Unique promotional concepts and trade show ideas are what you need to make your exhibition a sought-after destination at a trade show event. If you’re creative enough to stand out from the competition, you’ll attract large crowds.

The best way to learn about these new trade show ideas is to attend as many events as possible, both within and outside your industry. Walk through the exhibition hall to see what others are doing, paying particular attention to booths that are attracting large crowds consistently. Do they have a unique trick no one else knows about? Find out by politely asking about their techniques.We’ve done the legwork for you by rounding up the top seven trade show ideas being used by some of the most successful companies. As you’ll find out, some of these tactics aren’t new; you just need to do them differently.

Hire keynote speakers

Sought-after speakers could be your magic trick at the next trade show event. These speakers are known to give talks that attract visitors in their numbers. If there is a chance to sponsor a speaker for the event as a whole, consider it too. As the sponsor, your company will be promoted in venue signage among other show materials!

Use large signage and strong graphics

Both of these can only help you stand out from the crowd. Go for tall display signs that hang over the booth area. It makes your booth easier to recognize. Additionally, choosing unique shapes for your hanging signs can help set you apart from the rest.

Have a mini-conference area for one-on-one chats

When a prospect is highly interested in your products, you need to have a quiet place to have a one-on-one chat with them as you discuss about the product. A well-lit mini-conference area at the back of you booth would serve this purpose nicely. Ensure that it is complete with sales material and writing instruments.

Hire a booth entertainer

An increasing number of exhibitors are utilizing the services of magicians and other booth entertainers to draw more attention to their stands. To ensure that the entertainment fully benefits your business, meet with the entertainer before the trade show to discuss how they can incorporate critical business information into their act.

Ask your staff to wear company-branded clothing

Wearing matching company-branded clothing sends the message that you’re a professional and highly cohesive team. Just ensure that the clothing bears your organization’s name, logo, and website. Where possible, give away similarly branded shirts to selected booth visitors. You’ll be surprised how much lead traffic this little trick can pull.

Use webcasting to engage those who were unable to attend

If other exhibitors aren’t bothering about customers and prospects who were unable to attend, you can stand out by giving these “absentees” a chance to follow the trade show proceedings through webcasting. There are plenty of options here. For example, you can assign one staff member to actively post updates on a “live news program.” Or, you can videos stream product demos on your website.

Create traffic by renting out trade show attractions

Finally, by renting out things such as an entertaining robot, prize wheel, prize vault, or event photography machine, you can retain a significant amount of trade show visitors who will be actively using or trying to use these items. As the visitors wait for their turn, your team can interact with them, discussing their needs, sharing product information, and collecting relevant data.

There are definitely dozens of other trade show ideas that you can apply but these seven should be enough to get you started.