The Dino Expo is undoubtedly a family-friendly attraction! At the dinosaur exhibition, visitors can see lifelike “dinosaurs”. These dinosaurs can roar at the audience, answer questions from visitors, engage in interactive games with visitors and chase after them, and allow visitors to ride on them for an unforgettable Jurassic adventure…

Such an interactive and highly entertaining dinosaur exhibition is exactly what every exhibition planner aspires to create! This is also what every manager of parks, museums, scenic spots and other locations wants to achieve! For these potential clients, how to organize and create a profitable dinosaur exhibition has become a key issue! Today, as experts with over 15 years of experience in making animatronic dinosaurs, we will elaborate in detail on how to create a highly profitable Dino Expo.

Here are some key steps as below

QUICK FACTS:

#Market survey
#Budgeting
#Selecting the Venue
#Obtaining exhibits
#Design and interactive experiences
#Marketing promotion
#The on-site management
#Assessment

Market survey

To make a successful business venture, market research is an extremely important preparatory task. Only with sufficient data and actual experience to determine whether this business will succeed or not! The same goes for the business of the dinosaur exhibition. To have a thorough understanding of your city or region, we need to know how much people spend on entertainment, what kinds of places they prefer to go for entertainment, what information channels children use to explore entertainment, and how parents in the area feel about spending money on their children…

To understand these situations, you need to go deep into local parks, shopping malls, museum, and some crowded places where people gather and observe as well as ask around! Even you need to spend money specifically to try out some of the local popular entertainment activities. This will be of great help to your preparations for the dinosaur exhibition business.

Details of the location survey:

PARK – The park is one of the main choices for people’s outings. On weekends, a park for hiking usually attracts a large number of people. Here you can observe the degree of people’s emphasis on leisure time. If there are a large number of people hiking in the park or taking their children to play in the park on weekends, then the Dino Expo business will have great potential.

SHOPPING MALL – The occassions where the consumption level of local people can be tested. It is necessary to conduct observation and research in both budget-friendly shopping malls and upscale ones. If the business of the two types is good, then the exhibition business is naturally worth investing in and developing. If the business of the budget-friendly one is good while that of the high-end ones is mediocre, when you are planning the dinosaur exhibition, you have to take into account the issue of ticket prices and the budget for the exhibition.

MUSEUM – Children are usually the main force in visiting museums. An interesting museum, such as a science and technology museum, etc., often attracts a large number of children to visit on weekends. Through the investigation of interesting museums, one can obtain information about the flow of local children.

COMMERCIAL STREET – This is a place where one can comprehensively observe the local consumption level and the flow of people! The entertainment potential of a city can often be found in its commercial streets.

LOCAL ENTERTAINMENT EXHIBITION – This is the most intuitive place to understand whether an exhibition can attract a large number of visitors or not. No matter what kind of exhibition it is, as long as it has the feature of attracting popularity (especially children), you should go and watch it to understand. It can be of great reference significance for your dinosaur exhibition business.

Summary after the research:

Target audience: Identify the main target audience groups, such as families, schools, dinosaur enthusiasts, etc.
competitive assay: Find out whether there are similar exhibitions in the local area and analyze their successes and shortcomings.
Needs assessment: Evaluate the interest and willingness to pay of potential viewers through questionnaires or interviews.

Only through meticulous research, fully grasp the local entertainment consumption situation and have sufficient confidence in the return on investment for your dinosaur exhibition. Your assistance will be of great help to the actions you are going to undertake in the future.

Budgeting

The dinosaur exhibition business requires investment in the early stage to be successful. Therefore, the budget allocation is of vital importance as it determines whether you can earn profits in the later stage. Only with a reasonable budget and rigorous investment, your dinosaur exhibition could be successful.

During the preparations for the Dino Expo, there will be expenses for purchasing life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, related decorative items, artificial vegetation, and hiring workers! Every aspect is a cost. You need to have a total estimate of the investment amount and the duration.

Estimated expenses for the projects:

The cost of dinosaur models should be the highest. This is also a necessary preparation. After all, in a Dino Expo, “dinosaurs” are the main attraction.

The rental cost of the venue should also be taken into consideration. A small-scale dinosaur exhibition should be at least 500㎡ to 600㎡ in area; The large-scale dinosaur exhibition is basically in an area of over 1,000㎡ or 5,000㎡; Take into account your investment based on the scale you need and the rental cost of the local venue.

In a dinosaur exhibition, there must also be decorations of vegetation. All kinds of ferns, palm trees, vegetation carpets and so on.

