How important is location to your exhibit’s success or failure? More important than you might think: “location, location, location” is not just a real estate phenomenon. Booth space selection is a major factor in your show floor triumph, because it helps to determine how many visitors you’ll get.

Here are some of the factors to consider when selecting a booth location:

• Entrances and exits – Stay away as an exhibit there is easy to miss because it gets lost in the shuffle – people are so busy orienting themselves to the show floor that they pass right by you.
• Americans tend to go right upon entering the exhibit hall, while Europeans start with the booths located to their left. This is strictly based upon driving patterns in their home countries. You might think that it’s best to be where all the traffic is, but too much overcrowding can cause attendees to move on to a less-populated area.
• Bring only your top-selling or newest items to showcase so the exhibit is not too crowded or cluttered.
• How do you determine your space size? How many people will be manning the booth? About 50 square feet per person is generally about right.
• Ask about the neighbors when reserving a space. The competition or foremost companies with huge, energetic displays make bad neighbors when you’re trying to attract visitors. If you sell plasmas and have five in your exhibit and you are next to Sony – with 200 examples – well forget it. And if they brought the circus with a trapeze artist and you have personalized pen giveaways – well need we say more?

Less congestion and going with the traffic flow (but not too much) make for trade show success!