The more you attend trade shows, the more complex they may appear. Woody Allen once said 80 percent of life is in showing up, but there’s a lot more to running a winning trade show than showing up.
- Arrange your booth staffing so that staffers can have 2 or 3 hours a day to “do the show.” There’s nothing worse than getting stuck behind a booth for 8 hours a day, or going home and having co-workers and friends ask you how the trade show was, and having to say, “I don’t know–I didn’t see any of it.” Allow your staffers to roam the show, and then at a later on briefing perhaps over beverages ask them what they saw. Everyone sees the show from their own perspective, so you may get some valuable insights where you didn’t expect them.
- Have an idea about what you’re using the booth for. If you’re trying to close prospects, invest in a mini booth where you can have a conversation with the prospect and have them sign the relevant documents. If you’re looking to shake hands for follow up contact later on, make sure you have a handy way–business cards or electronically–to keep up with the prospect. Many times, the booth is meant to draw a crowd in which case…
- Cause a Commotion. Fortunately, this is not difficult to do. If the hall allows food, an old fashioned popcorn popper will probably do the trick. Sears used a vacuum cleaner propelling a beach ball into the air–if the commotion has something to do with the product, so much the better. Drawings for prizes can gather crowds at designated times. If the enticement is too attractive, however–you’ll often see a new car as the bait–the crowd may just gather round the car and ignore your promotion.
- Hire a celebrity. It’s true that a sports or showbiz celebrity can help draw a crowd to your booth. Make sure the celebrity can actually draw a crowd–have they done this before?–and that your celeb is sympatico with the crowd likely to attend your show.
- Conduct a debrief with staff each day of the show. It can be in a bar or hospitality suite, but gathering your staff after the day’s events can bring up issues and information which otherwise may get lost. You can also use this time to put together a game plan for the next day.
