How to Design a Wow! Trade Show Booth Without Spending a Fortune

When you exhibit at a trade show, you’re in competition with everybody else. The average attendee who walks the show is exposed to a mind-boggling array of sights and sounds. You need YOUR booth to cut through the clutter. Get a head start by designing a "Wow!’ booth, using the tips in this powerful book.

This book starts by explaining the "why" of booth design, and how to avoid the traps that many exhibitors fall into. The authors explain why you have just one chance to get the prospect in your booth. They also tell you how use your booth to send the right message, one that will make the attendee want to stop. The book takes you through the "how" of booth design - from planning and budgeting, to choosing a designer, to making the maximum impact by creating a "visual speedbump." Whether or not you have a big budget, you can use the information in this book to design a booth that will stand out from the crowd.

Steve Miller is a strategic marketing and innovation consultant specializing in the trade show industry. He works with show management to develop better shows and enhance their long-term relationships with exhibitors, as well as helping corporations more profitably exhibit at trade shows. Working his first trade show at age 16, Steve has since built a reputation for achieving exceptional results for his clients through innovative, results-driven techniques. His work with associations and show management companies includes speaking for and consulting directly with exposition staff, boards of directors, exhibitor advisory committees, strategic planning and adaptation, internet strategies, branding strategies, attendee focus meetings, industry research, analysis, show valuation, recommendations, and exhibitor education. In some cases he has served as project manager to guide the entire process of reinvention. His clients include eight of "Tradeshow Week's" current Top-Ten association-owned expositions and Fortune 100 corporations - the Food Marketing Institute, the International Housewares Association, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Broadcasters, Coca-Cola, Dana Corporation, Volvo, and Philips Electronics, to name a few.

Since founding The Adventure LLC in 1984, Steve has worked directly with international, national, and state organizations, as well as speaking to over 145,000 corporate executives around the world. His first book, "How to Get the Most Out of Trade Shows," now in its third edition, has been published and distributed throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. His second book, "Over 88 Tips and Ideas to Supercharge Your Exhibit Sales," is the only book written specifically for exhibit staffers, and his third book, "Over 66 Tips and Tricks to Supercharge Your Trade Show Promotions," was published in early 2000. Steve has written for and has been featured in over 250 publications, including "Fast Company," "Business Week," "Fortune," the "Wall Street Journal," "Sales and Marketing Management," "Success," "Expo," "Business Marketing," "Washington CEO," ASAE's "Association Management," the Trade Show Exhibitors Association's "ideas," "Exhibitor Magazine," ASTD's "Training Development," and "USAIR Magazine." He is also a monthly columnist in PCMA's "Convene" magazine and has produced audio and video educational products for exhibitors and show management.

Robert Sjoquist has been involved in the sales and marketing of commercial and consumer products for his entire adult life. From his start, during his college years, as a door-to-door salesman of Fuller Brush Products and Kirby Vacuums (simultaneously and successfully) and on to selling the products for the Honda Motor Company where he won regional and national sales awards, Robert has always been able to figure out why people buy certain goods and what sort of pricing and packaging works to sell them. Along the way, Robert has started seven companies, managed dozens more and has held several patents and trademarks for products and intellectual property under his control.

For the past eleven years Robert lived in the Seattle, Washington area where he started a distributorship under the Skyline Displays, Inc. mantle. Robert grew his office from a one-man operation to a company of twenty employees and annual sales of over $3,000,000. In August of 2001 he sold his distributorship and headed back to his homeland of southern California. His is designing for the second time in his life his family's new home on a hillside lot in Ventura, CA. Between his home building project and the addition on September 5 of a bouncing baby boy to the Sjoquist household, Robert is staying pretty busy.

Trade Shows have always held a fascination for Robert, first as an attendee for Honda Motor Corp, Suzuki Motors of America, Robert’s own company Aerotow Industries and other