In an exhibition, there is a need for on-site management personnel, which involves personnel salaries.

In some cases, when organizing exhibitions in certain places, has to take into account the investment in insurance (such as fire insurance or other types).

To achieve twice the result with half the effort, some pre-marketing efforts are needed, such as publicity through online celebrities and local news coverage.

When you finally dismantle the exhibition stand, you also need to consider the usage of various tools and the work of the labors.

Estimation is also necessary for exhibition income:

Based on market research, set a reasonable ticket price for your exhibition. Then make a prediction about the daily visitor flow.

Carry out marketing for sponsorship efforts, and strive to secure more sponsorships; for instance, cooperate with local parks or museums to create a package ticket for visiting.

Since a dinosaur exhibition is to be held, selling various dinosaur-themed souvenirs, dinosaur cultural and creative products, dinosaur toys, dinosaur-themed packages and other items would also be good revenue-generating projects.

The price of the paid riding equipment that can directly generate income in the dinosaur exhibition also needs to be set.

Here are some popular dinosaur riding equipments recommended as references:

More information on dinosaur riding equipments here.

Selecting the Venue

In fact, the choice of venue is very likely to determine the success or failure of the dinosaur exhibition! If your venue is chosen to be located in a place with a large number of visitors and where there are many young people gathering, the probability of making a profit might be relatively high. However, this also means that the budget for investment will be relatively higher. Not everyone would choose a venue with a large crowd regardless of the cost. Then some places with relatively high traffics and convenient transportation became the second choices. We will explain how to choose the venue that suits your dinosaur exhibition.

(1).Places with large numbers of visitors and convenient transportation, such as the periphery of large shopping malls, within or around theme / amusement parks, around commercial streets, or in the vicinity of trendy commercial districts, etc., are all suitable for holding the exhibitions.

(2).If the number of visitors is not so large but the place is accessible by transportation, such as leisure outdoor parks, forest parks, natural scenic spots, and open areas in the suburbs of commercial-residential areas, etc., it is still possible to hold a dinosaur exhibition through relevant marketing.

How to conduct marketing in an advantageous way?

In recent years, an effective approach has been to mobilize local influencers (even if their fan base is only 3,000 – 4,000) to promote the EXPO through platforms like TikTok, X, Facebook… (The influencers who are local people for their expertise in fun events.)

The exhibition organizer themselves utilize their TikTok or Facebook etc., and invest to marketing promote their interactive dinosaur exhibition in their local area.

In the bustling commercial areas or around large schools where people gather, make effective poster promotions for the dinosaur exhibition. Highlight the exhibition time, the kind of interactive entertainment, adventure tours, location, transportation convenience and other factors concisely. Best to arouse children’s natural curiosity and desire for exploration.

It is possible to cooperate with the local education bureau and recommend the dinosaur exhibition to each school.

For the above-mentioned publicity and promotion activities, please choose the feasible schemes by yourselves and implement them accordingly.

The venue size / area is also important: Your prior investment to decide on the venue area for holding the dinosaur exhibition. The venue should be ensured to be capable of accommodating all the exhibits and the audience.

(A).If the venue you are organizing is in a large city (with a permanent resident population exceeding 10 million), recommending that the exhibition area is larger than 2,000㎡ – 5,000㎡. The entertainment-oriented consumption in such large cities has become quite mature and diversified. Relatively large-scale dinosaur exhibitions and diverse interactive dinosaur exhibits can attract more visitors.

(B).If you are organizing the event is in a medium-sized or small city (with a permanent resident population ranging from 3 million to 8 million), recommending that the exhibition area is larger than 1,000㎡.

(C).If the permanent resident population is less than 1 million, it is recommended that the exhibition area is around 1,000㎡.

This conclusion is drawn based on years of communication with clients (those who have held dinosaur exhibitions), and it is not necessarily applicable to all potential clients. However, it can be regarded as a reference.

The facilities of the venue should be complete and well-equipped: check whether the facilities such as electricity, safety and lavatories are complete. In this way, when tourists enter the exhibition for visiting, they will have a good experience, thereby establishing a positive reputation effect.

(A).The electric dinosaur exhibits need to be powered on to make them move. Therefore, an electrical box with connecting cables should be provided at the exhibition site. The following is the motor power installed in a large dinosaur with a body length of 10 meters. Please refer to it.

(B).When a large number of tourists flock to the exhibition, the issue of toilet facilities has to be taken into consideration! It is necessary to set up the signs reasonably so that tourists can find the public toilets easily. If there is no such configuration as public toilets, then mobile temporary toilets should be set up instead. Moreover, the ratio of female toilets to male ones should be 3:1, so as to ensure that tourists have a good experience.

