10 Secrets to Trade Show Selling: #6

Generally, the ambient light available in a convention center is barely adequate for setting up, let alone creating any sense of style. Beyond the obvious advantage of allowing visitors to actually READ, proper lighting attracts visitors, directs their attention, promotes visual tension and adds an element of drama and elegance to your booth design.

Good lighting commands attention. A well-lit booth is visible from a distance - and long before its dreary neighbors are noticed at all. Lighting also directs a visitor's attention to specific elements within your booth, such as graphics and signage.

From a tension management perspective, bright and colorful spaces boost visitor tension, while dull, grey spaces reduce it. Eroding tension is your enemy in trade show selling and you must do whatever you can to stimulate productive tension. The more dramatic the lighting scheme, the more tension it produces.

If your backdrop was professionally designed and produced by a display company, you no doubt have a wide-variety of lighting options available to you from the manufacturer. While the majority of lighting will be used to illuminate the signage on the back wall of your display, supplemental lighting could be used to show off the plants or better define the booth area. If you've chosen to design and build a display yourself, be sure to allow for adequate lighting and the electricity to power it.

The bottom line of the sixth lesson in the "Secrets of Trade Show Selling" series is: Don't underestimate the value of good lighting! Set yourself apart from your dreary neighbors and make your booth the bright spot on the trade show floor.