It’s a busy time of year for our Interactive Exhibit Design service, as so many major conferences and trade shows are scheduled for the summer. And from May 31 to June 2 in Ranchos Palos Verdes, California, the tech industry gathered for the third annual Code Conference. The event drew speakers like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Bill and Melinda Gates, and Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook) for “an invitation-only event where top industry influencers gather for in-depth conversations about the current and future impact of digital technology on our lives — at home, at work, in our communities and the world.”

While the Code Conference had lofty goals, this year’s conference may as well have been called the Elon Musk show. That’s because the vast majority of news stories that came out of the conference were about the Tesla Motors/SpaceX leader’s comments about everything from AI to martian colonization. USA Today even ran a headline that read, “The 3 craziest things Elon Musk said at Code conference.”

So how do you guarantee that your company generates buzz at your next trade show? Obviously “being Elon Musk” isn’t very helpful advice, but our interactive Exhibit Design Service can still offer some tips for making the most of your next event. While some exhibit design services focus solely on building their portfolios, we know that generating leads and conversions are what really matter. So how can you make sure your exhibit helps you get leads at your text trade show?

1. The Elon Musk Strategy: Say Something Crazy
Musk didn’t get where he is in life by accident. Not only does the man know how to run a business, but he knows how to work a crowd and play the media like a fiddle. It’s not a coincidence that Musk made so many outlandish statements at Code Conference. Whether he was openly speculating whether our world is nothing more than an alien videogame, or discussing his dream of landing on Mars, headlines followed Musk wherever he went.

In our social media obsessed culture, there’s no better way to generate buzz than by making outlandish comments to the press. Not only does this generate attention, but it also sucks up attention from competitors. Of course, it’s also a risky strategy. Go too far towards the crazy end of the spectrum and you only risk a PR disaster.

2. Stellar Interactive Exhibit Design
The average trade show visitor will spend 9.5 hours viewing exhibits, and at the average U.S. trade show, there will be 2.2 trade show visitors packed into every 100 square feet of exhibit space. There’s a reason why companies spend $24 billion annually on trade show displays, even though surveys show 70% of exhibitors have no defined goals for these events.

Interactive exhibits are the best way to set your booth apart from the rest. Not only does it make a stronger impression, but these custom exhibits draw in visitors for longer periods of time. That gives you more time to identify likely leads in the crowd. If you’re attending a major trade show this year, the same tired displays just won’t cut it. To see what our Interactive Exhibit design service can do for your company, check out our portfolio.

As an interactive exhibit design service, we know that creating a killer exhibit at a trade show is part art and part science. There are certain hard and fast rules to exhibit booth design (always add one inch of height to text for every foot away viewers will stand), but the best custom exhibits also require a certain creative flair as well.

3. Leverage Social Media (Correctly)
We know that this might seem obvious. Every marketing hack in the world will tell you to “leverage social media.” Unfortunately, that’s because social media marketing is so easy, anyone can do it, and do it wrong. Just like you need defined goals for a trade show, you need a pre-established plan for utilizing social media at events. Whether it’s a photo booth for attendees, a hashtag, or merely a plan to collect Linkedin followers during the event, it’s important for you to go into events with a plan.