Anyone who attends a trade show can attest to that feeling you have at the end of the day when you want to sit down or even flop in bed because you’ve been on your feet for most of the day. If you’ve got a space created for you by an exhibit builder, you’re probably wondering about how to manage the seating situation. The answer, however, depends a lot on your business goals.

Staff Should Stand

The conventional trade show wisdom, especially for smaller spaces, is that it’s a better idea to have staff remain standing. This does mean you should rotate staff out more frequently, but this is a sound strategy anyway, as a more frequent rotation of “fresh” staff means that energy levels can be kept up.

However, staff that stand in an exhibit space appear more active, more engaged, and can more easily maneuver around the space. Depending on your business goals, such as pure marketing and brand awareness generation, you may even want to consider an exhibit space with no seating at all.

Visitors May Need To Sit

If your business goals for a trade show are to conduct meetings and convert leads into potential new clients or customers, then these extended interactions should be comfortable. If you plan for significant meetings, either arrange a meeting space or create one in your exhibit space and allow for seating for clients or potential clients who come in for extended talks and negotiations.

It’s always important to provide a comfortable venue if the goal is a mediation or negotiation. Depending on space allowances, it doesn’t have to be a chair, as stools may do the job. On the other end of the equation, however, more space could afford a dedicated meeting room and even a sofa and coffee table arrangement if you have the space and the budget to create something more relaxing and less formal than a conference-style environment.

Design Carefully

You should work very carefully with your exhibit builder when it comes to figuring out the space for an exhibit and how to arrange the seating. Space allocation is a precious resource, so every seat you put in, especially for meeting purposes, can hurt or help your trade show effort, depending on placement.

Experienced professionals can help you to find the optimal design and arrangement once you are clear on your goals.

If you want to work with a professional exhibit builder for your next trade show venture, contact Lighthouse Exhibits. We can help.