Companies from a variety of industries understand that, no matter how advanced technology gets, there’s no substitute for face-to-face interactions. Trade shows provide an excellent opportunity to connect with consumers or other businesses and grow your client base. Research shows that exhibitions are highly valuable for accomplishing goals from building or reinforcing brand awareness to launching new products and more.
One of the challenges all exhibitors face is trying to stand out so their booth doesn’t get lost among the sea of other booths. When you want to make a bold impression, an island booth display can help you do it. SpeedPro carries a variety of island display kits that offer a comprehensive and simple solution for a display that is sure to wow attendees at your next trade show.
Complete these kits with your custom graphics, and watch your brand come to life. These structures look impressive and make it easy to hold meetings, show off products, share printed literature, play videos and more so you can successfully accomplish your trade show goals.
What Are Trade Show Island Exhibits?
Trade show booths typically fall into one of three basic categories — inline, peninsula and island. An inline booth is back to back with another booth and next to another booth on at least one side. Inline booths that back up to a wall instead of another booth are called perimeter booths. Peninsula booths are surrounded by open aisle space on the front and both sides and either back up to another peninsula booth or to an inline booth. This leaves us with the third category, the one we’re focusing on here — an island booth.
A trade show island booth is called such because it is surrounded by aisle space. It does not touch another booth on any of its sides. These booths are typically 20 feet by 20 feet. Such a large space and not having to worry about adjacent booths opens up a world of possibilities for island booths. These booths are often at least partly open on all four sides, allowing for easy traffic flow. You can feature displays that face both in and out for maximum exposure.
Figuring out the right components to include in an island booth space and how to position them to create a functional and aesthetically-pleasing exhibit can be overwhelming. Designing an island booth from scratch can take a great deal of time and effort. This is where trade show island kits come in. These kits come with a predetermined finished layout and all the components you need to create it in your 20-by-20-foot space.
Island booth kits from SpeedPro may be an off-the-shelf solution, but with a visually interesting combination of organic and geometric shapes paired with your eye-catching custom graphics, these trade show island displays look anything but generic.
What Are the Different Types of Island Exhibits?
SpeedPro offers a wide selection of island exhibits which fall into three categories. Let’s take a moment to discuss these categories and the types of island booth kits each one offers.
1. Formulate Fusion Fabric
Formulate® Fusion fabric island exhibits include dye-sublimated fabric graphics that slip over tube frames and zip up like a pillowcase. Some models include more curved lines and organic shapes while others gravitate towards sharper lines and more architectural shapes. Whatever overall look you’re going for, you’ll find a Formulate Fusion kit to match.
You can also select a kit based on the features it offers, whether you need a counter, shelving, monitor mounts or a secluded area for conferencing. These exhibits all give you a plethora of opportunities to project your branding through vivid graphics. They also tend to be quite tall, with some type of overhead structure that allows you to display your brand at a height where people in a crowded exhibit hall can’t miss it.
2. Hybrid Pro Modular
Hybrid Pro™ Modular island exhibits combine a variety of materials — from metallic frames and laminated panels to push-fit and pillowcase fabric graphics, frosted plexiglass and more — to create a variety of island displays, each one with a unique and impressive appearance that shows off your brand. Some models are more centralized with open space around them while others form more building-like structures with space inside.
Hybrid Pro Modular kits are a great option if you’re looking for lots of functional features for displaying products or information. These features include monitor mounts, literature racks, shelving, kiosks, counters, display lighting and more. You can also select an option with built-in storage for stowing away things like purses, carrying bags, boxes of promotional items or anything else you don’t want out.
3. Orbital Express Truss Exhibits
Orbital Express™ Truss island exhibits are made from heavy-duty steel truss frames combined with fabric graphics and features like counters, monitor mounts and lighting to create impressive island displays. Most options combine round and rigid shapes for visual interest. With their exposed metal frames, these exhibits tend to work especially well for companies that want to appear modern or industrial.
One advantage of Orbital Express Truss exhibits is that the pieces of the frame are made to connect together without the need for any tools. Another thing that sets these island exhibits apart is that they are reconfigurable. This means, if you want to make adjustments to the layout of your island booth, you can. You won’t find a better option if you want an out-of-the-box solution that also allows for a high degree of customization.
What Are the Benefits of Trade Show Island Displays?
Renting the space on a trade show floor for an island display entails a greater financial investment so you want to weigh whether it’s worth it. You can make an impact with any type or size of trade show booth, but island booths, in particular, offer some unique benefits, including:
1. Fewer Restrictions
With inline booths, you have to be mindful of the booths around you. Typically, you’ll have to comply with rules that keep you from blocking other displays. For instance, inline displays usually have a height limit of eight feet for the back and just four feet for the front half of your display. When it comes to island displays, you have far more freedom. As long as you stay within your 20-by-20-foot space and don’t create any safety concerns, the sky’s the limit.
