Let’s start with a necessary premise: the importance of establishing good human relations even in business relationships is beyond question. This is also proven by the numbers: in 2022, the first year of resumption of in-person events after the pandemic, almost all conferences reached record numbers of attendees. People want to meet to exchange information, experiences, learn about new research, and even get up to speed on new products.
That is why it is essential for a company to have a booth, a “real and physical” place to reach out and meet, have coffee, talk about research and business.
The booth is an investment and must “yield” in terms of attendance and meetings, including business. However, choosing the best location to present one’s products in the exhibition area of a national or international congress is neither easy nor obvious.
To achieve the best results, the following are essential:
- The visibility of the chosen location, to make the company logo always prominent
- The easily accessible location to achieve maximum attendance
- A comfortable booth, with refreshment area or small hospitality rooms
- Quality communication even pre-event
Below are some aspects to consider:
- Visibility from the entrance and/or the main hallway, so that everyone can always remember that you are present with your products and gadgets.
- Island or corner booths; the wider the front of the booth toward the aisles the greater your visibility will be.
- Rectangular booths with a wide front toward the aisles, to be preferred to square ones, unless you have special needs to place instrumentation or other things.
- Placement near:
– leading companies (high-traffic spots that increase your visibility, but watch out for unwelcome direct competitors!)
– conference halls, especially in educational or CME events, these are always widely attended
– bar or coffee break/lunch area, these are always heavily attended. Arrange for your staff to be fully present during the opening hours of these facilities
– poster area, especially if you are interested in researchers and young people.
- Set up a small refreshment area within the booth, always popular with attendees.
- 2-floor booth. There will be an increase in the cost of space and set-up, but it is certainly cheaper than a double exhibition space.
- Placement of your company logo at the top, to have wide visibility from the whole exhibition hall (double-decker booth, logo sopralzo, hanging from the ceiling).
- Small room for your presentations. Ask the organizers if hospitality rooms are available that you can use for official presentations with pre-arranged times, for small staff or client meetings, or even as a full-fledged hospitality room with a level of reception (hostesses, lounge, bar and catering).
- Graphics. This is a very important aspect. Turn to communication professionals. Trend of the moment are “open booths” without any walls to the aisles. Graphic communication can be placed on the interior walls, if any, or even high above the exterior fascias.
- Quality pre-event communication to all your customers including potential ones. It is not enough to choose a good location, you must also communicate it.
We now give the floor to two company managers to bring their experience and advice:
When choosing a space and “customer experience,” I use Prof Lil Mohan’s 3C framework from the London School of Business, which originated for digital marketing but is applicable to marketing in general.
- Connect: The primary goal, would be to connect with the customer, draw his attention not only with the brand, but with something out of the ordinary, innovative proposals, sometimes even simple, that will attract his curiosity.
- Convert: The second step, would be the conversion of curiosity into actual interest, inviting people into the booth, for an exchange of ideas, needs and solutions. I remember the success, in the post-pandemic edition of AMCLI, of the photo booth with related #TheHeroesOfHealth, where we celebrated being together in person again.
- Continously Engage: Facilitate and entice people to stay in the booth, and perhaps have them return on subsequent days, to learn more about the solutions available, and enhance them in the best way. In the 2023 edition of AMCLI, out of 450 customers who visited the internal hall of the booth used for the presentation of the new instrumentation, there was an average stay of 25 minutes per person, a figure higher than previous editions
Dr. Maria J Castro
Marketing Manager Italy, Austria, Switzerland
Cepheid
Choosing a booth location is always a gamble: until the area is fully set up, you will never know if it was the right choice!
One of the main criteria is visibility: for this you need to identify the points of greatest influx of visitors, because they are located at the entrance to the exhibition area, near the main hall or the accreditation desk, or in front of a major sponsor. The other, the amount of information to be communicated or the tools or objects to be displayed.
In general, I prefer island and central booths, if budget availability allows, because they give the opportunity to make full use of the exhibition space (to be devoted to equipment and reception) and decline communication to the best advantage, and you don’t risk nasty surprises from neighboring booths. Any barriers (e.g., support columns) can also be an opportunity to “extend” the panels available.
When the budget is limited, I instead opt for wall spaces, possibly with 2 open sides to avoid the “loculus” effect and a size commensurate with the set-up I intend to achieve.
The choice of space does not end with the check mark on the floor plan, but continues through a constant exchange with the event organizers: understanding who the neighbors are and what set-up they will show up with is essential to adapt one’s own, if necessary, even if it is not always done in time.
Deborah Patitucci
Marketing Manager Healthcare Systems IMI
GE HealthCare