From a science fiction concept to a powerful tool leveraged by creative professionals, AI has come a long way in a short time. While some are putting off their use of AI as long as possible for various reasons, at Slate360, we’re embracing it to enhance our creative process, work more efficiently, and collaborate more effectively with our clients.
While future articles will address how companies can use AI to increase in-booth engagement, improve data capture and analysis, and other related topics, this one focuses on how and why AI is so helpful in the booth design process.
Tradeshow Booth Design: The Foundation of Productive Interactions
Before diving into the design process, it’s important to consider why tradeshow booth design matters. Someone new to tradeshows in general and healthcare tradeshows in particular might understandably think, “The booth is just where you meet with people. What’s most important is the products and services a company offers.”
It’s true that a company’s offerings are a primary driver of booth traffic and engagement. If your products or services aren’t meeting attendees’ needs or are viewed as inferior or ineffective, no booth design is going to convince people to talk with you about them. However, assuming you have excellent offerings, a well-designed booth can act as a magnet, drawing show attendees in and encouraging them to engage with your brand.
As experienced marketers can attest, often, the difference between someone becoming a customer or walking away uninterested is that light that goes on in their mind when they view a compelling piece of content, engage with an interesting and informative display, etc. There truly are multiple make-or-break moments as an attendee considers a company’s products at a tradeshow.
A thoughtfully developed booth design plays a pivotal role in tilting the odds in the business’s favor.
From Concept to Approved Design: AI as Our Copilot
To be clear, involving AI in developing tradeshow booth designs doesn’t mean allowing it to drive the process. Instead, using AI empowers our skilled and experienced designers with powerful tools that help them reach critical insights.
Having AI as a “copilot” provides (or will soon offer) multiple benefits, including:
Accelerated ideation and visualization
If you’ve ever been in a creative brainstorming meeting, you know that it can involve all kinds of exercises to get the creative juices flowing and help the participants reach a shared mental model. The sessions can be very effective, but they take time.
AI does something similar but in a matter of seconds, considering user prompts and an array of inputs, including images of a client’s existing tradeshow properties and others they like, to generate the requested number of concepts for consideration. Designers and company stakeholders can then discuss these concepts and have AI iterate further—in real time—on any that seem promising, repeating the process until participants land on one or a few ideas that the design team will explore further.
AI tools can be used in all phases of ideation, from mood board creation to booth concept development, and they can even leverage rough inputs like simple sketches to create gorgeous, lifelike images. Capitalizing on their impressive processing power can be a huge time-saver.
Data-optimized designs
The best booth designs are informed by client preferences but also results from past tradeshows. AI will increasingly capitalize on vast datasets from events to provide recommendations on how a booth can best attract attendees and support a company’s marketing strategy and sales efforts.
The predictive analytics capabilities of AI tools will continue to take more of the guesswork out of booth design. As a result, it will empower design teams to replace statements like, “We believe these design features will engage your target audience effectively,” with “The data tells us you’ll get the best results with these design features.”
Enhanced personalization
We’ll expand on this concept in future articles, but success at healthcare tradeshows rides on a company’s ability to deliver relevant and targeted information to attendees. AI can help create booth designs that support those goals.
Streamlined collaborative workflows
After ideation and concept selection, AI helps refine rough concepts into fully realized designs. Tools can be used to integrate input from our designers, booth construction experts, and clients to create a design that is eye-catching and helps the client achieve their tradeshow goals while also being executable in the real world.
From 3D renderings to virtual walkthroughs, AI can produce deliverables that enable faster feedback and better decision-making, resulting in a smoother and more efficient design process.
More cost-effective, sustainable booth concept development
By optimizing the design process and reducing the need for multiple physical prototypes, AI tools can help companies save money on concept development and booth design. AI can also assist in identifying and vetting the latest eco-friendly practices in tradeshow booth creation, including providing insights on sustainable materials and waste reduction.
AI in Tradeshow Booth Design: Looking Ahead
One of the most remarkable things about AI is its exponential growth. AI tools are learning and evolving at a rate humans almost can’t comprehend, so it’s impossible to say where the technology will be even a year from now.
Our approach—and our advice to clients—is to be as open-minded and flexible as possible. Of course, that doesn’t mean abandoning critical thinking. The companies behind AI tools, like all companies, will likely make certain promises their products can’t keep. So, while we eagerly anticipate each advance in AI technology, we’re focused on only adding to our toolkit the products that improve our design processes and deliver value to our clients.
That said, the future of AI in healthcare marketing is bright!
At Slate360, we’re excited about the possibilities AI presents in helping healthcare organizations stand out in a competitive landscape, ensuring their brand messages resonate and their tradeshow investments produce exceptional returns.
If you’re looking to enhance your tradeshow strategy by creating a new tradeshow booth or modifying an existing property, we encourage you to contact us. Together, we can explore how an AI-powered design can transform our shared vision into a reality.