The benefits and challenges of hosting an expo in a non traditional venue

Exhibition halls, hotel ballrooms and convention centres come to people’s minds when they think of a trade show. However, these days, the traditional patterns and venues are changing into unconventional trade show destinations.

These unconventional venues can include rooftops, restaurants (such as bars & nightclubs), breweries, vineyards & farms, galleries, museums and cultural centres.

In recent years, studies have shown that custom trade show displays visitors are more interested in destination meetings.

They also like to explore innovations, products and services at a venue where they can enjoy the environment and form business partnerships.

There are certain factors that you could take care of while organising a trade show at an unconventional venue:

Plan proactively:

Planning is one of the major factors when you are hosting a exhibition booth design at an unconventional venue. It might need a lot of research and inspection of the property.

You should check the venue yourself and ask all the necessary questions from its management. Also, keep your visitors’ perspective in mind.

Assure WI-Fi and network facility:

On an unconventional venue, you might face a lack in internet and Wi-Fi facilities. While inspection of the venue, try to make sure that you can provide uninterrupted internet services to the visitors.

Choose right workers:

If you are hosting a trade show booth design at an unconventional spot for the first time, it will be helpful to hire skilled and experienced workers.

You can hire a digital team to take care of lightings and technical arrangements as well as workers for heavy lifting, packing, post-event clean-up etc.

Inform visitors priorly:

Your trade show visitors should be aware of the necessities they would require at this unconventional venue.

Send them digital invitations and brochures with all the information. These guidelines can include dress-code (if any), temperature and weather details, adventure spots etc.

For a better planning you should also know the advantages and challenging of hosting a trade show at an unconventional venue.

Some of the advantages are:

It makes visitors more interested:

An unconventional trade show venue can help you attract many visitors as they may find it interesting. These types of trade show booth design are less frequent; hence, they stand out from other trade shows.

Furthermore, participants feel more relaxed and connected in an open environment. They feel less pressurised and make business deals with a new mindset.

It can be pocket-friendly:

Generally, restaurants, roof top spaces, and other unconventional venues stay less crowded during business hours; hence, they can offer discounted prices for your meetings.

These venues can be small and you can host trade show after-parties or VIP (professionals, experts, major buyers, exhibitors etc.) meetings at these venues.

Natural themes:

Picking a venue like a brewery or a vineyard can help you set up the theme of the show without a lot of effort. These spaces consist of natural themes.

These themes can boost your customer retention as the visitors will take an interest in joining your trade show and like to discover the distinctive set-up.

A chance to become a trend-setter:

Those who would attend your trade show will also post about their experience on social media and other e-platforms.

This can help you incite various people and increase the chance of getting more visitors to your trade show.

Moreover, you could also post highlights, updates and hashtags pre-trade show to make people aware of the venue and theme.

Some of the challenges are:

Crowd restriction:

The unconventional venues can accumulate only a limited number of people. They are made for small gatherings and can get overcrowded if you receive more people than expected.

At times, a shortage of seating arrangements can also become a vital issue. Hence, if you are planning to host a large event, look for a larger or open space.

Not accessible for the specially abled:

It can be a challenge when you have chosen an open area like a brewery or vineyard. These venues do not have plain areas and special areas built for the specially- abled; hence, you would have to create and build pathways for them.

Absence of electricity and transportation:

When you host an event at an unconventional venue, you are aware of the shortcomings. Electricity and transportation arrangements could be a challenge at these locations.

Every exhibit would need electricity and visitors would require transportation. That is why it is vital to make all the arrangements once you have visited the venue.