1. Be Interactive: Engage your visitors with interactive elements on your stand.  Featuring interactive technologies increases dwell time at the stand, capture’s people’s imaginations and creates a sense of involvement and connection with your brand.

2. Be Visual: The stand must be visual and capture the visitor’s attention.  A picture says a thousand words, so make your stand say ten thousand.  Use strong visual aids to portray the brand and the key messages so once a visitor is at the stand the dialogue has already begun.

3. Entice your Audience. Have something quirky that draws attention to your stand.  This can be a competition, on stand demonstrations or promotional acts that create a buzz.  Be sure to balance the gimmicks with strong, on-stand communications and relevant, up-to-date content.

4. In Vogue: Set your stand apart by following stand fashions.  Look to Europe for inspiration and draw on the latest trends in the exhibition industry in terms of style, scale and finishing.  Truss is the new black darling.

5. Convey the Brand: An exhibition stand is an extension of your brand, so make sure it reflects this.  From use of colours, shapes and aesthetics to finsihings, smells and language- everything should embody a company’s brand standards.  Exhibitions and shows are a great platform to reinforce your message.

6. Feed The Masses: Food is the way in to many of your visitors’ hearts.  Good quality and relevant F&B creates a welcoming, hospitable and relaxing atmosphere.  This in turn increases time on the stand and fosters business discussion- a win win situation.

7. Layout: Carefully think through the layout of your stand.  How you layout the stand will affect the flow of people and energy to the stand.  Have clear entrances and open spaces with dedicated one on one areas and spread-out information points.  Avoid the bottleneck effect.

8. Lighting: Lightning can have an impact on your stand and visitor experience.  Use lighting to set the mood and create the desired emotion whether it be drama, excitement, or mystery.  It is also perfect for highlighting your prized product or hiding any last minute finishing issues.

9. Audio: Similar to lighting, sound can really enhance the visitor experience.  Audio can complement brand communications perfectly and control the flow of your visitors- pleasant sounds draw you in while hostile sounds push you away.

10. Plan, Plan, Plan: Finally do not forget to plan.  Make sure your pre-planning and process accounts for time to review a mock up, test AV, lights and branding with plenty of time to spare.  This will allow for an excellent stand with quality finishing.