Terry Holgate, director of exhibits at CDA Industries in Toronto, a custom manufacturer of exhibit components, agrees that video has been overused.

‘I don’t see many people standing around video monitors anymore,’ he says.

Still, he adds, it may suit some exhibitors – particularly in cases where a demonstration, such as an automobile crash test, cannot be performed at a booth.

Large multiscreen displays can also do an effective job of capturing people’s attention. So the Dental Division of London, Ont.-based 3M Canada discovered at a recent Ontario Dental Association show.

Cathie Clare, 3M exhibits manager, says the booth featured a ‘video cake,’ consisting of 18 televisions, all showing Mr. Bean Goes to The Dentist, a video starring popular British comic actor Rowan Atkinson.

Since Mr. Bean videos involve no dialogue, she says, they appeal to both English and French-speaking audiences.

3M also incorporated visuals from its promotional materials, such as a photograph of a young patient in a dentist’s chair, enlarged as backdrops in the booth, to reinforce its message.

Clare says the Dental Products Division managed a return of $3.58 on every dollar invested in its participation in the show, and was so pleased with its presence on the floor that it plans to increase its budget for trade shows next year.

The division spends approximately $65,000, or 15% of its advertising budget, on seven national shows a year.

Gimmickry, such as magic shows or appearances by celebrities, is another tactic sometimes favored by exhibitors.

Again, designers tend to be dismissive. The crowds these things attract, they say, aren’t necessarily the visitors an exhibitor wants.

Clancy Goodfellow, sales and marketing manager with Toronto-based custom and modular design house Worden-Watson, argues that magic shows and other forms of entertainment can work – but there has to be an obvious tie-in to the exhibitor’s product or service.

‘If there is no relationship to what your company does,’ he says, ‘then of course people will walk away not knowing what you’re about.’

LaRochelle says Dimensional Communications plans to use virtual reality in an exhibit this fall – but only because it makes sense for the client.

‘Using it as a hook, in most cases, is a waste of money,’ he says, ‘since it’s likely only bringing in people interested in vr and vr games.’

To date, it hasn’t been used a great deal in Canada, adds LaRochelle. It’s expensive and, to many, still a novelty.

While attention to exhibit design is a crucial issue, a company’s success at a trade or consumer show still depends ultimately on its attitude and approach.

Exhibiting at shows should be seen as an opportunity, says Laydon, not as an obligation. ‘[That is] is the worst attitude companies could have going into a show, since [it means] they are probably doing everything reluctantly.’

Before putting a design on paper, Laydon insists that companies identify their target audience, to ensure they are in the right show for their business.

‘Successful exhibiting is an entire strategy, not just an exhibit booth and its contents,’ he says.

Elliott Kohn, vice-president of Toronto-based exhibit design firm Exhibits International, recommends that companies draw upon concepts from their advertising campaigns and promotional materials in creating the booth design, in order to deliver a consistent message about themselves and their products or services.

‘The key to advertising is repetition,’ he says, ‘so it makes sense to reinforce it in the exhibit.

‘We transform our clients’ investments in the two-dimensional realm [of print and television advertising] into the three-dimensional realm of exhibits.’