Attracting Future Students at College Fairs

by Artik Toronto Custom Promotional Products

Have you been to a college fair? I can speak from experience when I say, it’s pretty crazy. Hundreds of thousands of young students with their parents walking amongst hundreds of booths. I’ve never slept better than the night after the Ontario College Fair.

The experience taught me a lot about creating a tradeshow booth that will attract new students to your college or university program. I’ll list a few of them here, some of them are learned from going to college fairs and stealing ideas from the best booths.

Don’t make a tradeshow booth, make an inviting space

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

Within the chaos of the Toronto Convention Center, students were attracted to the booths that were open and inviting. Somewhere to sit down under a tradeshow tent and catch a breath. Where the college promoters were friendly and easy to talk to. If there’s something fun to do or an interactive experience, that’s great, but don’t distract students from your school. You main goal is to create a tradeshow space that reflects the brand and culture of your college/university.

Tip: Don’t design a noisy sales pitch, design a friendly environment that reflects your school.

Forget promotional products, make useful reminders

Have you ever been offered a free piece of promotional swag at a trade show that made you say… “No, thank you.”

Don’t make promotional products that are ugly and useless, make useful reminders of your school that are useful and worth keeping.

Custom printed tote bags are the perfect example! Create a beautiful tote bag with a great design and prospective students will want to take them. They’ll ask if they can take two! Put some useful information about your school in the tote bag and students will be more likely to read them and represent your school out in the world.

Same goes for custom printed t-shirts, sure you can make a bright orange tee that draws attention, but will highschool students want to wear them? (I’m not saying all orange shirts are ugly!)

Create useful items like custom branded notepads and people will hold onto them, use them daily and have a positive association with your school. Students are making a big decision in coming to your college, show them that you care and they’ll be more likely to pick your school.

Tip: Design useful items that your niche of students will appreciate.

Tip 2: Don’t give everyone a promo product, just the students who seem truly interested.

Get your staff looking sharp

When your staff stand at your tradeshow booth, they should look friendly and approachable. It should be easy to know what school they represent and what their name is.

Order custom printed uniforms for your college fair representatives, including polo shirts, customized tees and embroidered baseball caps. Depending on your brand, embroidered dress shirts give a professional appearance while tees give a casual and friendly vibe.

Tip: Design the uniform (and hire the people) that match your school’s voice.

Final thoughts on college fairs and school tradeshows

Tradeshows are the wild west. The open ocean.

Thousands of faces and names and flashing logos can be overwhelming. Create a space within the tradeshow that calmly represents the energy of your university and the right students will be drawn to you.

With all the junk being handed out, you’ll stand out with higher quality promotional products that are useful and memorable. It doesn’t have to be expensive, a funny pencil or a classy binder can be worth more to the right student than hundreds of fidget spinners given to every passing person.

Finally, hire friendly people who represent your school. Hiring students who are currently in your school gives extra credibility. Give your staff professional looking uniforms that reflect your brand. If your team is happy and relaxed, they’ll attract way more students to the booth.

When students reach you, be ready to take their emails and speak directly to them. Have information on hand about the school and include a call to action inviting them to a school tour or an information session.

With the right booth and a friendly team, you’ll enjoy your next tradeshow.