Our brains are near-bursting, drowning in quick technology, brilliant ideas and whether we remembered to send $3 with our fourth-grader for the pizza party on Friday. It’s hard running through the gauntlet of overloaded miserableness, but we continue to push trade show attendees to do it every time we cut the ribbon to open the hall.
Stop.
Rethink.
Think about open spaces and pleasant décor, and how we are drawn to them. Think about how less can be more, and how precise, succinct information puts us at ease.
These are the ideas put forth at PCMA Convening Leaders in the Trade Show Design session with our VP of Corporate Communications Dana Freker Doody, Patrick Andrus of ASHE and a brain science expert, Andrea Sullivan.
Our brains need a break. Your attendees brains need a break. We can learn and retain much more information when we are able to keep pace and process more efficiently than when we encounter a barrage, Sullivan shared. She also shared some practical tips, like the fact humans tend to move counter-clockwise, and that having to look up helps us remember while looking down invokes emotion.
Simply, regarding finding our way through a trade show or convention center, humans experience navigational angst, which uncluttered spaces, clean graphics and reassuring directional can ease. As at the grocery store, we are drawn to open spaces with items on display clearly lit and efficiently spaced. You can experience this yourself at a local grocery store, just visit and consider how you feel in the produce area versus the canned food aisle.
Andrus, who heads Business Development for ASHE, encouraged attendees to consider these concepts in their marketing practices as well, avoiding the NASCAR effect of jumbled logos in favor of balance. He also shared ideas for developing programs on the trade show floor that allow attendees choices on where to go and spend their time while accomplishing their goals, shopping and learning being chief among them. ASHE’s success in programs that create open spaces and encourage engagement have seen measured success, and Sullivan’s brain science principles supported whay that may be.
What on your floor, or at your event, or even in your booth, can you rethink? How might you overlay the ideas championed by grocery stores into your trade show design?