Tradeshows -- not quite the beginning

To continue from our last discussion, you (or your company) has decided to attend a trade show. The booth space has been reserved and (hopefully) airline and hotel rooms have been booked.

Now what?

Now is when people gather in a room, look at each other, and say in their best Chris Farley impersonation from "Tommy Boy", "What are we gonna doooooo??"

Good question. And even better, good timing.

Far too often, companies don't plan what they're going to do at their booth. Hard to believe, but you almost believe that companies think that showing up is "good enough." Or, worse yet, there may actually be a conversation that goes "check and see what we have left in the supply closet. We'll give that stuff away."

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Luckily, we're still early enough in the planning stages to actually plan something. For instance, are we going to hand out information? If so, what type? A flyer? A brochure? A sell sheet? A folder? Maybe we should decide now, get the handouts designed and printed and avoid rush charges.

Or, are we going to have some type of theme for our booth? Maybe an island theme? A futuristic theme? A golf or sports theme? If so, let's decide now. Will we need special decorations? special props? special clothing?

What are we going to wear? Will it tie into the theme? Will we be shirt and tie, business casual, Hawaiian shirts, golf shirts, etc?

How about an activity? What we will be doing on at our booth? A hole in one putting contest? A spin-and-win wheel? A trivia contest? Decisions, decisions, decisions...

How about what you'll be distributing at your booth? Sure, you may have literature on-hand (see above), but are you going to also have promotional items as well? There are only about 600,000 different items you have a company logo affixed to -- it may be tough to pick one.


In our next post, we'll come up with some answers to these questions... and then continue toward the show!