Exhibiting at trade shows and conferences is a great way to reach a targeted audience for your products and services. Booth space can be expensive, so it’s important to get the most out of your investment. That’s why you should be thinking about providing a quality user experience when you’re exhibiting at trade shows. One of the ways you can do this is by creating a special kind of PowerPoint presentation that is eye-catching and attractive enough to make people approach your booth, a looping slideshow.
Looping slideshow vs. live presentation
A looping slideshow is a PowerPoint presentation that plays over and over again on a screen. There are a few fundamental differences between a looping slideshow and a presentation you’d use while speaking:
Looping slideshows don’t support a speaker.
They’re not being presented, they run all on their own and they’re are often ignored by the booth staff. Looping slideshows are just meant to attract visitors. Because of this, they should be simple and straightforward and require no additional explanation to viewers understand.
Looping slideshows don’t tell your whole story.
They supply some information about you or your company, but not all of it. Once the person is at your booth, it’s up to you to engage him.
Looping slideshows are non-sequential.
Even though you’ll still have Slide 1, Slide 2, Slide 3, etc., in your presentation, a viewer might come in at Slide 8 and leave at Slide 10. So each slide must be a self-contained nugget of wisdom. You can think of a looping slideshow as a series of billboards.
Looping slideshows are silent.
Unless your idea of fun is to listen to the same snippet of generic corporate theme music for eight hours straight while you’re working the booth, it’s best that the slideshow be a silent movie. Besides, there’s enough noise on the trade show floor already without your slideshow adding to the din and overall confusion.
Looping slideshows use more animation effects and video.
Because a looping presentation isn’t being used to support a speaker, it has to stand on its own merits. Simply showing text on a slide or captioning a photograph is as dull as dirt. Jazz up the display with interesting entrance/exit transitions, kinetic typography, informative animation and video. You can be a lot more dramatic with movement and effects for a looping slideshow. Remember, this is eye candy. Have fun with it!
What a looping slideshow looks like
I created a looping slideshow then exported this as a movie file so you can see what it looks like as it’s running. It ends after one cycle, but it would actually run continuously at the trade show.
Great video on the cheap
Not everybody has access to a video editing suite. But with PowerPoint you can make engaging slides and, with creative transitions, animations and embedded videos, create a great eyeball magnet for your next trade show booth. Or, if you prefer to shop this out, I know of a great presentation designer who loves this type of work! 😉