There are those who seem to take pleasure in depicting the exhibition industry as a clumsy dinosaur teetering steadily toward extinction. And while the institution is old—its roots can be dated back to biblical times—trade shows aren’t going the way of the dinosaur but, in fact, are demonstrating some remarkable business innovation. The newest of those innovations is referred to as attendee disruption—breaking attendees’ routines by introducing new elements that force them to take notice. The trend was highlighted in a Twitter chat hosted by Dana Freker Doody of the Expo Group a couple of weeks ago. “The idea is to make the experience different enough to tap attendees’ curiosity to explore and step outside of their comfort zone,” Freker Doody said. “This helps attendees build new connections with exhibitors and each other.” Sounds like a great idea, right? Let’s explore some examples of what could constitute attendee disruption.
Changing floor plans. Scott Craighead, vice-president of exhibitions and events for the International Association of Exhibitions & Events, produces Expo! Expo!, held last month in Los Angeles. At the show, IAEE introduced a completely new floor plan that deviated substantially from traditional floor plans. It’s a big deal for several reasons.
Decades of study and observation have revealed that when people move en masse around a show floor in North America, they tend to move counter-clockwise. This is why the first booth spaces to be sold are almost always those right at the show entrance and along the counter-clockwise perimeter. We still don’t know exactly why North Americans move in this direction at events; some suggest it has to do with the right-handedness of most people or the right-side orientation of our road system or perhaps it has to do with the direction of the earth’s rotation (also counter-clockwise to those in the northern hemisphere). Interestingly, a decades-old study of attendee traffic flow in South Africa demonstrated that in that nation, attendees generally move clockwise, seeming to give credence to theories of the orientation of the road system or the direction of the earth’s rotation.
Another reason why trade show floors have been so similar over time is that utility connections are placed at 30-foot intervals in exhibition halls, allowing aisles of 10-by-10 booths (and derivatives of them) to be created along that bias, thus ensuring that exhibit spaces can be connected to electricity, gas, water and compressed air at their back walls. This is why creating trade show floor plans that are unconventional has been considered risky, even reckless. Or so it would seem.
Seeing the new Expo! Expo! floor plan for the first time was spellbinding. In my 42 years in the exhibition industry, I had never seen or even heard mention of diagonal cross-aisles. There were also several triangular booth spaces—a booth type you won’t find anywhere in IAEE’s own “Display Rules & Regulations” handbook that defines booths into linear, peninsula, island and endcaps.
“How did you come up with the new show plan?” I asked Craighead. He replied, “Expo! Expo! is where exhibition organizers go to see the latest trends. We thought that the diagonal cross aisles and boulevard aisles would act to tie in the various experiences on the show floor that create a different experience designed to keep attendees engaged. The show floor is attendee disruption: It is not at all what our members would expect and something (designed to) seize their attention. Features around the show floor, like the Solutions Center, Meet Up Pavilion, Campfire Sessions and Grand Prize drawings, were all strategically located around diagonal and boulevard aisles.”
I was concerned that these major departures from tradition might provoke serious pushback from exhibitors. On the contrary, according to Craighead. “There has been a lot of buzz and excitement over the new plan by both exhibitors and attendees,” he said. Craighead added that all of the changes were supported by the organization’s show advisory committee, which consists of organizer and supplier members.
One of the exhibitors who chose a triangular floor plan was Blaine Convention Services. Wendy Gillfillan, Blaine’s director of sales and marketing, said the unique space not only drove attendee traffic, “it forced us to think outside of the box in terms of design.”
I followed up with Craighead after the show to see how it went over. “The new features on the show floor accomplished what they were designed to do: attract new attendees, keep attendees around for the duration of the show and disrupt what the attendee expected to see and experience as they navigate the show,” said Craighead. Gillfillan also was pleased. “It truly was a success for us and we plan to discuss this unique floor plan design with our clients.”
Use technology to push a message. Any discussion of attendee disruption must include some mention of technology innovation. One recent example is Apple’s iBeacon, which operates using Bluetooth low energy and supports both iOS and Android devices. Many brick-and-mortar retailers are already using iBeacon to push messages, almost always sale coupons available on devices carried into the stores. Because customers have already downloaded the store’s mobile app, this electronic outreach is not considered an unauthorized invasion of customers’ privacy; instead, it is a push notification that most customers welcome.
Apply this same model to a trade show floor and you can quickly appreciate how exhibitors are able to harness the power of iBeacon, inviting attendees to visit their booths, showcasing new products or creating special pricing incentives. “Apple’s iBeacon offers exhibitors and show organizers a robust and extremely low-cost new marketing tool that is extremely easy to set up and requires no time,” explained Jay Tokosch, co-founder and CEO of Core-apps. “For example, exhibitors can push messages only to the devices of attendees who fit the exhibitor’s desired demographic profile. Highly qualified attendees can now be invited to visit your booth—something that has always been the sweet spot of exhibition marketing for exhibitors,” said Tokosch.
“Show organizers can use iBeacon selectively as well,” he continued. “You might, for instance, have an iBeacon directing exhibitors to one area and attendees to another. The possibilities are really infinite.”
Tokosch also believes that the cost advantage iBeacon offers over other technologies like RFID (radio frequency identification) is so significant that it will quickly become the industry’s default technology. The principal disadvantage of iBeacon is that end users must download the application in order to receive notifications; that said, savvy show organizers will no doubt come up with all different kinds of incentives to ensure that most participants download their event’s app.
Encourage interaction. Not all attendee disrupters need be grand in scale. The Kansas-based ARMA International, a nonprofit association focused on information governance, has used several superb but smaller ideas at its exhibition, all of which excite attendees, according to Elizabeth Zlitni, its director of sales and exposition.
The opening general session featured three exhibitor-provided, TED-style talks that last between 10 and 14 minutes. Attendees like the diversity and rapid-fire approach to a vendor discussion, Zlitni said. ARMA exhibitors can also participate in exhibitor-sponsored, hour-long discussion groups on the show floor; for example, an exhibitor would pose a question that would serve as the main topic for a discussion. The only audiovisual device permitted is a microphone.
Five years ago, ARMA launched a two-hour trade show pub crawl. Exhibitors who wish to participate purchase one of a variety of themed food-and-beverage packages such as Margarita Madness or Southside Sangrias. Exhibitors love the event, Zlitni said, and it’s a fun way to bring the show to its conclusion.
Awakening attendees. There are many ways to disrupt routines and freshen your show with bright, new and engaging activities and features. All that’s required is creative thinking and the courage to try something completely new. Those who are doing it say it’s more than worth the risk.