No longer a trend, and now an expectation among modern attendees, trade show experiences are ruling the exhibit floor. Experiential opportunities such as branded temporary tattoos, intentional hospitality, and gamification are just a few examples from our clients at recent events.  

Gone are the days of theater-style, non-interactive, in-booth presentations. People are not as committed anymore to sitting in a booth only to be talked at. Trade show event planners must be willing to lower the threshold of commitment to include more people in a new, interesting, and unique for-the-moment engagement point.  

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Check out the following examples of successful, interactive trade show experiences!  

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Temporary Tattoos at AWS Re:Inforce 2022

For Sonrai Security, we provided a small station for a makeup artist to apply spray-on temporary tattoos of the Boston skyline and brand iconography. Our experiential partner, MLR Artist Management, assisted us with this activation.

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Intentional Hospitality at BlackHat 2022

Steelhead designed Securonix's booth to include a small, glowing, branded bar area where individually bottled shots of "Securonix Tonics" were served. Each bottle offered non-alcoholic detoxing juices with a customized, branded label that was cheekily named after the company’s featured products.  

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Gamification at RE+ 2022

Who DOESN’T like playing Tetris?! *crickets*  

At RE+ in Anaheim, we partnered with 23G to produce an interactive Tetris game for our client. The Tetris pieces are shaped like the brand’s solar panels, and matching graphics are thoughtfully incorporated into the booth to make it more of an immersive experience. The game featured a prominently displayed leaderboard with high scores shown—sparking friendly competition and giving visitors reason to visit the booth repeatedly throughout the show.  

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Closing Thoughts on Trade Show Experiences

Incorporating experiential elements into your exhibit can no longer wait until the last minute. The desired experience should be one of the first pieces of the event strategy. Waiting until the last minute to incorporate an experiential activation often looks like an afterthought, which is not the intended outcome for your prospects.

Looking for more IRL examples of unique trade show experiences? Contact us to start the dialogue for your next event!