Exhibiting at industry trade shows / conventions can be one of the most effective marketing tools your business employs. At the same time, it can also be the most costly marketing tool (per impression) in which you invest. Most show exhibitors simply show up, stand in their exhibit, collect a few leads, party most nights, and go home.
If your business uses, or wants to use, trade shows and conventions as a tool to attract new business, there are some simple rules that will make the investment far more worthwhile.

Exhibition tips:

1. Don’t attend industry trade shows just because all your competition is attending. That “herd” mentality costs businesses million of dollars every year, and only puts money in the pockets of the organizers. Pick shows like you should be picking other advertising mediums, by selecting the ones that attract the type and number of people you want to meet.
2. Pick an exhibit location that maximizes traffic flow. Pay attention to main entrance, food, entertainment, and restroom locations and map out expected traffic patterns. In many cases you need to be a regular attendee, and publication advertiser, to work your way up to the best locations, but if you focus on it, you can improve your positioning.
3. Build an exhibit that works. The job of a trade-show exhibit is to quickly communicate who you are and why an attendee should stop and talk with you. Far too many exhibits try to do too many things, succeeding only in attracting no visitors or too many of the wrong ones. Think of your exhibit as a quality advertisement. Does it attract attention, does it represent my brand, and does it give the attendee a reason to stop?
4. Be very careful with gimmicks that draw crowds. From handing out free stuff to hiring performers or celebrities, keep your trade show goals firmly in mind. Are you there to bring home sales leads? Are you there to improve your overall brand exposure? What kind of show traffic do you want? Who do you want? How long will you need to spend with them? If you want a particular type of attendee, and once found will need to spend a good deal of time with them, then building high traffic with non-qualified attendees may work against you.
5. Take team members that are optimized for show performance. Tradeshows are not party events that your best sales people earn the right to attend. Seldom are your best field representatives also your best show personnel. At a show, staffers need to be able to quickly qualify prospects, moving unqualified folks along. They need to be able to handle one after another, and do so efficiently to maximize the number of quality leads collected. Determine who you have that will maximize your investment and take them.
6. Set up your exhibit to allow prospects to enter easily. Don’t set up barriers between you and your prospects, like a wall of tables or product displays. The most value gained from your attendance should be personal contact with qualified prospects, so make it easy to engage face-to-face.
7. Don’t intimidate the prospect by having a wall of staff ready to “pounce” on them. Would you get out of your car at a used car lot if you saw a row of sales people waiting for you to get out? Make is easy for attendees to view your product and information, watch them for interest and then engage them.
8. Don’t eat or drink while in the exhibit. Don’t have drink glasses or personal food on your tables. Would you bring a sandwich and drink with you to a sales call? Respect your attendees and treat them like you would a typical sales call – professionally. If you need to eat, take time away from your exhibit. If you are the only one working, eat enough before you start and tough it out. Remember that you make an immediate impression on every visitor – and eating and drinking is no the one you want.
9. When eating at event venues or nearby restaurants, keep your conversation low and non-strategic. Remember that you are sitting next to or near your competition and your prospects. Assume they can all hear everything you are saying. If you are regaling your co-worker with drunken exploits of the previous night, company strategy, or information on a customer or prospect, just expect that you are sharing that information with those around you. I had breakfast one morning at a table next to one of my competitors and listened to them discuss their entire marketing strategy for the upcoming year, including new product information. Not smart on their part, but a clear opportunity for you if you simply take the time to listen to what is going on around you.
10. Dress appropriately. Understand the dress code for the event and take the time to make sure you and your team could win the most professionally dressed award. That doesn’t mean overdressing – it means dressing professionally. If the event is more casual and most will be wearing golf shirts, then ratchet it up a notch and wear matching dress shirts with company logo’s, etc… If the event is more formal, then dark suits and white shirts are a must. But in all cases, exhibit halls are not a place for flamboyant expression. No loud ties, shirts, or jackets. Your product or service needs to stand out – no you!
11. Take regular breaks so that you stay fresh. If you see the next person entering your exhibit and you think to yourself – oh no, not another one – you need a break. Trying to solo staff an exhibit for a multi-day event is bound to wear even the best exhibit talent thin. Provide for help and share the load so that you maximize your ability to secure the leads you really want.
12. Qualify leads while you are there. Most exhibitors spend multiple days securing dozens or hundreds of leads. Then they go back to the office and mail an expensive package of post-show materials to them with a thank you letter. Then a week or two later you start making telephone calls to start the true qualification process – only to find out that most of the leads you were so happy to gather were not qualified. You can save yourself significant time and expense by simply qualifying the leads while you have them face-to-face – taking home only those qualified. You can ask attendees the same questions you would over the phone while they are standing in front of you. If you master this process, you will become far more efficient and effective.
13. Make it a habit to conduct pre-show and post –show meetings with your team. Pre show it is important to agree upon the goals of the day. How many do we want to qualify? Specific accounts we want to be sure to engage? Specific competition we want to scope out? Dinner meetings we want to arrange? Information we want to learn from attendees? Etc. Then when the day is done, get together with your team and review the day. Did we meet the goals established? What did we learn? What will we need to think about for the next day? If you establish this process, results will be reflective. If you just show up and “staff” you exhibit – results will also be reflective.
14. Minimize the partying at night. Companies will spends tens of thousands of dollars to provide a quality exhibit, only to be staffed by a sales person that partied all night and showed up so hung over they can barely stand up. I don’t care if you partied with prospects or staff – there is no excuse for working in anything but optimal condition. If you need to stay out late with prospects, don’t drink past a pre-dinner cocktail. Limiting your drinking with prospects is a good rule anyway – and no quality business ever came out of a drunken stupor. And if you are not engaging with prospects at night, go to bed early and prepare for the next day. Conventions are not party venues – they are expensive selling environmentsWalk the hall and learn about your competition or new industry trends. Take the time to engage people you recognize in conversation. Identify prospects you want to make sure you engage when they come by your exhibit. Take advantage of the entire exhibit hall experience. If you show up, work the exhibit and go home – you are missing many opportunities.
15. Post show follow-up must be fast. If you come home with quality sales prospects, don’t let time pass without follow-up. Coming home with hundreds of non-qualified leads means it is likely it will be months before they are all contacted – with the most qualified leads growing cold in the process. Bring home qualified leads and contact them all in the first two weeks after the event. Plan the follow-up process in advance of the event so you can begin immediately upon return. Or, send home the leads daily so that your office staff can begin the process before the event is over. Nothing impresses an attendee more than returning home from and event and finding the information they asked for already on their desk.

Overall, the convention exhibit world is poorly managed and executed. But in every isle of every event you can pick out the company that took the job seriously. The staff is well dressed and fresh, the exhibit is clean and professionally constructed, and the messaging is well positioned to attract the attention of the right attendees. These are the companies that took the opportunity seriously and will make the most of their investment. The challenge for you is to do be “that” exhibitor at every event you attend.