It is easy to let the design of your trade show booth fall to the wayside as you go about your daily routine at the office. You may notice the date of the trade show approaching on the calendar, and you may tentatively plan out the design of the booth, complete with a table, a banner or special signs and freebies to hand out to the attendees. However, if you are like many who follow this plan for trade show booth design, you inevitably will feel a sense of last-minute stress and anxiety right before your trade show starts. Whether you are heading to your event tomorrow or you have already set up your booth and have realized how dismal it is compared to others, you may be looking for some fast, affordable ways to dress up your booth.

Think About Music and Lighting

It is imperative that you find a way to get your booth noticed, and you can incorporate different sensory elements to its design with minimal time and effort required. You can easily invest in portable lighting solutions and sound systems to appeal to the senses, and this can make your booth instantly different than others. For example, you may simply need to visit a lawn and garden or a party store to find great lighting options. Consider shining a spotlight on your sign or even placing a colored light under a tabletop to make your tablecloth glow with character and appeal. When it comes to music, think about a type of music that may appeal to your target audience and that may be suitable for your company’s marketing needs. While you want the music to be loud enough to be heard at this type of event, you do not want it so loud that your team cannot communicate with attendees who stop by. An alternative to music is to pick up a sound effects CD to play, such as an ocean waves sound track for a marine company.

Make Your Tables or Displays Pop Out

You can use lighting to draw attention to your tables and displays, but you can also use three-dimensional elements. For example, if you have a floral company at a wedding and bridal trade show, showcase your talents by bringing a large floral arrangement onto the table. Even if you cannot bring your product or service into the trade show as a tabletop display, you may be able to bring other themed elements into your space. For example, you can bring a decoration from your office or store into your booth design.

Think About Your Apparel

Most booth hosts at a trade show will be dressed to impress, and there is something to be said for looking professional. If you are representing a mortgage company, a law firm or another serious type of company, you may want to stick with your professional attire. However, if you are hosting a booth for a boat company, you may want to dress the part by wearing water shows, a swimsuit and other beach-themed attire. If you are hosting a booth for a wedding dress company, you may consider wearing a bridesmaid dress. These steps will help you to differentiate yourself from other booths to get noticed and may help you to better capture the spirit of the goods or services you offer.

Offer Better Freebies

You may have already planned to hand out some rather boring freebies, like promotional flyers or brochures. These may contain great information that you want to pass along to your target audience, so you do not want to discard these items altogether. However, you may want to accent them with other freebies that people can get excited about. It may be too late to order customized promotional items, but you may still be able to hand out candies, coupons that you can print out at the last minute or other similar items.

While you may not have put much thought into the design of your trade show booth until now, the fact is that you do still have time to make a big difference on your booth design. You can consider incorporating some or all of these elements, and you can easily transform a rather banal booth into one that will garner the type of attention you desire.