Relax. You already have the key to a compelling trade show booth: your company. Now all you have to do is come up with a design that fits it.

Before you start panicking again, think about your letterhead and logo (you do have those, right? RIGHT?). Usually, companies will use the same colors and many of the same graphics they use in their marketing materials for the foundation of their trade show booth design. These are essential parts of a great trade show booth because you want the booth to stay within the overall branding of your company.

Now think color. You want to reel them in, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to have an inviting-or bold-trade show booth out there on the floor. You want to keep the colors balanced for aesthetic appeal. If your logo is primarily red, then go all out and use a red and black color scheme. Red and black are power colors that make people sit up, or in this case, walk up, and take notice.

Which is exactly what you want them to do. Bright, cheerful colors do well in trade show booth designs because they signify energy and class.

What if your colors are less bold, more pastel, even white and black? These are great too! Especially when everyone else's trade show booths are shouting COLOR! COLOR! COLOR! One of the most successful trade show booths ever for a Fortune 500 company was white and pale gray, with hints of red and black set against some gorgeous visuals.

Why? With small, some simple spotlights highlighting the visual panels of the booth and a little greenery carefully arranged in front of the trade show booth, along with a matching carpet of pale gray and a couple of folding directors' chairs, this trade show booth was a virtual oasis in a sea of color noise. And people literally flocked to it. Because it was different.

And that's another way to have an extremely effective, powerful trade show booth design. Get sneaky! Find out what your competition's up to. Then do the opposite! This is a sure way to compel people to your booth. You'll stand out and people will just have to find out why, what you're up to.

Of course, once you reel people over to your killer trade show booth, you want to be sure they're compelled to stick around! This is where your staff is vital. Cheerful, up-beat people, who enjoy dealing with the public and who KNOW YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE, are essential to a successful trade show booth. So make sure your staff is as appealing (and it won't hurt if they have a bit of the old carney in them!) as the trade show booth design that brought them there to begin with!