When you take a stand at a Conference or Event, you want to stand out. Gone are the days when a pop up, pens and a bowl of sweets really cuts it. Today more and more creative ways to engage with your prospects are available for those with tight budgets and those which can afford to make a bigger splash.
Here are 21 ideas we love,
Money Blower
I grew up watching Crystal Maze and Money Blowers are a concept I love, fill them with Dollar Bills, Tickets or Ping Pong balls lots of different approaches you can take to reward those prospects taking part. Firstly it will draw traffic towards your stand and secondly registering to take part will build a great prospect list for you after the conference.
Bring a Wack-A-Mole to your stand
Wack-A-Mole is a classic game, everyone can play. If you want to draw people to your stand hire in a Wack-A-Mole arcade game, let people vent free-style or record the highest score and reward a prize at the end of the day.
Scalextric Stand
While I quickly got over Scalextric’s as a child as the track kept breaking, its alot of fun to play specially against others. Bringing in a branded Scalextric’s set and setting up competitions throughout the day is a great way to draw a crowd and leave a memorable experience with a prospect.
Basket ball/Skee Ball amusements
For some reason we all enjoy throwing a ball at something, I myself am not very good at basket ball but i still love playing it at the arcade. You could introduce one of these amusements or multiple and let prospects compete against each other in a leader board.
Toy Claw Grabber Machine
Do you have stock of branded stress balls? At any conference I have found they tend to be the thing wiped out first from a stand. However why not make prospects work for their toy? hire a compact Toy Claw Grabber Machine and fill it with your branded stress balls and let your prospects play to win one. Its huge amount of fun, you were going to give them away anyway and it keeps your prospects are your stand far longer.
Human Claw Grab
I saw this last week, takes the Toy Claw Grabber above to the next level. Fill a space with give-aways and plastic balls then winch prospects up wearing boxing gloves and let them try and grab as much as they can each grab. Looks amazing, lots of social media exposure and draws a lot of traffic with to participate or spectate.
Wheel of fortune
Out of all the ideas i think this is the cheapest one, the branded wheel of fortunes aren’t expensive, easy to setup and easy to manage on the day. Decide on your promotions/prizes and when people come to your stand SPIN THE WHEEL and give them their prize. If you are selling products on the day, it might be a % off, it might be a give-away/promotional product OR you could include A jackpot prize. Big Impact small price.
Toss like a boss
Cornhole Games have been around since the days of early fairs, and they are just as popular today. Have a branded Cornhole board created and give prospects the opportunity to win a prize if they can get 1-3 or 5 corn bags through the hole. Its low tech, low cost and is great entertainment for those that want to play and spectate.
Pose Picture Product
Invest in something that people will want to be photographed with, on or in and brand it. Let the prospects promote your brand to a far wider audience on social media. Some ideas include human size action figure or doll box, replica models of tv shows and movies or static surf boards. You could also bring along a mascot, someone dressed up in an outfit people want to be photographed with.
Social Media Vending Machine
I found this and they are a great idea, the Social Media Vending Machine is designed like any other vending machine but it gives out products when you share their brand on your social media channels. Usually they are filled with promotional give-aways such as t-shirts, travel mugs or cool tech toys. To make a bigger impact why not put inside one of the promotion give-aways a big prize to the lucky winner who finds it.
Branded digital fruit machine
These are great, I don’t know if it appeals to me more as I love fruit machines but there are a few companies which produce digital fruit machines with your logos/branding incorporated into it. You have a large screen TV, printer and large button at your stand and prospects play to win a prize. Visually it looks great, simple setup and can be used over and over again. Check out this link, was pain to find: http://www.alljsoftware.com/slot-machine-trade-show.asp
Coin Drop for Free Goody Bag
The coin drop (plinko) boards are great, they are relatively inexpensive, you can have them whatever size you want them, you can have them branded however you want them, and you can give away any sort of prize/promotional items. Macy’s did a really nice one, with a branded Macy’s Plinko Board, with a coin drop which if they landed in an X they received a Macy’s Goody Bag. Its pretty low tech, really flexible and the bigger it gets the more impact.
Vintage Video Games / Pin Ball Machine
People young and old love Videos Games and Pinball Machines, they arent massively expensive to buy or rent and can make a big impression. Bring a set and let people play them on your stand, and others spectate. If you bring in the racing games, you can setup competitions and let colleagues race against each other. Depending on the space you have available you could just have one single Vintage Video Game, a multi-player station or a wall of pin ball machines.
Lock key/Key in the Box promotion
This works really well, you do need to get the event/conference organizer on board as you will need to put keys somewhere near the entrance to the conference which will then draw people to your stand for the chance to open the box and win a prize.
Photo booth
If your event is extending into the evening with some drinks, the photo booth is a great idea. Let attendees share their photos with their work-colleagues, friends and family and pop a sneaky bit of branding on the photo. Let them share the photos on their different social media channels (not printing). Everyone loves a photo booth with some props, its mid-cost and doesnt take up a huge amount of space.
Penalty Shoot Out
Every guy going to a conference is convinced he should be the next David Beckham, so a penalty shoot out stand is a great way to draw them in. The setup can be abit tricky, as you need a projector, space to kick a ball, space for the screen. But if you have the space on the stand and are selling a service rather than a product it might be right for you. You can also do this with a golf simulator and give people 5 shots to see how far they can drive the ball down the course.
Custom Branded Giant Operation Board
I found these online, I myself am not a fan of the game – but if you want people to have your brand in their face while they actually concentrate on something. Giant branded Operation is the way to go. Not much to it – just set it up, let them go. While they are playing you have time to sit and chat with them about your products or services.
Pop corn machine
When people go to a conference, they always get snacky when you are wandering from stand to stand. Why not scratch that itch with a Pop Corn machine, its really cheap usually I would suggest agreeing this with the conference organiser and their F&B team but they are usually alright about it. Hand out branded pop corn cups, and fill them with pop corn they can wander around chomping on and looking at other stands. Great idea for full coverage branding.
Buzz wire game
Simple game, highly entertaining and low cost. The Buzz Wire Game can be built to any size to fit your stand and branded in anyway you want. People enjoy the challenge of playing it and people will want to spectate as they compete to complete the Buzz Wire Game in the quickest time possible. Include a promotional give-away for those which completed, and a prize for the one which completes it in the quickest time.
Post your pic with hashtag to win goody bags
This one links a couple of different technologies and does need to thinking through. So have a large screen TV on your stand with a LIVE feed from your Instagram/Twitter account promoting a conference/event hashtag. As people to post a photo from the event on their own social media channels and include your hashtag/@tag and when they do it give them a goody bag or promotional give away. Great way to draw people to your stand, and build your social media engagement.
Punch machine
If your conference or event is heavily male dominated, they why not give them a way to release that testosterone with a punch machine. Run a leader board and give a prize at the end of the day to the one which punched the hardest. It will keep those which tried coming back to see where they are sitting on the leader board and to see if they won.
