Do this before designing your expo banner

Thinking about exhibiting at an expo? Before you spend a penny on a stand, there’s some groundwork to do. In this post, Kim Ellis shares what to sort first, from nailing your message to designing a banner that actually stops your ideal client in their tracks.

Not all conferences, expos or tradeshows are the same (I’m just going to call them expos in this for ease). You’ve got your massive national and international ones like World of Learning, Learning Technologies, DevLearn or the CIPD Festival of Work to name a few. Then you’ve got your smaller events sometimes put on by local networking groups, event groups, charities or the Chamber of Commerce.

Deciding whether you exhibit at one of these expos is something a lot of small businesses consider at one time or another. I know first hand, the cost to exhibit at one of these events can range from a couple of hundred pounds to a few thousand to tens of thousands, even more sometimes (and that’s before you factor in travel, accommodation and your time).

Is exhibiting actually worth it?

Exhibiting can be the best and most fruitful experience for a business… or it can be little more than a waste of time and money. It all depends on whether the benefit outweighs the cost and whether your clients will actually be at the expo. Because if it’s just filled with competitors or collaborators then where are the big fish clients you’re actually there to catch?

Think about it, what is the likelihood you’ll make a connection which turns into a client which covers the cost of the expo space, your stand, your travel and time off to actually be on the stand all day or for multiple days?

Making the decision initially comes down to more than just cost. Because some of these expos are super cheap and you can get a roller banner for £100, but there’s no point doing it if your business isn’t ready.

Who are you selling to?

Before you even think about fonts, colours or ordering a banner, you need to know exactly who you’re trying to attract and what you want them to do next. Your banner is there to communicate your message, not help you figure out what it is. Without that groundwork, you’re just designing a very expensive decoration.

There’s a lot of work that goes into defining your value proposition, your message and your ideal customer profile, which you then need to translate into a banner and other merch type things to leave a lasting impression. To show you what I mean, take a look at these two banners:

The one on the right tells people far more about who you help and why they should care.

And take it from me, deciding what to put on your banner is harder than you think. I’ve been exhibiting for years with The Learning Network and Free Spirits, and even with all that experience our new look banner went through a dozen alterations before I said ‘sod it’ and sent it to print. If you want to see it, we’ll be showing it off at the BNX Expo in Morley on 16 July 2026 and World of Learning on 6-7 October.

Side note: this time I’ve gone for a 1500mm wide roller banner (usually roller banners are around 900mm wide but I wanted bigger). The old banner was a stretchy sock over a frame and while it looks really nice and professional it was an absolute pain in the butt to put up and I simply don’t have the oxygen to fight with that style anymore… no matter how great it looked (the stand was blooming heavy too).

Think of your banner as your shop window

People are going to look at your banner and decide in seconds whether you’re worth talking to. So it needs to grab attention, the top half especially needs to hook them in and be clear about what you do.

When I wander the expo corridors, I’m scanning the messaging, I’m not so much bothered about colours, layout or how good the merch is at this point, more like I’m trying to figure out what that company does. Are they someone worth talking to for either Free Spirits or a potential connection for a Go Ginger client?

If their banner doesn’t hook me right away, then there’s the awkward linger where I don’t know if I want to talk to the vendor or not. And then I might see them approaching with hope in their eyes and I’ve still no idea what they actually do. Which can then lead to an awkward conversation for a few minutes which yields nothing for them or for me.

But that’s the problem with an uncertain banner, it can fill your day with unproductive conversations rather than attracting the people you really should be talking to. A great banner should stop your ideal client in their tracks and compel them to come and talk to you. At an expo filled with banners, yours is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting.

Try the five-second test

Before you send your banner to print, take a moment to think of these three questions:

• What do we do?
• Who do we help?
• Why would someone stop and talk to us?

If you can’t answer them within five seconds or so, keep editing. Even better, get a friend to give it a look over too.

I’ve used XL Displays for both my banners and their service is really great. They’ve written an article to give you more tips on designing the perfect banner. If you’re not ready to exhibit yet, make sure you save this post for the future.

Fancy exhibiting without the cost?

But if reading all this has got you thinking ‘I’d love to exhibit but I just can’t afford it’, you’re in luck. Applications are open right now for one Free Spirits member to share our stand at World of Learning (NEC Birmingham, 6-7 October), exhibition space included, at no cost to you. It’s a proper chance to get your brand in front of thousands of people without the hefty price tag. All the details and application form can be found here.