Trade shows provide a valuable marketing opportunity for B2C and B2B business across the world. While many companies see the value of trade shows, a common challenge businesses face is making their exhibit stand out among dozens of other booths. This challenge is likely the reason that 30% of companies plan to increase their trade show budgets.
Of course, you want to be strategic about investing in great displays that add the most value to your booth. We’ve all heard it said that the devil is in the details, but at SpeedPro, we know that the key to a successful trade show booth can also be found in the details. Backwall accents are details you can add to any fabric backwall display to enhance your design and add practical function, both of which can aid your marketing efforts. If you already have or are planning to purchase backwall displays, consider how adding some backwall accents can help you take your display to the next level.
What Are Trade Show Backwall Accents?
Backwall accents are add-ons designed to pair with the Formulate® collection of fabric backwalls. Trade show backwall displays are freestanding fabric displays comprised of printed zipper pillowcase graphics that slip over the lightweight frames to show off your branding or custom imagery to enhance your booth space. Backwalls come in a variety of sizes, some small enough to place on a tabletop and others large enough to span your entire booth as a backdrop.
Backwall accents are designed to pair with these larger displays. Accents include a variety of items which can all add both function and visual appeal to your backwall displays.
What Are the Types of Backwall Accents?
Backwall accents come in a variety of types that fall within three categories — canopies and dividers, ladder accents and connectors.
1. Canopies and Dividers
Canopies and dividers are large panels that can add dimension and visual interest to any booth. These accents are specially made to work with the Formulate Master 20- or 30-foot straight backwall. Since the straight backwall is simplistic in its design, adding a canopy above it or a divider under it can add more complexity to your design and provide more surface for custom graphics.
Canopy options are just over 4 feet wide, so they create a strip of coverage over your booth. Choose from a canopy with a curved top and one with straight lines that come together at a 90-degree angle. In addition to the design detail your canopy adds, you also gain a counter on the inside of the canopy.
Trade show dividers are approximately 3 feet high and extend from one end of the backwall up to the front of your 10-foot-deep booth, then rounds the corner and extends about 5 feet across the front of your booth. This accent helps to enclose your booth for a more defined space, and of course, you get to feature more of your custom graphics.
2. Ladder Accents
Formulate ladder accents include different features, but they are all called ladder accents because they are tall and relatively narrow and lean back against your backwall. They are made to connect to your 10- or 20-foot backwall at the top via clamps. Most options also have a convex curvature to them.
You can select an option that consists solely of a graphic on the ladder frame, or you can choose models that feature various functional components along with your custom graphics. These components include shelves, monitor mounts and countertops. For options that include laminate surfaces like shelves or counters, you can select the finish you like best, whether it be silver, black, mahogany or natural.
Ladder accents can enhance your exhibit space both in terms of aesthetic and practicality. While you can purchase other accessories for your booth that include shelving, counters and monitor mounts, these trade show display accessories are freestanding. Freestanding displays can also be very useful, but ladder accents are specifically designed to integrate with your backwall display.
3. Connectors
Fabric display backwall connectors are a very useful accent when you want to combine two backwall pieces to double the width of your booth. These panels cover the seam between two backwall pieces. A common scenario for many exhibitors is that they attend some trade shows where they have a 10-foot booth and others where they have a 20-foot booth. With a trade show backwall connector, two 10-foot backwalls quickly turn into a seamless 20-foot display.
These panels, like backwalls themselves, are made from aluminum frames covered in pillowcase fabric graphics. They come in a variety of shapes. Your connector features the graphic of your choice. Since it serves as a centerpiece of your backwall display, you can use it to prominently feature your logo or any other element of your branding.
In addition to choosing a style you like the look of, you can select a connector that includes a built-in monitor mount. This monitor mount makes it easy to turn your backwall into a multimedia display.
What Are the Benefits of Backwall Accents?
So, why should you consider adding fabric display accents to your backwall in your trade show booth? Tension fabric accessories offer some valuable benefits. These include:
1. Seamless Integration
One of the big benefits backwall accents offer is that, since they are designed to work with backwall displays, they integrate seamlessly with your display. You don’t have to rig up ways to connect a trade show canopy to your backwall, for instance. You can simply select a canopy that is designed to connect to your backwall effortlessly. If you need to connect two backwalls, connectors allow you to seamlessly integrate these pieces into one display.
This makes setting up your booth easier and makes it appear more consistent and professional to visitors. Projecting a professional image through your display is critical at a trade show. People will automatically form an impression of your company based on what they can see, so make sure what they see is professional and projects your brand’s personality.
2. Versatility
Accents can also add versatility to your booth. Your strategy may vary from trade show to trade show, so it makes sense that your display should also vary to help you accomplish your goals at each event. Since you can add or remove backwall accents to your display, they make it easy to repurpose your exhibit for each trade show you attend.
