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At a typical trade show, the back wall of your exhibit space is covered by a backdrop or a display such as a PopUp Display. This is the perfect use of a popup display and it lets you make a bold statement about your company's products and services.

In this way your PopUp Display doesn't just serve as a backdrop to your display area, but also gives your display area definition and dimension. It also allows you to focus attention on a specific image that you want people to identify with your product.

Of course it is possible just to set your popup against the back wall, put a table in front of it, spread out your brochures, and get away with that. But you can do better than that. You should carefully calculate the space requirements and the specifications of your popup display, then design your display area around it.

As already mentioned your PopUp should do double-duty as both a backdrop and your most important vehicle for promoting the image of your company and your most important message. Take a fews steps back from your display for a few seconds and look at it from your customer's point of view. What is he or she most interested in?

First, since she has come some distance to check out some specific exhibits, chances are she is looking for a familiar company name. Make sure to give them what they are looking for. Use striking trade show graphics to display your logo prominently near the top of the display. That way it will be as visible as possible above the heads of the people standing in front.

The same is true of your most important message. Try to encapsulate your product or service in one or two words that you can focus on. This could very well be a product logo, especially if it is familiar to most people. But it could also be a two or three word phrase that nicely summarizes and identifies your product.

It is important to keep it near the top of your display, on one, or at most two lines, in the place where it will probably get the best.

So that takes care of the top 1/3 or so of your display's surface area. The rest should be devoted to enhancing the "primary product message". You should not use a lot of text to actually tell people the details of your product. If the show is busy, you will spend most of your time standing in front of your display, and your prospects won't be able to read the text anyway.

Use some creativity when you are your popup display or trade show booth. Usually you want to find a few large striking images and integrate them into a colorful background. In fact many good designs often use just one large image.

The important thing to remember is that people are not usually going to walk up to your display and read the information on it. That is why you should take a graphic approach rather than an informational one. If you are convinced you should stick a bunch of information-intensive graphics on your display because you think that will do a better job of communicating your message, forget it. It won't. The location, the atmosphere, and the desire are just not right for this to happen.