By Robert Johnson, Contributor
EXPO, EXPO HOUSTON, Texas— The 10-by-10 booth is the historical building block of expo floors so the question is, how much technology can you squeeze into that space and how much will it increase engagement?
For Ray Diaz, who works for Mountain View Staging it started with a curiosity of what was even possible in a space much smaller than he was used to. Diaz and MVS typically provide audio visual equipment for entire expo floors and larger event spaces, so the equipment was available but the size was the challenge.
“It’s fundamental to what we do to think that if we can’t make a 10X10 booth get attention and return hundreds of new contacts then what good are we at all this?” said Diaz while on the show floor. “What if we try to put ourselves in our client’s shoes at the entry-level and see what’s possible with the right combination of technology and design.”
The Booth Design
The first step was to understand the display rules for the event and see if there was any flexibility for creative designs that would stand out. Diaz and his team selected a corner booth location as the best balance of cost and exposure to foot traffic.
The design would be unlike anything nearby with a four-sided Aluvision LED Column on the outside corner and two large monitors on the back side for demos of the company’s signage and kiosk software “MVS Marquee.” This served multiple purposes: capturing attention, on-screen branding, and the ability to update a digital sign monitor on the back wall of the booth. The booth was finished with white carpet and stretch fit backdrops under what space was not covered in screens.
“Despite the complexity of the design with so much tech going on I was happy with the results and it didn’t appear overdone,” said Diaz. “There was still space for attendees to work their way around the column from one LED surface to another. They could win prizes and also learn about our company and software using the same equipment we rent to our clients.”
During setup neighboring booth teams commented on MVS’s technological complexity, stating they had learned to simplify their own setups with pop-up tables, simple backdrops and basic AV equipment. The question remained which approach would gain more engagement when the show opened.
“It’s all about attendee engagement, quality connections and interactions that bring value to booth visitors,” said Marketing Consultant Julie Warnick who was on the booth team. “MVS has solid technology and experience to support it but they mostly rely on word of mouth for grow. Being an exhibitor at Expo! Expo! is a fun experiment to see how strategic marketing efforts and an innovative design can highlight their technology.”
Show Open
As the doors opened on show day attendees spread in waves across the show floor with moments of interaction, discovery, and networking.
“Spin to Win?” Warnick would say referring to the digital prize wheel on the LED wall and the button people would smash to win a prize. The brightly lit LED column was drawing people in to take their turn and have their badge scanned for contact collection.
“They were lining up to the glow of the LED wall prize wheel like moths to a flame,” said Warnick. “The prizes get their attention and then they learn about the technology in the booth behind it and conversations naturally follow that.”
By the end of the show MVS had collected almost 200 new contacts some specifically looking for a new AV provider. Diaz considered this a victory for MVS.
“It’s important to demonstrate that we firmly believe in the power of event marketing and are willing to attempt our own booth to show what can be done at this scale” Diaz said. “I think it makes us a better AV provider to understand it this way and I met a lot of great people at this show I wouldn’t have.”
Mountain View Staging is a Technical Event Management, Audio Visual Equipment and Logistics provider with offices near Washington DC, Salt Lake City and San Francisco. MVS has been in business for over 25 years and supports hundreds of events every year coast-to-coast, in Canada and Europe.