Obtaining exhibits

Dinosaurs and related exhibits are the absolute stars of this exhibition! Only exhibits that are loved by people of all ages can be the key to the success of an exhibition. The types of exhibits can be animatronic dinosaur models (one of the most popular exhibits), fiberglass static dinosaur models, and dinosaur fossil replicas. Believe me, the main exhibits of successful and popular dinosaur exhibitions are mainly these three types. The rest of the related exhibits are basically not aimed at high-end and high-profit.

Two ways to obtain the exhibits:

(1).Rent dinosaur exhibits. If there is a manufacturer of dinosaur models in your local area, then renting would be a more cost-effective way. Or perhaps there are practitioners in your nearby city who specialize in renting out dinosaur models. You can also negotiate the rental business with them.

When negotiating the lease business, it is necessary to settle the quantity, size and dimensions of the dinosaur models, the lease duration, the round-trip freight charges, insurance and other matters, so as to facilitate the operation and return in the future.

(2).Buy dinosaur exhibits. The manufacturers of lifelike animatronic dinosaur usually gather in Zigong, China. You can find a reliable manufacturer (Xdinosaurs Production), and then negotiate with them about the quantity, size, logistics and freight charges of dinosaurs you want, etc. After confirming all the details, you can place the order.

Furthermore, if you rent or purchase large dinosaur models and need to install them on site, there are generally two methods available for you to choose from.

Send the professional installation team to your exhibition site for works. High efficiency and safety. (Installation cost and accommodation need to be provided by the customer)

We provide installation diagrams and instructions. You can arrange for the installation by yourself. (This can save you a certain amount of cost)

Installation case presentation >

Click for viewing more lifelike animatronic dinosaurs.

The exhibition should incorporate design and interactive experiences

After obtaining the necessary themed exhibits, should devote efforts to how to present this exhibition in an interesting way and give deep consideration for interactive experience. Only by properly arranging the exhibits and decorations, planning the route for tourists’ viewing and ensuring that tourists can freely interact with the exhibits during their journey, one successful exhibition can be implemented.

The idea for arranging exhibits and decorations:

It would be best to have an dinosaur model placed at intervals of about 5 to 10 meters. Dinosaurs could move and roar, which greatly attracted the audience.

The decorative green plants should be arranged as close as possible to the dinosaurs. Some blank areas should also be filled with these plants to the greatest extent possible, so as to create the most realistic prehistoric environment.

Dinosaurs and green plants should be placed at least 0.5 to 1.2 meter away from the path where tourists are walking. This way, tourists can touch these prehistoric giants when they are viewing and walking along the path.

How to plan a good route for the tour:

Based on the exhibition area, at least make the distance of your route equivalent to the perimeter of your area. Surely, the longer the route is, the better. In this way, tourists’ sense of exploration and experience will be enhanced.

The route should be winding and tortuous. This way, the time available for tourists to enjoy the scenery can be significantly increased.

The route’s progression has layers of entertainment added on top of each other! For instance, the most significant and well-known “Tyrannosaurus Rex” is placed at the end of the route, making tourists extremely eager to reach the end of the route.

How to incorporate interactive elements:

For each interactive exhibit, such as dinosaur models and dinosaur skeletons, provide information boards. Tourists can gain knowledge as they enjoy the view.

It is also possible to add VR equipment to the exhibition, allowing children to put on VR glasses and immerse themselves in the real Jurassic Park.

It can add the fossil excavation area, allowing children to enter the sand pit and dig for dinosaur skeletons. These skeletons are actually jigsaw puzzles. Once dug out, they can be sold to children who like them.

Add the adventure area of riding dinosaurs. That is to arrange some dinosaur riding equipments, allowing children to experience the thrill of “conquering dinosaurs“.

It is possible to set up the TV that plays prehistoric documentary series of exploration and education in a loop during the exhibition, which will enable visitors to have a better understanding of the prehistoric world. Top 10 Dinosaur-themed Documentaries Here.

Marketing promotion

A good dinosaur exhibition also requires a good promotional to attract visitors. If no one knew that there was a dinosaur exhibition in your city, then this exhibition would be meaningless.

What are the channels for promotion?

TikTok: Undoubtedly, this is the best platform for promotion.

1.You can establish a platform for your own exhibition and use it to promote and publicize in your local area or the surrounding cities.
2.You can also invite local influencers (even if their fan base is around 3,000 or so. Of course, the more fans is better. It depends on your budget.) to help promotion.

