Video for a trade show stand or congress in Barcelona: what to put on the screen and how to prepare it

Why a stand video is different from any other video

Barcelona is one of Europe's great trade fair and congress cities. The Gran Via venue, in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, hosts every year events such as ISE, the audiovisual and systems integration show, scheduled for 2 to 5 February 2027, and Mobile World Congress, from 1 to 4 March 2027. Throughout the year the city also hosts dozens of industry fairs and medical, tech and food congresses.

At all of them stands have screens, and almost all the screens show the same thing: the corporate video from the website, with its voice-over and music, which nobody can hear in a noisy hall.

A stand video plays by its own rules. Nobody watches it from the start: people walk down the aisle and catch it halfway through. It is almost never heard. It competes with hundreds of screens around it. And it has a single mission: to make a passer-by stop, understand what you do and come over to talk to your team.

That is why simply recycling the website video does not work. Shots can be reused, but the edit has to be designed for the aisle. If you want to know which video works on your website, we cover it in what video to put on your company website. Here we deal with the trade show one.

What to put on the screen: the rules of the aisle

These are the rules we apply to any stand video.

It works without sound. Everything important is in the image and on-screen text. If there is a key line, it is written on screen, big and short. Sound, if any, is an extra for people already inside the stand.

It is understood in three seconds. Each shot says one thing, and any moment of the loop should say what your company does. If someone only sees five seconds, they should leave knowing what it is about.

The product in use. Rather than a spinning logo or people smiling in an office, show what you do working: the machine running, the software on a real screen, the service in action. If the product is complex, a simple animation explains it better than any text. We cover this in how to explain a complex tech product on video.

Text that reads from a distance. Few words, a bold typeface and good contrast. If it cannot be read from three metres, cut it.

A loop with no beginning or end. The video repeats for hours, so the end flows into the start without an abrupt cut or a long fade to black.

Movement, but not motion sickness. A bit of movement draws the eye, but very fast cuts are tiring on a big screen people look at for minutes.

Length, format and screen size

The ideal length for a looping stand video is between thirty seconds and two minutes. Any shorter and it repeats so often it wears out your own team. Any longer and passers-by do not get to the important part.

Before editing, you need to know exactly where it will be shown. Ask the stand builder, or the fair, for these details.

The screen format. A horizontal 16:9 TV is the norm, but there are more and more vertical totems, panoramic LED screens and video walls with unusual proportions. A horizontal video on a vertical totem looks small and letterboxed.

The resolution. Stand LED screens are often neither 4K nor Full HD but a resolution of their own depending on the number of modules. It is worth exporting at their exact size.

The player. Whether the video runs from a USB stick on the screen, from a computer or from the builder's media player, and which file format it accepts. A file that will not play on the first day of the fair is a drama avoided with a test beforehand.

Height and distance. A screen at eye level is viewed up close; one hung four metres up is seen across the whole hall. That changes the size of the text and the amount of detail.

With several screens, you can make a different video for each: the brand loop on the big one and product demos on the small ones, next to the meeting table.

Beyond the screen: the content you film at the fair

A trade fair is not just a place to show video. It is also one of the best moments of the year to film it.

During those days you have your team, your clients, your partners and sometimes the trade press in the same hall. It is a unique chance to film short interviews, client testimonials, demos with an audience and the buzz of a busy stand.

That material can be used in several ways. LinkedIn content during the fair itself, with clips from the stand, one-minute interviews or the new launch, when people are paying most attention to what is happening there. A recap video of your participation, one or two minutes long, for the website, the email to clients and the next edition. We explain it in what an aftermovie is. And pieces for the rest of the year: testimonials, demos or an interview with management.

It needs planning. Fairs have their own rules for filming inside the venue, and stands are small and noisy. It is worth booking a quiet corner or an early slot before the doors open for the interviews.

It is the same work we do when covering any company event, and we go through it step by step in how a corporate event is filmed.

When to start preparing it and real cases

Timing is what people underestimate most. They think about the stand video once the stand is already designed, and by then the weeks have gone.

For an early-year fair, such as ISE in February or Mobile World Congress in March, the sensible approach is to have the idea in November, shoot in December or early January and deliver the final video two or three weeks before the fair, so it can be tested on the real screen or an identical one.

In our work with tech companies we have made pieces with exactly what a stand needs. For Qilimanjaro, a European quantum computing company for which we are the video partner, we produce corporate videos, coverage of international events and product pieces such as the one for SpeQtrum, with motion graphics that explain a technology that is very hard to show. You can see it in the Qilimanjaro case and on our page for companies.

For Audiovisuales Data, which sells professional audiovisual equipment to business clients, we made product videos with technical demos, use cases and model comparisons, as well as a digital catalogue. It is the kind of content that, cut down and adapted to the screen, works on a stand, because it shows the product working.

In both cases the key was the same: explaining something technical with clear images, without relying on a voice-over.

How we help with your stand video

At Bostak Films we prepare videos for trade fair and congress stands for companies in Barcelona, the Baix Llobregat and from abroad exhibiting in the city. Our studio is in Viladecans, a few minutes from the Gran Via venue, so we can also film at the fair on as many days as needed.

We can take on the whole package. Beforehand, the looping video adapted to your screens, from new footage or what you already have, and the product demos. During the fair, filming interviews, testimonials and atmosphere, plus same-day clips for LinkedIn. And afterwards, the recap video and pieces for the rest of the year.

If your company is in tech, this is what we do in technology communication: explaining complex products so they are understood first time.

If you are exhibiting at ISE, Mobile World Congress or any fair in the coming months, now is a good time to start, because the weeks before a big show fill up fast. Book a free diagnosis and we will tell you what can be prepared with the time left.

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