by Cynthia Marsh-Croll

Created on: May 11, 2009

As I am doing my printing, emails and preparation for a local county chamber trade show it is apparent more than ever that you need to be organized to get the most out of your trade show investment. The key to having a successful trade show is preparation and post planning.

Some of the items you need to consider from an organizing standpoint are the following:

PRE-SHOW

What is the goal for having your booth at the trade show?
What is your marketing plan to promote attendance?
What is your sales pitch and strategy for getting people to come to your booth?
How are you going to capture the data for future contact about product information?
What booth is the best location for your business?
What printed materials are you going to distribute before and follow up after?
How much lead time does the printer need to have them to you on time?
What promotional products are you going to purchase?
What is your raffle prize going to be?
What staff or assistants are you having work the booth with you?
What additional equipment do you need for this and future shows?
Do you need to rent any special equipment?

Make sure that you give yourself enough time to arrange all of the above. If you need equipment, people and materials this will need to be arranged way ahead of time. The area businesses may be swamped with trade show related services and sales. Do not put yourself in the position of being at your booth without your materials. This will send the entirely wrong impression no matter how good your product or service is.

POST-SHOW

Block out 1 to 2 days after the show to follow up with prospects.
How are you going to follow up with your prospects?
Do you need to hire a temp for processing work generated from attending the show?
Make sure to have enough supplies to implement your follow up plan.
How are you going to use the captured prospect information for future use beyond show follow up?
Do a post mortem to see if the show was effective. This would include what sales and relationships were generated in respect to your costs.
Do we do this tradeshow next year?

Talk to seasoned veterans of trade shows who can fill in the gaps or give you advice on issues you did not even know existed. Find someone you trust and bounce your ideas off of that person to see if they would visit your booth. Trade shows are a big investment and need to be chosen wisely and properly planned.

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