If you tuned into our most recent LinkedIn Live, you’ve already seen the 30 best stands from the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show. But what does it all mean? What learnings can we take away from the onslaught of exhibit inspiration that spanned four halls inside the Las Vegas Convention Center, two at the Venetian Convention Center, and the outdoor spaces in the LVCC’s parking lots, comprising a total of more than 2.5 million square feet?
If you were paying attention, you might have identified some trends and tactics that appeared across several stands serving different industries. And it’s those trends that we want to take a closer look at, as they represent key themes that we expect to see gaining momentum throughout 2025 and beyond. Adopting and adapting these trends is also a great way to bring a little CES sizzle to your company’s exhibits and events that will enhance the guest experience, help you achieve your face-to-face marketing goals, and ensure your brand is on the cutting edge of experiential marketing. So let’s look at nine trends our team identified on site at CES 2025.
First up, we’ve got live presentations. You may have noticed that a surprising percentage of The Experiential Design Authority’s Top 30 BOSS Awards finalists included some form of formal or informal in-booth presentation, whether traditional, scripted speeches or more organic, staffer-assisted demos. Live presentations ebb and flow in popularity, largely because while effective, they can present some logistical challenges. However, the potential for success is huge because they allow you to reach a much larger percentage of attendees than you could through one-on-one interactions alone.
The first step to successfully executing an in-booth presentation is finding your story, then identifying the best medium to tell it, and exploring whether a live demo, panel, or presenter can help attract an audience — that you direct toward other areas of your exhibit when the presentation is over for a deeper dive and more intimate conversations. Done correctly, live presentations are highly powerful tools that you should absolutely consider, even if you’re exhibiting in a smaller in-line space. If you’ve tried them before and were unsuccessful, you likely need a partner (not a new approach) to help you hone this strategy and make it work for you.
Trend number two is passport promos. If you’ve been in the industry long enough, you’ve seen dozens of these, where guests earn a sticker or a token for each zone or activation they visit inside your space. These are generally incentivized by a giveaway or entry into a prize drawing that attendees earn in exchange for a completed passport. Because it’s a tried-and-true tactic, many marketers relegate them to the “old school” bin and worry that their tactile nature can reflect poorly on a brand dedicated to positioning itself as high-tech and futuristic. But a number of such brands employed this strategy at CES 2025 because they understand the value of ensuring that visitors digest larger chunks of their experiences.
After all, if you’re telling a comprehensive story about how your company’s products present an all-in-one solution, you don’t want guests visiting a single demonstration and walking away thinking that’s your sole or flagship product. In that case, you don’t even really want them to think about your products, but rather your comprehensive solution. So incentivizing them to visit multiple zones makes perfect sense, whether you do that using a simple postcard or a high-tech RFID wristband, or even a custom lead-collection solution that enables you to scan guests at each zone and track their progress, passport promos can prove hugely valuable in terms of elongating the customer journey, ensuring increased dwell times, and providing staff a greater opportunity to convey more complex brand narratives.
Our next trend is one that CES attendees undoubtedly probably spotted without me having to call it out. Large-scale multimedia is everywhere. And it’s easy to dismiss the ubiquity of video walls and LED screens as being confined to big-budget brands and gigantic booth spaces. But more and more, we’re even seeing small 10-by-10 and 10-by-20-foot inline exhibits incorporating sizeable video walls, in some cases creating full, dynamic backdrops that were previously static, tensioned-fabric graphics.
You don’t have to go all-out on AV to compete. But a single flatscreen isn’t likely to cut it, and an exhibit without digital content could be a liability if you want to avoid looking dated. But while the cost of multimedia has dropped considerably over the years, it’s still spendy. So before you add tech for the sake of tech, consult your exhibit house or experiential agency to ensure it will enhance the experience and that the content will facilitate strategic objectives. At the end of the day, content is still king, and a well-produced motion graphic or video presentation is far more important than the size of your screen.
You might have noticed an increasing number of CES exhibits feature VIP areas and experiences, ranging from semi-enclosed meeting spaces to full hospitality lounges. Or, in the case of Valeo, an entire pavilion was accessible only to invited guests. These VIP spaces help to create a sense of exclusivity that makes high-value clients and prospects feel like rock stars, which in most cases is entirely appropriate for VIP guests.
