trade show ideas brainstorm

Brainstorming sessions are a great way to develop new trade show ideas and exhibit design concepts. When 3D Exhibits conducts these sessions for our clients, we find that they help trade show exhibit managers break out of ruts and discover innovative new exhibit marketing strategies and tactics.

trade show ideas

Seven tips:

 

  1. Choose participants carefully. Brainstorms only work when everyone feels 100% comfortable to speak freely. Invite enough participants to evoke conversation, but not so many that the session becomes too formal. Do not include anyone who will dominate the conversation or whose presence will inhibit others. For instance, for some companies, brainstorming will be far more productive if the boss is not in the room.
  1. Select the right moderator. In order to generate innovative trade show marketing ideas, you need someone who can sense when to just let the conversation go, but isn't afraid to step in when the conversation veers off track or gets too granular. The moderator also has to be ready to toss out ideas or alternative ways of thinking if the conversation stalls.
  1. Warm up the attendees to help people break out of their normal cycle of thinking. An ideal warm-up is a field trip or quick slide show to look at ideas from other industries' trade shows or what's new in retail and museum environments. At a recent brainstorm we moderated for Hill's Pet Nutrition opened with a slide show of immersive exhibit experiences at E3—the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
  1. Set the ground rules. Common rules include: nothing gets ruled out, no interruptions during the session, there are no bad ideas—and no worrying about budget (yet). You'll also want to decide in advance how you will designate who has the floor. You want to make sure everyone who wants to speak has their turn—but you also don't want to put anyone on the spot.
  1. Start with non-specific exercises to help people think big picture concepts. Brainstormsare aboutgenerating idealistic concepts, not about nailing down program details. When we worked with Hill's Pet Nutrition, we asked participants to write the most memorable experience they'd ever had in their life—and what made it so memorable—on a Post-it. The objective was to get them thinking more generally about what provokes an emotional response in terms of sights, activities, environments, smells, touches, tastes and feelings. From there, it was far easier to look with fresh eyes at what could type of experience could be created in the Hill's Pet Nutrition exhibit.
  1. Write it all down so everyone can see. Ideas build on one another so be sure to keep all ideas posted on the walls around the room so everyone can continue to build on what's been thrown out thus far in your session.
  1. Have fun!
trade show marketing ideas