Creating and sharing a visual floorplan (or sitemap) is a great way to help attendees navigate your event.
Floorplans are most often used to help registrants, like vendors and exhibitors, identify the location of booths that are available for purchase at the time of registration.
If your event plans to sell booths, it's a good idea to upload a floorplan or sitemap to ClearEvent.
If you are thinking "Great, but how do I create a floorplan?" you're in the right place. Read on to learn tips and tools that can be used to create a floorplan or sitemap for your event.
Tips for creating a floorplan or sitemap
Here are some best practices to consider when creating or maintaining a floorplan or sitemap diagram:
Keep the booth details displayed in your diagram to a minimum. We recommend showing the booth number, booth size, and possibly the currently assigned booth registrant/occupant name.
Export your floorplan/sitemap to a Scalable Vector Graphic (.SVG) file. This is the image format that is supported by ClearEvent's Booth Fee feature. This will ensure details are preserved when zooming in/out of the diagram. Learn more here.
Remove any
widthandheightattributes found on the<svg/>element. This will ensure the image can resize itself to the available display space when it is first displayed. For example:
<svg version="1.1" width="970" height="488" viewBox="0 0 485 244" ...> ...
</svg>
The recommended SVG image width should be 485. This will prevent a registrant from needing to scroll or pan the image to see the entire floorplan. In SVG terminology, set the
<svg/>element'sviewBoxattribute to something like:
<svg version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 485 244" ...>
...
</svg>"
As booth availability changes, update your sitemap to clearly identify which booths are still available. Using colors is a great way to visually communicate booth availability. Include a Legend to explain the meaning of each color.
After any changes to your floorplan, upload it to ClearEvent so registrants always have access to the most current version.
If you are hosting your event at a venue, reach out and ask the venue if they have a blank floorplan or sitemap template you can use as a starting point. This can save you some time.
If you are hosting your event at an outdoor venue, consider starting with a map image captured from https://www.openstreetmap.org
Tools to create a floorplan or sitemap
To create a floorplan or sitemap, you can use tools like PowerPoint, Visio, or Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop.
Alternatively, you can use more sophisticated custom floor planning software. Here are a few options that may work for your needs:
https://app.diagrams.net (Free)
https://icograms.com (Free/Paid)
https://www.lucidchart.com (Free/Paid)
https://online.visual-paradigm.com (Free/Paid)
https://www.ezblueprint.com (Paid)
https://www.smartdraw.com (Paid)
https://www.eventdraw.com (Paid)
Examples:
Some example images created using the tools listed above.
Tradeshow Map Example:
Isomorphic Map Example:
