With over 32 years of serving up great graphics to planners, we know a thing or two about event visuals and how they quietly help hold an event together.  From first impressions and wayfinding to sponsor visibility and brand continuity, these products form the visual ecosystem that guides attendees, supports programming, and reinforces your event’s identity.  We also have a pretty good idea of not only what graphics planners are buying, but how they’re using them to help keep things running smoothly.  Below are the top 10 event graphic products planners consistently rely on, why they’re so critical to a successful event experience, and some ideas on how you can get even more use out of these meeting must-haves.  

1. Easel Signs

Why They’re Essential:
Easel signs are one of the most flexible tools in an event’s visual ecosystem, showing up everywhere from registration areas and session rooms to agenda displays, sponsor recognition, and directional wayfinding.  They communicate key information exactly where attendees e

xpect to find it, making them especially valuable when schedules shift, rooms change, or last-minute updates pop up.  Their portability and ease of placement make them a go-to solution for planners who need clarity on site without adding complexity behind the scenes.

Room for Improvement:
While easel signs are already fairly versatile when it comes to their role on-site, choosing how they’re built can significantly extend their value, especially when budgets are tight.  Opting for reusable sign systems that work with removable sign stickers or overlays allows you to dress your sign up for different event themes without reprinting entire boards, saving you some money and reducing event waste.  You can add even more versatility with accessories like our magnetic SMARTlens®, which lets a single sign serve multiple roles on site.  Showcase your event’s agenda at the registration line and use the same sign to guide attendees to lunch later in the afternoon, then spotlight your sponsors at the evening networking hour.  When it comes to easel signs, versatility is key to maximizing both budget and on-site flexibility.

2. Floor Decals

Why They’re Essential:
Floor decals are a clever, intuitive way to guide attendees through an event space, supporting your efforts and even adding a little interaction into idle time areas like registration queues and hallways.  Because they live directly in the attendee’s path, they’re highly visible in busy environments and naturally influence movement and behavior.  When placed in high-traffic areas, floor decals quietly reinforce branding and sponsorships while keeping the overall space clean, open, and easy to navigate.  Whether you’re using them to identify booth numbers or dressing up your venue lobby for a more thematic welcome, decals are a scalable, cost-effective solution and are quickly becoming a “must-have” at any event.

Room for Improvement:
One of the most underused advantages of floor decals is their ability to add interaction in unexpected places.  Incorporating QR codes into decals placed in registration lines or waiting areas can turn idle time into engagement, linking attendees to sponsor content, event apps, schedules, or giveaways.  And thanks to their textured, non-slip surface, these are just as at home on tabletops as makeshift coasters.  Using them on these surfaces opens the door to fun networking prompts, conversation starters, or sponsor-branded messaging in cafeterias, lounges, and breakout spaces.  When used creatively, floor decals become more than navigation tools or general branding; they become memorable event touchpoints.

3. Wall Decals

Why They’re Essential:
Wall decals allow planners to instantly transform blank or underutilized walls into branded moments.  Whether you’re creating makeshift photo backdrops, highlighting sponsors, or building out fully themed environments, wall decals extend visual storytelling beyond freestanding signage.  Their flexibility and low footprint help branding feel integrated into the space rather than added on, helping you curate a more intentional feeling meeting.  As an added bonus, because they are lightweight, removable, and easy to install, wall decals deliver high visual impact without the cost, labor, or logistical complexity of custom-built structures.

Room for Improvement:
The biggest opportunity with wall decals is thinking beyond flat, centered placements.  Get creative with both design and location by leaning into your venue’s existing infrastructure.  Wrap structural columns, follow unique, architectural angles, climb stairwells, or frame escalators and entrances.  With custom sizing and die-cut shapes at your disposal, wall decals can be tailored to fit even the most complex of surfaces and layouts, helping capture your event’s theme in a way that feels intentional, immersive, and designed specifically for that space.

4. Fabric Backdrops

Why They’re Essential:
Whether it’s in a 10’ x 10’ booth or a sprawling stage, you’ve no doubt seen a fabric backdrop at an event this year.  These eye-catching installations create a strong visual foundation for some of an event’s most important moments, from main stages and general sessions to step-and-repeat photo ops and media walls.  They deliver large-scale brand presence with a polished, professional look that shows up beautifully in photography, video, and live content.   Available at a variety of price points for any budget and sizes to fit any space, fabric backdrops are a smart, scalable solution for planners looking to balance impact with efficiency when it comes to long-lasting event branding.

Room for Improvement:
Fabric backdrops become even more powerful when they’re designed to work in harmony with other graphics.  Pairing them with floor decals, custom-cut elements, or dimensional signage can turn a simple backdrop into an immersive photo environment rather than a standalone background.  On the production side, opting for tension-based graphics can save time and stress on site.  Pillowcase-style graphics are especially popular right now thanks to their wrinkle resistance and easy graphic install (but do require some frame assembly compared to traditional collapsible displays), while silicone edge graphics (SEG) offer the best of both worlds: portable, easy to set up hardware paired and perfectly taut, high-end visuals.

5. Table Throws

Why They’re Essential:
Table throws are a simple but impactful way to elevate high-touch areas like registration tables, exhibitor booths, and information desks.  They turn functional, but otherwise bland, surfaces into branded touchpoints, which helps to unify the look of the event floor and make sponsors and key areas easy to identify.  From first impressions at check-in to repeated interactions throughout the day, table throws are small detail heroes and play a quiet but important role in crafting an event’s cohesive visual experience.

