You’re organising a pop-up exhibition or roadshow to increase your brand’s presence. What are the pitfalls to avoid?

1.       Organising your exhibition chronologically

Pop-up exhibitions and roadshows are usually held at high-traffic venues such as shopping malls, city centres, public libraries, or as part of a bigger show such as the World Expo. At these venues, visitors can enter and exit your show at various points. Therefore, do make your content and messages modular; don’t present them chronologically. This way, your visitors won’t need to know the content from the first zone to appreciate the information in the second. They can then enjoy the different zones in your show independently without feeling lost.

2.       Making safety an afterthought

At high-traffic venues, visitor safety should be your top concern. The structures in your show need to be sturdy so that they don’t keel over easily when they are bumped into. Ensure that the structures do not come with sharp edges. One of the most often neglected safety concerns is exposed wires. If the wires are left as an afterthought, most fabricators will use masking tape to secure the exposed wires to the floor to prevent tripping. However, as you can imagine, that will be unsightly. Plan ahead for these wires to be hidden within the structures so that your visitors’ experience is both safe and visually delightful.

3.       Forgetting about the noise

Having exhibitions or roadshows at high-traffic venues means that there are many distractions vying for your audience’s attention. What’s your best defence? Make sure that your content is relevant to your target visitors. If you curate content with strong messaging and let that lead the rest of your efforts, including design and fabrication, you’ll be rewarded: Your target visitors will stay longer at your show and your brand has the opportunity to impress them in person.

Many brands are turning to pop-up exhibitions or roadshows to increase their presence and have a direct and intimate experience with their audiences. I hope the above discussion can help you organise a successful show. Interested in finding out more about organising exhibitions? Here’s an earlier post on the benefits of organising one.

Angeline Tong is an architect of narratives and Chief Curator at HOL, an experience strategy and curation consultancy. Angeline has a Master of Education (Human Development & Psychology) from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from Harvard University. She currently resides in Singapore.

To contact Angeline, email atong@hol.sg