Final Trade Show Secrets

This final blog contains a few more secrets I wanted to share but couldn’t find a decent home for in previous blogs.

Booth Design

Less is More - The best designed booths I’ve seen have no more than one short sentence printed on them and contain a single, striking graphic element. Forget about printing twenty bullet points on your product features or client testimonials. No one – I repeat, no one – is going to read them. They are boring, they are usually hidden behind people and furniture, and no one cares. Use unusual colors to stand out from the crowd. Include one sentence describing either what you do or why visitors should approach you and one strong graphic element. Make sure they’re printed high enough on your booth so as not to be obstructed by people. In any case, never print any text below waist height. Non-critical graphic elements can continue all the way down to the floor.

Hang On to Your Lead Scanners

If you’re using lead scanners, hang on to them for dear life. Your lead scanners contain all the information on the leads you worked so hard to attract to your booth and to get them to agree to surrender their contact details. Just imagine how devastated you would be if a scanner were lost or if the information contained in it reached your competitor. Never abandon them at the booth, not even for lunch or for a bio-break, and definitely not overnight. Always carry the scanner with you and make sure to download all your daily leads at the end of each day, making local backups on at least one computer and a USB drive. If you have remote access to your company’s CRM system, upload your daily leads as you get them, taking care to record any conversations you had with the leads before they are forgotten.

Stay at the Show Hotel

Many trade shows are held at hotels. Book your stay early to secure rooms for your staff at the hotel at which the conference is being held. This will save you precious time in the mornings, getting to the show, and even more importantly, it will save you impossibly long taxi lines at the end of the day as everyone is heading back to their hotels.

Get Carpet Padding

Invest in carpet padding, which is sold separately from your booth carpeting. The padding is installed under the carpet and creates a much more comfortable booth to stand in. Not only will your long days at the booth seem more bearable, but your visitors will also appreciate the gesture for their comfort and stay longer. You can thank me later.

Take Away Tips

Tip #1: When it comes to booth design, less is more: stick to one striking visual and a single line of text.

Tip #2: Hang on to your lead scanners for dear life.

Tip #3: Stay at the show hotel to save precious time each morning and afternoon.

Tip #4: Invest in carpet padding to save your feet.

Ledergor, Udi. The 50 Secrets of Trade Show Success: Everything you need to know to succeed at your next trade show, from maximizing lead generation, through choosing the best giveaways to measuring accurate ROI. Udi Ledergor. Kindle Edition.