We were recently asked for some quick-fire tips to get exposition stands noticed. Having worked on numerous booths and displays, we thought we would reel off a rapid list, a cheat sheet if you will, that you could follow to achieve instant recognition.

Events are great networking opportunities to interact with current and prospective clients. It’s a chance discuss your brand in person, forming a face-to-face connection with clients, making them far more likely to remember you.

Before gathering the said list, we decided to search and see what content already exists, afterall there’s no point replicating what’s already there. “How to make your stand stand out” turns up endless results. Perhaps our article wasn’t going to needed afterall?

In fact, there are so many lists of quick tips and sneaky tricks you’d expect every expo you go to, to be full of mind-blowingly memorable booths. But something doesn’t add up… If this was the case you’d remember the stand that stood out in your last event.

Some of the most frequently appearing tips however seem to make a lot of sense, such as:

• Communicate your brand story
• Have a visually exciting display
• Give out fun freebies
• Give visitors what they want
• Do the unexpected

What they didn’t explain, is how to go about fulfilling each tactic. Communicating your brand story should be relatively self-explanatory, but the final two tactics are less easy to produce.

What exactly does “do the unexpected” actually mean? It seems an unanswered gap exists between individuals being told to be surprising, and the conception and execution of radical ideas.

How to go about amending this ambiguity? Turning to some of the advertising and creative directors for inspiration provided the following: Lee Clow the chairman and global director of TBWA stated “you have to be daring and make something that doesn’t look like anybody else”.

William Bernbach co-founder of DBB claimed that “the memorable never emerged from a formula”.

Both of these men have explained what we shouldn’t do i.e. copy existing material, or try to formulate a template approach, but in rejecting - the capacity of a template formula to succeed, they have essentially called articles which do just that somewhat redundant.

This leaves us back at square one, how to formulate a guideline to producing a memorable stand, without falling back on a formulaic and hence boring approach. Creative director David Trott weighs in saying “what works is being different…Find out how you’re different. Then be that.”

Being different can’t be condensed down into an article. What Trott does allude to though is that identifying your brand’s uniqueness becomes key for producing an original and enticing stand.

Your brand identity is what makes you special, forming the foundation upon which to build your stand. Instead of consciously trying to be different, ironically what your competitors are also trying to do, work on drawing out your brand story.

Articulate your personality and by default, your uniqueness will show through. The visuals and merchandise are just frills and gimmicks, they come later.

Invest in discovering your identity and the rest will follow. William Bernbach said that “The most powerful element in advertising is the truth”, so stop looking to others for inspiration, when the most interesting thing about your brand, is you.

Philip Martin is managing partner at DMA Partners.