Technology is undoubtedly the star of the show at every successful trade show or conference. The rise of the experience economy is also adding pressure onto the shoulders of event organizers to ensure that every visitor leaves with a memorable impression of the event. It’s these digital experiences that are building a bridge between attendees and exhibitors.
Communicating your message and unique offering will require a bespoke event technology package to deliver your message effectively. Tech-savvy audiences will not compare you with your competitors, but the interactive and engaging digital experiences from tech giants such as Amazon and Netflix.
IBM’s Bridget Van Kranlingen famously said “the last best experience that anyone has anywhere, becomes the minimum expectation for the experience they want everywhere.” Having the right technology products in place to bring events to life has never been more critical to achieving a successful trade show experience.
However, there is no such thing as a one size fits all approach. Everything from screen sizes to projectors will all be determined by the unique conditions of your venue. But here are just a handful of the must-have technology rental Items for a successful trade show.
Laptop Rental
The problem facing many IT departments is maintaining expensive equipment and ensuring they are kept up to date. Leasing a fleet of laptops for trade shows and conferences eradicates the problem. By renting laptops, you also simplify support and provides peace of mind that all equipment is not only ready to go but has all the latest security patches too.
There is no avoiding the fact that planning a successful trade show will require organization, creativity, and a productive team onsite. Trade shows are a significant investment for a company of any size. Your success will be determined by the number of secured leads, opportunities and the return on investment from the event.
Ensuring that your entire team can seamlessly manage meetings and social media updates are all crucial too. But inviting attendees to your booth and scanning the passes of visitors are all essential ingredients to a successful trade show. For these reasons alone, renting laptops can give you the flexibility and portability you need to capture and share critical information at your booth or a meeting.
Computer Rental
Not all computers need to be portable. Desktop rentals are perfect for trade show kiosks that will remain in one location throughout the event. Desktop computers are also ideal for managing high-end applications or audiovisual equipment.
Exhibitors that understand that they won’t get a second chance to make a first impression might be tempted to make a couple of stylish 27 inch iMac’s the focal point of their booth. Traditionally, aligning the brand of your business with the latest and greatest technologies was incredibly expensive and hard to justify. But, renting computers on demand, it removes as many problems as it solves.
For most businesses, it makes little to no sense purchasing depreciating assets for a handful of events. By renting computers, business departments eliminate maintenance issues and can showcase the latest technologies too. In a world, dominated by experiences, consumers now expect their favorite brands to lead the way with new technology-based solutions. Renting enables you to do just that and much more.
Video Wall Rental
The excitement of securing a booth in a crowded exhibit hall can quickly turn into a nightmare if you cannot grab the attention of your target audience. For exhibitors to stand out from the pack on a crowded show floor, they will need much more than cheap swag bags to tempt visitors to their booth.
Trade show visitors quickly become overwhelmed when faced with a sea of exhibitor stands and sensory overload. However, by leveraging technology and combining it with the latest industry trends, you can make capture the attention of visitors. By securing the attention of attendees and attracting footfall, video wall technology can be the conversation starter with relevant customers.
Video walls, enable exhibitors and event organizers to showcase their business, products, services or even the show itself. By renting a video wall, you can capture the attention of an audience and deliver higher ROI without the considerable outlay of owning a video wall. They are also a perfect way for your company to drive its branding and messaging forward in front of thousands of trade-show attendees.
In a digital world where the visual web is king, video wall rentals bring show floors to life with high resolution images and video streaming. A combination of graphics, photos and videos can be used from everything from digital signage to product branding. They can also deliver greater ROI by selling advertising space to those wanting to deliver their message through digital content too.
Projector Rental
Choosing the best projector rental for your next trade show or conference can be incredibly daunting. When faced with organizing an event or setting up a trade show booth, projectors and screens are probably the last things on your mind. But ensuring that you choose the right screen for the size of your venue and delivers on your unique requirements could be critical to your success.
If you are exhibiting in a smaller venue, you might be able to rent and set up a portable projection screen on your own. But as conferences, trade shows product launches, and exhibitions begin to scale, you will need a helping hand from audio-visual experts.
