Our Predictions for 2025 Exhibition Trends

Sustainability

Sustainability. As we’ve likely said before, this is not just an industry buzzword – but a style of working that is here to stay. And, more importantly, prioritising sustainability is essential if we want to continue organising (and attending) amazing events and exhibitions.

But, this isn’t a deep dive into sustainability in the industry – although, if you’re interested, we do have a guide to Running a Sustainable Exhibition: What You Need to Know that you can check out. Instead, we’ve picked out some of the key sustainability exhibition trends that we think will become more popular over the next 12 months…

• Reusing materials: instead of bespoke equipment for multiple events, we think one of the big exhibition trends for 2025 centres around reusing materials multiple times. This could include:
  • Modular booth set-ups that can be reconfigured depending on the set-up of a venue.
  • Choosing more neutral backdrops that can be repurposed for other events.
  • Using digital resources that need minimal changes before being redeployed, rather than printed documents.
  • Considering a hybrid model, where you purchase baseline pieces of equipment, and hire any additional you may need for various occasions.

• Using natural materials: we predict there will be a clear shift away from using synthetic or environmentally-damaging materials. Depending on the theme of the exhibition, this could be via:
  • Using wood over plastics for display pieces, such as booths, stalls, and other internal structures at a trade show.
  • Using reclaimed or recycled materials to create an eye-catching stand at a trade show or consumer event.
  • Choosing natural or recycled materials for any merchandise sold at an exhibition, either on stands or as part of a gift shop.

• Minimising carbon footprint: exhibition visitors are starting to hold organisers to account for their carbon emissions when it comes to attending their events. We predict that this will continue, and organisers will need to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint – and be transparent with their decisions.

Top tip: accounting for carbon emissions as an exhibition organiser is a big job, and covers a lot of areas. But, one way you can make it easier is to choose to host your exhibition at Exhibition Centre Liverpool. We are a proudly Carbon Neutral Campus, so no matter the size of your event, we have the space for you to organise a sustainable, environmentally-friendly experience for your guests.

Experience-Driven Technology

Over the past several years, the idea of experience-led events has emerged as one of the leading exhibitions trends for the future, and it’s certainly showing no signs of slowing down. Visitors have come to expect a new level of interactivity that can only be achieved at scale using technology. Some of the ways we predict future exhibitions will use experience-driven technology are:

• Social media moments: social media is incredibly popular, and generating ‘instagrammable’ moments is the perfect way to make your exhibition more of an experience. To create a social media moment, you could:
  • Create a branded backdrop or photo area where people can take interesting pictures to share across their social media. This could work for trade shows, cultural exhibitions, and more.
  • Encourage visitors to take part in a large-scale event, which you can then share on social media. For example, at consumer events, this could involve getting selfies from a stage to spread awareness of a multi-day event.

• Interactive digital displays: we think interactivity will continue to grow as an exhibition trend in 2025. Getting active engagement with visitors is not only a great way to increase their experience, but it allows you to get crucial data for post-exhibition reviews. Digital displays are the perfect way to do this, as you don’t need lots of equipment, reduce the production of waste, and can open the activity to multiple people quickly and efficiently.

• Gamification: gamification is the bread and butter of the experience-led exhibition. Whether it’s using technology to create games they can play at different booths of a trade show, developing a wider competition for a multi-day event, or running a social media campaign, turning aspects of your exhibition into a game improves engagement – and makes it fun! Using experience-driven tech, like AR, to achieve this is another way to help exhibitors stand out that we think we’ll begin to see more of in 2025.

• Multisensory experiences: VR, or virtual reality, has been growing in popularity over the past few years, and we think we’ll continue to see this in the exhibition trends of 2025. Using technology to create a multisensory experience can be adopted across a variety of exhibitions to improve their engagement, such as:
  • Product display at trade shows.
  • Interactive games at consumer events.
  • Virtual meetings, talks, or demonstrations.

• AI: AI is the big one that has been making waves in several industries, not just our own. And, we predict this technology is nowhere near finished with. AI can massively assist with personalisation, helping exhibition organisers create tailored content for their attendees, allowing them to engage more during their time at the event.

Innovative exhibition design

It’s not just technology that will play a role in creating an experience for visitors; we think that innovative design and technical solutions will continue to be a key consideration for organisers and venues. Of course, these concepts are nothing new, but there are some innovations to standard practices that could have an impact on the design landscape – such as:

• Lighting: the lighting of a space can have a huge impact on a space. New ways of lighting (using energy-saving LEDs, or faux-neon signage) are starting to crop up at trade shows and other exhibition spaces, and we think this will continue to trend in 2025.

• Minimalism: from a design perspective, 2025 exhibitions may be embracing minimalism to stand out on the exhibition floor. We expect to see sleek lines, clean colour palettes, and minimal clutter from exhibitors this year.

• Floorplans: the incorporation of AI in the planning stages may mean we see some new floorplans being put into practice this year. Able to identify choke points, high-traffic areas, and flow problems, AI can be a huge help to organisers.

Top tip: for trade shows especially, we’re expecting to see moves towards circular floor plans over more traditional rows. This can help visitors to take in everything and maximise exhibitor exposure.

Location

As event trends go, a lot of the time location feels underrated – but we think this will start to have more of an impact on exhibition planning in the year to come. Choosing the right location for your target audience, or leaning on an area’s experience, reputation, and specialties, will all play a larger role in venue selection moving forwards. As we mentioned above, exhibition locations will be put under scrutiny for their sustainability credentials, but there are some other areas to consider:

• Ease of access: accessibility continues to be a big contender when it comes to choosing a venue – but it matters in terms of location too. Aside from more obvious Accessibility considerations, locations with good transport links, both internally and with the wider world, will grow in popularity as organisers try to entice their target audiences.

• Bleisure travel: a portmanteau of ‘business’ and ‘leisure’, the rise of bleisure travel means that picking a location that offers visitors plenty to do outside of your event is a fantastic way to encourage higher attendance.

Top tip: Exhibition Centre Liverpool is a prime example of when practicality meets entertainment value. Visitors have plenty of options for Getting Here – and loads of amazing sights and activities to do when they’re here!

Wellness

Last, but by no means least, we’re expecting to see strong themes of wellness over the next 12 months. As another of the exhibition trends that has seen serious growth over the last few years, we think the incorporation of wellness practices into exhibition planning is here to stay. In particular in 2025, we’re expecting to see more adoption of the following:

• Quiet spaces: setting aside specific quiet rooms away from the main event allows people to decompress and relax. It’s also incredibly valuable for neurodiverse attendees.

• Rest spaces: similarly, setting up seating and rest spaces is a way to remind visitors to an exhibition that they can take time away to prioritise wellness.

• Charging stops: even the simple addition of charging stations for devices allows delegates to take five minutes away from the event to slow down and remain mindful.

Host your next exhibition with Exhibition Centre Liverpool

Want to make your 2025 exhibition the best one yet? Our venue has everything you need to level up your attendee experience. From superb IT Services, to our wonderful Event Management team, put your plans into reality with help from Exhibition Centre Liverpool. Contact us to learn more…

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