International exhibitions can make up a large part of your events calendar as an international business. While they can be rewarding, more often than not, you might find that getting that conversion is slightly harder work than it is in home exhibitions. This is likely because your stand speaks of different values and priorities to the culture you are surrounded in. So, how do you improve this? You use the local culture of the exhibition to influence your international exhibition stand.
There are many reasons you should consider doing this and several ways to achieve it.
At Extreme Group, we are expert and experienced international exhibition stand designers. With 30 years of experience, we have helped clients from a range of industries design, manufacture and manage their exhibition stands around the world. During this time, we have honed our skills to incorporate cultures from the surrounding area of the exhibition to help you get more engagement and easier results.
In this blog, we share ways we use culture to influence your international exhibition stand.
Design & cultural aesthetics
No matter where you are in the world, a visually interesting stand will grab the attention of visitors, making the design of your exhibition important.
Therefore, this makes a good place to start when trying to include local culture into your stand.
Our international exhibition stand designers often research the culture of the event’s location to find any traditional motifs or art patterns that might be relevant to your company and the exhibition.
When done correctly, this is an obvious sign that you have researched the area and are distinguishing yourself from surrounding competitors, who may not have done the same.
Use local materials
Another way to use culture to influence your international exhibition stand is to use materials sourced from the local area.
Similar to including a pattern that is highly regarded in the culture, using local materials can help you stand out from the crowd and be distinctive.
Showcasing local materials and craftsmanship highlights the region’s cultural heritage and traditions, making the stand more relatable and appealing to local visitors.
Additionally, using materials or crafts is a great way to bridge a cultural gap between your company and those attending, making your business feel more inclusive and welcoming.
Add cultural symbols and icons
Demonstrate a knowledge of the local area by adding references to landmarks or symbols from the culture and location.
This could be using images of the landmarks as a background to text or images alongside text. Or, it could be using their flag within your stand. Don’t forget animals can represent meanings within cultures, so can make great cultural symbols.
Make sure this is done where relevant because you don’t want to confuse the message behind your stand. Our team of international exhibition stand designers are specialists at integrating these into your stand to enhance communication and attract attention without detracting from your message.
Multi-lingual communication
Many international exhibitions will take place somewhere where their first language is not English. An easy way to acknowledge the culture of a location is to provide multi-lingual communications.
This could be including a translation to their native language on your display boards or offering an audio translation. But this needs to go beyond the stand itself. If you are providing brochures, leaflets or any other materials, be sure to have these translated too.
If you are going to a place where there are multiple languages spoken, for example, Switzerland, where they speak French, German, Italian and Romansh, provide the materials in a number of languages to give your visitors the chance to read in their mother tongue.
This will have a positive impact on the engagement with your visitors because it makes your stand and content accessible for everyone attending, meaning they are more likely to convert as they understand what you are offering.
Offer cultural cuisine
While this initially sounds specific to food shows, it can be used across any international exhibition.
The team of international exhibition stand designers at Extreme Group will often include a designated sweet or biscuit tin, or the like, that can be filled with small snacks from the local area to give away to stand visitors.
Everyone loves being able to take something away, especially if it can be eaten, but not everyone loves trying new things, so embrace the local food and culture and offer them their own food.
Speak to our international exhibition stand designers
If you are heading to an international exhibition event and are looking for a stand to attend the event with, get in touch with our international exhibition stand designers today.
We will collaborate with you to design, manufacture and manage (should you need it) a bespoke stand that reflects the culture of the event location. We can even sort out the logistics of your stand.
Our aim is always to create a stand that will capture the attention of the attendees and create an unforgettable experience that will be remembered long after they walk away.
Before starting our process, we will get to know your business and the objectives of this event so that we can build a stand geared towards achieving your goals.
Whether you want to include experiential marketing, interactive VR or a few simple display boards, we can help.
Contact us today to discuss our services and ways we can use the local culture in your exhibition stand. Call us on 01202 620550 or complete our online contact form to request a callback.
