If you are new to your industry, or new to the trade show experience, it is best to attend one or two shows before you attempt to arrange or deal with your booth space and exhibit materials.. Consider spending a few days – if you are lucky enough to have a convention center nearby, you can plan to spend three –four hours of each work day devoted to this mission. First – get there early and watch the installation of exhibits, look at booth designs, and stick around for the dismantle, too. An example – you will now understand why you cannot take down the exhibit and get out of the convention center in two hours. In most cases you will not even see your empty crates for four hours! It’ll help you get a look at the strategic behind-the-scenes planning and an overall feel for how tradeshows work.

When it comes time to actually strut your stuff, many companies contending for attention have found that it makes far more sense to invite the buyers to come by your booth and set up appointments. With thousands of people flooding the booth aisles over the 2-4 days of the tradeshow, you will need to look organized If you look disordered, how will you persuade a potential buyer or distributor that you can deliver the product?
Before adding a show to your exhibit list, you might contemplate attending as a visitor, which will give you a good idea of who is there, who your competition is and who’s on the attendee list. With the large number of shows that can touch on your industry, or even your niche of your industry, it’ll help you determine which shows are right for your company.

Look at tradeshow promotion as just one point of your marketing efforts. You just cannot settle on trade shows as your only form of marketing. However, spending time at a tradeshow either as an exhibitor or a visitor is a great way to meet a large number of potential customers and business partners in a short period of time. It’s a condensed experience: both your time and the amount of people you can meet is compressed.

Do your homework before you leave for the show, and spend a little of your down time updating and making notes. The key to success whether as a visitor or exhibitor is to be over-prepared. Know who you’d like to meet, know what companies you want to see, whether as a competitor or as a potential business partner or customer. It’s all about taking control. Take control and you’ll be a success!