 
At the 2009 International Builders’ Show, Sunnyvale, TX-based Beach Sheet Metal Co. didn’t go out on a limb to
display its products, but it did go up on the roof — a faux
roof, that is. In place of a run-of-the-mill back-wall display
system, the company built a structure that resembled an elaborate shingled roof and
showcased a variety of its shiny copper products, including dormer windows, cupolas, and chimney caps. A couldn’t-miss traffic stopper, the roof, displaying the glossy fixtures from eye level to some 30 feet above the exhibit hall floor,
put Beach Sheet Metal’s offerings head and shoulders above the competition.
First American Payment Systems L.P. offers a program that allows clients and prospects to apply for $50,000 in seed money to help grow their businesses. With the tough economic climate on everyone’s mind, that’s a helping hand just about any attendee would appreciate. So to highlight that program in its booth at the 2009 Electronic Transactions Association Expo, the Omaha, NE-based company adopted the tagline “We can help you grow.” To complete the theme, staffers handed out branded packets of Texas Bluebonnet seeds, and terra-cotta pots filled with the seed packets stood on glass-topped tables scattered around the booth. The on-message theme and appropriate giveaway grew attendee interest and planted the seeds for First American Payment Systems’ future success.
The phrase “financial
advisory firm” conjures
images of stodgy banker
types wearing three-piece
suits and serious expressions.
So to lighten up its boring
banker image and build traffic to its booth at the 2009 RECon global retail real-estate
convention, first-time exhibitor Stout Risius Ross Inc. showed off some colorful cash. SRR
placed a 6-foot-tall, hollow, Plexiglas skyscraper in its exhibit and filled it with Monopoly
money. When attendees stopped to gawk, booth staffers invited them to make their best
guess as to how much Monopoly money was stuffed in the tower for a chance to win a
food- and wine-filled gift basket. Roughly 100 booth visitors submitted their guesses,
giving the Chicago-based firm dozens of potential new leads.
 It’s a safe bet that the thousands of librarians who attended the 2008 Public Library Association show like to read. So when it came time to brainstorm ways to tell attending librarians its story, software-solutions company Evanced Solutions Inc. turned to a tried-and-true communication medium: the community newspaper. But rather than going it alone, Evanced teamed up with other exhibitors on the show floor — including library-consulting firm Kimberly Bolan & Associates, Demco Library Interiors, Providence Associates LLC, and Quinlan Marketing Communications, the company that designed Evanced’s 20-by-20-foot booth. Together with its partners, Evanced wrote, edited, published, and distributed an eight-page newspaper called the Community Standard. The publication included articles about Evanced Solutions and the other partner exhibitors, and what they offered librarians. A newspaper rack at the front of Evanced Solutions’ booth housed the company’s nontraditional literature, and each of the partner companies prominently featured a stack of the newsy collateral in their own booths. The unexpected but apropos newspaper successfully communicated each of the companies’ key messages in a manner that was more Boston Herald than blasé exhibit lit.
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 It’s difficult to back down from a dare, which is why the back wall of Gallo Displays’ 10-by-20-foot booth at the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association show taunted attendees with the text: “It’s Your Moment of Truth. Do You Dare to Take the Test?” Lured in by the back-wall graphic, attendees were instructed to place their palm over Gallo’s lie-detector machine, a sort of silver half orb with indentations for your palm and fingers. Staffers then asked a series of questions, such as, “Is your name Linda?” to calibrate the machine. Next, staffers asked questions ranging from lighthearted queries to more serious qualifying questions. The detector sensed dishonest answers and provided a mild zap to indicate a lie. The activity not only brought attendees to the booth, it also provided staff with a literally captive audience for ongoing conversation.
 To demonstrate that its wallcoverings are both fashionable and beautiful enough to wear, York Wallcoverings took a tip from Lifetime and put on its very own “Project Runway.” In preparation for the 2009 Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference, the York, PA-based company asked in-house designer Elena Cummings to create two cocktail dresses from its chic Candice Olson and Stacy Garcia lines of wallpaper. In its booth, York Wallcoverings put the finished garments on dress forms and set them against a colorful backdrop comprising other samples of the company’s wallpapers, giving its products the haute-couture treatment.
 Finding a giveaway that’s relevant to your company and useful to attendees can be a challenge. At EXHIBITOR2009, shipping company Ceva Logistics handed out blocks of notepads to booth visitors. But what made these notepads stand out in a crowd of giveaways was the tiny wooden pallet stuck under each one and shrink wrapped into place. It might not have been brain surgery, but the paper pallet was brand appropriate, eye-catching, and clever to boot.
What's The Big Idea?
Do you have a clever exhibit-related tip? Did your last exhibit have an über-cool traffic builder?
Contact Janet Van Vleet [email protected].
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