Using Audio/Visual technology to attract attendees

Including technology into an exhibit has always been an effective way to separate a company from its competition on the show floor.

AV can be included in virtually any exhibit, making it easy to integrate from the beginning of the design process.
Photo courtesy of 4Productions.

Attendees are often drawn to new technologies like a moth to a flame, and more often than not, that flame has taken the shape of an Audio Visual (AV) component.

AV can be included in virtually any exhibit, making it easy to integrate from the beginning of the design process.


“The technology that is out there now really has no limits, so regardless of the floorplan, we can come up with a great Audio Visual solution,” said Dave McCormack, general manager of 4 Productions, a design and service company that specializes in technology.

Since it is so easy to integrate AV into an exhibit, new technologies have been shifting the major trends on the show floor. Most new technologies in the AV now incorporate an interactive element.

“In general, we are seeing more ‘reality motion’ based technologies, such as augmented reality,” said Ken Sanders, president of Freeman Audio/Visual. “There is also a shift toward touch interfaces and away from keyboard and mouse. As convenient as the mouse and keyboard are, they are several decades old and will be replaced.”

Integrating a touch interface into a booth has a large impact on attendees, so companies are beginning to spend more time and effort adapting to technological changes since it means the attendee will become more active with the product.

“We have found that our clients are looking for other ways to bring traffic into their booths and one outstanding way to do this is by allowing the attendees to interact via touchscreen, QR codes or augmented reality,” said McCormack. “The trend in the AV industry is definitely heading toward the interactive technology.”

AV providers have been doing their best to stay on top of new trends.
Photo courtesy of Freeman AV.

Because of these new shifts in the industry, AV providers have been doing their best to stay on top of new trends. Old technology becomes useless and incorporating out-of-date components into a booth does not reflect well on the exhibitor or the service provider.

“We check out shows in progress and see what people are using and what seems to be drawing in the crowds,” said Kemer Poteete, sales and account executive for Trade Show Technical, an Audio/Visual rental company.

Since it’s so important for AV providers to acknowledge and modernize their offerings, some companies have devoted resources to maintain tech updates to a whole team of employees. These people cover every aspect of the AV industry, so as not to miss a single new product, which could potentially be used in a client’s exhibit design.

“We have formed an innovation council at Freeman that works across the six AV companies we own as well as our expo services group,” said Sanders. “This council monitors trends in the industry as well as feedback from some of our progressive customers. This feedback is used to determine where we spend our research and capital dollars.”

For exhibitors looking to keep their booth updated and tech-savvy, there are still a few minor issues to consider. Even though incorporating technology into a design is a fairly simple process, certain aspects, such as installation, must be addressed from the very beginning.

“Installation becomes a very large consideration when trying to integrate AV,” said Sanders. “AV installation can really set a booth apart when it is part of the original design. Or it can really look bad when simply thrown in after the design phase.”

When the decision is made to integrate AV technology, it should also be a consideration made from the beginning to eliminate complications.

“One common misconception is that it is easy to integrate AV as an afterthought,” said Sanders. “Having the technology in a booth is easy. Making the technology ‘disappear’ by designing and integrating it into the booth appropriately is key.”

From the exhibitor’s perspective, the price tag of including AV components in the design of their exhibit could discourage them from integrating vital technology into their space.

However, high tech doesn’t have to mean high price.

“People think that it’s going to be expensive or extremely complicated to pull something off involving AV,” said Poteete. “But the reality is that it’s becoming a very important part of today’s exhibits.”

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