How To Make Your Booth Stand Out

Do you ever staff booths at public events to get the word out about pollution prevention, buying organic or any of the many sustainability solutions? Here are some great suggestions for attracting attention, from members of the Fostering Sustainable Behavior listserv .
From: “Fostering Sustainable Behavior Listserv”
Date: June 15, 2007 7:00:37 AM PDT

• A tool that works well is to have an eye-catching game which is not only educational about a subject but also fun! I’ve used a huge Jeopardy board (plastic sheets with removable papers taped onto a tarp that was taped to a van –HUGE and eye-catching!) to great success in the water quality arena. By asking participants questions about a particular subject with local implications, you may highlight gaps in knowledge, spurring conversation. Backing this up with some pamphlets and of course, prizes, generated a lot of attention and participation at several Earth Day/Stream Clean-ups this Spring…. And if you need media coverage, it makes a great photo!
• Families with young kids could be attracted by a colorful display of balloons and an offer to give the kids face painting, or some very cheap simple little thing kids could do (how about toss the trash in the recycling bin? You could make up little stryofoam?? (not the best material) objects and label them “soda cans” “soup cans” “bundle of paper” etc and have cardboard boxes painted green and labeled “recycling bins” and kids get to toss the objects into the bins and win a little “I can help save the earth” button, or sticker or whatever is small and cheap and likely to appeal to kids. The kids will want to go to the booth and they will take the parents with them and then you can pitch to the parents.
• I would suggest finding someone to provide training on how to identify your audience. Plus at a festival, people are looking for “happenings”. Is there a way you could incorporate your message into a skit or other piece of entertainment? Perhaps have a musician/singer be a strolling minstrel directing people to your table.
• I’ve done tabling in Tulsa for our voluntary curbside recycling program. It is very effective for people who have already decided to sign-up but keep forgetting to do so. They see me with a green bin and come over right away. Other people who wanted more information also stop by. If you have a university or college nearby with a drama dept. see if someone will come talk to and train your folks about improvisation. Good luck.
• I really think that an attractive, eye-catching display without a person is more effective. I have watched passers-by stop at my booth when I was not there. If I am standing there, they pass by without making eye-contact. If a person will stop and pick up some literature, they may call with a question at their own convenience. Often they don’t want to engage in a discussion about recycling or composting when they are attending a fair or festival. In terms of language to use on such occasions, I humbly recommend by own blog on the subject: http://waterwordsthatwork.com In terms of “hooks” to start that conversation… here’s an interesting angle on that. I just returned from a trade show in New York. Booth after booth of software vendors touting products that were hard to distinguish from one another. Blah blah blah. But a professional letter writing service caught my eye with a unique offer: a free handwriting analysis. You scribble some things on a piece of paper, and they tell you what kind of person you are. It was amusing. I gave them 10 minutes, more than just about any other vendor at the event. Thing was: Their pitch was about ME, not THEM. So they caught my attention.

To search the Fostering Sustainable Behavior Listserv online archives go to http://www.cbsm.com/forums/search.lasso