When you add monitor mounts, shelving and table tops to your trade show display, the opportunities are endless for how you can use those features. For instance, you can use a monitor to play product demos. Shelving and tabletops provide a place to set all sorts of items, including products, awards, forms and more. Connectors are versatile because they allow you to repurpose separate backwalls to form one large display. If you’re looking for display types that open up lots of options for your booth, backwall accents are a great solution.
3. Customization
Trade show backwall accents also allow you to customize your booth further. One way it does that is in the versatile options we discussed above. But backwall accents also offer design details that help bring your vision to life, whether it’s digital display accents, a canopy, a divider or any other feature.
Additionally, all backwall accents include at least one graphic panel, either fabric or rigid. This means you can use these accessories to show off the custom graphics of your choice. When you want to project your brand across your booth, customization is key. Don’t settle for a plain TV cart or shelf when you can have one that has your custom graphics built in.
How Can You Use Backwall Canopies and Dividers?
If you choose to add a canopy or a divider to your booth, there are many ways to use these accents:
- Define your booth space: Dividers and canopies for trade shows can help define your booth space by enclosing it. This can be a helpful way to make your booth feel more like its own area amidst a sea of other companies’ booths. It isn’t just about physical separation. Defining your booth is also about making it appear unique compared to other companies’ booths. An interesting detail like a canopy or divider can help your booth design stand out.
- Draw the eye up: A canopy can also draw the attention of passersby up to the top of your booth, especially if they’re not used to seeing an overhead display at other booths. Drawing attention up is helpful since your canopy prominently features your custom graphic. Use your canopy to raise brand awareness and hopefully interest people enough to enter your booth and learn more.
- Set out contact forms: A tabletop attached to the inside of a canopy provides a perfect spot to set a variety of items. One helpful idea is to place paper forms on your tabletop where people can provide their contact information. When you get contact information from visitors to your booth, you can follow up on these leads and convert these interested people into clients or customers. Lead generation is one of the most critical benefits trade shows offer.
How Can You Use Backwall Ladder Accents?
Here are some ideas for how you can use backwall ladder accents in your booth:
- Play product demo videos: A monitor mount gives you a place to display a television screen. You can use your monitor for a variety of multimedia purposes. One idea is to show a video that demonstrates your product. Make sure the video is on a loop so everyone who comes by gets to see it. Make sure you don’t rely on sound for your video to make sense since a trade show hall tends to be noisy. Instead, let the visuals speak for themselves or add captions.
- Display products: Ladder accents with countertops or shelves provide the perfect place to show off your products, as long as they are small enough to fit. If you select a ladder accent that also has a monitor mount on it, you can play a video explaining or demonstrating your product and use the shelving or counter to display the product itself. You can also display other things, like awards your company has achieved.
- Host a game: Another way you can use a shelf of counter on your backwall accent is to host a game. People love games and contests, and this is a great way for companies to make their booth more interactive. Be sure to offer a prize people will actually be excited to receive. An easy game is a guess-how-many jar. Include slips of paper and a container for people to submit their guesses. Also be sure to collect contact information.
How Can You Use Backwall Connectors?
Connectors don’t only bring backwalls together. These versatile accents can help you accomplish many goals in your trade show booth, including:
- Add branding through multimedia: Some backwall connectors for trade shows include monitor mounts. This means you can easily add a multimedia component to your booth. You can show all sorts of videos on this screen, but one idea that works well on a backwall is to highlight the things that make your brand. It could be an animated logo, slogan, your company’s values, vision or mission statement or any other thing that defines your brand. With digital signage, you don’t have to choose just one.
- Centralize your logo: Since your connector is covered in a custom graphic that joins two larger graphic backwalls, you can use this piece to add a pop of contrast. Be mindful of what your backwalls look like in terms of color scheme and the level of complexity so you can create a connector that pops. An effective strategy is to include your logo on your connector so it’s featured prominently in a central location where people are likely to notice it.
- Double the size of your booth: No matter what graphic you choose to feature on your connector, it will accomplish an important task. Since a connector brings two backwalls together, it allows you to double the width of your booth. More space means more opportunity to make an impact. It can give you space to display more of your products, hold meetings, host larger-scale games or simply get people’s attention more effectively.
Trade Show Display Accents From SpeedPro
As the nation’s leading print and graphics franchise, SpeedPro is the partner you can trust to help you create a visually striking trade show exhibit that will stand out from the competition and get the attention of attendees. Whether you want to raise brand awareness, increase sales, form new partnerships or accomplish any other trade show goal, you need an amazing display to help you do it.
Exhibit backwall displays along with backwall accents from SpeedPro can help you bring your ideal inline or peninsula trade show booth to life. To speak with our staff and learn more about what you need to create a display that helps you accomplish your goals, find a SpeedPro studio near you. We have studios all over the country, so you can have a personable experience working with the dedicated SpeedPro staff in your local area.
