Add a QR Code to Your Display
Trade show stands, museum panels, pop-up displays and lobby screens all share a limit: people read only a little while walking past. A QR code lets them take the detail with them. The code is dynamic, so what it opens can change between events.
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Four Displays, Four Kinds of Scan
A trade show booth, a museum panel, a pop-up stand and a lobby screen each work on a different clock. Here is what the scan opens in each.
Why Add a QR Code to a Display?
People walk past displays far more often than they stop at them. You get a few seconds and a few words, and the rest of the story has to go somewhere. A QR code gives interested visitors a way to take it with them. A banner that works as a signpost does more than one that tries to say everything.
Put the detail somewhere else
A display has room for a headline and an image. Specs, videos and case studies belong on the page behind the code, where someone who is interested can read them at their own speed.
Free your team from handing out leaflets
Your team talks to the person at the stand, and the code serves everyone walking past. A scan can send a passer-by to the spec sheet, so conversations at the stand can be about the visitor’s problem and not your brochure.
Give each event its own scan count
Use a separate code for each show, booth or location and compare scan counts afterward. The numbers show scans only, not leads, so treat them as one clue among several.
Put a code on the screen too
A code on a digital sign or kiosk works as well. Keep it large, high contrast and on screen long enough for someone to lift a phone.
A second chance for people in a hurry
Visitors who don’t stop can still scan on the move and look at it later. The code only works if people can reach it, so mind the height and keep it clear of crowds and furniture.
Features for Stands, Panels and Screens
Put one code on the display, make it large enough to scan from the aisle and see which event it was scanned at.
Point the code at this month’s trade show offer and at a different page for the next event. The pull-up banner, panel or screen stays as it is, so the display crew isn’t reprinting graphics a week before the doors open.
Add frame text such as “Scan for the spec sheet” and match your brand colors. Display codes are read from farther away than codes on paper, so keep the code dark on a light background and as large as the display allows.
See how many times each code is scanned. Use a different code for each show, stand or screen and compare the counts afterward. GetQR counts scans. It doesn’t show who scanned or whether they became a lead, so record leads in your own system.
Download SVG or EPS for your exhibition printer so the code stays sharp on a three-meter backdrop as well as a small table card. PNG and PDF work for screens, slides and digital signage layouts. Ask the printer for a proof at full size before the whole run.
A stand that goes to five shows a year and pop-ups in three cities add up to a lot of codes. Keep them in one dashboard, each tied to its own destination, so you can compare shows afterward and keep each show’s page short.
Setting Up a Display QR Code
Work out who scans, from how far away, and what they should find.
Six Ways to Use QR Codes on Displays
Booths, panels, stands and screens each use the scan a little differently.
Trade Show Booths
Put a large code on the banner or the front of the counter, linked to a product sheet, a demo video or a meeting booking page. Visitors in a crowded hall won’t wait while you find a brochure, and a code at hand height works better than one at the top of the stand. Keep a short line of frame text beside it.
Museum and Exhibit Labels
Add a small code to an exhibit label that opens a longer story, extra images or an audio guide. The label stays short and readable, and visitors who want more can scan. Check the page loads on a phone inside thick gallery walls, where signal can be poor. Offer a short line of frame text, such as “Scan to hear more.”
Pop-Up Shops and Product Stands
Put a code on the header card of a pop-up display, linked to a launch offer, a size guide or a page about the range. Because pop-ups move around, the same stand can carry a different page in each location, and each location can have its own code. Keep the offer page short, since shoppers at a pop-up are usually mid-browse.
Digital Signage and Lobby Screens
A code can appear on a lobby screen or a kiosk, linked to a sign-up, a map or an event page. Keep it on screen long enough to scan, with high contrast and plenty of space around it, and avoid placing it where window reflections land. Test it on the actual screen at its usual brightness.
Window and Shopfront Displays
Put a code on a window display so people walking past after closing time can still reach your range or your opening hours. It only works if the glass isn’t bouncing a street light straight back, so print on a matte backing and test it in the evening. A short line such as “Scan to see our range” tells people what they’ll get.
Conference and Exhibition Signage
Use codes on session boards, sponsor panels and wayfinding signs, linked to the agenda, speaker pages or a map of the venue. Sessions run late, rooms change and speakers drop out, so put a note on the page when that happens and tell attendees to check it. Put the venue’s Wi-Fi name on the board too if attendees can use it.
Running Displays at Several Events?
Give each show, stand and screen its own code and manage them from one dashboard. You can compare how each event performed afterward without sorting through one long list.
Printing and Showing QR Codes on Displays
Size for the Aisle, Not the Table
People scan from a step or two away, often while moving. Make the code large, and test it at full size from the distance where visitors will stand.
Mind the Height
Put the code at about chest-to-eye height, where people can aim a phone without crouching or reaching. A code at ankle height on a pull-up banner gets walked past.
Keep a Clear Border
Leave clear space on all four sides. Banners often have graphics, edge trim or a base clip close to the code, so check every side on the final artwork.
Handle Glare and Lighting
Exhibition halls, shop windows and lobbies have strong lights and reflections. Use a matte finish for printed codes, and test screens at the brightness they will run at.
Use Vector Files for Large Formats
Send SVG or EPS to the exhibition printer so the code stays sharp on a large backdrop, and keep PNG for digital screens.
Test the Real Thing in the Real Place
Print a full-size proof, put it where it will stand and scan it on a few phones. Check that mobile signal in the venue is good enough to load the page, since halls and galleries can be poor.
See What GetQR Users Have to Say
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Frequently Asked Questions
What exhibitors and display teams ask before printing.
Yes. Change the destination in your GetQR dashboard and the printed code stays the same. The banner you took to this show can carry a different page at the next one.
It can. Show it large, with high contrast, and keep it on screen long enough to scan. Avoid animations that move the code, and test from the distance where people will stand.
Big enough to scan from where visitors stand, which is usually a step or two back. Test it at full size in the venue if you can, and err on the side of larger.
The code opens a web page, so the phone needs a connection. Halls and galleries can have weak signal, so test it on site, and keep the destination page light so it loads quickly.
Only if you use a separate code for each event. Dynamic codes show scan counts per code, so one code per show lets you compare them.
GetQR counts scans and doesn’t collect contact details. If you want leads, link to a form or a booking page and keep the details in your own system, following the data rules that apply where you operate.
Where people can reach it at chest-to-eye height, on a flat area with clear space around it. Avoid the very top of a tall banner and the bottom edge where bags and boxes block the view.
Often, but glass reflects street lights and the sky. Use a matte print, place the sign behind the glass if you can, and test it in the evening and at midday.
A partly covered code may not scan at all. Keep it clear of furniture, products, people and overlapping graphics, especially on counters where leaflet stands tend to creep forward.
If they should all open the same page, yes. If you want to compare how each display performs, give each its own code.
A short line naming what the scan gives, such as “Scan for the spec sheet.” Visitors decide in a second, and a named reason beats a bare square. Put it above or below the code, not on top of it.
Scan it from where visitors will stand, with the hall lights on. Try two phones, check that the page loads on the hall’s signal and look for glare from overhead lights. Fix it while the crew is still on site.