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exhibition excellence
top tips for trade show exhibition
Planning for your next event? Use our
top tips to help you get the best return
on investment from your exhibition.
MINPRINT’S TOP TIPS FOR EXHIBITION EXCELLENCE
Research
– Choose your exhibition carefully, consider how closely this matches your target market and keep in
mind the costs of exhibiting.
Space
– Be realistic regarding the amount of space you need. Are you selling or demonstrating product or
machinery on your stand; will you need storage; will you need a private meeting area; will you be offering
hospitality; how many staff are involved.
Location
– Where do you want to be within the exhibition? Look at the exhibitor floorplan and think about flow of
visitors. What features and events are the organisers planning? A space close to a feature would often be
considered premium sites.
Budget
– Ensure that your space will catch the attention of your invited customers and speculative delegates.
Cost is relative, you get what you pay for and that is reflected in the quality and finish of your stand. Consider - will
you reuse the stand; will you want to rent or buy; do you want Modular or Custom Build; who is going to set up?
Advertise
- Don’t blame the show organiser for poor traffic to your stand. Send out emails, advertise on your
website, in your industry trade press and tell them which stand you will be on, what you will be displaying or
demonstrating, any special show offers and send them free tickets.
Training
– Train your staff how to work the exhibition stand. Make sure they have the correct product
knowledge and understand why your company is investing in the exhibition and what you need to get out of it.
Are you there to build brand awareness or to convert attendees to customers?
Collect
– Exhibitions are about promoting your company to a live audience. Every person who visits your stand is
a potential customer and interacting with them is the key to a successful exhibition. Make notes on business
cards to remind yourself later of who you talked to and what you talked about.
Choose quality over quantity
- There are timewasters at every exhibition, learn how to qualify your prospects
with a few key questions e.g. Do you know our Company/brand? Is our product/service something that might
interest you, if not now then perhaps sometime in the future?
Enjoy
– Customers are not going to engage with you if you give the impression that you would rather be
somewhere else. Exhibitions are tiring, they make your feet and legs scream at you but if you aren’t smiling and
having fun you may as well not be there.
Follow up
– Ensure one person is tasked with bringing back the leads and before the dust has time to settle,
make an action plan for how you intend to follow up on your leads.
Analyse
– Post exhibition have a full debrief on all elements of the show. Consider costs vs budget and show
targets vs reality. How much business was done at the show and in the subsequent months that you can directly
attribute to the exhibition. If you were to do it again, would you do anything differently?