The best booths on any major international show floor are no longer just structures. They are statements of brand identity, values, and intent. Two forces are driving this transformation: a serious commitment to sustainability and a new standard for experiential design that goes well beyond aesthetics.

Sustainability Has Grown Up
Sustainability in booth design used to mean using recycled materials or reducing single-use plastics. Today, forward-thinking exhibitors treat environmental responsibility as a core design strategy, embedded in everything from the first brief through post-show disposal.

The Net Zero Carbon Events initiative sets the global ambition: net-zero carbon across the events industry by 2050. The Better Stands program, piloted by Informa and now managed by IFES, is one of the most practical expressions of that goal. It drives the transition to reusable stand structures and provides a global benchmark against which designers and exhibitors are increasingly measured. The numbers speak for themselves: In 2025 alone, the program assessed more than 50,000 booths, reached 37 countries, and brought more than 60 companies on board.

Shows such as ReThink Hong Kong, FuturePrint in São Paulo, and IMEX Frankfurt are already implementing Better Stands principles, demonstrating that this is not a niche movement. It is becoming the expected standard. Exhibitors who embrace sustainability communicate something important about who they are and what they stand for.

Experiences That Earn Attention
Alongside sustainability, experiential design has become the defining competitive differentiator for exhibitors. Booths are now purposefully designed to drive interaction, immersion, and genuine connection with customers and prospects.

At CES 2026, the most talked-about booths were those that used spatial design, AR and VR simulations, and interactive technology to create something visitors could not simply scroll past on a screen. Touchless interfaces, live product demonstrations, and personalized digital takeaways extended the experience beyond the booth itself, creating moments that lasted well after the show closed.

What separates the best from the rest is intentionality. The strongest exhibitors think carefully about audience segmentation, designing different experiences for different visitor types within the same space, with dynamic content that responds to who is in front of it. The result is clearer data on engagement, dwell time, and conversion.

When Nations Set the Benchmark
Booth design reaches its highest expression at World Expos and the national pavilions at major trade shows. At Expo 2025 in Osaka, circularity and sustainability were central themes across many of the pavilions, with countries using immersive sensory experiences, technology, food, performance, and content to tell their national stories. At Hannover Messe, the Partner Country program takes this concept further. Partner Countries use the platform to present a curated, government-led showcase of their nation's capability to the world's industrial and technology community. These impressive spaces show what is possible when design and purpose converge and prove that the booth you build communicates as loudly as anything said within it. E