Ways to Make Your Business Stand Out at Your Next Event

MARCH 11, 2020| SpeedPro

Most businesses attend and put on many events each year, using them as opportunities to grow their client base and improve their relationships with old clients. A hosted event will typically require more signage and graphics from your company, as you will be responsible for the entire event space and not just a booth like you would if you were only an attendee.

Regardless of whether you’re hosting or attending, you’ll want to make a good impression with your graphics. An event isn’t going to be very successful if people don’t attend it. You’ll want to give yourself an edge by designing event graphics that make you look professional and pull in more attendees.

As your guests will have gone to multiple events each year, it’s important for your company to stand out with custom signs and graphics. Use this guide to make sure you leave an impression on your event-goers.

Use Custom Outdoor Event Tents

A solid investment for any outdoor event is custom outdoor event tents. These printed event tents offer the space for custom branded imagery and allow you to designate specific areas of the event, like concessions, tickets and VIP areas that attendees are sure to love.

The tents can be used inside as well, but they are specially designed for the outdoors, as they provide shade from the sun and keep areas dry in the rain. While there are several benefits to using custom outdoor event tents, the most significant are that they provide:

Branded Advertisements

Branded tents for events are crucial for increasing brand awareness and putting a stamp on an event you’re hosting. For example, an event pop-up tent features a canopy that’s held up with four legs. On the canopy, companies typically use colors associated with their brand, along with custom logos and graphics.

If you’re hosting an event, consistent branding on all of your canopies will make the entire event space more visually appealing. For events where you’re setting up a tent near other companies, an event tent with logos and attractive graphics will be useful, since you’ll need to differentiate yourself from the competition. Event tents that feature easily recognizable and eye-catching graphics will be more likely to get the attention of attendees, incentivizing them to visit your booth.

In addition to branding the canopies, companies will regularly brand the sidewalls of their tents. From a distance, people can see canopies more easily. However, as attendees draw closer, it will be harder for them to see the imagery on the canopy. Luckily, sidewalls on event tents are much more noticeable close-up, so you get to maintain a consistent message, regardless if the visitor is near or far.

Area Setups

Other than serving as branded advertisements at outdoor events, custom event tents give order to an event held outside. If you’ve ever hosted an event, you know how important it is that people can find drinks, food and merchandise in a timely manner.

A labeled event tent will quickly communicate what its purpose is and stand out in a crowd. Having multiple booths with specific functions will improve the attendee experience, clearly showing them all you have to offer.

Along with helping attendees find refreshments and merchandise, you can use branded tents at events to mark off particular areas for staff break rooms, games, VIP areas, medical sections and more. Essentially, tents allow you to create mini rooms outdoors, giving more character and complexity to an outdoor event space.

Sectioning off the event into multiple areas will improve the experience of attendees by making an outdoor space feel more professional and ensure they can navigate the event with ease. In addition to improving the experience of attendees, it also makes life easier for staff and entertainers. For example, break areas will allow staff to relax away from the crowds, cool off and get re-energized before they go back to work.

Weather Protection

Another primary aspect of custom outdoor event tents is their ability to provide protection from the weather. If it’s a hot, sunny day out, an event tent will keep staff and attendees cool by giving some much-needed shade. Additionally, if it starts to drizzle during your event, the tents will keep attendees dry until it stops. Having tents also encourages people to stay at the event when it begins to rain, giving people a place to take shelter until it stops.

The weather protection also helps companies protect their merchandise and equipment from damage. Heavy rain can make some equipment unusable, and ruin the appeal of merchandise. No one wants to buy a soggy T-shirt, so it’s important to keep clothing dry during the entire event. With a high-quality tent, you can also expect it to hold up against snow, wind, rain and hail, not buckling under the pressure or being blown away due to a strong gust.

Make Your Booth Experiential

If you’re hosting an event or attending a trade show, it’s likely you’ll use booths to spread your message and get potential prospects interested in your products or services. To get the most out of custom trade show exhibits, the best companies know to make them experiential.

An experiential booth encourages attendees to use a service or try out some activity. An example of this would be a booth that offers a free demo of one of their products or services at the booth. The strategy behind letting a person demo a product at your booth comes down to showing rather than telling.

