Center of Attention

Last September’s ASIS International trade show, an annual event for the security industry, bustled and boomed like any other big show. Held in San Diego, California, the conference’s show floor was a sea of booths from nearly 900 businesses, all competing for the overloaded attention of thousands of attendees.

HSM Electronic Protection Services, Inc., based in Lisle, Illinois, captured a chunk of that attention with its out-of-the-ordinary exhibit. Working with Minneapolis-based Featherlite Exhibits, a trade show exhibit company, HSM created the Coast-2-Coast Diner. The 1950s-themed display featured a 1956 Cadillac El Dorado Biarritz, on loan from a private collector, and soda jerks who served free soft drinks and periodically burst into 1950s-style song and dance.

HSM gave away matchbox cars and bottle openers decorated with the company logo (and perfect for opening the booth’s soft drink bottles). Attendees had the chance to win gift certificates from some of the major retailers that employ HSM—a group that includes Kohl’s and The Cheesecake Factory—and participate in a raffle for an $8,000 Wurlitzer jukebox.

The booth and giveaways were designed to emphasize the company’s sense of fun and commitment to “old-fashioned” customer service—and to capture attention. On all fronts, the effort worked, the company says.

Create an atmosphere that's calm and conducive to business so people can get away from the madness.

“We got rave remarks on this booth,” says Tony Byerly, HSM’s senior vice president of sales, marketing, and national accounts. “It was a show stopper. Now when we go out on a sales call, people remember our booth. It’s been a great trademark.”

Byerly says it’s also helped drive both attendance and new sales. HSM began using theme-based trade show booths in 2005, when they created a cinema-themed exhibit. Since then, the company has had a fourfold increase in the number of visitors at its trade show exhibits.

A 1950s diner isn’t the right exhibit for every company, of course. But every business that exhibits at a trade show needs ways to attract attention in an atmosphere that can be more carnival than business conference. Local trade show display designers say that there are a wide variety of ways to capture visitors, depending on a client company’s needs, taste, and budget.