The shining star of any trade show is the booths. People come from all over to check out what the exhibit floor has in store. Exhibit booths range in style, layout, and most importantly size. A trade show’s booth dimensions can make or break your design ideas and marketing plan, so choose wisely when picking your booth space.

Here are some trade show exhibit booth tips and tricks that can help you pick out your trade show space dimensions.

Common Trade Show Booth Dimensions and Layouts

It’s important to note that layouts and booth dimensions go hand in hand. Knowing the layout you want and what kind of impact is can have on your trade show marketing can help you make an informed decision about how much space you need. Let’s dive into the size and layouts choices available.

Island booth

If you want your trade show display to be an island of one, the island booth layout is right for you. An island is a booth open on all four sides to anyone on the show floor. You can enter the booth from any angle and its have no other booths or wall pressed up against one of its sides.

An axis island display is very open. Its main point of interest, the axis, is located in the center of the booth with very little display located around it for ease of access to the most important part of the booth. A presenter island is more enclosed for a more personal experience. When you want to present a story or idea use the presenter layout to give that feeling of being in a theatre.

Island booths tend to be large trade show booths —sometimes the largest booths at a convention! The booth space really helps with traffic which can really help get a lot of eyes on your product or service. Most island booth dimensions are 20 x 20 or larger. With that much space, there is so much you can do!

Peninsula booth

When a booth is up against a wall but has aisles on three sides it’s considered a peninsula booth. These work similarly to island booths, with the disadvantage of not as many entrances. Still, you can get a ton of foot traffic with 3 sides open.

Another downside to the Peninsula booth is that most conventions will not allow you to decorate the wall your up against. However, there are ways around that issue when you’re using pop up displays.

A peninsula styled booth layout is normally 20×20 trade show booth or larger as well like the island booth. The booth space is nice for traffic, but you’ll have to share a wall with another booth. Be sure to see what your restrictions are with the wall between you.

Linear booth

Also known as an in-line booth, these booths are surrounded by other booths and can only be open on one or two sides. If its open on two sides, its normally a corner booth, which comes with its own set of advantages. These booths have the most restrictions and you’re less likely to stand out, however, they are budget friendly.

Most linear booths have height restrictions of about 8 feet tall and do not allow hanging signs. The front of the booth normally has a height restriction as well so that the booth does not hide any of its neighboring booths from traffic.

Because of its restrictions, linear booths are normally 10 x 10 to 10 x 20 in size. Quite a few booths at a convention have these sizes as they are the most budget-friendly options. In order to stand out, these booths are best made with custom exhibit designs and pop up displays.

Other Layouts

There are a few variants of these layouts. Some trade shows with interesting space layouts or ways of renting space that allow for these variants. For example, an ‘End Cap’ booth is two linear corner booths put together to create a very small peninsula layout. They are normally 10 x 20 in size, but because of their small size, don’t get nearly as much through traffic as a standard peninsula layout.

Now that you know the layout types and how much space they take up you can start to decide how you want to use your booth and navigate your booth space. Also, be sure to research where your booth is located in the exhibit hall. Knowing its placement can also help you decide which trade show display dimension is best for you.

Get a Large Trade Show Booth with Exhibit Pros

If you’d like help coming up with an original and fun custom design in your large trade show booth dimensions, look no further than Exhibit Pros. Our entire staff has years of experience creating islands layouts that are eye-catching and useful to your return on investment. Contact us today and we can send you a free 3D design idea for your next show.

Know Your Capacity: The Best Trade Show Booth Dimensions