I was in Las Vegas a couple of months ago and one of the things which really struck me was the MONSTER trade show booths and exhibition spaces – seriously, trade show booths have just come such a long way since the 1970’s when you were lucky to get a square box with enough space to swing a cat and forget about being able to sit down guys!

Now there are really excellent booth designs using 3-dimensions to really eye-catching effect; lighting has really improved a whole lot too but some of the sizes of these displays just beggars belief – some of the monster displays are larger than my house – I mean, COME ON

Someone has beaten me to the punch on this topic and I came across a great blog MonsterTradeShowDisplays which has been capturing photographs of some of these architectural creations:

This exhibition space looks like I could invite a few friends around for a black tie dinner and really demonstrates excellent use of the 3-D space which so many companies forget about and tie themselves to eye-level displays – in a crowded exhibition hall, you should think about being king of the castle too!

Another monster display is this beast which is two full stories high and is mini-exhibition space all of its own:

Talk about having an office away from the office – this comes with its own meeting rooms so you can escape the hustle and bustle of the exhibition venue and get some private time for serious business discussions with attendees rather than the shoulder rubbing and wishing you had an hearing aid to help understand one another over the rushing hum of a hall.

And finally, I liked this one because it uses the overhead space again though on a much smaller scale and yet it looks space age-like and yet gives a feeling of full functionality while providing a sense of isolation away from the rest of the venue which i think is very important when you are working attendees:

One of the trends I’ve been picking up on is the opportunity a trade show presents for creating fantastic promotional material in its own right.

You want to make a great splash – launch a product or service at the trade show and make a big noise – no holding back now, we’re talking press release (simple and easy to do and distribute); mass emailing prior to the show, buy some great giveaways, hire some booth entertainers and hot looking girls and make sure you have the whole event recorded with photographs and video.

For less than $500 you can buy a high end digital camera AND a web enabled video recorder such as the Flip – you can use these tools to record the launch or “splash” and then play it back using your web presence to host the content you have created.

By taking the opportunity to create promotional content from a promotional event itself you are maximizing the ROI on your entire trade show investment.  You also are adding attraction value to the trade show event itself – if you invite people and let them know they are going to be getting some exposure too, you are more likely to get a better response when you ask people to come and attend.  Almost everyone likes to get their face on TV and that’s another thing – if you have a big enough launch, or a product which means more jobs are being created to cater for demand – this is potentially newsworthy for local TV and press (remember those press releases!)

You are getting the best of both worlds here and only paying once but that is the point – think outside the box and you will find trade shows give you so many different ways to make them work for you – you just have to leverage the opportunity they represent with all those eyeballs watching you but be careful; attention can be fleeting so play the crowd as much as you can and make sure you give them what they want.

No-one said I couldn’t have some fun with this so while the boss is not looking I checked out Booth Babes which is a tongue-in-cheek look at what happens at conventions and trade shows around the country with an eye for great looking products and fantastic concepts and … OK I’m lying – it has pics of really hot looking babes at trade show displays so now I have to write some words but on the basis a picture says a thousand words have some eye candy too:

There is something about a great looking car with a cool looking woman spread all over it but I have never had the same reaction with tire booths until now:

While babes are one of the #1 methods of gaining attention for your booth at the event, remember when you are hiring them that you are not just paying for a pretty face and a great looking body in a skimpy outfit.  There is a very serious side to all of this – the eye catching allure is supposed to turn into a cold, hard business deal and sales and revenues for your company.

Take your time interviewing booth babes; you are looking for someone who can hold a conversation, is approachable and convivial as well as professional – yes you can have a great time and laugh and have fun BUT this is business first; you are looking for booth babes who will think business and let the attendee think whatever else is on their mind but they also need to bring the attendees around to a business demonstration or discussion and hand off to booth staff who are their to take the conversation on to a business level.

There’s no harm in looking though so knock yourself out

Car Show Booth Babes

The clock is ticking down, your team is down by 6 and a tense silence has fallen over the field. Then you hear it…”We want a touchdown! We want a touchdown!” The cheerleaders have taken hold and start to jump around, clap and scream. The crowd is on its feet cheering right along with them. The bleachers start to rumble with excitement. The players turn and look at their personal pep rally and pump their fists with a newfound energy. The ball is snapped…its in the air…the receiver catches the ball…breaks one tackle…then another…he clears the goal line…TOUCHDOWN!!! The crowd goes crazy; the cheerleaders start their dance and lead the crowd in the victory song.

