Blog

Trade show interactive ideas
trade show activities

What Is A Trade Show Interactive?

Adding a trade show interactive has become one of exhibitors’ favorite tools to getting today’s more reluctant show attendees to cross from the aisle and into and their booth space.

Why are trade show interactives more necessary than ever?  Let me count the ways:

  1. Attendees today have more control of the buying process, because they can easily get product info from the web. So, exhibitors must offer a more compelling experience attendees can’t get online to get them into their booth.
  2. Attendees love technology, and spend much of their personal time playing with their phones and tablet computers consuming digital content. So, tech-driven interactives meet their expectations – especially with Millennials, which are now the largest generation in the workforce.
  3. Attendees are overwhelmed with too much work and not enough time. So, when they return to work after the show, they all too quickly forget much of what they learned, except for the most compelling experiences.
  4. Time-starved attendees need a more personalized experience that gives them just the information they need, in a faster and more memorable fashion.
  5. The high potential sales value from trade show visitors justifies investing more to create greater impact and results from each face-to-face interaction.

For all these reasons, trade show interactives are more popular than ever.

Trade Show Interactive Definition

What actually is a trade show interactive? It can have many elements about experience, senses, journey, and more.  Here is our definition:

A trade show interactive takes attendees beyond just looking at displays or conversing with booth staffers. With a trade show interactive, attendees interact in a staged, planned, personalized, multi-sensory way with objects, technology, games, and people to more memorably experience the exhibitor’s marketing message or story. A trade show interactive can be as small as a trade show game on an iPad or as large as an entire island booth.

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith May 3, 2019
in booth digital trade show activities
news

5 New Digital Booth Activities With Our Improved Digital Fishbowl Game

Our award-winning game just got even better.

Our Digital Fishbowl Game won the Buyers Choice Award last year at EXHIBITORLIVE 2018, as an easy kiosk game that motivated attendees to self-enter their lead data to win a prize.

Now we’ve radically expanded the capabilities of this game to create engaging, big-screen digital content, too.

Here’s how it works:  As attendees enter their contact info on iPads or other tablet computers in order to win a prize, they also engage in one of 5 possible activities (listed below). It’s very quick for them to answer a question.  Their answers create digital content that displays on a large results screen.

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith March 13, 2019
trade show promotional activities pull in more interested attendees to your booth
trade show activities

7 Reasons To Host Trade Show Promotional Activities

With all the logistics you have to manage for your company’s trade show program, you might feel justified in skipping trade show promotional activities. But that would be like planning a party, and not sending out all the invitations.

Sure, the show organizer will get people to the show floor.  But it’s up to you to get them to your booth space.

Here are 7 reasons why trade show promotional activities are so worth your effort:

1. Attract more booth traffic

As attendees wander down the aisles, their eyes are bombarded by structures, images and words from all sides.  What wins in that sensory battle?  Motion and sound – which you can do best with activities.  Activities in your booth catch and hold their attention, and if enticing enough, bring them into your space, leaving your neighboring exhibitors staring at you in envy.

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith January 4, 2019
tips for trade show exhibitors
trade show marketing

8 Tips For First Time Trade Show Exhibitors

Exhibiting at trade shows – how hard can it be? You just show up and talk to people, right?

Actually, exhibiting is surprisingly harder than it looks.  That said, trade shows still remain very popular (and even keep growing) because they can produce great results when done right.

If you’re exhibiting for the first time, we want to help shorten your learning curve with these 8 tips you need to succeed:

1. Know what your goals are for exhibiting

Everything you do at trade shows should support your main sales and marketing goal. So if you don’t know why you’re exhibiting, there’s no way to succeed. Discover or decide if your trade show goals are (most likely) to boost brand awareness, generate sales leads, or strengthen key relationships, or something else. (This advice is good, even if you are not first time trade show exhibitors.)

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith August 10, 2018

Fun Trade Show Games Ideas with Your Logo to Play in Your Booth

trade show games

Trade show games are a proven, yet dramatically underused activity to get more potential customers into your booth.  After hundreds of client game implementations, we know trade show games attract a crowd and get attendees engaged with your booth staffers.

But, if using games in your booth is a new idea for you, you understandably need more info.  So, in this article, I will share with you several kinds of games and game aspects to consider in your decision.

Fun Games to Play To Attract Customers

fun trade show games to attract customers

The first factor is that your game must be fun!  You want people to be magnetically drawn into your booth because you are hosting a game that looks like fun, that their friends have told them is fun, and that they can see people already enjoying to play. And, not just any people, but your target customers.  Be mindful that what you think would be fun as a 25-year old man may not be fun to your target audience of 45-year old women – or vice versa. Make it fun for your customers, not you.

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith November 2, 2017

THE GAME GUIDE: New E-book Helps Exhibitors Make Their Interactive Trade Show Games Even Better

New e-book THE GAME GUIDE: The SocialPoint Guide To Interactive Trade Show Games

We wrote the book on successful interactive trade show games. And you can have it for free.

THE GAME GUIDE: SocialPoint Guide To Interactive Trade Show Games, is a 52-page book you can request by clicking here.  This new e-book can help you:

  • Understand better how interactive trade show games can significantly boost your trade show marketing results
  • Gain insights into the key drivers of success in implementing your interactive trade show game, so you are even more likely to have a great first show
  • Tailor your interactive trade show game to best fit your marketing goals, whether you want more booth traffic, greater engagement, client education, better lead management, or more sales.
  • Drive even more booth traffic through pre-show and at-show promotions
  • Train your booth staff to derive full value from your games

THE GAME GUIDE contains solid advice for any exhibitor considering interactive trade show games – not just ours.  Whether you are considering your first game, or have already used them for years, this e-book will give you new insights that will ensure your next game is even better.

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith September 14, 2017
Interactive booth ideas for trade shows
benefits of trade show games

Looking for Interactive Booth Ideas? 5 Ways Digital Trade Show Games Are Your Best Idea Yet

If you’re like many exhibitors we talk to, you’re done with doing a dull trade show booth.  You want your booth hopping with the action and engagement that comes with an interactive experience.  That’s why you’re on the hunt for interactive booth ideas that help you get people talking.

But while there are lots of ways to make your booth more interactive, unfortunately they won’t all help your company advance its trade show and marketing goals.

Here are 5 criteria for choosing a trade-show-marketing-driven interactive booth idea – and how our digital trade show games meet them all:

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith September 6, 2017

What’s the Marketing Purpose of a Social Media Wall in A Trade Show Booth?

A 10 foot trade show booth includes a social media wall

Social Media Walls are big digital monitors that show a constantly-updated stream of filtered social media activity about an event. They were originally invented for special events, to give attendees a way to see the pulse of the event, keep up to date with what’s going on, and visualize the event’s energy.

Other benefits of Social Media Walls at events include:

  • Recognize and honor the most active and interesting event participants
  • Incentivize more social shares to help promote the event, both on and offsite
  • Promote more learning and networking
  • Enhance the modern image of the event and its host (be it an association, media company, or corporation)
  • Provide instant analytics about the size and changes of social shares about an event, especially during important moments such as keynote speeches

IBM at SXSW Social Media Wall

Social Media Walls are now being used by more and more trade show exhibitors, because they bring some of those same benefits, but also many new benefits to the individual exhibitor:

Read More »
Samuel J. Smith February 9, 2017