Trade show participation involves a lot. To keep everything organized, here we give you checklists, tips and ideas for good trade show preparation. For example, how best to choose a trade show wall that suits your goals.
The first step consists of establishing your goals: what do you want to achieve as a company or organization?
Objectives:
Sales: acquire customers, generate sales, realize market positioning Brand awareness: introduce company, increase brand awareness, strengthen competitive position Knowledge transfer; introduce products, show innovations, generate publicity, organize workshops Relationship management: increase customer loyalty, strengthen image
Determine your target audience 3. Define the objectives of your booth 4. Create a budget Establish what you want to accomplish with your trade show participation. This can be any of the above, or a combination of them.
Tip: Make your objective SMART (Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realizable and Time-bound). Make sure you know who you want to work with, such as professional booth builders in the Netherlands.
Create a target group overview:
- Customers
- Potential customers
- Relationships
- Directors
- Suppliers
- Media
- Etc.
Compile an invitation list based on this overview.
Tip: Large trade show organizers conduct visitor surveys, providing insight into which audiences can be reached. Take advantage of this.
What needs to happen on the show floor to achieve your goals? Look for the theme, presentation format and look that best suits your company’s goals. In doing so, consider modular stand construction options.
Tip: Make your booth inviting and distinctive. Probably not the most fun, but a very important job. A good budget prevents budget overruns and disappointments afterwards. Moreover, above all, it clearly and realistically portrays the possibilities in advance.
Tip: Be careful and complete when preparing your budget. For example, consider the option of buying or renting a trade show booth, depending on your budget and goals.
Trade show participation checklist
These checklists will help you prepare and implement
These checklists will help you prepare and implement. For example, for choosing the right trade show booth accessories.
Complete your communication 11. Invite your relationships. For example, consider using a trade show booth configurator to set up your booth. See where your booth will be located in the trade show complex. Find out what halls are used for the fair, whether there are special constructions, what information technologies are available.
Tip #1: Find out in advance about the accessibility and infrastructure around the fair venue: is it easily accessible by car, plane, bus or train.
Tip #2: Arrange parking passes in advance for your associates and staff. Based on your goals and budget, draft a briefing for the booth builder. The booth builder will present a booth design and quotation based on this briefing. Order your exhibitor and set-up passes and any catering in good time. In addition, the technical facilities should be ordered such as electricity, water, etc.
Your booth may look good, but in the end, it’s still the people who (have to) do it. You are only successful when your people go all the way and are convinced that they are going to get optimal returns from the trade show participation with a common goal. Communication is an important part of your trade show preparation. Make sure your communication is recognizable and consistent with the look and feel of your booth.
Tip: throughout the communication process, keep your target audiences in focus and get back in your visitor/customer’s chair. Check how press briefings are arranged at the fair organization and compile press documents (preferably with photo materials).
Decide in advance what information materials should be at the booth, what audiences the information is for and when it will be provided. Differentiate according to your target audiences and provide tailored information. Your invitation policy is important. Who do you ask and also: who don’t you ask? Tip #1: For some invitations, schedule an appointment at the fair right away, too.
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Choose appropriate services based on your budget and team.
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How to Ensure Successful Trade Show Participation – What You Didn’t Know!
Here are some tips and ideas for during and right before the fair.
1. Stand crew briefing
2. Test all equipment
3. Check the booth inventory
4. Prepare trade show follow-up
Make sure your booth crew is ready in every way for the fair.
Using your script, create an outline that includes:
- Who is responsible for what
- What is the division of labor
- How do we approach and address our visitors
- What are the dress codes
- How do we use name tags/badges
Tip: hand out admission tickets and parking passes in a timely manner.
Tip: review the visitor registration form with your booth crew in advance. That way, everyone knows exactly what to do.
Tip: Consider a kick-off with your booth crew. A good way to prepare everyone for trade show participation. Nothing more annoying than equipment that turns out not to work when the fair starts.
Important to check in advance that all necessary items are actually at the booth.
Tip: create a comprehensive materials and checklist for office supplies, kitchen supplies, information materials, first aid kit, etc.
Tip: Make sure you have good storage in your booth, but keep it out of sight of visitors. Don’t make a warehouse of your booth.
