Turn Heads with Your Shell Scheme Stand: Trade Show Design Tips
You’ve chosen a shell scheme space at an exhibition, and now you need to plan decoration. Nobody wants to stand in a plain white box with a taped-up poster, a trestle table and a single chair. Planning ahead is key to designing your booth to stand out as much as possible.
Understand the Limitations…
Before you start putting ideas on paper, familiarise yourself with the boundaries. While a space-only exhibit allows a completely custom stand design, shell schemes are more structured.
Space
An Octonorm shell scheme space can be between 2×3 and 4×5 metres, and 2.5 metres high. Check with your provider or event organiser to confirm how much space you’re working with before you start planning.
You can add furnishings, flooring, graphics, signage, technology and product examples, but you must not extend decor beyond the boundary of your space.
Budget
Once you have established the limits, you can create a realistic idea that is eye-catching, in budget and achievable.
To find out how much you’ll be able to do with your shell scheme space, it’s worth checking for additional costs on the other exhibitor services you’ll need. These include:
- Electrical sockets, for lighting, machines, screens and laptops (check if this is included with your stand)
- WiFi/IT equipment to power card machines, digital interactions, or devices.
- Waste and water (if you’re serving food or drink)
- Facilities fees (again, if you’re providing food or drink, check with the venue)
- Storage fees for additional storage, beyond what you keep on your exhibit space.
Once you have figures for the above, you can calculate how much you have left for your display.
…and the Possibilities
Shell schemes do offer some excellent opportunities for creating an eye-catching display. Shell scheme providers offer additional support for exhibitors to streamline decorating their stands. Using one supplier for everything means all aspects of your stand are delivered and erected at once.
Creative Exhibition Stand Ideas for Shell Schemes
1. Furniture makes a difference
Just like in a cafe, hotel or your living room, the way you furnish your stand will add to the atmosphere of the room. Many exhibitors opt for plain white shelving, which is particularly effective if your product packaging or marketing materials are colourful.
You can bring your own furniture, choosing flat-pack options for easy and affordable set-up that suits your brand.
Alternatively, you can hire furniture from LION, choosing from contemporary shapes and classic styles in a range of colours and materials. We stock stools, chairs, sofas, tables, display cabinets and storage cupboards, as well as clothing rails, fridges and mirrors.
2. Increase Footfall with Flooring
Your stand will usually come with carpet included: either the venue carpet or one installed by the organiser. However, you can adapt the floor of your stand to extend your branding and improve the impression you are creating.
Choose brand coloured carpet, or add a vinyl, wood or astroturf floor to reflect your product or service.
You can choose a raised platform floor to hide wires and differentiate your stand from those around it. We can even add graphics to your stand floor and bring a new dimension to your marketing.
3. SRPs / Packaging as decor
If your shelf-ready packaging is colourful and well-branded, using it on your stand is an excellent way to decorate on a budget. Decorate the front of your counter by stacking eye-catching boxes in front of your counter to meet and greet visitors. This is a great way to use your decoration as storage throughout the show, saving on additional storage fees.
4. Choose a Reusable Graphic Backdrop
Unless you specify otherwise, your shell scheme walls will be plain white. There’s nothing wrong with this, but many exhibitors choose to use this as a blank canvas and order digital graphics printing directly onto the panels.
Ideas for printing onto these graphics include:
Brand photography
A backdrop setting, such as a forest scene
Your brand mascot
Brand colours
Text, describing your service in a few steps
Printing onto your exhibition stand can be provided on infill panels that fit into the stand framework or as seamless panels or a fabric cover that fits over the wall. Once printed, you can reuse these at future trade shows to make your budget go further.
5. Quality not Quantity
Don’t feel you have to have a huge budget to make your exhibition stand unique. Most of the time, one great idea is worth a hundred medium ideas, so create options. A good way to get a quality design is to start with function, create a design that supports the function, and then strip it back.
Maximise Visitor Engagement
Your number one priority at most trade shows will be to collect leads. Make sure you have sign-up sheets or tablets with a preloaded form ready for people to fill in. Keep plenty of business cards to hand, or items with your contact details printed on.
Conference and trade show attendees love an element of fun. If you’ve got the budget leftover, invest in something eye-catching, enjoyable and interactive to attract as many people to your stand as possible.
Hero elements act as a talking point and help visitors to your stand remember your brand. They will see hundreds of other companies at a trade show, so choose something that cements your key offering firmly in the mind.
It could be an oversized product sculpture, a spin-the-wheel game, a VR tour of your facility or something completely different. Use floor graphics printing to turn your floor into a game board, with pathways and a giant die, and encourage people to play along.
These features should be built to last so that they can be reused at multiple shows, experiential marketing opportunities, store openings and open days.
Merchandise
Most stands give away branded merchandise to help visitors remember their company. This could be anything from pens and stickers to plushies and T-shirts. Choose items that visitors will keep, wear or carry with them, rather than something they’ll throw away as soon as they get home. Water bottles, tote bags, sunhats and fans are fantastic for summer exhibitions, while socks, beanies and handwarmers are in demand in winter. Choose well, and you’ll have queues of visitors waiting to get their hands on your merch: a captive audience for your pitch.
However, quality merch is more expensive. As with anything in your stand design, choose how much of your budget to put towards merch, do extensive research, and assess what will make the greatest impression.
Final Tips for Success
Plan ahead, keep your budget in mind, and communicate with your provider. There are always deadlines for ordering graphics, furniture and flooring, so get your designs approved in good time.
Finally, have fun with the design. Trade shows can be stale and dispassionate affairs, and many people will remember something that made them laugh more than every rigid, professional stand.
