Trade Show Planning Tips

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Trade Show Planning Tips

Skyline Exhibits provided Exhibitor Central with the ultimate planning guide your next trade show event. The guide offers tips for before, during, and after your next trade show. Download worksheets to help you manage your budget, set your objectives, design your booth space, and selecting your booth staff. Timelines are also available to ensure you are completing tasks in the planning process on time.

Topics covered in the trade show planning guide.

  1. Setting objectives and measurable results
  2. Space selection
  3. Exhibit design
  4. Pre-show and show promotions
  5. Booth staff
  6. Lead management
  7. Measuring results

Read an excerpt from the planning guide.
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1. Setting OBJECTIVES AND MEASURABLE RESULTS

The first step in planning your trade show success is to set effective and realistic trade show objectives and measurements for them. Effectively planning your show’s objectives allows the rest of your show to fall into place. Choosing the right measurement tools enables you to draw the correct conclusions following your trade show performance.

2. SPACE SELECTION

The average trade show has over 400 exhibitors, so how do you choose the best booth space for you? Most shows give space-picking priority to the exhibitors who have been with them the longest. Yet some studies have found that where you are in the show hall has no effect on the amount of audience you receive to your booth. For every veteran exhibitor that requires a space in the center of the action, or at the front entrance to the hall, or near their biggest competitor, there are veteran exhibitors who flee from the same locations. All the same, the size of your booth space is a very important decision, where you must weigh the need to stand out from your competitors with a large booth, and yet having enough budget to exhibit at all the worthwhile shows for your company.

Factors to consider when selecting space

  • What is the typical traffic pattern?
  • Is there more than one entrance to the exhibit hall?
  • How much time do visitors normally spend on the floor?
  • Do we want to be near the front of the hall? In the middle? Or at the back?
  • Do we want to be on the right side or left side of the hall?
  • Do we want to be near competition?
  • Do we want to be near necessities — restaurant, telephones, rest rooms?
  • Are there adjacent meeting rooms that might attract visitors?
  • What kind of lighting is available in the hall — where are the windows, if any?
  • What kind of space do I need? Inline, peninsula, island, cross aisle?
  • How much space do I need for the exhibit, product, visitors and staff? (1 staffer per 50 square feet of unoccupied space)
  • Are hanging signs allowed? If so where is the best location?
  • Are there height restrictions in various areas in the hall? — such as lower ceilings along the periphery of the hall.
  • What kind of storage is available — on-the-floor, off-the-floor?
  • What obstructions are there on the floor plan, such as columns, posts, stairs, and low ceilings?

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Read the full article.