The b-to-b trade show world gets a bad rap for being behind the rest of the event marketing industry when it comes to innovative experiential tactics, but the SES Worldwide Conference and Expo Series is out to remove that stigma with some seriously exciting ideas about how to present a trade show that’s entertaining and relevant to attendees while providing big-time results to exhibitors and sponsors.

Large-scale trade shows, b-to-b conferences and trade show exhibitors have gotten a bad reputation over the years for producing too much waste and having too little regard for their impact on the environment. But over the last decade or so, the organizers and exhibitors at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (North America’s largest trade show and the world’s largest show for consumer technology) have been making strides to offset their carbon footprints as much as possible. 

Though Bell Helicopter’s booth at last month’s Heli-Expo at the Dallas Convention Center (Feb. 11-14) was nearly an acre in size, its integrated marketing strategy went well beyond its footprint to deliver results. The company’s program centered around a teaser campaign that drove more than 2,000 attendees to the reveal of its latest Bell 525 Relentless aircraft at the show and about 18,000 eyeballs (7,000 were non-employees) to the webcast version of the event.

Across the U.S. and around the world, trade show budgets are coming back, albeit slowly. As a result, trade show programs are getting refined and redefined as exhibitors try to make deeper connections and get more efficient with their spends. Here are five best practices for trade show marketers from two industry vets, Philips and Dell.

Go off the Show Floor

On April 2, the NFL opened its first-ever pop-up in New York City in celebration of its newest partnerships with Nike and New Era. The 10,000-square-foot NFL Shop at Draft located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas at 41st and 42nd Streets, not only houses merchandise by its new partners but also from 50 other NFL partners, including Under Armour, VF, Wilson and ’47 Brand.