Observations from the ISTELive26 Expo Floor
I moseyed through the ISTELive26 expo floor with a tally app open on my phone. I wanted to quantify 'booth vibes' by counting the booth staff behaviors that made me feel welcome and the ones that made me want to keep walking.
Here's what I found. And more importantly, what I think your brand leader would want to know about it.
ISTELive26 by the Numbers
Across 2 days (Monday and Tuesday), I counted the booth behaviors Navigate EdTech has written about before. I recorded for about 3 hours each day, making sure to weave in and out of aisles and revisit booths more than once to be fair. And yes, these are informal and subjective observations of short moments in time. There's always a reason for what we see: when the lunch rush hits, booth traffic slows, and more staffers are sitting, having side conversations, etc. But that's part of the issue, because you never know who's watching or what their timeline is. I'll also note that I was tracking specific staff behaviors, not overall booth design, session quality, or product demos. Two people can have completely different experiences at the same booth, and both can be valid.
