There are a lot of ways exhibitors can drive engagement at their booth, but today, I wanted to share a genius idea I saw at LEND360 at their event in Chicago earlier this year.

caricatureAs I was walking through the exhibit hall, I noticed that one of the exhibitors, DSi (Dragnet Solutions, Inc.) always had a line of people “waiting” outside their  booth. When I went to check in and see what they were offering (a free puppy perhaps), I realized that it was better than a free puppy. They had something far more engaging.

It turns out, for many of the trade shows they do, they hire artist Sarah Kantz to do digital caricature drawings of everyone that comes to their booth.

While you’re sitting in the booth and getting your caricature done, the DSi sales team is able to chat with you about your specific needs, share more information about their products and services, and determine if their services are right for you. The drawings take anywhere from 8-10 minutes, and for that time, they have your full attention.

In my opinion, this is a great way to drive booth traffic and engagement, and leave a show with several hot, qualified leads.

I also think association clients could even take this on and offer caricatures for attendees that become members on-site or offer it for a variety of reasons within the association booth to drive engagement.

We love seeing great ideas like this in action!

P.S. The team was incredibly generous and let me get mine done even though I wasn’t a potential lead for their product. What do you think? Pretty fun, right?