Maximising visibility as an exhibitor

Exhibiting at an industry event is a significant investment. Once the stand space is secured, companies then turn their attention to ensuring their presence translates into engagement and follow-up. Interviews, press announcements, and speaking slots all play an important role in maximising visibility at a show (all things Meantime masterfully organises on your behalf), but activity on the stand is vital.

Stand Artwork and Branding

When attracting visitors to your stand, the starting point should be branding and artwork. I’m recently returned from this year’s Air Cargo Conference – a hybrid of exhibition and conference – and it was interesting to observe how companies approach this differently. Several stood out for clear, confident, recognisable branding (e.g. 7LFreight); others, surprisingly, did not even have their logo clearly visible (not naming any names… literally).

After investing in the space, no exhibitor can risk attendees walking past without knowing who they are.

Stands are also where meetings are conducted, and where photos of the team are taken. Events generate such a volume of visual content, plenty of which is repurposed after the event itself, so companies have an opportunity to extend their exposure beyond the physical show floor.

Games and Raffles

If branding gets you recognised, games get people to engage. Raffles are a classic in this industry – and, again, staple of AirCargo Conference (this year, Glyn Hughes won some much-needed extra air miles…). They’re also win-win; attendees enter the draw for sought-after prizes, and companies get new contacts from business cards.

Games get people referring others to your stand, and event-long competitions keep people circling back and checking in across multiple days.

Recent favourites of the Meantime team:

• Strike’s bowling – air cargo Europe 2025
• CCL Logistics’ basketball hoops – Multimodal 2025
• Geodis’ customisable caps – Manifest 2026

Food and Drink

Before my first event, I was told, “eat as soon as you get offered food at an exhibition – you don’t know when you’ll get another chance to eat.”

Food and drink are magnets; morning coffee, food at midday, and then around 16:00 (I’m being generous to the logistics industry here), drinks on the stand and you’ve got your own networking event:

• Schiphol’s famous stroopwafels and coffee – air cargo Europe
• Glasgow Prestwick Airport’s whisky tasting – air cargo Europe 2025
• The Belgians’ beer bar at TIACA’s Air Cargo Forum 2025 (courtesy of Nallian, Air Cargo Belgium, and Brussels Airport to name a few)
• Air Charter Service’s Tiki bar – air cargo Americas 2025
• Hactl’s sweet stand – Aviation Connect

Hosting a Stand Event

Stands also serve as venues for an event or announcement. We often help clients invite journalists onto the stand for a coffee or a light refreshment, alongside the promise of a company announcement. This could be a new customer, product launch, or partnership with a fellow exhibitor.

This allows companies to anchor their news within the momentum of the event, while providing journalists with news to report on from the show floor. A scheduled announcement draws a crowd, and ensures your company is seen to be contributing to the event’s news agenda.

Some press announcements Meantime has hosted from a client’s stand:

• Glasgow Prestwick Airport and Chicago Rockford International Airport partner to develop air cargo traffic between Scotland the U.S. – TIACA Air Cargo Forum 2024
• Oman Air confirms European ground handling network – air cargo Europe 2025

We also have two press announcements coming up this week during air cargo India, for Kale Logistics Solutions, and Awery Aviation Software. Watch this space…

Giveaways

A good event giveaway will last a lot longer than the event itself.

As I write this, I’m looking across my desk at a WFS “Remove Before Flight” tag; a Challenge Group x Boeing 747 keychain; a Multimodal 2022 portable charger; a Maersk container; a DCG Logistics phone stand; a DSV truck model; a miniature Antonov An-225 Mriya model; a wooden tulip from Oman Air and Schiphol’s MCT-AMS 2025 launch, and my TIACA and AGI pins.

Practical items (chargers, socks, adaptors, pens, notebooks) stay in rotation, and collectables (models, miniatures), my personal favourites, adorn the desks and shelves of offices worldwide.

From an attendee’s perspective, what is the effect?

You’re more likely to walk onto a stand that catches your eye.
More likely to stop if there’s something happening. More likely to start a conversation if there’s something in it for you. More likely to exchange business cards. More likely to remember a company whose branding sits on your desk. More likely to follow up with someone you met at an event when you need their services.

And at the end of the day, that’s why the stand is there in the first place.

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