How Does Signage Affect The Event Experience?
Events involve many moving parts and sometimes the most basic elements can be unintentionally overlooked by event organisers. Whilst planning, step into the attendee’s shoes and consider challenges an attendee may face when attending your event such as finding your way around the event for example. Taking this objective look can help you create an effective visual communications plan for your next event and hopefully uncover any of the sticking points or pitfalls your visitors may have.
Directional Signage
According to Jamie for Dock Street Signs in Leeds “Use directional signage for many areas of your event, to help your visitors to find important areas.” Keep the event branding incorporated to keep the message consistent and in peoples mind. Help guide people to where they need to go for food, drink and souvenir stands etc.
When people attend events, they always have many questions including where is the bathroom? Where is the agenda? How do I get to the, etc? Use branded signage to answer your attendee questions and incorporate wayfinding that helps event attendees work out how to get where they want to go. Consider what the most frequent question will be before the event will help and will be great to help you get organised and ensure that people get less stressed and therefore enjoy their experience.
Avoid Distraction
It is easy to get distracted at events when there is so much to do and see. Use signage at these events to help minimise the overwhelming nature of events. This will help each trade stand and booths to get a flow of traffic of people.
Use Signage For Buzz
Be social and create a buzz by using signage to draw people into talking about your event on social media. Get your event staff to walk and talk and be brand ambassadors. Walking around the event and venue spreading the word about your brand.
Get Creative
Get creative with your signage at events. Utilise your surroundings. Signs don’t have to be limited to a wall or banner stands. If your event is outside, try displaying a banner in between trees or use the pavement to ger your message across. Other places where there will be a large footfall of people are great opportunities to get people thinking about your brand at an event. Think about stairwells, boats, lifts, event flags, even escalators! Try to turn any unlikely object or element into a signage opportunity and remember big visuals are more likely to attract attention to your brand.
Touch screens, interactive tables, augmented reality or virtual reality are perfect ways to grab attention at your event and a great way to get engagement from your audience.
In Large venues, large window graphics can work well. They can be viewed from the outside, but they won’t affect the view from the inside. During temporary events, some see-through graphics are also great to use. Certain materials can be easily removed too.
Hopefully after reading that you are buzzing with ideas to make your event a huge success and you can see how signage can affect the event experience.
