The trade show has come and gone.  You spoke to clients afterwards who never saw your trade show booth.  They had no idea you were centrally located in the main hall next to the refreshments.  They never saw your trade show booth, and worse, they never stopped by to have a chat.  Did they miss you or did you miss them?

Don’t Miss Important Prospects or Clients at Your Trade Show Booth

Isn’t that a terrible thought? Was your exhibit staffed during the entire show? It takes two people minimum to staff a trade show booth – plain and simple. You cannot possibly be a one-man/woman show for 6 to 8 hours straight. The larger your trade show booth, the more staff you might want to add to ensure proper coverage so people can take breaks, talk to a variety of prospects and customers at the same time, or simply to have lunch outside of the trade show booth.  And a paper sign stating “out-to-lunch” is just not professional. Again, you must make the most of every minute the show is open – it costs more to send two people that is for certain. But what does missed opportunity cost in the end?

Did you have proper signage at your trade show booth?  Was your logo bold and bright, did your messaging stand out across the exhibit hall?  How did people react to your trade show booth when they passed by?  Did they even pause to look? Did you consider how your design might impact others finding your trade show booth in the sea of booths across a crowded exhibit hall?

Did you have any incentives for people to stop by your booth? Did you do an experiential event, raffle off a prize, or host some kind of entertaining contest?  Did you make a scene so that people had to stop and see you and just what was going on?

If you’re answering mostly no to these questions, you might have had multiple missed opportunities.  Next trade show, hold a planning meeting with all the stakeholders to ensure that you are seen at the show by the people who need to see you.