Hiring projectors is not just about getting your hands on expensive tech products to deliver the wow factor. You will be dealing with people that have highly specialist skills in this area with vast amounts of experience in producing live experiences at trade shows and much more. Having instant access to a team with specialist skills, and knowledge is equally as important as the technology itself. But together, you can transform the experiences of attendees and celebrate the success of your event.
iPad Rental
Behind the scenes at every exhibit booth in large conferences and trade shows, it’s not uncommon for orders of hundreds of iPad rentals. There are many reasons why you need iPads at your next event, but with hundreds of devices comes additional responsibility. By handing over the hassle of customization, charging cords, and stands to a trusted partner, it becomes much easier for teams to provide an event experience.
When navigating around venue connectivity issues, it’s also crucial to have access to technical consultancy throughout the entire event. Tablets such as iPads enable staff to capture data through a series of interactive questions, quizzes and even live voting. As event apps become the norm at conferences and exhibitions, iPads also offer an easy way to stream presentations too.
iPad rental is incredible popular because of how versatile they are. Everything from event registration, lead capture, gathering survey feedback, to scheduling meetings or providing live demos can be achieved with these unsung heroes of the trade show floor. In a digital age, if you need access to 50 iPads and 20 laptops for a kiosk or event registration desk, it shouldn’t be a hassle. Technology rental items can help you deliver a successful trade show or almost anything, and the only limit is your imagination.
Tech Support
Every area of our lives both in and out of the workplace has been influenced by technology. Brands such as Apple, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft, IBM and many more all offer products that we have come to rely on to reach our personal and business goals. The ability to leverage these products on an as needed basis is proving to be invaluable. Short term rentals of essential technology products by day, week or month is being embraced by businesses of all sizes. But, rentals are not just for conferences and exhibitions. Companies are also turning to technology rentals for everything from training, software testing, presentations, sales demos to market research projects.
However, it’s important to remember that it’s not just about the rental of laptops, smartphones, tablets, and projectors. What makes any team successful at trade shows and conferences is not the technology, but people. Having access to 24/7 tech support when inside a busy venue, is essential to overcome any tech issues that you might encounter such as event network feeds.
When the show opens, you won’t have time to troubleshoot tech issues. And why should you? Renting technology equipment enables you to pass the responsibility over to a tech expert that will get you up and running and save you any unwanted stress. If you need any further advice on the speediest way to get hold of the latest technology products for your conference, trade show, or event without breaking the bank, please contact Raj at Aria.
The Experts Weigh in on 2019 Technology Rental Trends
According to experts featured in BizBash, the year 2019 is evolving to be a big year for trade shows technology rentals. There’s plenty to get excited about. Vice President Jeff Chase said sustainability will be embraced with the design of equipment used at trade shows. Popular structures, such as LED back-lit smart fabric walls will be a mainstay at many trade shows.
Event technology expert Raj Jain of Aria Technology solutions feels that trade show formats are changing, too. More and More event planners are choosing to replace the old Monitors with latest touch screen display technology that features activities, video content, interactivity and more. This was originated by TED events but is gaining ground at events of all kinds.
Education in the exhibit hall is becoming just as much of a draw as the educational sessions, particularly in tech. Companies traditionally exhibiting large equipment, like computer racks and airplane engines, now have more digital-based products. This is leading exhibitors to have smaller digital demos, featuring the newest digital kiosk equipment that associations don’t show in their training sessions.
And VR coupled with Apple iPhone rental will begin to happen in a bigger way, too — it will become so much more than just a pair of goggles and one experience. Companies will start building a library of VR content for all channels, not just trade shows, giving them a large set of content that can be swapped in and out as needed.
Topics Discussed: Technology Rental, Laptop Rental, Computer Rental, Projector Rental, Video wall Rental, iPad Rental, Tech Support, Event Technology Rental Trends & Resource.
About the Author:
Jim Jain is SVP at Event Technology Rentals, a leading national provider of iPads, Laptops, Tablets & Computer rentals for Events, Trade Shows and business meetings..