Stand numbers are the address system
Visitors arrive with a stand number from the catalogue, an email or a business card. Make that number searchable, and make it readable: a hall letter and a number (“C33”) tell people where to go before they even open the map.
Keep numbering consistent between the plan, the signs on the floor and the exhibitor list.
Search exhibitors, not only stands
People remember a company name or a product more often than a number. Search by exhibitor name and by a few tags — “ceramics”, “lighting” — and show the stand on the map from the result.
Model the connections between floors
Routes across levels are where printed plans fail. Put every staircase, escalator and lift on the map as a connection, and name it in the route steps: “take lift L2 to level 1”.
Lifts involve waiting. Giving them a time cost keeps normal routes on stairs and escalators, while step-free routes still use them.
Make step-free a route, not a footnote
A note saying “lifts available” does not help someone with a wheelchair or a pram find the way. A step-free switch that changes the route does.
Check the lifts on site, mark accessible toilets as places, and make sure the step-free route reaches every hall.
Put talks where they happen
Show each room with what is on now and next. If a talk has limited seats, say so on its card — people decide whether to cross the venue before they start walking.
Use kiosks at the entrances
A large screen at the entrance helps people orient themselves, but they cannot carry it. A QR code on the kiosk hands the map over to the phone, and the kiosk resets itself when nobody uses it.
Keep updating until the doors open
Stands move and exhibitors cancel until the last day. A map fed from the same exhibitor list as the catalogue stays right when the printed plan does not.
Trade fair and conference venue map
Orrinde Design Fair: a trade fair floor plan demo