A Closer Look At The Workhorse Of The Trade Show Display World

If you've ever been to a trade show, you've probably seen the tried-and-true pop up display at nearly every turn. But why do they all look so much different from each other? What are the different types of hardware and printing materials available? How can you use them to their best ability in your trade show display area? Let's take a closer look!

Hardware Types

- Expandable/Collapsible: This is what most people think of when they think of pop up display hardware. They are made of a series of interconnecting rods and joints that can expand up to a large size but still compress down into a very small size for ease of storage and shipping. Usually, you have a choice between straight and curved hardware, depending on the look you're going for.

- Tension Fabric: These relatively newer versions of the pop up trade show display make use of an internal skeleton that is usually made up of snap-together metal tubes. Tension fabric hardware can make for more unique shapes and tends to be a little bit lighter weight overall.

Graphic Attachment Types

- Velcro/Grommet/Magnet: If using an expandable pop up display, your graphics will attach via sewn-in velcro, magnets, or in the case of the Collage display system, individual fabric "flags" with grommet holes sewn into the corners for placing onto the pegs of the hardware. The main benefit of this graphic type is ease of set-up/tear-down, and in the case of velcro-based graphics, you can sometimes even leave the graphic attached to the unit when tearing down if it will be in storage for only a short time.

- Pillowcase: If purchasing a Tension Fabric trade show display, you will most likely use a "pillowcase" graphic (like on the Waveline series of displays), which envelops the entirety of the snap-together aluminum pole hardware - just like a pillowcase over a pillow - and encloses via zipper. The main benefits here are both that the hardware is completely covered by the graphic, plus you can achieve display shapes not possible with the expandable/collapsible type.

Graphic Material Types

- PVC: Used mainly for the Coyote line of pop up trade show displays, PVC is a thin, rollable plastic that attaches via magnet directly to the metal frame. These panels boast an incredibly sharp print quality, but usually need additional storing/shipping cases since they cannot be folded down.

- Knit-Polyester Fabric: Used for the remainder of the market's pop up displays (and becoming more popular all the time), fabric's pliability allows for unique display shapes, plus it can fold down to a small size for easy storage and shipping. Printing is done via dye-sublimation, which does make for slightly reduced color-brightness.

If you have any other questions about pop up displays and which might be the best for your particular needs, please reach out via phone, email, or live chat!