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10 Things I Wished I Knew Before I Exhibited at a Trade Show


You might be surprised to learn, not every one has attended a trade show before exhibiting or exhibited at a trade show, vendor fair or pop-up event, so if this is you, or maybe you are very experience but would like to make the most of your trade show experience moving forward keep reading. 

Over the years I have exhibited in, created, and promoted trade show events so I thought I would share with you the things I have learned along the way that turned my trade show experience into money makers.  Here are 10 things I wished I knew earlier rather than later when exhibiting at a trade show. The Expo for Women is the biggest, longest running premier women's show of the season. If you have not checked it out, do it now. It's amazing! 

1. Write a press release. This is a great way to generate good press about your business. With a press release (template) you are not only sharing with the media what your are doing you are letting your target audience, past, current and future customers what you are up to, and how your business is making a community impact. A press release can add to improving your business visibility, image, reputation, and prestige. 

2. Invite everyone to come to the show. Let your past, present, and future customers along with family and friends to your booth in advance. Encourage them to attend by offering them free tickets, free gifts or event discounts to help them attend and stop by your booth. This is your opportunity to increase your visibility in the community, increase your sales, and reconnect with previous customers. It's a mistake to expect the tradeshow host to find you customers, that's your job.

3. The display. Spend time thinking about your display, calculate in the size of your booth, who is attending the event, and what might attract the folks walking by to your booth to stop at your booth. Signage takes time to order, if you run out you can always order from your local office supply store a sign that sits on an easel. When deciding what to take, think about how you are going to get it from your car to the event center too. 

4. Dress comfortably.  Be sure to wear comfortable shoes for set up and take down. If you are standing all day you might keep those shoes on all day. Nothing says a bad experience than aching feet at the end of the day. It's also good to dress in layers, or bring what you need to be able to adjust your temperature comfort level. Event center are usually too hot or too cold. 

5. Bring a office in a box. Include in your box items from your office such as tape, pens, stapler, charger, rubber bands, scissors, pad of paper, Band-Aids, mints/gum, and hand sanitizer maybe even a few disposable masks. As they say, "better to have and not need, than need and not have". 

6. Take nourishment. Not every event location has healthy food or any food. It's always best to be prepared for the long day with healthy food. I usually take a small ice chest to hold water, smoothies, fruit, salad and nuts. If you choose not to eat what you bring, it will be fresh to eat at home later after a long day at an event. 

7. Set up. Give yourself plenty of time for setting up. It always takes longer than you think it will. Once your booth space is set up, plan to stay at the event center until the event is over. Use this time to invite the other vendors to your table, then learn about their business too, this is called relationship building. Remember the vendors are potential customers, and referral sources for you and your business. 

8. Capture qualified leads. The goal of this event is to leave with appointments, interviews, services booked, customers in your store online and offline, impulse purchases and a way to connect to qualified leads after the event. Are you looking for an easy way to identify who is a qualified lead and who is not? As them. Have a short questionnaire, 5 - 10 questions qualifying questions (which includes their contact information) for those who stop by to answer, to enter them into a drawing for a prize from your business. It's better to leave a trade show with 50 qualified leads, sold products, booked appointments than 500 names in a jar.

9. Organize your leads. You’re going to meet a lot of people at a trade show and you most likely will not remember every person you spoke with, no surprise! If you are at a business event you could ask for the person you are speaking with their business card, once they present their card to you, you make notes on the back of their card. Oh, no business card? I take blank business card size cards, ask the person you are speaking with to with their information down for you on the blank card, or take your business card and write on the back side. It's important you have a system at the event so you don't loose or forget about those cards you will need to follow-up with your contacts within 48 hours of the event. 

10. Don’t be worried if you don’t always see immediate results. It's always a good idea to plan to tap into impulse shopping, making that quick sale, and loading up your appointment calendar. However, if all the people are new to you, according to the research it takes 7 - 10 connections to make a sale. To put this into perspective, the trade show is #1, you have 9 more connections to make. People always think people will contact you when they’re ready, which can mean weeks after a trade show but they don't. It's up to you to follow-up with them. If you don't keep the ball rolling, the opportunity ends there. I really wished I had know this! 

Want more? Go to this article to learn more. 


Stop by the Expo for Women Ladies Day Out held in South Bend if you are this way 
March 28th, 2023 brought to you by the team at C2 Your Health LLC. 
Stay Healthy. Stay Connected. Stay You.



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