A more sustainable show: less print, more digital content

Why printed material is the place to start

Most exhibitors who want a lighter footprint at a trade fair think of the big items first: the build of your stand (booth), travel, energy. Those decisions are made months ahead and involve many people. Printed material is different. You decide it yourself, it can change from one show to the next, and it is easy to see what is actually used.

Anyone who has cleared a stand on the last evening knows the boxes of brochures that go back to the warehouse or straight into the paper bin. Flyers with last year’s range, price lists that were out of date before the doors opened, catalogues too heavy for a visitor who still has three halls to walk through. Much of it was printed because it always has been.

Replacing paper with digital material is not only about waste. Digital material can be updated, sent in the right language, forwarded inside the customer’s company and measured. The condition is that it is ready before the show and that it works on a phone in a crowded hall.

What you can replace, and what is worth keeping

Go through last year’s print order line by line. For each item, ask what the visitor actually needed it for.

Some markets and some visitors still prefer paper, and a technical data sheet on the counter can start a conversation. The aim is not a stand without any print, but a stand where every printed item has a reason to be there. If you capture leads digitally, check the data protection points in our guide to lead capture and business card photos.

QR codes have to work in a hall

A QR code replaces a flyer only if it works under trade fair conditions. Mobile reception in exhibition halls is often weak, especially on busy days, and visitors do not wait for a heavy page to load.

1. Keep the page light: one landing page per show, the essentials at the top, large files only as optional downloads.
2. Print the code large enough to scan from a step away, and place it at eye level, not on the floor graphic or behind the counter.
3. Test on site during build-up, with several phones, on mobile data and on the hall Wi-Fi.
4. Say what happens: “Scan for the data sheet in English, German or Arabic” works better than a code on its own.
5. Offer a second route: your staff send the link by email or messenger during the conversation. That also gives you the contact, which a scan alone does not.

Internet for the stand can usually be ordered through the organiser’s exhibitor service. Deadlines are in the exhibitor manual.

Show photos and video take over the catalogue’s job

A printed catalogue was meant to remind the visitor of your stand after the show. A follow-up message with a photo of the conversation, a short product clip and a link to the product page does that better, because it refers to the actual meeting.

Plan the material for this before the show:

• Product in use on the stand, for digital data sheets and the follow-up email.
• Short clips of each key product, for messenger and social media, where nobody reads a brochure.
• Conversation and team photos for personal follow-ups and LinkedIn.
• A 30-second highlight video for the thank-you email to everyone who visited.

Speed matters. A follow-up with pictures reaches visitors while they still remember you, so the material has to be ready within days, not weeks. At Pixer the first photos usually arrive the same day and the full delivery follows within 24 hours after the event ends, digitally, with nothing to print or ship. How to structure the week after the show is covered in our guide to trade fair follow-up.

Reusable stand, reusable content

The second lever is reuse. Stand graphics without a year or show name can be used again. Modular stand elements can be rebuilt at the next show. And content that is not tied to one date works for months instead of days.

• Leave dates off the large graphics. Show name and year belong on a screen or a small exchangeable panel.
• Document the stand in full, ideally on the build-up day: wide shots, details, graphics, lighting. Your stand builder and your team can then plan the next setup from photos instead of from memory.
• Shoot timeless material alongside the show-day pictures: product details, team portraits, customer conversations without visible dates. These work all year, as described in our plan for reusing trade fair content.
• Book a crew near the venue. Flying a photographer and a video team in for two days adds travel that a local crew does not need.

Talk about it without overstating it

If you print less, visitors notice, and some ask. Describe what you have actually done: “We no longer print catalogues for the show, data sheets are sent digitally in your language” is concrete and credible. General claims such as “climate-neutral stand” or “green exhibitor” need proof, and the rules on environmental claims in advertising are getting stricter in the EU. Check such wording with whoever handles legal questions in your company.

The same applies to photos and video. Show what is real: the digital data sheet on a tablet, the QR code in use, a reusable stand in its second season. Pictures like these are more convincing than a green logo on a banner.

The short version

Related guides and services

Common questions