Tech-Savvy Exhibiting: Exhibition Stand Technology That Wows

The way brands need to turn up to exhibitions is changing, with those attending exhibitions and trade shows expecting far more of an immersive experience than ever before.

Integrated technology as part of a modern exhibition stand is now far more than a nice to have. From brand visibility and increased real-time engagement to data capture and live demonstrations, technology is an absolute must to supercharge your exhibition presence.

#1 Incorporate Interactive Touchscreens & Tech Savvy Exhibition Displays

Touchscreens and displays can have a big impact as part of an exhibition stand design. Whether used conventionally to display presentation or video content, or more creatively as a large-scale display or as part of a kiosk or trade show stand, this kind of exhibition technology gives you the chance to do something different.

There are different types of display and touchscreens available, many with associated software to create the desired display or experience. Consider how the display will add to the brand experience you are aiming to create as well as how it will fit within your stand design. You may need to factor in space for people to interact or experience the screens or if you’re hoping to capture footfall walking by, think about how your stand design can incorporate the tech as part of the periphery design of your space.

#2 Choose Immersive Tech Experiences: AR & VR

Using headsets and immersive software, both Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) create a visual experience that takes your audience away from their immediate environment and transports them to a destination of your choosing.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality typically adds to the reality around it, typically projecting selected images over whatever is being looked at, basically an augmented environment. It is ideal for showing how a product could look on a person or in a specific scenario.

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality takes the concept even further and replaces the immediate vision with an entirely new one. This could be used for product demonstrations or to see how a scenario would look and feel in an entirely virtual environment. Both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality tick the box of being experiential, exciting and highly brand customisable, making them an exciting option to evoke emotion and create a connection with those using the technology at a corporate event, exhibition or conference. Often companies use AR and VR for storytelling, incorporating a game, virtual tour or motion tracking simulator to take full advantage of this technology.

#3 AI Revolution: Transforming Exhibition Stand Technology

Artificial Intelligence, often known as AI, has both transformed the entire field of computer science and also provided a significant advantage to the exhibition industry. The utilisation of AI within your exhibition stand design not only captivates visitors but also facilitates seamless brand engagement. Whether you use AI to integrate visitor analysis, automate lead generation, or enhance client feedback mechanisms, it can be very beneficial for your exhibition this year.

#4 Showcases Products & Services Using New Technology

When it comes to evoking the senses, live demonstrations to show how something works are a great way to make your exhibition stand more memorable and real. Technology can add significantly to the experience, whether using hashtags and social media to ‘go viral’, QR codes to drive traffic to a website or product microsite or creating a digital journey that a user can follow to let them interact with the demo taking place.

The best demos create a compelling need for the product in the shortest amount of time and are well thought out when it comes to where, when and why they are taking place as well as who they are targeting.

#5 Start Capturing Data With Technology

Gone are the days of capturing hand-written leads with your trusty clipboard; today it’s all about electronic data capture. Badge scanning is one of the most popular ways of capturing exhibition data but the clever use of touchscreen technology on your exhibition stand can also be a way of getting your audience to self-submit their data for marketing purposes with all of the necessary opt in consents.

Once collected, this data can be used for far more than your sales development and Customer Relationship Management System (CRM). You could design a post-event survey to capture important feedback on your stand or brand experience, send follow-up communications to build your professional network or invite to future events that will interest your audience.

#6 Raise Awareness With Interactive Social Media Walls

Social media is an event’s best friend: it raises awareness of an event or exhibition, captures real time insights and content from within the event and creates a real sense of buzz and engagement by encouraging attendee participation. Using a social media wall allows you to amplify your brand presence during an event by collecting, curating and displaying multiple social media feeds in real-time through the use of hashtags and handles.

#7 Create A Personalised Experience For Delegates

Technology is now exceptional at creating and delivering a more personalised experience. From VR journeys where the user can decide their next move to interactive touchscreens where each steps creates a bespoke outcome or even apps to create personalised merchandise, personalisation as part of your exhibition stand technology is bound to create a lasting memory.

Detailed analysis of the profiles of those who attended your exhibition stand also allows you to create a more personalised post-event experience, highlighting the content, products and information that will be of most interest to them.

#8 Consider Tech-Enhanced Design & Aesthetics

Integrating technology into the design of an exhibitions stand has become the new norm, but there is more to play with than audience-driven tech. Innovative light features, integrated sound, interactive flooring and sensor-driven motion are all here and accessible today to build into an exhibition stand design, stimulating the senses and capturing the imagination of your audiences whilst enhancing the overall brand experience.

#9 Explore Budget Considerations For Your Exhibition Technology

Like most exhibition stand options there are varying degrees of investment you can make, however a small budget shouldn’t stop you exploring how you can integrate technology into your exhibiting experience. There are options to rent most tech products and associated software which can reduce the cost significantly for a one-off use, though this can work out more expensive in the long run. How personalised the technology experience is can also impact the cost, as a newly-developed or highly-customised experience or app will likely have a high upfront cost due to development and testing time.

It’s important to think carefully about purpose: what is the technology there to achieve and what is the expected outcome. This should help you assess the proportion of budget to allocate to making this objective a reality.

Bring Technology To Life: Case Study

At Aboveline we are experts in creating memorable, innovative exhibitions and trade show stands that deliver on impact and return. We’ve helped global clients seamlessly integrate technology into their stand presence whilst maintaining their core brand ethos to deliver an outstanding brand experience for their audience.

Take a look at how we wowed the audience at CPHI 2022 for our client Sterling Pharma Solutions with an innovative gaming wall here.

Future Tech Trends In Exhibitions

As technology advances and exhibition stand design continues to evolve, the immersive and experiential elements of exhibiting can only get better.

Gamification, virtual reality and dedicated apps are all likely to become more commonplace, using immersion to create a memorable experience for the user. Live streaming and leveraging social media are also likely to become more sophisticated and accessible for both exhibitors and the audience.

Overall though, technology is likely to drive a more personalised experience for the exhibition audience, beginning with pre-event communication and flowing the whole way through the event to post-event follow-up. Through big-data analysis, profiling will be easier and more accurate, allowing brands to utilise a whole host of technology to make their exhibition experience work even harder.

Experts In Bespoke Exhibition Stands & Exhibition Technology Ideas

Our team live and breathe exhibitions and stay ahead of the trends so that we can deliver exceptional, innovative designs to make sure you deliver both commercially and experientially on your exhibition strategy.

Talk to one of our team today about how you can maximise your available budget to integrate technology into your stand design, whether this is for a single exhibition or as part of a multi-exhibition strategy. Call us on 01270 848 650, email us at info@aboveline.co.uk or complete our quick contact form here and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.