Tag: Exhibitions

2016 Blogs

How to Create an Eye-Catching Display

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date October 13, 2016

Display Boards Are Versatile, So They Can Be Used Anywhere

When it comes to creating displays, some of us are more creative than others, let’s be honest. If you have ever been to a craft fayre or an exhibition, there are often beautiful displays that leave us wondering; “how could I make one like that?”. Fortunately, it does not have to be that tricky and in fact, with some time and attention, we can all create majestic exhibition displays which we can be proud of. There is nothing fancy involved, just some simple guidance on how to clean up the content and bring your most important pieces to the centre of attention.

Rather than fiddling around on the day, do all of the design work before-hand, experiment with the positioning of your content and the most important thing to remember are different perspectives. When your display is set up, chances are visitors will not be stood right in front of it like you are, so consider where they will be approaching from and whether your design caters for that. The designs that really do well and stick in the memory are those which really stand out and this is where a great design is crucial.

High Quality Graphics

Regardless of what your content is or where you are exhibiting, chances are you will be using some form of graphics. Whether it is artwork, text or an image, there is one simple rule to keep in mind. Ensure it is a high resolution image! Any professional designer will tell you that their pet peeve is graphics which have essentially been pulled off of the internet and look terrible as soon as they are printed. This is especially important if you are printing your own work and use a low resolution as you will never be able to do it justice.

Nothing in your design is going to come across as cheap and as haphazardly made as images and text which are pixelated. These need to be clean, crisp and even printed properly to help them to stand out. Look for high quality paper and use a proper printer (no, not an inkjet!). If you do not have this kind of image to hand, then I would suggest either finding one, or getting some professionally made. At the end of the day, this will be the core of the display so it needs to set an example.

Positioning of Content is Crucial

There is a lot of theory that runs behind great designs and unsurprisingly professional designers are not just pulling it out of thin air. Any design you see, whether it is an advertisement, glossy magazine or a fellow exhibitor’s display, is supported by a few key theories as to how content can stand out more. One of these which you will want to consider is how to direct the viewer’s eye through your design. We never notice it when we are doing it, but there are small details in designs whose main purpose is to tell us where to look.

The simple explanation behind this is to emphasise the elements which you want to feature prominently. If there is a piece of content which you want to highlight, then make it bigger than the rest. If you want to draw their attention to a piece of text, then change the font and adjust the size slightly. To your viewer’s brain, these are cues which are telling them to look there and then take a look over there. You may only have a few seconds to really engage someone’s attention, so put your best piece at the forefront to entice them to engage with the rest of the display.

Comic Sans Looks Awful, Really.

Text will feature in your display at some point, which means you have the unenviable task of picking out a font. There are thousands and thousands out there to choose from, so there is a lot of potential to find something unique. However, going back to what we discussed at the beginning, consider the perspective of your viewer. If you have opted for a radical font for your three paragraphs of content, who is even going to bother trying to read it? While a font may look exciting, remember that people will actually want to read it. In this scenario, keep the more interesting fonts for titles and headers to grab their attention and then use a slick serif font which is effortless to read for larger pieces of text.

Less is More, More is Less

If you have ever been told to keep it simple, then the precedent is the same here. When you look at great designs, are they packed with information, crammed from corner to corner with text, diagrams and images? Hopefully, the answer is no. While people are willing to read through a huge amount of content when they are interested, there is nothing quite as off-putting as a wall of text. Your eyes have no idea where to look when all you want to do is absorb the majority of the content in just a few glances.

While you may have plenty of space available, using every last thread of it is never going to work. Leave space where necessary and then if you still feel like there should be something there, add small details like ribbon which can brighten up the display without taking the viewer’s attention away from the content which really matters.

There Are More Colours Than What You See on the Rainbow

The final detail to consider is which colours to pick out. This means the colour of your large display boards, the content, fonts and fine details. This one is completely up to you, but it is worthwhile noting that loud and abrasive colours, such as primary reds, blues and yellows are quite wearing on the eyes. There are a ridiculous number of colours out there, so choose something easier on the eye such as pastel colours which are far more enjoyable for viewers to consume.

Ultimately, the best advice for creating a great design is keeping it simple and not over-thinking things. At the end of the day, viewers just want something easy on the eye which is going to strike them. If you already have great content, then place it on the centre stage. Use all of the other aspects to support it and people will be going away talking about how great your exhibition was.

If you are in need of display boards, then here at Rap Industries, we design and manufacture high quality displays for clients from a variety of industries. From folding display boards to more permanent designs, we can create a display stand which brings out the best in your content. For more information, please have a look at our site, call us on 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com.