Consider this: If I’m spending a million dollars or more with your company (per transaction), you probably shouldn’t just let me wander up to your booth like any other looky-loo, only to be ignored by a staffer who doesn’t know who I am or why they should give me the time of day. You want to ensure a high-quality experience that leaves little to chance. So consider whether some sort of VIP space, giveaway, or activation might make sense for your next exhibit. If you’re not sure, start small. But be strategic. If I had a nickel for every VIP meeting room that went unused because someone in the C-suite wanted it but nobody actually went to the trouble of prescheduling any meetings, I could buy you all the LED panels you could ever want.
It’s not surprising that a show dedicated to technology would have a number of exhibitors displaying futuristic concepts and messaging that positions them as forward-thinking brands creating the future before you have even imagined it. But this approach of tethering your brand to a future enhanced by your offerings (even if it’s a conceptual future with not-yet-available innovations) can work wonders in terms of generating press coverage and lending an element of thought leadership to your brand.
Automakers have been doing this for decades with concept cars, many of which never make it into production. But by predicting the future and illustrating it to clients and prospects, you can establish yourself as a clairvoyant visionary with a crystal ball into the future of your industry. So whatever your product, and whatever your industry, think about what the future might look like, and how your products and services might evolve from what they are today into what most can’t yet conceptualize.
Star Trek fans, The Holodeck is real, and it is an incredible (albeit expensive) tool in your marketing toolbox. I sincerely believe immersive spaces are the future of exhibit and event marketing, as total immersion is the Holy Grail of experiential design. Think about how you can immerse clients and prospects in your brand, messaging, and vision for the future. You’ve probably seen or heard of things like the Van Gogh Experience, Meow Wolf, or other experiential spaces. Through projection, multimedia, and experiential design, these installations provide unparalleled experiences. Why use AR and VR when you can generate true, mind-blowing immersion in real life?
Much like large-scale multimedia, you don’t have to go whole hog here in order to reap the benefits of immersive experiences. Even replacing a flatscreen with a curved screen can turn an otherwise run-of-the-mill kiosk into a more immersive experience. And if you can blend immersion with physical engagement, even better.
If you can’t afford the kind of projection and mixed-reality mashup capable of full brand immersion, consider how theatrical lighting might do a lot of the heavy lifting at a fraction of the price. Beyond mere accent lighting, colorful and kinetic lighting is capable of turning an exhibit into an environment. If you’ve ever been at a Vegas nightclub come closing time, you know how the space transforms when the lights come on, and the ambiance of that immersive illumination is replaced by what my friends and I used to call “the ugly lights.”
In many ways, effective lighting can create an immersive space without the need for a fully enclosed booth or even a ton of rigged elements. Consider the exhibits pictured here and how different they would look if I switched off the lighting. It’s easy to see the impact lighting can have when it comes to creating an environment, fostering a mood, or just attracting attention. Now think about how you can use illumination to facilitate immersion, convey a vibe, or foster the kind of ambiance that will help your space stand out on the show floor.
Next up is dynamic and kinetic elements. I paired these two seemingly different tactics into one trend because they both play off the same kernel of truth: Humans are hard-wired to respond to movement. It’s ingrained in our DNA. If something is moving, whether it’s a rotating overhead sign or some on-screen imagery, it captures our attention at exponentially higher rates than comparable static elements. Consider how digital signage is more effective at getting consumers to read — or even see — messaging than printed graphics which can quickly become white-noise wallpaper in an exhibit hall full of banner stands and text-heavy back walls.
A car parked in your booth might attract eyeballs. But put that car in front of a video wall that makes it appear to be speeding through the city, and you’ll attract considerably more attention. Additionally, kinetic elements from simple kinetic displays to robotic arms almost inevitably increase booth traffic, which can help you meet lead-collection and brand-awareness goals far more easily.
The final trend, and one that I’ve been seeing more and more of lately, is what I call art integration. This can mean literally incorporating art into your exhibit or event, creating art-like installations, designing displays to make your products look like priceless works of art in a museum or gallery, or creating partnerships or promotions with artists or pop-culture icons that might result in a special edition product or experience.
Much like live presentations, this trend can take countless different forms, but what art integration does is provide a “premium” halo effect that pairs your brand with attributes like aspirational, artful, well-designed, bespoke, and high-end. Whether you hire a street artist to create a branded painting on-site in your exhibit throughout the show, display sculptures created using your products, showcase a new flavor or design created in partnership with a hot new artist, or what have you, integrating art into your marketing campaigns can do beautiful things for your brand.