Trade Show Checklist – How to Dominate Your Next Trade Show

Trade shows are a fun and exciting way to promote your business, but they still need to be properly executed to achieve the results you expect. That starts with planning every step well in advance. Follow this checklist to ensure that your next trade show goes off without a hitch!

Establish Your Goals for the Trade Show

Every business and every event comes with a unique set of goals. First you have to decide if your goal is to generate leads for your sales team, generate awareness of your company, forge partnerships, or simply network with other industry professionals. No matter what your goal type is, try to quantify it so you can gauge success. Use past trade show performance as a benchmark for your future trade show goal planning if possible.

Choose a Trade Show that Fits Your Goals

There are thousands of trade shows across the world every year, so there are a lot of options for your business. You can choose a hyper-focused trade show, like a trade show for just camera manufacturers for instance, for partnerships and networking. If your goal is branding and awareness, you may want to choose a more general technology trade show, like CES for example.

Determine Your Trade Show Team from Your Organization

Assemble your trade show task force! This step is super important and includes both the planning and event staff. While sales and marketing should obviously always be involved in the early stages, it's important to get other departments involved as well. When it comes to putting together the team for the event, make sure to send at least one representative from sales and partnerships and one person you has decision-making capabilities. The whole on-site team should be comfortable networking, but should also have a very strong understanding of your business and product offerings. Don't send someone only because they're personable.

Book Your Hotels and Transportation Well in Advance

This is especially important if you're attending a large trade show or a trade show in a smaller city. Flight prices go up early and quickly for trade shows and you can end up paying double if you wait too long. Same goes for hotels and rental cars, try to book accommodation as soon as you know that you're attending a trade show otherwise you might end up at a hotel that's low quality or far from the venue.

Order Signage and Materials for Your Trade Show Booth

After you get your booth and signage designed for your event, make sure to place an order at least a couple months before the event to ensure that it's ready in time. Trade show booths can be as simple as a table with your branding on it, or as complex as a fully-immersive experience complete with technology and performances. Whatever the case, don't forget to check with the venue to see if they can receive your shipped booth materials. If not, check with your hotel and rent a large vehicle.

Order Your Custom Trade Show Giveaways

No trade show booth is complete without promotional giveaways or prizes, and you always want to have your company logo added to these items for added branding benefit if possible. If you want to hand out at many free items as possible, go with something like pens, PopSockets, hand sanitizer, or portable chargers. If you want to hand out items in exchange for booking a meeting or contact info, go with something a little more desirable like a YETI cup, portable speaker, or backpack. Most products have a multi-week turnaround time for customization, but we have a quick ship collection that can arrive as fast as 3 days if your in a time crunch.

Prepare Your Presentation, Speech, or Talking Points

One of the best ways to make an impact at a trade show is to give a speech or host a breakout presentation. There's a good chance that you'll have to sponsor the event or pay an added fee to do this, but it's usually worthwhile if you've chosen the right trade show. Make sure that your presentation is engaging and informative, but not too long or detail-heavy. The goal here is to get people interested enough to swing by your booth later for a more in-depth conversation.

Plan Your Trade Show Schedule

Don't spend months planning your trade show appearance just to wing it when you get there! You'll want to arrive about two hours early to set up your booth and get everything situated. You should have a detailed plan of action for the duration of the event that includes what presentations to attend, which booths to visit, who to seek out for a conversation, setup, meals, and closing.

Execute Your Trade Show Plan On-Site

Today is the day! On the day of the trade show make sure at least two of your teammates are at the venue 2 hours early to set everything up. The rest of your trade show team should ideally be there half an hour early to go over your plan. At this point everyone should know their individual responsibilities for the day, so all it comes down to now is executing your plan. You've got this!