At every event I’ve ever attended — it’s somehow in the hundreds — I’ve noticed the same trends over and over again. Every event booth wants to stand out and get noticed, yet most remain unmemorable, offering little to capture the attention of potential customers walking by. The same old, same old strategy for event audience engagement — and potential event sales — just doesn’t work anymore.

Looking back, I clearly remember just one event booth. Out of all of the events I’ve been to, it was AOL’s booth showcasing their acquisition of 5min Media in 2010.

AOL had just bought 5min.com — back then the web’s largest video content syndication platform. The acquisition meant AOL would be able to offer contextually relevant, high-quality video across its sites, which meant the moment you stepped into their booth, your senses were overtaken by adrenaline-fueled videos from 5min.com.

Think dudes jumping canyons on dirt bikes and extreme downhill skiing — the experience was very on brand for the event audience but also highlighted the acquisition nicely from a strategic marketing perspective while bringing immediate value with a five-hour energy boost. AOL’s booth managed to stand out while using the same tactics everyone else was using — they just used them differently.

It made me think: Why did this particular booth stand out and what can you do as a company to stand out at events, particularly when marketing high-tech products?

It All Starts With A Great Demo

When marketing high-tech products, you’re usually selling to the CIO/CTO roles or people who want to know how something works. Your entire booth and event presence should be centered around how your product works, including demo stations and one-sheeters describing the how and the why — it always starts with the why.

Be sure to make your messaging as clear as possible instead of relying on a flashy booth or cool, expensive event swag, or even worse, spending all of your marketing budget on branded goodies which will almost always be forgotten at the bottom of a bag and eventually chucked out once the event is over. Focus on showcasing your product and brand to the folks who would benefit from your product, not the overall crowd.