What Works on a VR Expo Stand (and What Doesn't)

Walk any trade show floor in New Zealand and you'll see the same stand thirty times. A pull-up banner, a bowl of mints, a table, and two people who have run out of things to say to each other.

We've supplied VR for a lot of stands over the years, and we've watched some of them pull a deep crowd all day while others sat quietly in the corner doing nothing. The difference is almost never the headset. It's the stuff around it.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise used VR from us at a trade event to draw people over to their stand, and in their words, "it worked fantastically". There are more of our expos and events here.

Here's what works.

What a VR stand is really for

It's worth being clear about the job you're hiring it to do, because it does three things and they're not equally obvious.

It stops people. Someone wearing a headset and swinging their arms about is visible from the other end of the hall. That's the bit everyone expects.

It makes a queue. This is the underrated one. A queue is social proof, and it gives you a group of people standing still next to your stand with nothing to do but look at your branding and talk to your staff.

It gives your team an opener. "Do you want a go?" is a much easier first sentence than "can I tell you about our product". It changes the entire dynamic of the conversation that follows.

If your stand plan doesn't use all three, you're paying for one third of the value.

The numbers you should plan around

This is the calculation most people skip, and it's the one that decides whether the day works.

A good expo experience runs 2 to 4 minutes. Add roughly a minute for getting the headset on and off, adjusting the strap and wiping it down, and you're at about 4 to 5 minutes per person, per headset.

• That's roughly 12 to 15 people an hour, per headset
• Over a 6-hour show day, about 70 to 90 people per headset
• Two headsets gets you to roughly 150 to 180 in a day

Now compare that to the number of people walking past your stand. If 3,000 people attend and you have one headset, you are physically able to reach around 3% of them. That's not an argument against VR, it's an argument for two headsets minimum and for having a plan for the people in the queue. We also recommend charging headsets while others are in use. 

What works

Short and instantly understandable. If it needs a tutorial, it's wrong for a show floor. The person needs to get it within fifteen seconds of the headset going on, because the queue is watching.

Casting to a big screen. A monitor or TV showing what the player sees turns every passer-by into part of the experience. It also means the queue is entertained rather than bored, and people who'd never put a headset on still get your message.

A leaderboard. Scores and times give people a reason to stay, to come back after lunch, and to drag a colleague over to beat them. A leaderboard is the cheapest engagement mechanic you can add and it works every single time.

Two headsets running in parallel. It halves the wait, it doubles your reach, and it lets one be cleaned and charged while the other is in use.

Dedicated staff. Someone whose entire job is the headsets – handing over, wiping down, watching the play space, moving the queue. Not a salesperson doing it between conversations.

Branding on display. Display it on the TVs between gameplay or on a custom startup screen developed for your business. 

What quietly fails

An off-the-shelf game with nothing to do with you. People have a great time, say thanks, and walk off having no idea what your company does. Fun is not the objective. Fun is the mechanism.

One headset. Covered above, but worth repeating. One headset and a busy hall means a queue that never moves and people who give up.

No thought about the queue. The people waiting are your actual audience. If there's nothing for them to look at, read, or talk to someone about, you're wasting the best part of it.

No floor space. You need about 2m x 2m of clear floor per headset, if the game is active and it needs to be out of the walkway. A seated or standing-still experience is the answer for a very tight stand – tell us the dimensions, and we'll pick accordingly.

Leaving it to the last fortnight. Equipment is one thing, but anything custom needs lead time, and December and the February to April conference season are both busy.

Off-the-shelf or built for you?

Both work, for different budgets and different objectives.

Off-the-shelf is straightforward. We load a set of proven crowd-pleasers, you get the queue and the noise, and your staff do the rest of the work in conversation. It's the right answer if the goal is footfall and you have a strong team on the stand.

Built for you is where the experience itself carries your message. A branded lobby with your video on a theatre-scale screen, then a challenge that has something to do with what you actually sell. People leave having interacted with your brand, not just with a game you happened to be lending out.

That used to be a large budget item. It's come down a lot – we now build these as WebXR experiences that open from a link, with no app to install, which removes most of the cost and nearly all of the faff.

The practical advantage at an expo is that the same link works on a phone. Someone who doesn't want to put a headset on can still scan a QR code and look around on their own screen, and you can email the link to a prospect afterwards.

What you need on the stand

• 2m x 2m of clear floor for active games per headset, out of the main walkway
• A screen or monitor to cast to, and a way to mount it
• Power for charging between rotations
• Wi-Fi or a hotspot – check what the venue provides, and whether it costs extra
• A small table for headsets, wipes and spare batteries
• One person on headset duty for the whole show

We send hires out cleaned, charged, updated and configured, with covers and cleaning products included, so the stand setup is a matter of minutes rather than an IT project. Our expos and events page covers how corporate bookings work.

Frequently asked questions

How many people can you get through a VR expo stand in a day?

Roughly 70 to 90 people per headset over a six-hour show day, based on a 2 to 4 minute experience plus about a minute for changeover and cleaning. That's about 12 to 15 people per hour per headset. Two headsets get you to roughly 150 to 180 people a day.

How many VR headsets do we need for a trade show stand?

Two is the practical minimum for a busy hall. One headset creates a queue that never moves, and it leaves you with no cover while a headset is being cleaned or charged. Four or more makes sense for a large stand or a high-traffic show.

How long should a VR expo experience be?

Two to four minutes. Long enough to be memorable, short enough that the queue keeps moving and people don't give up waiting. Anything that needs a tutorial is too long for a show floor.

How much space does a VR expo stand need?

About 2 metres by 2 metres of clear floor per headset, positioned out of the main walkway so players aren't colliding with passing traffic. If your stand is tighter than that, a seated or standing-still experience can work instead.

Do we need Wi-Fi at the venue?

For a preloaded game, not strictly. For casting to a screen, for anything multiplayer, and for a browser-based WebXR experience, yes. Check what the venue provides and whether it's an extra cost, because exhibition hall Wi-Fi often is.

Should we use an off-the-shelf VR game or a custom experience?

An off-the-shelf game is the right choice when the goal is footfall and your team will carry the message in conversation. A custom experience is worth it when you want the experience itself to communicate what you do – your branding, your content, and a challenge related to your product.

Do visitors need to install anything?

No. Headsets arrive preloaded and configured. If we build you a WebXR experience, it opens from a link in the headset's browser with no app, no account and no download, and the same link works on a phone for people who'd rather not wear a headset.

Do you need staff to run a VR stand?

Yes, one person dedicated to it for the duration of the show. They hand the headset over, wipe it between users, watch the play space and keep the queue moving. It shouldn't be a salesperson fitting it in between conversations. If you prefer, our team can attend to help with everything VR. 

How far in advance should we book VR for an expo?

For equipment hire, a few weeks is usually enough outside the busy periods. For a custom-built experience, allow longer – development, preview, revisions and testing all have to happen before the headsets ship. December and the February to April conference season book up fastest.

Planning a stand?

Tell us the show, the dates, your stand size and what you're trying to achieve, and we'll tell you what we'd put on it. Sometimes that's just two headsets and a good game, no custom build needed.

The contact page is easiest, or email info@virtualrealityhire.co.nz. We deliver anywhere in New Zealand.