Instead of a salesperson listing off the new features and benefits, you’ll let the attendee see for themselves the ability of the product or service. Some of the top experiential booth options are:

• Touch screen displays: With portable tablets or iPads, you can set up touch screen displays that prospects can access. On these touch screens, attendees can enter their information into an online system that your sales team can later access when following up. Other options include virtual tours, games, demos of digital products, event-related quizzes and other interactive features. Touch screen displays are especially popular for companies who want to get attendees to engage with their booth and non-intrusively gain information from them.
• Step and repeat banners: Another way to get attendees involved at an event or trade show is to use step and repeat banners. These trade show booth backdrops are designed for people to step in front of them, have their pictures taken with branded graphics and then step away so another attendee can get their picture taken. Anyone who loves getting their picture taken will love these banners.
• Literature racks: Literature racks are a classic component of experiential trade show booths for a good reason. The racks put free material in attendees’ hands and incentivize people to check out your booth. These racks will often feature handouts, brochures, booklets and catalogs. Attendees can flip throughout your materials, potentially asking staff for more information. The materials can act as a conversation starter, while also letting the attendee learn more on their own.
• Kiosks: Kiosks are common at trade shows because of their ability to bring attendees to booths with their various functions and designs. One popular kiosk design features a computer that has its monitor mounted to a stand, with its mouse and keyboard on a counter below it for users to access and experience demos of your services. Another popular option is a charging station kiosk, where attendees can charge their phones and talk to your staff.

Employ Event Graphics Throughout Your Event Space

If you’re hosting an event, it’s crucial to make the space attractive to the attendees. One of the best ways to create an engaging space is with graphics. Graphics include everything from signs and banners to decals and posters.

As you select event graphics, you’ll want to consider how they can be used for your benefit. When implemented correctly, graphics can:

Attract People to Your Event

When you brand the exterior of your event space, you’ll likely attract more people to your event. For example, setting up banners and billboards prior to a store opening or product reveal will help generate interest. With a larger buzz about your business event, more people will be likely to attend your event.

Other than banners and large format signs, there are multiple experiential options among event graphics that you can use to draw people into the event. For example, step and repeat banners outside an event can draw curious onlookers who want to see why people keep getting their picture taken and entice them with a red carpet-like experience.

Brand the Event

If you’re hosting an event, you’ll want the event-space to underscore your brand’s identity. Through the use of particular colors and designs featured on your signs, you can communicate your brand’s personality and identity to those attending.

As soon as an attendee enters your event, they’ll see your on-brand graphics and know they are in the right place. Additionally, for those not as familiar with your brand, they’ll leave your event with the ability to recognize your brand more readily.

One popular branding option is to use your company’s name and logo on banners hung above the entrance to your event. For low-key branding efforts, you can include tabletop décor throughout the event that features on-brand messages or images. Whether you use large scale banners, tabletop displays or any other type of graphic, you’ll get the most out of them if you make sure they are consistently branded.

Reinforce the Event’s Purpose

Your company will likely throw several events that all have different purposes. One event might be a fundraiser, while another might be a product launch. Obviously, you’ll need to have different graphics for these events. While some graphics can be reused, such as those that simply feature a logo, you’ll often need to have a customized graphic that fits the event.

With easy-to-remove graphics, like decals, a company can improve the ambiance of their event and get people to engage with its purpose. At a fundraiser, you might have graphics showing how much more money you need to raise to reach a goal, while a product launch might feature graphics depicting the new item. Whatever the case may be, event-specific graphics will complement the overall purpose and can even spur attendees to take actions relevant to the event.

Provide Practical Information

It’s likely that people attending your event will be unfamiliar with your event space. As this is the case, they will not intuitively know how to locate parking, find the entrance or navigate the event space.

One of the best ways to ensure attendees have an enjoyable experience at your event is to make sure they know where they can find important areas. With wayfinding or directional signage placed strategically throughout the event, they’ll never be at a loss for directions.

Wayfinding signage can tell people where the entrances, exits, restrooms and main meeting areas are and how to get to them. Since the attendee will know where to go, they’ll have more time and mental space to enjoy the event. Getting lost or being unsure of where to go can harm an attendee’s experience, making them more likely to leave the event with a bad taste in their mouths.

Improve the Ambiance

An event’s ambiance directly impacts the satisfaction of those attending. When someone walks into your event space, do you want them to feel energized, ready to dance long into the night, or do you want them to feel immediately at ease and in the mindset to enjoy an upscale dinner? Either option will come with its own set of event graphics that set the appropriate tone.

With the right colors and unique graphics, companies can make any environment appropriate for an event. As soon as people walk into a fundraiser, a floor graphic could greet them, setting a friendly tone for the event.

Or, you could use custom wall murals to depict key moments in your company’s history, creating a sense of respect for the past. Whatever your goals, think about how your signage can improve the feel of the space to put attendees in an appropriate mood.

Create Business Signs and Graphics With SpeedPro

Making your business stand out from the competition at your next event should always be a priority. With the many signage and graphics options offered by SpeedPro, your company can always stay a step ahead. As a nationwide network of studios that specializes in large format graphics, we have the people, equipment and experience to bring your vision to life.

Find your local studio to speak to one of our knowledgeable representatives and receive a free quote.