Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than one billion businesses setup trade show vendor booths and vendor tents in hopes of driving home new customer relationships. While the tradeshow industry came to a screeching halt amidst the pandemic, tradeshow events are once again picking up steam, and businesses looking to make a great impression are implementing socially distant, sanitary ways to safely interact with potential customers.
While state and local government regulations vary from one place to the next, there are several basic ways your business’s vendor booth can mingle responsibly with potential customers. Keep reading to learn the five actionable trade show safety tips your business vendor booth can incorporate at small and large scale tradeshow events for employee and attendee satisfaction.
5 Actionable Trade Show Vendor Booth Safety Tips Perfect For Your Next Event
1. Utilize QR Codes
Digital adoption has become the norm for businesses since the beginning of the pandemic–and for good reason. Not only can digital platforms and services help reduce in-person transmission, it can make communication more widely available to a broad range of customers. For trade show vendor booths, one worthwhile digital adoption is the use of QR codes.
Trading paper marketing products for downloadable QR codes puts your business's information in the palm of attendees' hands, all while reducing the spread of germs and bacteria that may be living on frequently touched papers and pamphlets. With QR codes on display, tradeshow attendees have a unique opportunity to access your digital company information, whether that be a digital business card, menu, flyer, brochure, coupon, find you on social media, or book a meeting while better maintaining social distance. For at-risk populations, or those leery of large crowds, QR codes can help them gather necessary information while maintaining a social distance they are comfortable with.
Placement and size are key when incorporating QR codes at your vendor booth or vendor tent. For instance, a large QR code displayed up above your vendor tent or booth will be easily visible and scannable from a further distance. QR code posters between 6.3 and 30 inches are scannable from 4-12 feet away, while billboard-size QR codes of 19 to 61.3 inches can be scanned as far as 12-25 feet away.
2. Implement Sanitary Methods & Practices
Proper hand hygiene is vital to reducing the transmission of germs and bacteria on any given day, regardless of pandemic status. But now more than ever, promoting hygienic practices is both expected and appreciated. You can accomplish both at your next tradeshow event in two ways:
A. Supply your staff with gloves, masks, and sanitation supplies
B. Supply attendees with complementary hand sanitizers or a hand sanitizer station
At any trade show event, staff should feel confident that their health and safety is being considered. Supplying your staff with the proper sanitation supplies is an easy way to accomplish this. For attendees, complementary hand sanitizer–especially to be used before touching a demo product—can leave a good first impression and reduce the risk of spreading germs.
3. Upgrade Your Vendor Booth With Easy To Sanitize Surfaces
Aside from improved personal sanitation practices, another factor to consider is frequent sanitation of vendor booth surfaces. With all of the foot traffic a typical vendor booth or vendor tent will see throughout the event, frequent sanitation of vendor booth surfaces is both needed and expected. Easy to wipe down surfaces, sneeze guards, and flooring are all great options to consider.
We Sell Mats™ trade show flooring like the VELOTAS® Rubber Topped Foam Fitness Tiles, or the modern Forest Floor® Farmhouse Collection Printed Foam Mats are two examples of easy to clean vendor booth flooring that is also extremely comfortable underfoot. Plus, at the end of the trade show event, these vendor booth flooring options disassemble quickly and can be stored away into a Trade Show Bag for safe keeping and easy transportation.
4. Promote Social Distancing
While social distancing can be more difficult to maintain in a tradeshow setting, there are still small actions vendor booths and vendor tents can take to reduce congested foot traffic. For instance, allowing only a number of attendees inside the booth to look at products or speak to a your trade show representative can help reduce transmission. For those waiting in line, encourage them to scan the QR code to learn more about your company, or to book a meeting for a later time.
5. Promote Employee Self-Monitoring
With all of the time and effort you put into making a great impression at your tradeshow events, the last thing you want is to put your employees or attendees health at risk by exposing them to COVID-19. That’s why, we highly recommend supplying attending employees with at-home COVID-19 tests and thermometers. This way, employees can self-test before heading out to the trade show for the day knowing they have tested negative and will not be spreading the virus to others.
Your New & Improved Trade Show Vendor Booth Starts With We Sell Mats™
No matter how small or large your tradeshow event is, you can make a great first and lasting impression on potential customers by implementing easy to navigate digital tools, improved sanitary measurements and friendly social distancing protocols. Plus, with We Sell Mats™ stylish trade show flooring to set the stage, your updated vendor booth will be sure to draw in the crowds and make your trade show attendance worthwhile. Browse and shop today to start designing your new and improved trade show vendor display.