AT BEURSWAND.NL YOU ARE IN GOOD HANDS AND ARE GUARANTEED THE PROFESSIONAL AND RELIABLE SERVICE YOU DESERVE.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SETTING UP THE BOOTH, BECAUSE THE STAFF OF BEURSWAND.NL WILL EVEN FLY TO THE LOCATION TO TAKE CARE OF THIS FOR YOU! AND WHAT'S EVEN BETTER, BEURSWAND.NL OFFERS FAIR PRICES.
READY FOR THE EVENT!
– Peter | Director
More Return From Your Trade Show Participation
Your follow up should already be predetermined and part of your goals. For example, use the platform to request a quote or see if there are opportunities for an online presentation. – Make sure your booth crew is well aware of the objectives and expected follow-up. – Prioritize your most important prospects and contact them immediately after the trade show.
Make sure that leads are already initiated during the trade show. You do this by agreeing with your booth crew on the desired follow-up actions for each lead. Be sure to thank your visitors in an appropriate way, such as with a gadget or card.
Therefore, invite only those customers and visitors you want to pay attention to again. Evaluation is certainly not something you should only do at the end of the run. With interim (daily) evaluations, you keep your finger on the pulse and are able to make quick changes and adjustments.
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Organizing a Successful … for beginners and advanced students
1. Right after the fair Time to follow up. A lot comes down to the first days after the trade show visit, because that’s when your booth is still fresh in the customer’s mind. Make an action list and think about: – The telephone or written follow-up of documentation submissions – The account managers’ visit plan – The action plans per prospect – The direct mail campaign – The public relations campaign – The advertising campaign Etc.
Tip #2: Contact key prospects within 1 week. Keep in mind the priority you have already attached to the contact during the conversation at the fair. Tip #3: Make sure you stand out in the follow-up. At the end of a trade show, visitors to most of the companies they visited receive a mailing – Rent Your Trade Show Stand.
Tip #4: As much as possible, approach all your established contacts yourself. You already have that person’s trust, and it remains to be seen whether a colleague will have the same trust. 2. Checkout Time for the final bill. It is important to verify that you stayed within budget.
Hold internal evaluation Without evaluation, you don’t know if you did it right. Record the results of the internal evaluation in a short report. Tip: Split your evaluation into 3 parts: a) General evaluation Have you achieved your objectives; what are any areas for improvement. b) Evaluation of trade show contacts The number of leads, the quantity and quality of your visitors.
5+ Tips For A Successful Trade Show Event
How was the cooperation, was everything delivered and built satisfactorily and on time? (b) Suppliers. How was the quality of the various suppliers, were agreements met? It is important to properly feedback and communicate the results of both internal and external evaluation , internally.
Especially when less good things come to light, it is important to deal with them respectfully, sensibly and sometimes with restraint. Tip: When there is something to celebrate, celebrate it. Successful trade show participation is the result of a joint effort. Share your successes with everyone involved.
If you know how fairs work, it can pay big dividends. If you don’t, it will cost you unnecessary money, time and energy. Far too often we see booth crews struggling to make contact. In fact, we regularly see exhibitors ducking away behind a booth table or staring into their smartphones as potential passes by.
Right? Above all, lots of preparation before you hit the show floor. Just as we advised it to trade show visitors last time, the magic words for the exhibitor are also, “schedule, schedule, schedule. We compiled a handy list of tips so that you can be prepared for your next trade show participation! If you want to achieve goals, good preparation is a very important part.
Things You Must Arrange Before Participating in a Trade Show
Last year’s playbook is fine on logistics parts but your story always requires a fresh elaboration. What message do you want to convey? Work that out and discuss it with the whole team; you’ll find that many ideas arise to include in the preparation.
With that story, how will you entice the visitor, engage them, give them attention, challenge them, inform them, make them curious, amaze them afterwards? The trick is to bring the visitor in with a smile and let them go again with a smile or something to think about. A gadget as a carrier of the story can help, but a good conversation is at least as good.
Visitors do not come to hear the same story that is on your website live. So challenge yourself and your team. How? Raise the bar so you really have to think out of the box. This does not succeed only with a preliminary discussion with the booth builder or a trade show trainer, do it together with the entire team.
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