What would a football game be without the cheerleaders? They aren’t necessary to the game but they add a level of excitement that no one else could bring. So, why are the girls who grace us with their presence at trade shows often looked upon as tacky or a gimmick? They have the same job to do as cheerleaders. They are there to get customers excited about a product, get them interested and eventually to hopefully open their wallets.

The days of “booth babes” seem to be slowing exponentially. Women empowerment is on the move again and society is focusing more on ‘real beauty’ rather than superficial standards. This is not good news for the scantily clad babes of auto and gaming trade shows. There are always going to be women in this world who are going to make their living off their looks but their employment opportunities are being seriously limited. What better way to attract people’s attention to your product than with beautiful smiling women ready and willing to flatter your potential customers at the drop of a dime?

Consider the girls seen at every auto trade show across the globe. In a world of fast cars, bumping systems and roaring engines, it just wouldn’t be complete without beautiful women. Call it a stereotype, sexist or whatever you wish, but these shows are generally geared towards a male audience. There is no better way to get these testosterone pumping men to open their wallets than to have gorgeous girls flatter them. Think about this for a minute…how empty would photos of bright, shiny sports cars be without a beautiful woman dressed in a bikini sprawled out on the hood? Very, very empty.

Let’s switch gears now and think about gaming trade shows. Almost every video game released today has been sexed up with at least one sexy female lead character. Again, these shows and the games are aimed at a mostly male audience. Most of the guys attending these shows are geeky (at least by our typical societal standards) who only dream of having a scantily clad model as their very own. Bring in the booth babes. Many of these girls dress up like the characters in the video game they are promoting. Real life girls as video game vixens is every gamer’s fantasy. These girls make the guys feel good, tell them about a new game and hopefully in the end get the company a loyal new customer.

During such hard economic times, companies need to get creative in order to let their product stand out among the crowd. Some people deem booth babes as a gimmick and claim that their use degrades the reputation of the company. I think gimmick is a harsh word. Booth babes are just another marketing strategy used to appeal to a specific audience. So I say let these girls don their short shorts, fishnets and knee high boots. Let them loose in the trade show arena and sell their little hearts out. In the end, you walk away with higher sales and they can walk away knowing that somewhere, they are the focus of a guy’s dream and all they had to do was collect a paycheck.

About the Author

Mat Kelly is the president of ExhibitDEAL, a leading provider of trade show displays and accessories. While not employing booth babes themselves, ExhibitDEAL can be found line at: ExhibitDEAL.com .

Long before you arrive at the venue your team should have been banging the drum and beating the bushes in promoting your attendance at the event.

You can use traditional media to get your message across but if you have been using email then there is a whole range of tools available to you which are just as easy to use and will exponentially enlarge your audience and give greater value to your promotional campaign.

Try using the following which are easy to sign up for, easy to use and best of all – THEY’RE FREE!

Twitter

Twitter is microblogging platform – HUH?

Forget what it is – think what it does and what you need to do:

All you have to do with this is sign up, and in less than 50 words tell the world what you are doing – simple as that.  Look up existing customers and email contacts and add them too your profile.  Others will start following you if you have something they are interested in.

You update this regularly – a short snappy sentence and add a web link to where people can get more information.

Have someone in your company do this 8 times a day and you’re message will get out there and will be picked up.

You can set a blog up in 20 minutes or less – try Wordpress or Blogger – and they are both free as well.

Blog!

You’re reading a blog; this website is a blog and I use it to get my ideas and my message across as well as have some fun from time to time.

Blogs are great for letting your people know what you are up to, product developments and what you think is hot or not – you can pretty much do what you want with them but they are a little more complicated to establish and run than Twitter.

The payback you get pretty much free rein to write and show whatever you want and over time you are going to attract a healthy following of people who have an interest in your business and what you are doing.

Publish an Article

It doesn’t take much to have an article on your forthcoming show attendance written up and published on the web.  You can do this yourself or hire in an external writer or web marketing agency and they will handle this for you and the cost is extremely low in comparison to traditional media.

Cover the event, where and when, why you will be there and what you are bringing to typical customers who will be attending – don’t look at things as “What We DO!” but put your offering to readers as “How We Solve Your Need!” – attendees have problems and you have solutions.