Plan Your Trade Show Ahead

Plan Ahead

Plan in advance. Best thing you can do before a trade show is to plan well ahead of time. It is never too early to start. Inform your team of travel dates so they can book flights or you can do it for them before the cost goes up. Secure Hotel Rooms at an exhibitor rate before the hotel sells out. In addition to logistics, pre show campaign planning is key. Are you launching a new product the same time as the event? Do you have big news or do you need to print product sheets and order giveaways? Prepare emails for the trade show before the event. You will want to inform your audience of your presence at the trade show and use email as a platform to announce any important news, teasers and opportunities to meet the team.

2. Prepare sales and Marketing teams

An effective tool in trade show preparation is communication. Various teams typically attend trade shows, including marketing, sales and the executive team. Make sure everyone is on the same page and has all of the relevant information leading up to the event. Include meetings and booth hours on everyone’s calendars. Create a logistics document to ensure nothing is left out and expectations are communicated. The document should include phone numbers for everyone on your team in case you need to contact them while on site. Print out a few copies and make it easily accessible on a

mobile device for travel. Invite everyone who will be attending the trade show to participate in a “prep call” the week before the trade show is scheduled. Prepare a slide deck and include housekeeping items such as the hotel, booth hours as well as an overview of scheduled booth meetings and networking events.

3. Be Ready & Scan A LOT

During the opening day of the trade show, gather your onsite team before the doors open. Make sure they know the layout of the booth, giveaways and activities to promote. Let them try to use the badge scanner. You will be surprised at how many badge

scanners vary from show to show. Don't forget to also make use of the scanners that allow you to type in notes after your conversation. This will help your team with post show follow ups. Scan the badge of everyone that stops by your booth. It would be a shame to miss passing a quality lead on to your sales team because they were not scanned.

4. Use Social Media

Post photos

from the event to your social channels before, during and after the event. Create a contest to Invite attendees to stop by your booth, pick up a giveaway or watch a demo. Make sure your booth number and event hashtag are included so attendees can easily find you.

5. Pre-Event Meeting

The successful trade shows we have watched our customers execute were the ones where the sales and the marketing teams worked together to pre schedule booth meetings with prospects and their customers. Be realistic and set reasonable goals for your team (try using last year’s numbers as your benchmark and increase it by 25%). Furthermore, create a shared calendar to give the sales team visibility into the booth schedule it will help see which executive will be available during each day of the trade show.