6 EdTech Conference Booth Design Insights from FETC 2026
Walk into an EdTech conference, and you’re immediately hit with roaring noise, a splash of colorful banners, and competing calls for attention. Every brand in the exhibit hall paid a pretty penny to be there, and they’re all vying for a few fleeting moments with the same educators.
And most of the time, all the different booths start to blur together. So how do you make sure you don’t become a part of that big blur?
The Clever Lucy team attended the 2026 Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) to connect with brands doing amazing things for the future of education, but to also take in some learning. What booths did people stop at, and where did they linger? What seemed to grab people’s attention and generate conversation?
Here, we’re rounding up the design and engagement strategies that stood out to us so you can apply them to your next conference booth design.
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Cognitive science uses the term “normal blindness” to explain how our brains automatically filter out what feels repetitive or expected, allowing us to function better in visually dense environments. And what’s more visually dense than a jampacked conference hall?
Adding a human element to your exhibiting strategy can help you break up the visual density and deepen your connection with the crowd. At FETC, some of the most effective booths used people as part of their booth design strategy.
PaperCut, a print management company, put staff in Hawaiian shirts to draw attention and reinforce their brand’s eco-friendly, laid-back vibe. And Snorkl, an AI solution that supports conceptual mastery through instant feedback, turned their team into walking brand symbols by having them wear something you’d never expect to see in an exhibit hall: snorkels and masks!
But SchoolAI, a brand that provides various AI solutions to schools, went all in. They created a guerrilla-style human spectacle by deploying a marching band to physically disrupt the flow of the hall. And if horns and drums don’t capture attention, we don’t know what will. They also had a branded, refurbished school bus to host conversations with guests off the main floor. -
Before someone asks what you do or listens to you explain your brand’s value propositions, their brain is already trying to decide whether your booth feels approachable or worth stopping for. Nostalgia is one of the quickest shortcuts to create that sense of approachable familiarity. But to make nostalgia work, you need to understand who your audience is.
Mobile Mind, a professional development hub for schools, knew the FETC attendees were mainly millennial educators, so they leaned into that by creating a 90s-themed front-facing booth. The brand’s traditional branding was behind it, but the front signage hooked the educators in.Nostalgia signals, “We understand you.” When done right, it lowers barriers and invites the most valuable currency on a conference floor: conversation.
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In an exhibit hall where educators are processing dozens of products an hour, characters are another way to make your EdTech brand stand out and feel approachable. Doing so simplifies things. It gives people a reason to smile and engage without needing a product explanation first.
Brands like i-Ready, BrainPOP, ClassDojo, CyberNut, and Knowt leaned into characters and mascots at FETC 2026 to lower the cognitive load of their messaging. Scholar Education even brought real-life dogs, Baxter and Bruce, that their AI mascots were modeled after, onto the show floor. These pups created an instant emotional connection and a concrete, memorable bridge between the digital product and the real world.And, of course, everyone wants to take a picture with these fun characters, which creates a natural opportunity to scan badges and collect contact information.
Leveraging mascots and characters creates shareable moments. Educators who took pictures with the characters posted them on their social media. And just like that, brands were showing up in places the exhibit hall floor couldn’t reach.
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“Show don’t tell” is the mantra of marketers for a reason. Telling people what your product does only gets you so far, but showing them is where understanding starts to really click.
Live demos at conferences consistently outperform passive explanations because they allow educators to see, touch, and engage with your product in real time.
FETC booths that held attention longest were designed for demonstration. zSpace, a provider of AR/VR learning experiences, stood out by offering one-on-one demos inside their booth.
StarLab achieved the same by setting up its inflatable planetarium and letting the product speak for itself as conference attendees enjoyed immersive learning experiences firsthand. -
Attendees collect TONS of swag at conferences. If you get your freebies wrong, they probably won’t make it out of their hotel room. But let’s be real. People do love free things.
If you’re going to offer a giveaway, make it useful. Utility beats novelty every time, especially when conference attendees are already traveling home with limited suitcase space. When swag aligns with how teachers actually work, it earns a spot in their bag and a longer life on their desk (which means your brand lasts longer in their minds, too).
At FETC, PaperCut offered practical items that reinforced their commitment to sustainability. They gave away fun socks that our co-founder, Keri, says she’s “absolutely obsessed with and wears every week,” as well as Rocketbooks (which are reusable notebooks) with cute clip-on koalas.
A member of the Clever Lucy team, Jaci Fong, brought the Rocketbook home and immediately put it to use, cutting down on the number of notebooks (and paper!) her son will use during the school year. And if this freebie left that kind of mark on Jaci, we’re confident it did the same for other attendees.
Great swag extends the booth experience well beyond the exhibit hall, keeping your brand visible and top-of-mind long after the lanyards come off.
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On a crowded show floor, your EdTech brand gets seconds to make an impression. Visual hierarchy matters far more than how much information you can fit on a wall. Use your exhibiting space, materials, and visual design to communicate what matters.
Daylight Computer Company, for example, turned its FETC booth into a physical extension of its product philosophy by using low-tech, natural, and back-to-basics design elements. This approach mirrored what their paper-like computer displays promise: reduced eye strain, fewer distractions, and a more humane relationship with technology. This strategy helped them stand out amidst a conference hall full of flashing screens and dense signage.
Other brands that broke through the clutter were Amira, an AI teacher assistant, and Yourway Learning, a company offering AI tools, activities, and assistants to educators and districts. Yourway Learning leaned into puns, characters, and bold visuals to quickly communicate their brand personality.
Amira employed inviting imagery and an open layout that made it easy to step in and engage with them. We even found our very own “Clever Lucy” at the Amira booth!
Develop an EdTech Conference Booth Design that Actually Earns Attention
What our team saw at FETC 2026 reinforced what we already know to be true: strong conference booth design is strategic. It’s not just fun decoration. The booths that performed well were visually appealing, yes, but they also aligned brand, audience, and experience in a way that made the right people stop, stay, and engage.
As education and EdTech marketing experts, we help brands like yours define what conference success looks like, and design booths and supporting assets that attract the right conversations (not just foot traffic). We make sure every element of your booth design works together to tell a clear, cohesive story.
Curious how we can help your EdTech brand stand out at an upcoming conference? Book a 15-minute discovery call with us today.