It’s frequently the most overlooked aspect of your trade show or event stand, yet it has the power to pull design concepts together – and its absence can ruin the effect you were aiming to achieve. Here’s why your exhibition flooring matters, and how to use it to its greatest effect.
The trade stand is ready to go. It’s a powerhouse of design, bursting with light and colour. It’s going to look incredible in the exhibition hall. There’s just one problem. You forgot about the floor, and now that your stand is in situ it clashes horribly with the dull blue/grey multi-purpose flooring of the hall. That’s why your exhibition stand flooring matters.
Benefits of events flooring
It’s easy to think of temporary event flooring as a nice to have. Yet in reality it can be among the most important elements of your trade stand or event space. Here’s why.
Pull your design concept together
The individual elements of your event stand need to sit within a space that enables them to flex their muscles. Without the ‘connective tissue’ of trade show flooring to carry your design theme from counter to display stand to banner, each separate element will remain just that – separate. That reduces impact and lessens the effect you were aiming to achieve.
Impress
Not every event stand will pay as much attention to the exhibition flooring as you do. But the ones that do will stand out not just in terms of visual punch, but in terms of attention to detail and the ability to fully realise a concept. Even if they don’t quite realise why, trade show delegates will feel the difference.
Hide the scars, stay on brand
An exhibition hall floor gets a lot of punishment. Even at its best, the heavy duty flooring may clash with your stand. At worst, it could be sufficiently grubby and stained to detract from it. If you’re really unlucky, it could put visitors in mind of a competitor’s brand colours – and you really don’t want that.
The right floor covering at trade shows can conceal all the above, and keep eyes and minds fixed on what really matters.
Point the way
Your portable event flooring doesn’t have to be content with being aesthetically pleasing and on brand – it could be doing a job. Get inventive with the flooring and you could use it to create a ‘yellow brick road’ that guides visitors to your stand.
Choosing The Right Type Of Event Flooring
That’s the ‘why’ covered, but the next question is just as important. You’ve decided to use temporary event flooring, but which flooring should you use? Here are three powerful options:
Temporary indoor flooring for events: Vinyl floor coverings
Vinyl flooring has always been the simplest way to employ powerful, eye-catching trade show floor graphics. But it always came with an inbuilt problem: the graphic layer was placed beneath a protective vinyl sheet, but because the vinyl layer was thin, it didn’t take much for the floor to become scratched, worn or torn.
In a high traffic area, that damage could happen quickly and was virtually impossible to repair convincingly. So what started as a powerful visual partner to your stand quickly became a distorted liability.
Not anymore.
Next generation vinyls do away with ‘thin’, replacing the old ‘protective’ layer with two new, PVC layers with the graphics printed onto one of them. The second layer is then placed on top, neatly sandwiching the image in a tough, uncompromising layer that’s virtually impervious to everyday wear and tear. The result? Events flooring that starts out as powerful and attention grabbing stays that way.
Flooring for events: Lino floor coverings
If you’ve ever worked a trade show, you’ll know that by the end of the day you’re usually ready to bin your shoes and spend the evening soaking your feet. That ‘trade show foot’ is caused by your leg muscles tightening as they stand on a hard surface for hours, restricting blood flow to the calves and feet.
It’s not just you either. Chances are your average trade show delegate is experiencing the same thing after spending hours wandering the hall and stopping for conversations.
That’s where non-slip, cushioned PVC or lino floor coverings come into their own as portable event flooring. Because ultimately, it doesn’t matter how compelling your product offering is if, by the time it gets to 3pm, delegates’ feet are screaming at them to leave.
Presenting them with temporary event flooring that helps get the blood flowing again makes them more likely to stop, and more willing to hold a conversation.
It’s also much kinder to your staff, ensuring that when you need them to be at their best, they can be.
Temporary flooring for events: outdoor floor coverings
Durability. Safety (in all weathers). And simplicity in application and removal: these are the non-negotiables of temporary outdoor event flooring.
The latest generation of flooring manages to combine all of these in wide format digital print that packs an incredible visual punch. Use as car park floor signage, walkway direction indicators or paths. Or use outdoor floor coverings on a grander scale as the footprint to your outdoor event, or to cover unloved, underutilized and previously unwelcoming spaces, transforming them into places people want to be.
When choosing your temporary flooring for outdoor events, consider the following:
Visual impact: It’s not just the power of the graphic print. With the right outdoor flooring, even the space between the print can deliver impact. With AlumiGraphics® GRIP, for example, unprinted areas are reflective – handy for unlit areas or where your outdoor flooring is intended to direct visitor traffic.
Better grip: Even in driving rain, you’ll want your trade show flooring to enhance pedestrian grip. The latest outdoor event flooring achieves that by marrying non-skid surfaces to an aluminium substrate. With expert installation, it can last for months.
Easy to apply and remove: You’d probably prefer to avoid the need to drag heat guns (and their extension cables) across your trade show floor to lay your outdoor coverings. The latest materials mean you won’t have to. And when the time comes to remove your trade show floor displays, they’ll come away clean, without leaving lots of residue.
How to get your trade show floor displays right
It’s worth taking the time to get the floor covering at trade shows right. Exhibition flooring isn’t an add-on or extra. It’s as integral to the overall success of the stand as any other element.
To discuss how to give maximum impact, talk to us.
Further Reading:
Print Display Materials for Exhibitions, Events, Trade Shows & Conferences
Fabric Exhibition Display Stands – A Complete Guide
Choosing The Right Light Up Exhibition Display Stands
How To Create More Eco-Friendly Exhibition Display Stands
The Future of Events, Exhibitions & Trade Shows Post Covid