Facebook: The promotion strategy can also be similar to TikTok. Both text and image posts as well as videos are key contents.

Local media and forums: Collaboration with the media is a traditional model. Its advantage lies in being able to convey information relatively well to the older groups, such as parents of children. This way, it can also potentially increase the probability of bringing their children to visit the exhibition.

Objectives for cooperation promotion:

School: Communicate with the leaders or managers of local kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools to promote the dinosaur exhibition. The school can enable students to acquire extracurricular knowledge and enjoy the fun of interactive teaching. Some of the funds from the exhibition can also be allocated to the school, allowing them to organize publicity.

Museum: If there is a museum in the area, a joint promotion campaign can be launched for the dinosaur exhibition. Once tourists purchase tickets to visit the dinosaur exhibition, they can visit the local museum with the ticket stubs and carry out joint interactive activities. Museums can rent some dinosaur models from the exhibition as attractions, and the operator of the Expo can also raise ticket prices to obtain higher profits. A portion of the funds thus obtained can be given to the museum as a joint reward.

Theme Park: The marketing strategy for its promotion can be similar to that of a museum. As a result, the exhibition operator can also take advantage of this opportunity to purchase more dinosaur models and sell them to theme parks.

After the promotion strategy on the platform was determined, doing integration of these two aspects – the “trophy sales” and “advance ticket sales“, obtaining cash flow directly. To set up “dinosaur-themed souvenirs” selling booths at the exhibition, items such as T-shirts, mugs, books, and toy models with dinosaur themes are all best-selling products.

The tickets sale secures the exhibition’s income in advance. This income can be sold at 70% – 80% of the full ticket price. The main strategy is to tap into the mentality of the first wave of “tourists taking advantage of the situation for freebies”. Once the first wave of tourists arrive and have a good experience, more tourists will come as the word-of-mouth spreads.

The on-site management

For the dinosaur exhibition to be stable and orderly, and to provide a good experience and favorable word-of-mouth, excellent on-site management is also indispensable. The success of the exhibition is attributed to human factors. Only by doing a good management during the exhibition, increasing the chances of its success and gain benefits.

Doing 2 tips well as below:

Personnel training – Calculate how many people you need to employ for the exhibition daily works. For instance, needs someone in charge of selling tickets, explaining exhibition rules, managing and maintaining interactive equipment on-site, and making emergency records in case of unexpected situations. Depending on your exhibition scale, allocate 2 to 5 personnel for each training session. That ensures the normal operation of the exhibition with a high probability.

Safety measures – Safety is a particularly crucial aspect. It is essential to eliminate the possibility of having open flames on site. And provide training on fire prevention and other safety knowledge to every on-site manager. Safety equipments such as fire extinguishers and first aid kits should be provided on the spot. Likewise, it is also necessary for on-site managers to give tourists brief explanations on simple safety measures, especially when they are playing with interactive equipments.

Assessment

Expo organizer should constantly summarize experiences in practice, review the daily trivial matters in the dinosaur exhibition every day, and think about what is lacking and what works well, so as to continuously enhance the ability to benefit the dinosaur exhibition.

Do the following things well:

Feedback collection: A questionnaire form can be prepared. After the tourists have visited the dinosaur exhibition, they can be asked to fill in how they felt about the experience. Or, directly asking the visitors who have just finished the exhibition about their experience and feelings, and collect the survey results. Only in this way, effectively understanding the true thoughts of the visitors and gradually improve the shortcomings in future exhibitions.

Financial analysis: The revenue from each exhibition should be analyzed promptly after the exhibition! See which part of the content can yield the greatest benefit. And promptly improve and adjust the most profitable programs or interactive devices to maximize the return on investment. It is also necessary to conduct financial analysis to identify who the potential customers and partners will be in the future, and to promptly prepare for the corresponding connection and integration procedures.

Continuously optimize the exhibition content: The mode of the exhibition cannot remain unchanged. Through post-event investigation and financial analysis, the managers must consider how to optimize the fun content of the exhibition in order to achieve continuous benefits in the future. For instance, it can incorporate elements such as stage theatres, children’s dramas, accident scenes, funny pranks, etc., or add more attractive equipment, models, puppets, etc. for funny shows. In conclusion, if the dinosaur exhibition can keep presenting new and exciting content to visitors from time to time, it will be able to continue to benefit from its popularity.

By following these steps and constantly updating the exhibition content to maintain its appeal, it is possible to organize a profitable dinosaur exhibition effectively. Would you want to get in touch with us for starting excellent Dino Expo.