Boon Edam exhibtion stand

Have you ever signed up for a trade show and wondered where to begin organising everything? Then you’ve probably had the thought ‘How am I going to arrange all this in addition to my normal work?’ Or ‘How do I arrange an exhibition stand? Who and what do I need?’

When working at Boon Edam, I was asked to organise various exhibitions where I needed to not only design the stand, but also organise hotels, staff on the stand, transport, and catering. The stand sizes varied from 25 to 120m².

Project Security Essen

Security Essen is Boon Edam’s largest trade fair which is held every two years in Essen, Germany. Every two years, all the top companies in the security industry come together to promote their company. So when Boon Edam booked a stand of more than 100 m² you want to leave a big impression.

How do you proceed?

The first point to attend was a chat between the stakeholders and me (the project manager) where we set a budget and decide on a theme. I then took our wishes to a stand-building company to help me work out all the possibilities. Once we decided on the stand set-up, I then got to work on the actual designs. We then put the two designs together and finalised the last bits like what furniture do we need. Then it’s over to the stand builder who puts the stand into production and assembles the stand at the exhibition.

The theme

For this edition of Security Essen, we chose a theme based around the ‘Introduction of the new Speedlane’. We created a large ‘black box’ on the stand which only a select group of VIP guests were given access to. They entered the Black Box through a revolving door (the Tourlock) where we had created a virtual reality show projected onto the product and the wall. Unfortunately, you were not allowed access to this room without a special invitation. When leaving the Black Box, the guests were welcomed by the sales team in a special roped-off VIP area.

Two years later, we’re back at the Security Essen exhibition with a similar stand. At every exhibition, you want to create something slightly different to the last one. And as the Black Box style was still so effective and used in the showroom in Edam, we decide to bring back several elements. Above the counter, there was a presentation showing on a large LED screen to attract visitors to the stand.

Ok, so now the question arises, which marketing materials do you take with you?

You’ll often find a range of marketing material handouts at an exhibition. This year there was a selection of brochures with information about the other products and services within Boon Edam. The sales team handed out their business cards and customers can find more information on the website.