Tags DisplayBoards, Exhibitions, LargeDisplayBoards, TradeShows

2016 Blogs

Why Exhibiting Does Not Have to Be a Waste of Money

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date October 11, 2016

A Riposte to Criticism Towards Trade Shows

In recent years, there have been more and more articles springing up, warning against the perils of trade shows and how they are going to destroy your finely balanced budget. They speak of how wonderful inbound marketing can be and the potential it has. Now, there is very little doubt that this kind of marketing approach is beneficial, but the idea that exhibitions should just be thrown to the wayside is a little overblown. It’s true, trade shows can be expensive, but only if you walk into it, cheque book in hand and willing to write one out to anyone who says they can help you to make it a success.

Exhibiting at trade shows is a challenge and there is no doubt about it. Those who fail and ultimately waste money are the inexperienced, newbie exhibitors who believe a fancy backdrop and a few glossy leaflets will equate to mega-money deals. The reality is that experienced attendees who have spent years on the circuit have learned about how to make a return on their fairly significant investment. For the relatively uninitiated, there are pitfalls in the exhibitions industry, however the case is the same for other forms of marketing and it is through skills and expertise that these can be overcome.

Quality Over Quantity When It Comes to Outreach

One of the major criticisms directed towards exhibiting is that your audience is limited. Even if you attend a major trade show where a few thousand people will be in attendance, this is short change in comparison to the millions which are available online. On the surface, this is true, so why then do so many businesses return to trade shows when there is a such a disparity in audience sizes compared to online? Simply put, it is because every attendee has the potential to be relevant. If you are attending the same event, then you can be sure that there will at least be some common ground for you to work from.

Online marketing can be like fishing in an ocean. Sure, there are millions of potential interested individuals out there, but being able to entice them is a significantly harder task. You can spend weeks, months or even years developing strategies to attract those 1% of individuals who actually want to do business with you. Even then when you get them through to your site, the whole deal hinges on the infrastructure you have laid down. If a page is poorly laid out, all they have to do is press that little red cross in the corner and that potential business is gone forever.

Trade shows provide you with the unique opportunity to interact with these clients, something which online marketing is still light years away from achieving. You might be a small business, but a bright idea and your passion showing through could be all that is required to secure a deal which will drive genuine growth in your business. Before you attend, arrange meetings with industry professionals you wish to meet in person. When doing business, a tweet or a short message just are not going to cut it.

Make The Most of the Experience

Exhibiting at trade shows will require you to be pro-active. If your planning consists of spending thousands on a fancy exhibition stand and then just standing next to it waiting for people to approach you, then you would be better off not attending at all. Trade shows consist of much more than just attendees milling around and chatting to stand owners. There are presentations held with leading experts in the field, meetings can be made beforehand to have a one-to-one conversation and frankly, the attendees simply do not have time to stop and chat with each stall holder.

While exhibition stands do their part to help you stand out somewhat, the crucial aspect of converting is going to come down to you and your team. There is no guarantee that everyone you talk to will be interested in your product, but having a conversation of what you do and how you do it can open up potential avenues which you may have never considered before. It is important to remember that trade shows are about much more than just sales.

Be Prepared

The biggest mistake that many businesses make which leads to a negative experience is not putting the necessary preparation in beforehand. Admittedly, it would be unproductive to commit months of your year to a single event. However, committing a large portion of your budget to an event, only to spend a few days working on your strategy is a good way to end up wasting it. At the end of the day, the style of your backdrop is not going to win you much business, so look towards large display boards, which are a much more versatile display which can then be re-used again.

Instead, commit your time and your budget to researching the event. Find out who is attending and shortlist potential businesses and clients who you think you will be able to work with. Waiting for this type of person to walk up to your stand is hardly going to harbour many results, so get yourself in front of them and pitch your ideas.

Like any kind of marketing, these methods take time and practice to perfect. Due to the up-front cost of exhibitions, it can be deterring when the first event does not go quite as planned. However, there is a good reason why exhibitions and trade shows continue to thrive and that is because there is a great deal of potential to be found. When done in moderation while you learn, exhibitions do not have to be a waste of money and can just as easily be done in conjunction with inbound marketing, rather than as a separate entity.

Tags DisplayBoards, Exhibitions, JumboDisplayBoards, TradeShows

2016 Blogs

Why Attending Wedding Exhibitions is Still a Great Way to Enhance your Wedding

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date May 15, 2016

Wedding fairs can begin to feel a bit outdated in the age of the internet where you can find a whole host of vendors online. They’ve gotten quite a bad reputation in recent years for essentially being a bunch of salespeople ramming samples down your throat. For couples who are just starting to plan out their big day, heading to an exhibition hall and being caught up in a whirlwind of leaflets and sales gusto is hardly going to calm those nerves. This is not to say that they are not worth attending however, but it can be important to approach them with a level head and a goal for what you would like to get out of the wedding fair.

