BETT is the world’s biggest education trade show - a global exhibition of innovation and education held in London each year. Through a dynamic programme of interactive talks and demos, it brings together educators from across the globe - providing an ideal platform for Canva to drive awareness and engage new audiences with an interactive mural wall.
Challenge
BETT - the British Educational Training and Technology Show - attracts more than 30,000 attendees from across the globe each year for a jam-packed 3 days of networking and interactive sessions at London’s ExCel.
As seasoned exhibitors, Canva was looking for ways to create a standout presence at BETT 2023. Driven by a commitment to sustainability, Canva reuses its stand each year, adding a fresh approach to keep things exciting. With 600+ other exhibitors vying for attention, increasing footfall and creating opportunities for audience engagement was key.
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“We ended up tripling our original goal in terms of leads and engagements with attendees at BETT, which was really exciting. And to see people engaging with us again on social far exceeded our expectations."
Jimmy Knowles, Global Head of Experiential, Canva
Solution
At the Canva stand, we created a 2-metre high interactive mural wall, entitled ‘What is the greatest lesson you’ve ever learnt?’. Throughout the event, attendees shared their answers through a suggestion box on the wall or posted online using the hashtag #greatestlesson. Our artist then transformed these lessons into beautiful visualisations, bringing them to life on the mural.Canva’s Global Head of Experiential, Jimmy Knowles, says: “It was really important for us to create a stand that wasn't just a showpiece that people were going to walk by and say ‘that's pretty’.
"It was really exciting for us to create a stand that wasn't just a showpiece that people were going to walk by and say ‘that's pretty’. "
“We thought the wall was a really fun way to tie into the education aspect but also flip the script a little bit on teachers to ask them ‘What's the greatest lesson that they've ever learned?’ and to help inspire the people that were coming by.”
Hundreds of attendees engaged with the campaign, both physically and digitally, and a wealth of wisdom flooded the wall that included ‘Listen first, talk second’ and ‘Before you climb the ladder, check that it’s leaning on the right wall'.
“The live scribing was really engaging and fun for people to watch and plus it got to show off the work of an incredible artist. And that’s what Canva's all about: empowering creativity and thinking bigger. It really turned out exactly how we were imagining,” says Jimmy.
Results
The Canva stand was a major hit, becoming the event's second-most attended booth. This helped Canva to almost triple its target for leads, making BETT 2023 one of its most successful events to date.
“We ended up tripling our original goal in terms of leads and engagements with attendees at BETT, which was really exciting. And to see people engaging with us again on social far exceeded our expectations,” says Jimmy.
“To be the second most attended booth out of all of Bett was really incredible, especially as we were up against some bigger players there, who were all doing really cool and interesting things. I credit so much of that to what we had going on at the space - it was those moments of engagement that really helped us stand out amongst the sea of so many great exhibitors.”
"To be the second most-attended booth out of all of Bett was incredible... I credit so much of that to what we had going on at the space - it was those moments of engagement that really helped us stand out amongst the sea of so many great exhibitors."