Room for Improvement:
Believe it or not, there’s far more flexibility available today than the standard screen-printed throw.  Full dye-sublimation allows you to brand your entire throw with edge-to-edge color and graphics, creating a more polished, custom look.  Fitted spandex throws add an eye-catching, contoured finish that feels modern and intentional, while convertible throws that adjust to fit both 6’ and 8’ tables offer added versatility for planners working across multiple events or venues. Best of all, these options remain cost-effective upgrades that deliver noticeable visual impact and still fold up into compact, easy-to-ship accents for every meeting.

6. Branded Giveaways

Why They’re Essential:
Branded giveaways extend the life of an event well beyond the venue itself, showing up as registration swag bags, sponsor activations, enhancers, thoughtful room drops, and even employee or VIP gifts.  When chosen thoughtfully, they reinforce branding, support sponsor visibility, and create tangible touchpoints that attendees bring into their everyday lives.  A good giveaway continues working long after the event ends, helping tie your brand to the little moments and experiences of your attendees' daily routines.  This intimate style of marketing is really only achieved through promos, which is why they’re such a staple at any event.

Room for Improvement:
There’s no shortage of unique and on-trend promotional options, and leaning into that variety is where giveaways really shine.  Leveraging recognizable name brands can instantly boost perceived value, while choosing products tied to social or eco-friendly initiatives allows your gifting to reflect shared values.  Pairing multiple items together into curated “engager boxes” creates a more intentional, premium experience than a single standalone piece.  At the end of the day, the true strength of promotional giveaways lies in the impressions they generate outside the event, so the goal is simple: give attendees something they’re genuinely excited to use.

7. Tabletop Signs

Why They’re Essential:
Tabletop signs deliver critical information right where attendees naturally pause.  Whether on session tables, in food and beverage areas, during workshops, or at sponsor activations, these compact graphics ensure everyone is informed and on the same page.  Because they’re typically viewed at close range, they’re especially effective for instructions, reminders, schedules, and sponsor messaging that needs to be seen without competing for attention.  Small in size but big in impact, tabletop signs quietly reinforce organization and branding throughout the event.

Room for Improvement:
Since tabletop signs are essentially a scaled-down version of easel signs, the same power of versatility principles apply.  Choosing reusable sign systems with interchangeable graphics or overlays allows messaging to shift throughout the day, from coffee station menus in the morning to sponsor recognition later on.  Just like easel signs, the magnetic SMARTlens can help a single tabletop sign serve multiple purposes without adding clutter and reduce the need for extra printing.  Thoughtful material choices and update-friendly, future-proof designs turn these small signs into flexible tools that can adapt as the event unfolds for years to come!

8. Retractable Banners

Why They’re Essential:
Retractable banners deliver high visual impact in spaces like entrances, session areas, sponsor highlights, and overflow branding and do it all without taking up much room.  Their vertical format draws the eye naturally, and their large imprint areas mean lots of event information can be shared on them, without anything getting lost in the mix.  Because retractables roll up into their base, they’re highly mobile options (and cost-effective to ship).  This portability also helps make them easy to reposition as layouts change throughout an event.  This reusability and quick setup are the big reasons they’re such a staple for planners who need signage that can travel across multiple events while delivering professional, accessible information.

Room for Improvement:
Much like easel signs, elevating your retractables really boils down to finding ways to improve their versatility both on and off-site.  Choosing hardware that allows you to easily swap out graphics between events (or even update them on site) can significantly extend the life of a single banner and help stretch your budget further.  Interchangeable graphics make it easy to refresh messaging for different sponsors, sessions, or seasons without purchasing new hardware each time, turning retractables into a long-term, cost-saving investment rather than a one-off solution.

9. Meterboards

Why They’re Essential:
Meterboards are designed to deliver sponsor visibility in the highest-traffic areas of an event, including entrances, registration zones, hallways, concourses, and idle areas (like elevators or escalator landings).  Just as at home, horizontally as it as vertically, the large-scale format is ideal for high-impact messaging that attendees can absorb quickly as they move through the space.  Within the event ecosystem, meterboards quietly work overtime by reinforcing branding, filling visual gaps in often-overlooked or under-utilized areas, and helping sponsors maintain consistent visibility throughout the venue.

Room for Improvement:
In some cases, the biggest way to improve your meterboards is by considering a flexible alternative that addresses the same pain points, but does so in a more economical way.  Fabric displays like Formulate can deliver a similar wide-scale presence while offering surprisingly lower production costs, significantly reduced shipping expenses, and improved reusability across multiple events.  In addition to being more cost-effective, fabric graphics often present a cleaner, more polished look, making them a smart option for planners looking to maximize sponsor ROI without sacrificing the “on-the-go” informational impact meterboards typically offer.

10. Shipping Cases & Protective Packaging

Why They’re Essential:
Planners know that behind every seamless event is logistics done right!  Shipping cases and protective packaging play a critical role in transporting banners, backdrops, and reusable signage safely from load-in to load-out.  By protecting graphics in transit, they reduce last-minute emergencies, prevent costly reprints, and help extend the lifespan of event assets, helping you get the most ROI on your visual investments.  These behind-the-scenes workhorses quietly support sustainability goals, protect budgets, and give planners one less thing to worry about on site by ensuring everything arrives in one piece.

Room for Improvement:
With a little planning, shipping, and storage, cases can do more than just protect your graphics; they can become part of the event itself!   Fabric wraps and table conversion kits allow exhibit and shipping cases to transform into branded counters, registration surfaces, or booth elements.  This approach not only maximizes the value of existing assets but also reduces the need for additional furniture or signage, turning logistics into a functional, on-site branding opportunity.

Strong Foundations, Strong Events
When thoughtfully planned, these graphic products work together to create a cohesive, intuitive, and engaging event experience. They guide attendees, support sponsors, elevate branding, and reduce friction for planners—all while fitting into a larger ecosystem designed to make events run smoothly from load-in to load-out.