A trade show booth serves as a first impression of your brand, and a successful design gets people to stop to learn more. Searching for booth inspiration? Start the 2023 trade show season off on the right foot with these trade show booth ideas.

The essential components of a good trade show booth

Any good booth includes a few trade show staples to help capture attendees’ attention and keep them engaged, so they stop for information about your brand, product, or service.

Those must-haves include:

A good emcee

A booth without a dedicated and engaging emcee makes it difficult to pull attendees in and capture their interest. If you want to attract attention, put a charismatic and welcoming team member in charge of emceeing.

Interactive components

Once your emcee has pulled attention from the trade show floor to the booth, it becomes a game of engagement. We’ll get more specific in the list to follow, but interactive elements keep attendees at your booth for longer and leave a lasting impression.

Grab-and-go information

Attendees can’t stay at your booth forever, no matter how exciting it is. When it’s time for them to check out what other booths have to offer, send them off with some information to remember you by. Business cards, flyers, and pamphlets are all great ways to easily hand off brand information to booth visitors.

Product and service demos

If you’re exhibiting a product, it’s essential to run a demo so attendees can learn how it works and perhaps even try it out for themselves. Even if you’re offering a service, running a live or video demonstration of what the service does helps give context to your brand.

Good branding

Webex Events trade show booth.

Finally, every exceptional trade show booth has good branding. Without it, attendees will have nothing to recognize—or recall you by—after the event has ended. Signage with logos, brand color schemes, and visible brand names are all good places to start to increase brand awareness at your booth.

10 creative booth ideas to make a lasting impression

Once you have the essentials down, you can start building a creative, exciting, and awe-inspiring booth experience around them.

Leave a lasting impression with these creative trade show booth ideas.

Fun and interactive trade show booth ideas

When it comes to engaging with attendees, your booth needs something fun and interactive to attract and retain attention.

Here are a handful of intriguing booth ideas to try:

1. Spin to win a prize wheel

Rainbow colored prize wheel with in front of abstract background.

Attract attention to your trade show booth with a prize wheel. Attendees love free stuff, so giving them a chance to win something is exciting. When deciding on prizes to give away, make sure to include a variety of items—and some big-ticket rewards, too.

Here are some ideas for exciting prizes:

  • Branded swag, such as T-shirts, hats, and stickers
  • Gift cards for restaurants, retail shops, or Amazon
  • High-value electronics, such as headphones or portable chargers
  • Company products
  • Discounts on products

2. Interactive photo booth

Photo opportunities provide a fun, low-stakes way to get people congregating around your trade show booth. What makes a photo booth even better is when you include interactive elements, such as branded filters, to combine engagement with brand awareness.

Bonus points if you create a brand or event-specific hashtag and encourage people to post their silly photos on social media.

3. Free food

Everyone loves free food. Even if your brand has nothing to do with the culinary arts, offering a small snack or refreshment to busy trade show attendees is the perfect way to pull people in. While they enjoy their snack, introduce your brand, products, or services.

4. Virtual reality (VR) experience

Closeup of bearded young man wearing virtual reality goggles.

Virtual reality has become fairly ubiquitous these days, but it’s still as exciting as ever. If you’re looking for something a little more lively than a prize wheel (or something to use in tandem with it), you can apply a VR experience for a variety of use cases.

If you’re announcing a product at the event but don’t have a prototype yet, you could offer visitors a 3D tour of the item with VR. Or, host a friendly VR competition for prizes and rewards.

5. Live music performance or hosted entertainment

You can’t go wrong with live music or entertainment at your booth. Solo singers or a live band will help pull a crowd to your booth and keep them there for a while.

Awe-inspiring design trade show booth ideas

According to exhibitors themselves, 48% say that an attention-grabbing design is the most effective way to lure attendees in. Considering that, let’s continue this list with trade show booth design ideas to make yours stand out from the crowd.