2. Maximized Impact
If you want to make an impression, you can’t get higher impact than an island booth. There are certainly ways you can make an inline trade show booth stand out, but this goal tends to be more challenging with an inline booth than with an island booth. The greater size and height of an island display automatically make your booth more noticeable on the trade show floor. You’re also bound to attract more attention when your booth is visible from all four sides, as is the case with island booths.
3. More Fluid Style
Another advantage of island exhibits is that they allow for a more fluid design style. Rather than having a defined back, front and sides, an island booth can have a more 360-degree, fluid feel. People can enter at multiple sides and experience your display in different ways. This advantage opens up more possibilities for an innovative booth design. However, if you’re designing from scratch, it can also present more challenges since you want to make sure your booth makes the right first impression, no matter which direction a person approaches.
4. Increased Foot Traffic
More entryways into your booth also means you can accommodate more foot traffic. People can enter and exit your booth on any side and are less likely to pass your booth by because it looks cramped or crowded. This is great news for exhibitors since you want as many people to spend time at your booth as possible. The more exposure you get, the more opportunity there is to accomplish your goal, whether it be increasing brand awareness, making sales, developing leads or anything else.
Why Should You Purchase a Kit Instead of Start From Scratch?
When you decide to attend your next trade show with an eye-catching island display, the next question becomes, do you design the booth from scratch, or do you choose an off-the-shelf option?
Designing your booth from scratch involves an involved process of coming up with a vision for what you want the booth to look like and then selecting individual displays to piece it together. This option does give you more room for customization. However, it requires a great deal of time and may not turn out the way you want it to.
Choosing an off-the-shelf option is far easier and still allows plenty of opportunity for choosing a look you love and making it unique with your custom graphics. Here are four advantages to purchasing an off-the-shelf trade show island kit:
1. Quick Solution
When you need to come up with a display quickly, pre-made kits are an extremely valuable option. Rather than spending exorbitant amounts of time planning your booth from the ground up and ordering the various parts you need to make it a reality, you can quickly look through the kit options available and choose the one that will deliver the features and the look you want. Even if you have plenty of time, choosing a kit means you can spend your time focusing on developing incredible graphics rather than worrying about the logistics of how you’ll display them.
2. Function and Flair
Another great thing about island exhibit kits is that they are designed to seamlessly combine function and flair. Consider how setting up your booth, with its coordinated colors and style, and then pulling in mismatching shelves or TV carts could instantly take away from the look of your booth. Of course, you need functional elements to help you market your business, make sales or whatever you want to accomplish. With an island kit, these practical elements are built right into the display so you can get a sleek, seamless look without ever sacrificing function.
3. Convenient Setup
With the impressive size and multifaceted nature of an island exhibit, you might assume that putting it together would be a drawn-out and complicated process. It is true that setting up an island booth is bound to take longer and possibly require more hands than a smaller-scale inline booth. However, when you choose an island kit, you have one set of instructions that gives a simple step-by-step guide for your whole exhibit. If an easy setup is a priority for you, go with an Orbital Express Truss exhibit, which doesn’t require any tools.
4. Expert Design
Finally, no matter which kit model you select, you know that it was designed by experts who know what it takes to make a great trade show booth. This should be reassuring to exhibitors who feel inexperienced or lack confidence in their ability to design a booth from scratch. You can’t go wrong by selecting a kit that will create a professional, stylish booth. Of course, you add your personal touch with your graphics, so you should make sure these graphics do their part to make your booth especially attention-grabbing and on-brand.
How Do You Choose the Right Island Exhibit for Your Trade Show?
Even though choosing a ready-made island booth solution greatly simplifies the process of designing your trade show booth, you still have the task of looking through the kit options available and choosing the right one. With dozens of models to choose from, it helps to have some things in mind that you’re looking for. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Does the trade show venue have any height restrictions you should factor in? (Most venues have a cap of 16 to 20 feet for an island exhibit.)
- Do you need a set-apart, semi-private area for conferences or meetings?
- Do you plan to play product demos or other promotional videos on monitors?
- Do you need surfaces to display products or other items?
- Does a fluid, organic appearance or a geometric, modern appearance better fit your brand?
Another tip is, when you look at trade show island displays, try to envision how you would populate the fabric panels with your own graphics. Where would you put your logo? What about other images or text you want to include? In some cases, when you do this, a certain model will just click as the right option to show off your graphics.
If you fall in love with a model that doesn’t offer every accent or feature you want, don’t let this stop you from choosing it. Whether it be a literature rack, kiosk, counter or any other feature, you can purchase or rent these items separately.
Partner With SpeedPro for Trade Show Island Kits That Make a Bold Impression
When you want to make a bold impression, partner with the nation’s leading printing and graphics franchise — SpeedPro. When you work with SpeedPro, you can be confident that you’ll find trade show exhibition kits that turn your booth into a highly professional and visually impressive exhibit that draws attention to your branding and helps you accomplish your marketing goals. To connect with our team and get started creating an island trade show exhibit you’re proud of, find a SpeedPro studio near you.
