Presented this year in a talk show format and hosted by Dan Hanover, the Editor and Publisher of Event Design Magazine, MOD 08 featured guests included Simon Burton of The Exhibiting Show UK, Armen Gharabegian, CEO of Ethos Design and Lounge 22, Robbie Blumenfeld, President and CEO of Abex Exhibit Systems, and Alan Cordial of Calan Communications. Discussion topics included what's new in exhibits and events, trends in portable modular,  design trends, Euro Design and Euroshop 2008 as well as intellectual property and how to protect it.

New for 2008, the MOD Design Lounge sponsored by Lounge 22 was a big hit with fabric décor and LED lighting by Dazian Fabric and Entertainment Lighting Services (ELS) and incredible furniture by Lounge 22. The Design Lounge featured seated presentation areas devoted to Euroshop 2008, ELS, Dazian, Ethos Design, Lounge 22, and Studio Abex.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Mod Awards, the industry’s preeminent awards competition for modular exhibit design. This year’s entries were judged by the editors of Event Design magazine as well as academics from the world of design and architecture.
  

Raised floors everywhere–both for appearance and wire management
Lots of system–an incredible exhibit from Octanorm
More fabric than ever before
Very innovative in terms of lighting
Hospitality is King–one main objective in Europe is to keep the visitor in the booth.

This was something Dan Hanover brought up at MOD 08 in his presentation - that exhibitors are realizing that it takes a certain length of time with a prospect to convert them to a potential customer and by engaging the visitor, they can get this time. One way to do this is hospitality. Another way is by identifying the prospect through a pre-show email blast and then identifying them at the exhibit and presenting a “tailored” experience to that visitor depending upon their needs and interests as gathered from the pre-show survey.

Wherever you sit, we’ll move you!
Another really amazing thing about Euroshop is  how really outstanding the furniture in many of the exhibits is. This is something you can offer your customers here through Lounge 22.

Look Up!
There also seems to be some real innovation in terms of using the space over the booth or exhibit. A number of exhibits did an outstanding job using origami–like paper cut outs suspended over their exhibit.

MOD Wants to Know!
Meridia Audience Response, a new partner to MOD, was kind enough to devote their audience response technology to MOD 08. Our audience was able to participate by answering questions regarding the importance of “Green” or environmental consciousness to their customers and instantly see the entire audience’s response on screen. Meridia specializes in live opinion polling‚ letting an audience provide instant feedback during an event‚ such as a business meeting‚ trade show‚ television/web broadcast or sales convention.

Meridia audience response services provide an interactive and visually appealing element which draws people to your customer’s booth. The excitement generated by the participating audience attracts onlookers who stay to watch the presentation. And, throughout your presentation's question and answer session, you're able to capture valuable demographic data which serves as an effective tool for lead qualification.

To see the results of the MOD–08 live survey, click here:  MOD’08 Data