ou can spend a million dollars, construct a beautiful exhibit, and still fail to leave a lasting impression on attendees. It's a common pitfall for companies that forget one key element of a successful display: audience interaction. That's precisely why Exhibit Design Awards judges rewarded Parrot SA for putting interactivity at the forefront of its exhibiting program at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which included both indoor and outdoor displays.

Teaming with exhibit-design firm DisplayWorks LLC, the Paris-based manufacturer of wireless devices engaged attendees on the concourse outside the Las Vegas Convention Center. Here, the company constructed a 40-by-60-foot obstacle course through which attendees could pilot its new AR Drone 2.0. A sort of model airplane for the 21st century, the drone is a foot-long quadricopter controlled via common wireless devices. Parrot reps signed up interested guests for their turn to fly the drone through a maze of tunnels and tower-like obstacles. Reps also handed out product information to onlookers and provided directions to Parrot's indoor display.

By engaging attendees upfront with the AR Drone test drives, Parrot helped drive traffic to its 30-by-50-foot indoor display, where visitors could test the company's wireless speakers in a soundproof room; try out wireless, touch-control headphones and automotive products at demo stations in the center of the display; and watch AR Drones perform preprogramed aerial routines to music inside a large, netted enclosure.

"It's shocking to see how so many booths have no interactivity," said one judge. "Here, people were actually allowed to do something, which inevitably created much more memorability than any static exhibit." E