How to Plan Your Exhibit For a Trade Show in 6 Months or Less

Trade shows and other events where you can interact with potential clients and colleagues in person are an important investment in your business. That face-to-face contact is so much more personal than a digital marketing campaign and can lead to more long-term relationships down the line. Better yet, it’s been estimated that 81% of a trade show’s attendees have buying power in their organizations and 45% attend only one show per year: you want to catch as many unique prospects as possible by having an incredible display that makes them want to go right up to you.

However, making plans for a trade show or convention gets daunting even when you’ve had ample lead time to sort out all the details, let alone when it’s just a matter of a few months. There are your own staff and venue staff, promotional items, displays, samples, and setting up a trade show booth. Here’s some good news: event planning on a very strict deadline doesn’t have to be a huge source of stress.

If you’ve got six months or less to plan an exhibit, here’s some tips to put together an exhibit in a snap:

• Talk to event staff about available booths. If you’re stepping in late in the game, there may not even be any booths left. Make sure space hasn’t sold out. Research and ask the organizers for information on attendee figures, media presence, products, and services are usually shown, and other important factors.
• Analyze then justify the costs. While you want to make sure you’re choosing the right trade show first, look at the costs next. What do you think your ROI would be by attending? What demographics attend this event? How much is travel/lodging, booth rental, promotional items going to cost? Do you typically snag many qualified leads? If yes, you’ll want to arrange that booth right away.
• Choose the staff who will attend with you. Give them a crash course in how to interact with this particular audience, and trade show decorum. Delegate responsibilities and shifts, because you should take turns walking around the other exhibits to network.
• Get creative. Your exhibit needs to be an extension of your product or company. Promotional items like keychains, sunglasses, tote bags, and sundry are nice but you might not have enough time or cash to order these items, and a few glossy banners may get passer-bys’ attention: but how about some aspect of interactivity like a game?

With over 30 years of trade show setup experience and more than 5,000 successful projects completed, Exponents is happy to help you set up an immersive exhibit that is customized to show off any product or service.

We can come up with engaging exhibitry consistent with your branding and the trade show’s ambiance and arranging the logistics of renting structures for your exhibit is eliminated when you choose us.