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Exhibition Tips – How to get people to stay on your stand longer

Having fun is one of the best ways to encourage visitors to stay longer when you are taking part in exhibitions. Very few visitors can resist the temptation to walk past a trade show exhibition stand where people are clearly enjoying themselves without being drawn to take a closer look.

Trade shows are one of the best ways of developing business networks and sales. It is also extremely competitive – every exhibitor has the same aim. Making sure you stand out from the crowd is important when it comes to encouraging visitors to stay longer on your stand rather than that of your competitors. Giving them reasons to stay – and thus more time to talk to them and collect data is essential.

Offering a competition incentive for the highest scorers such as a cash voucher, a promotional item, a chance to win a product provides an added incentive to encourage people to take part. It’s a great way to engage with a brand and have some fun.

Putting top results up on social media will provide extra publicity on a wider scale, and encouraging visitors to check back to see how well they are doing in leader boards.

We’ve pulled together a list of some of the most successful interactive game that have been attracting attention at exhibitions recently.

Ideas for Exhibition Stands

1. Escape Room
A simple concept which intrigues and makes people think carefully about your company. Attendees have to search for clues, which can be industry or brand related as you desire. Make a note of their success speed and at the end of the show, give a prize to the fastest escapees – a good incentive for collecting data!

2. Augmented reality scavenger hunt
Hunt for hidden clues and objects on a computer screen to complete the search. By linking the clues with your brand and product demos, it gets visitors engaged with your company.

3. Make music and keep the beat
Step on lights, sensors or numbered plates to create music. A simple concept that no one can resist and by making it competitive you can encourage people to visit several times.

4. Racing or flight simulators
Virtual reality simulators encouraging visitors to imagine they are on a race track or flying are always popular – especially if there is a leaderboard to create a friendly competition.

5. Arcade style games
Try some retro arcade style games linked into your brand. It can be as simple as air-hockery, dance mats or Pinball. People enjoy having a go, and it can be a great way to spark initial conversations.

6. Fairground games
Totally irresistible. Just think of those fairground classics – hoopla, spin the wheel, bean bag toss. Low cost and easy to set up, they don’t involve any specific skillset so have a universal appeal.

7. Digital matching pairs
Try and find the matching pairs from a collection of images on a computer screen. This is a quick memory game that can be easily customised to link into a brand and logo. Offer some low value freebies to successful winners.

8. Quizzes and trivia
Offer some simple quizzes to see how much your visitors know about your brand, your services or even an industry topic. It can be made computer interactive with random categories making people think.

Just make sure that your demonstrators and stand staff are well trained on any technology to make sure that there are no glitches and that it always works perfectly keeping visitors happy and contented throughout the day.