Trade Show Planning Tips
Trade shows come in all shapes and sizes, and when planning for these events, you want to be sure that you know all you can before the big day. Venue location, time of the year, and logistics are key things to keep in mind when planning your event. Houston takes pride in being able to accommodate almost any type of trade show and participants. This makes the city a great place to host events and gather more prospects. But before all that, you’ll need to decide on your budget, and what you can afford. Now that you’re thinking about how you’ll shape your show and present it to the world, here are some things you should do to stand out and bring in visitors.
Plan Early
One of the worse things that can happen during a trade show is not being prepared. A huge investment of money and time is involved in the process. While every other trade show is captivating prospects and turning them into leads, you’re still in the process of figuring out where things go and what everyone’s schedule is. Plan ahead to prevent that and you can even tackle new issues that might come up in the process, such as whether or not visitors have ample parking or if there is enough space inside the venue.
Market Your Trade Show
When planning early, make sure you market your show. It would be hard to throw a party and expect people to show up if they never knew about it in the first place. The same thing applies to trade shows.
No matter what your budget is, there is always cheap and expensive ways to market your event. The easiest and cheapest way to market your event is through digital marketing, by promoting your event through social media.
Another reason to plan early is to make sure there are enough hotel reservations. To keep a show running requires visitors and when visitors have nowhere to stay the first night, then it’ll be hard for them to stay for another. Especially for those coming by plane. It would be a disaster waiting to happen if visitors came in from out of state and have nowhere to stay!
Establish Your Staff
After ensuring that your guests will be happy and accommodated, it’s time to create your staff. They will be an essential part of your trade show and you can even say they’re the ones that will make it successful!
Keeping them up to date on information and maintaining communication will make everything smoother up to the date of the event. Items to keep a list of include hours, manpower, supplies, dress code, and scheduling for all events.
Make a schedule for all the staff and deliveries of all supplies. Get with logistics and plan for arrivals. You want everyone to stay on top of things so that anything that comes up will be taken care of before the big day.
Your staff should consist of event planners, marketing managers, sales, and volunteers. Some full-service venues will provide whatever staff you need, so keep that in mind when selecting your trade show venue. Now that you have your staff, the people who will get the machine running, you need to think about your attendees.
Keep Attendees Happy
So far, your attendees and staff will be able to arrive comfortably and happily without any worries. Now that they are there, what can they expect to see, hear or learn? Most people will not just read pages upon pages of text after arriving at an event. They want to have fun, see interesting things, and eat and drink good food.
One of the first steps to happiness is food. Plan catering for your attendees, something light that doesn’t make them full or bloated and a nice cool refreshment to wash it down.
The next step to happiness is comfort. Assemble enough furniture for patrons to have something to rest on. If available, use LED displays to share promotional messages for them to view while resting.
Giveaways are another way to help keep your exhibitors and attendees happy.
After planning early, gathering a team, and preparing necessary arrangements for your guests and exhibitors, you can be sure that everyone will be happy and want to attend your trade show next time. At the end of the show, you will be glad that you took the proper steps to ensure its success!