A national trade show presence that explains itself

Whether a visitor is a long-standing customer or a cold lead, they should grasp within seconds who we are, what we make, what nobody else offers, and why it fits their need. Studying competing booths showed how often a striking presence failed to deliver that pitch. Our answer was to pair the brand with the solution at every scale, so the booth read correctly from across the hall and up close.

Our audience is technical: engineers, contractors, installers, and others who work with these systems every day. They want to see how things work. The booth put the how first: live demonstrations, candid looks at R&D, and products shown in the environments and alongside the systems they’re used with.

I directed Potter’s presence at the industry’s largest shows, including NFPA and ISC West, where a 20’×50’ booth anchored one of the biggest security events in the country: design, buildout, budgets, staffing, and messaging. Each show served three agendas at once: new leads and expansion for sales; relationships and meetings for leadership; and customer interviews, photography, and video for marketing’s year ahead.

Every show starts with planning: what it has to achieve, the budget, and the calendar leading up to it. From there I lay out the floor, working out traffic flow and sight lines. I decide which products are shown working and design the stations that hold them, direct the artwork for every wall graphic, screen, and hanging sign, and coordinate the logistics for the show.

A booth is a physical experience, so I plan it as one. I use 3D models like the one above at the planning and layout stage: walking a booth before it exists shows where visitors will bunch up and which sight lines don’t hold, while changing the design is still free.