Before blindly stepping in to the first exhibition nearby, do your research and find a wedding fair which fits with your aspirations for your wedding. There is a ridiculous amount of fairs out there from boutique wedding fairs, quirky wedding fairs, luxury wedding fairs, budget wedding fairs and many more. They are located all across the country, so before signing up for 10 to attend in the next few months, try and pick out a few which you feel that you will be able to find value in. It’s also worth noting the size of the exhibition you are looking at. The quantity of vendors is never indicative of quality, in fact, large exhibitions often feature national companies who are more focused on signing up as many clients as possible.

This is why local wedding fairs can be treasure troves for delightful vendors who share in your passion for the wedding. Attending an exhibition is more about looking for inspiration, what flavour cake to have, the type of flower to display on the tables or whether your DJ has the ‘cha cha slide’ in his playlist, seriously, stop it. If a vendor literally jumps on you, cramming leaflets in your hand while reeling off the same spew you overheard just a minute ago, it’s quite probable that their goal is the money in your pocket, not making your wedding day as special as possible. Remember, there is no pressure for you sign on the dotted line on the day, take it as an opportunity to absorb the kind of services that vendors can provide and if there are a few who really catch your eye then feel free to take away their contact details.

There are perhaps two things that you should be looking for when you are walking around the show floor. The first rather obviously is that the service they provide matches your vision for how your wedding day should look. The second is a bit harder to spot, but try to gauge whether the vendor is on the same wavelength with the overall theme of your wedding. When you are speaking to them, try and explain what you have planned as well as how you want to achieve this. In many cases, an honest vendor will be able to give you their opinion whether the service they provide will be able to live up to the standards which you expect.

The one tangible benefit of attending a wedding exhibition is that you are able to see, hear, smell and taste the services which are on offer. While planning your wedding online can be more convenient, it only takes one dodgy vendor to tarnish your day. Considering how much you can be expected to pay as well, there is added benefits in getting to meet the people that will be servicing your wedding and experiencing the kind of job that they perform. Just remember to enter the wedding fair like a sponge, absorb all of the information possible and take it away with you. So when it comes to finalising the details, your mind can rest easy in the knowledge that you know the cake will be fantastic, the flowers complement your theme and that you wedding day will be truly special.

Tags Exhibitions, WeddingExhibition, WeddingFair

2016 Blogs

What Is On the Cutting Edge of British Manufacturing?

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date February 9, 2016

The Pioneering Companies Leading the Charge for British Manufacturing

British manufacturers have historically been regarded as forerunners in innovative technology and it is established companies adopting the same model who are leading the way for the current growth in the industry. As the focus shifts away from sheer volume manufacturing in Britain, companies are finding success in producing high quality and reliable products. In particular, the aerospace and car making industries have enjoyed sustained growth even during the recession due to the demand for the quality, high tech goods which roll out of their factory doors. Car manufacturing in particular appeared doomed after Rover collapsed a decade ago, however a shift towards producing low volume, yet high quality cars has garnered success.

Over the past five years, output amongst the car industry has grown by 40% while the aerospace industry has grown by an exponential 60%. In comparison, the clothes and petrochemical industries have seen a decline of over 20%. Increasing investment in engineering resources and the manufacturing process has increased output while also streamlining the production process. In fact, innovation in the car manufacturing industry in particular has led to the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline to collaborate with McLaren to improve its overall manufacturing output in an attempt to combat falling growth.

It is companies such as McLaren who are setting the example that many other British manufacturers are now attempting to follow. While the amount of investment certainly is not viable for many small and medium manufacturers, the ideals set in place offer a good guideline about what British manufacturing needs to aim for in order to excel in the current economic climate. The focus on technology has led to success such as in the electronics sector which manufactures some of the most innovative computer products on the planet. In fact, there is a growing wealth of small and medium manufacturers in Britain that provide components across the UK’s supply chains.

Technology in these industries aim to improve efficiency, reliability and affordability and it is something that all British manufacturers can aspire towards. This is an approach adopted here at Rap Industries with investment in state of the art printing facilities to ensure every graphic is completely unique and makes the best impact possible when our clients take them to exhibitions, trade shows or even when they display them in their office. In the future, the hones will be on investing more in the manufacturing process in order to streamline it and ensure each product is still shipped at the highest possible quality.

Tags BritishManufacturer, Events, Exhibitions