If you’re planning an outdoor trade show or exhibition, hydration needs to be an important part of your planning. Trade shows are usually all-day or multi-day events that take a lot out of attendees. Attendees are moving between exhibitor booths, often spending several hours on their feet.
When a trade show is outdoors, the strain is even greater. Outside, attendees are exposed to heat, sun, humidity and more.
If you’re planning an outdoor trade show and want attendees as comfortable, healthy and happy as possible, here’s what to consider about hydration.
Understanding the Hydration Needs of Your Event
Before deciding how to hydrate trade show attendees, you’ll need to understand the factors that affect the amount of water you’ll need to supply. What affects the amount of water you’ll need?
- Attendance
- Event duration
- Temperature and humidity
- Shaded areas vs. direct sunlight
- Standing and movement required of attendees
- Staff and vendors (they need to stay hydrated too)
Since you can’t predict the exact weather conditions in advance, plan for a water supply that’s more than enough for the best and worst conditions possible. The last thing you want is to run out of water midway through your trade show, so having access to more than what you need, within reason, is always a good idea.
Choose the Right Setup
You have plenty of options for supplying water at your outdoor trade show. Many event planners choose popular options like plastic water bottles, but this is far from the best choice. As easy and effective as it is to offer single-use water bottles, it’s also inefficient, bad for the environment and cost-prohibitive.
Mobile hydration stations are a great way to protect the environment. They’re also easier to manage throughout your event than thousands of water bottles. Having a dedicated place where everyone can refill their water bottles makes planning easier and ensures your event isn’t interrupted by hydration issues.
Make Access Convenient
It’s not enough to have water onsite for trade show attendees. You also need to offer convenient access that doesn’t detract from their experience.
You’ll need to locate your water stations so they’re easy to find and don’t cause long waits or crowding. Place stations near entrances and/or check-in or registration areas. Think about the distance attendees must cover to reach hydration stations and whether or not they’ll be visiting exhibitor booths along the way.
If possible, avoid locating hydration stations near high-traffic areas or where they will create congestion. It might also be a good idea to offer separate hydration stations for exhibitors and attendees to keep wait times shorter.
Prioritize Quality and Sustainability
You need to provide clean, reliable drinking water in the most sustainable way possible.
While those single-use bottles get water into the hands of thirsty people, they create a lot of waste and other issues you’ll need to address as the trade show’s organizer. When all the issues with plastic water bottles are taken into account, they’re actually one of the worst solutions you have for hydrating event attendees.
If your goal is to keep everyone hydrated without damaging the environment by generating substantial waste, mobile hydration stations are one of your best options. Thankfully, you never need to choose between keeping people healthy and hydrated and neglecting environmental responsibility.
The right approach to hydration can help keep attendees refreshed and comfortable while reducing unnecessary waste and supporting your event’s sustainability goals.
Make Hydration Part of the Overall Experience
Planning a successful trade show requires you to keep attendees and participants as healthy, happy and comfortable as possible. This means ensuring they stay hydrated, especially when the event is outside, and attendees are constantly moving between exhibitor booths.
Additionally, exhibitors and attendees are standing for long periods and discussing products and services. It’s an environment where people are very likely to feel thirsty and get dehydrated, which is why a reliable supply of clean drinking water is needed.
Quench Buggy is one of the most convenient options for keeping event attendees hydrated regardless of conditions. Whether you’re interested in learning more about mobile hydration stations or you’re ready to invest in a water supply you can trust for your next event, contact Quench Buggy today.