6. Vertical booth space

Exhibition halls are massive, and most of the time there’s a lot of wasted vertical space above your booth. That open air offers a lot of potential for design elements like:

  • Floating banner signage
  • Intriguing decorations
  • Dynamic lighting

Utilizing this space allows you to intrigue and attract attendees from across the venue. Plus, something bright and memorable acts as a marker for your booth—so interested guests can find their way back later.

7. Include seating

Event-goers who are on their feet all day visiting booths need somewhere to take a load off. Include seating at your booth to allow attendees to relax and recharge in the presence of your brand. This also provides a great opportunity for networking.

8. Use visual marketing

Visual marketing and brand storytelling bring coherence to your trade show booth design. Maintain consistency through signage, color schemes, text, and experiences. Avoid ambiguity, and use visual marketing to bring a distinct and clear-cut brand experience to visitors.

9. Offer a mobile device charging station

Event attendees are on their phones and mobile devices often while browsing trade shows—especially if they’re using a mobile event app to stay up to date with the agenda and network with other guests.

Incorporate a charging station into the design of your booth to give attendees the phone juice they need to stay current on event happenings. Bonus points if you integrate this idea with seating space, so active event-goers can recharge their phones and their feet at your booth.

10. Create a separation between your booth and the rest of the trade show

Designing your booth to offer a separate space from the bustle of the trade show floor can help create a more immersive experience for attendees. Partial walls and fabric structures help create a more closed-off and intimate experience between you and your visitors.

Want to learn more? Check out our post on eye-catching vendor table display ideas.

Things to avoid in your trade show exhibit

Like the fixed essentials we listed at the top of this blog, consider these three elements “must-do-nots.” 

  • Making your exhibit too big: Booths that are too big can be overwhelming—and unless you have exciting things to fill it with, uninteresting, too. Avoid trying to do or present too much at once. An appropriately sized booth is easier to make engaging and delightful.
  • Relying solely on technology: Digital kiosks and information stands are great but rely too much on technology, and you risk removing your brand’s welcoming, human element.
  • Slandering your competitors: While it may be fun in the moment, smack-talking competitors is unattractive in the long run. Healthy competition at trade shows is to be expected, but don’t leave your visitors with a bad taste in their mouths by being mean and underselling your fellow exhibitors.

Does booth location have an effect on your exhibit?

The location of your booth will in some ways determine the amount of traffic and visibility it receives. For example, renting a booth slot close to washrooms or venue cafeterias may garner more attention due to the increased foot traffic.

But beyond its physical location, where you decide to position yourself among other exhibitors also matters.

Types of trade show booth setups and location

Crowded trade show floor with booths on left and right.

Generally speaking, there are four distinct types of trade show booth setups and locations. Depending on which experiences and design ideas you plan to implement into your booth, you should consider your options:

Inline booth: This booth type is long, narrow, and flanked by corner booths. Inline booths are only accessible from one side—ideal for smaller, more intimate exhibits.

Corner booth: Usually small and square, corner booths cap off a row of inline booths at either side and are accessible from two ends—on the vertical and horizontal aisles. Corner booths are great if your goal is to attract as much attention as possible.

Peninsula booth: Situated at the end of an aisle, this booth type is long, narrow, and accessible from three sides. They’re ideal for larger displays.

Island booth: Standing all alone, an island booth is accessible by attendees on all four sides. Island booths are great for more elaborate designs.

Bringing your trade show booth ideas together

A successful trade show booth design is a combination of essential components such as a good emcee, interactive elements, grab-and-go information, product/service demos, and good branding, as well as creative and awe-inspiring ideas.

Interactive ideas like spin-to-win prize wheels, photo booths, free food, VR experiences, and live entertainment can help attract attendees, while seating, visual marketing, and charging stations can enhance the overall experience.

And with the right design elements like vertical booth space, intriguing decorations, and dynamic lighting, you can create a memorable and attention-grabbing trade show booth that leaves a lasting impression on your visitors.