The best way to get people involved is to make it about them. Once a key part of a clients stand was lost in shipping. So we made it the centre of attention and created two competitions. One was to guess the time/date it arrived and you could win a bottle of wine. The other was to draw a sketch of what you think the booth should look like - most votes wins another prize. They got more attention than usual and were the talk of the event because they made their stand all about the missing piece and all about the delegates reaction to it.

One of the best strategies I have seen is to have 1/2 of your team manning the booth at the tradeshow and 1/2 going around and networking to let people know to stop by the booth for free stuff.

If your booth is missing a key component, improvise by focusing on what you do have. Enhance the visitor experience with engaging staff, interactive elements, or giveaways. Create buzz on social media or through event apps to attract attendees, and clearly communicate the value of your product or service to compensate for the missing element.

I have found cool ideas such as gamification (claw machines, spin & win) with practical sustainable merchandise items have peaked a lot of interest. The key is about the connection by creating fun - great PR people will not only get new leads but also giveaway a lot of swag which helps your brand name long after the event!

Even without a physical product or display, you can capture attention through interaction. Use digital displays, like interactive screens, quizzes, or games, where visitors can engage with your brand digitally. An AR/VR demonstration that immerses attendees in your service or product can also make up for the missing component.