While we were not able to film the ridiculously long and unending line at the Expo Traffic Headshot Lounge at IBM Think 2018, the time lapse below from a much smaller show gives you an idea of the kind of traffic that is attracted to a high quality headshot lounge on the trade show floor. In fact the crazy busy traffic depicted below is much smaller than the enormous endless lines we drew at the IBM Think show.
GORGEOUS HEADSHOTS = TRAFFIC TO YOUR TRADESHOW BOOTH
The headshot above was made on the expo floor of the IBM Think Conference at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. This headshot is un-retouched, straight from camera. When companies want to attract the longest lines & dwell times to their trade show booth - companies like IBM, Linkedin, Travelzoo, AVVO, and trade associations like CSMCP and ACFE - they hire EXPOTRAFFIC.com to produce high quality, high speed headshots on the expo floor.
I walk the expo floors of many conventions - I live in Las Vegas and I've been photographing trade shows since 2009 - and as I do I often see "headshot lounges" that don't have a line. They've not attracted any traffic. The sales people at these booths are probably wondering "where's the traffic to my booth"? There is no buzz, no excitement around these average headshot lounges, because they don't know the secrets to producing an incredibly successful and busy tradeshow booth attraction.
We at EXPO TRAFFIC HEADSHOT LOUNGES have perfected the art of attracting the longest lines on the treadeshow floor, and keeping visitors to your booth around long enough for your sales people to develop a relationship with each and every one of them.
HUNDREDS OF VISITORS TO YOUR BOOTH EVERY DAY
How many visitors can you expect to your booth? For an 8 hour day you can expect between 150 and 200 visitors.
THE LONGEST DWELL TIMES IN THE TRADESHOW INDUSTRY
This huge captive audience happily stands there in your booth for 30-90 minutes waiting their turn to get an excellent headshot. These dwell times are very unusual in the convention / tradeshow / expo business.
Typical headshot lounges on the expo floor can't draw these numbers to your booth.
THE 6 SECRETS TO ATTRACTING LONG LINES & DWELL TIMES TO YOUR BOOTH
Here are the 6 ways our tradeshow headshot lounge is different and better than the typical 10x10 headshot lounges you usually see on the expo floor.
1. The headshot lounges produced by ExpoTraffic.com are unapologetically BIG. At least 10'x15'. The big footprint is what allows the following features that make it a success:
2. Enough room for the highest quality 5-point studio lighting.
3. Enough room for use of a long portrait lens for a thinning, flattering photo.
4. Enough room for many social media kiosks. We usually bring 4-7 social sharing kiosks.
5. Real time sharing from social kiosks of branded photos that go viral within the conference assuring nonstop lines.
6. The photographer has to have the maturity, personality and skills to direct each visitor to their "best face".
That's the secret. To attract long lines all day long to your expo booth the photos have to be excellent. To make excellent the space has to be big enough. To make excellent photos the lighting has to be gorgeous. The photographer has to have the maturity, personality and skills to direct each visitor to their "best face". Attendees have to be able to share their awesome headshot instantly within the show. Early customers SMS text and email their headshots to their phones and show them off - "hey, look at this awesome headshot XYZ Company is giving away!" Right away boom! long lines all day long.
IF YOUR GOAL IS TO ATTRACT THE LONGEST LINES TO YOUR BOOTH ...
If your goal is to attract long lines and dwell times, your headshot lounge producer has to be able to do all of the following things.
To enable instant social sharing, the space has to be big enough to accommodate all the kiosks and supporting networking gear.
To make gorgeous flattering light the space has to be large enough to accommodate professional studio lighting.
To create flattering portraits that thin subjects' faces and shapes, the photographer needs a big space that allows him to step back to use a long lens, at least 100mm long. A cramped 10x10 booth limits the photographer to a wide angle lens that stretches peoples' faces and bodies, making them appear wider than they are. Or a 10x10 space forces the photographer to step out of that space into the aisle, which means you're really occupying a 10x14 space or larger.
To summarize really attracting a crowd we need a big space with big lights and big modifiers, to create a spectacle that says "look over here! there's a cool and valuable experience going on over here."
There you have it. Go big, go professional, go connected with your ExpoTraffic.com headshot lounge and you'll have the busiest booth with the best customer conversations at the tradeshow.
Location: Mandalay Bay Convention Center, 3950 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119.
Filename: IBM Think-08488.JPG_a950325cc20030fc4ce39157f3c34f14_636571785537052542_.jpg. 1/200; f/5.6; ISO 800; 70.0 mm.