Interactive installations at trade shows and exhibitions – overview

Learn here how interactive installations support effective and efficient business communication and what you should consider when planning one.

At an event, have you ever been addressed by an interactive table asking you for your business card? Those of you who regularly attend tradeshows or art exhibitions might currently notice an increase in organizations’ use of digital interactive installations to reach out to their target groups.

What Is an Interactive Installation?

Definition: An interactive installation is a mostly digital, voluminous, stationary and often site- or situation-specific technical construction that serves a communicative and/or artistic purpose. With respect to business communication, those are, for instance, multi-touch tables, interactive display cases, or interactive projections.

These installations are typically not controlled by input devices such as a computer mouse or keyboard. Instead, they are controlled by intuitive modes of interaction such as movement or gesture, by objects, or by the user’s movements in space (i.e. in the room). The term ‘interactive’ here refers to the fact that the user is not just a passive observer, but directly influences the installation and receives direct feedback from it.

Interactive Tables with Multi-Touch Technology

An example of a popular and widely used interactive installation is the multi-touch table. Its concept combines the traditional basic features of a central piece of utility furniture with modern modes of interaction through touch gestures on its multi-touch surface. Capable of recognising and processing up to 80 parallel touch inputs, a multi-touch table is also a multi-user installation. Its users can view content such as images, text, videos and 3D models, move them freely across the surface, and modify, activate and deactivate them. Integrated object recognition modules further enhance the interactivity of the touch screen, allowing users to interact with the table using objects such as product samples, paper cards or haptic markers. Additional fun in using a multi-touch table can be achieved through installed games or playful approaches to presentation (gamification). Multimedia elements such as light and sound effects appeal to additional senses and enhance the overall impression of a gamified interactive installation.

Examples of Interactive Installations

But how can companies put the numerous options of interactive installations to concrete use on trade shows and exhibitions? First of all, an interactive installation often is an eyecatcher with a certain remote effect. That is to say, by means of its mere outward appearance it enhances your trade show booth’s remote visibility and attractiveness. A multi-touch table can also partly take over the role of booth staff by proactively welcoming visitors (with visual and/or audio signals) and then suggesting to them different topics and content to choose from. An object recognition module for instance provides the user with multimedia information on a product he or she places on the interactive tabletop. Here, a clever connection between analogue and digital is achieved that holds a certain surprise effect for visitors. Furthermore, the table can ask visitors to leave their business cards, which are captured by integrated cameras and then displayed digitally on the table. Now users can use this digitized business cards to sign up for a newsletter or enter a raffle. All this goes to show that an interactive installation is an ideal means to achieve the classic goal of a trade show, namely, among others, to generate business contacts.

The Benefits of Interactive Installations

A multi-touch table is a good example of how to capture the attention of an exhibition audience, direct them to specific content or topics and encourage their active participation. Visitors will not only receive the intended message, but will also remember it and associate it with a positive experience.

Compared to the traditional stand with only analogue and passive content, interactive installations can help to implement an innovative and playful concept. Sometimes this even results in less need for assistance or advice from stand personnel.

Visitors find interactive installations so attractive and enjoyable because they themselves can select and influence the content. Business companies, on the other hand, can feed the installations exactly with the digital content that optimally serves their communicative goals. The better and the more intuitive the implementation of user guidance and gamification, the more fun it is.

The Downside of Interactive Installations

It is always advisable to carefully weigh the possibilities that modern tradeshow and exhibition technologies hold against their costs and potential disadvantages. Part of this is recognising that an interactive installation in a sales or consultancy process can never really match the quality of personal communication. It can, however, aid and support this communication in a targeted way. For instance, with a digital presentation along which the booth personnel can lead their sales pitch and guide the visitor.

Also, a technical construction alone is no substitute for a sound communication concept and management. Rather, the installation must be cunningly and seamlessly integrated into the preexisting communicative concept of the trade show booth. This can be hard for companies with little or no previous experience in interactive modes of presentation. You should hence seek advice and look for support beforehand.

Some companies shy away from the relatively high initial investment in an interactive installation. In the long run, however, these installations prove to be particularly economical: the hardware can be used for years. In this long-term use, a CMS that allows the company to update and adapt content for different purposes and audiences provides the necessary flexibility.

Interactive Installations According to an Individualized Concept

With good planning and clever integration, an interactive installation can be an effective and efficient communication tool for companies and organisations. It has the potential to turn visitors into active users and engage them with a company’s issues and content.

Benefit from Garamantis’ rich experience and reach out to us for free and non-binding advice. We will introduce you to new possibilities of using interactive installations in your business’s favor.