Eight Success Tips for Your First Trade Show Booth


Exhibiting in a trade show can involve a major investment of money and time. But the financial returns for your business can be excellent if you learn some of the secrets of trade show booth success before signing up for a show and investing in your displays.

If you're considering setting up at a trade show for the first time, here are eight tips for a successful trade show booth display:

1) Rent the smallest possible booth space for your first trade show. The first time you exhibit, you'll learn a lot about what works for you and your products and what doesn't, and what you'd like to change for your next show. Also, seeing other exhibitors' booths and ideas will inspire you to evolve various aspects of your own display. So it's a good idea to keep your trade show expenses lower as you learn, by renting a smaller space and starting with a simple display.

2) Create an open trade show exhibit. Make it a space people can enter comfortably without feeling trapped. If you set a table across the front of your booth and stand behind it, it's harder to draw customers in and involve them - so they tend to walk on by.

3) Keep your booth uncluttered so customers can focus on what's important - your product. When approaching your display, anyone should be able to discern immediately what your booth is promoting. No one is going to take the time to study it and guess, when there are hundreds of other booths to visit.

4) Before planning your trade show booth display, find out everything you can about your allotted space. Know its dimensions, where it will be located in the building, what companies or organizations will be in your neighboring booths, whether it's in a high or low traffic area, whether you have access to lighting and electricity, and anything else that will affect your exhibit display setup.

5) For your first trade show, consider renting booth display components. Rental displays can relieve you of the issues of transportation and storage, and allow you to be a little more daring in your exhibit design than you might be if you were purchasing them. Also, studies show that many first-time exhibitors never do a second trade show. If you only exhibit once or twice, purchasing your own exhibit components doesn't make economic sense.

6) Design your booth with an eye to keeping shipping costs low. Oversized or heavy displays can be very expensive to ship to the trade show, and may also require that you hire expo personnel to bring them into the exhibit hall and help you set them up. Opt for smaller, collapsible, lighter weight displays as much as possible.

7) Plan to secure your expensive items so that they can't be stolen at a trade show. If you use a laptop computer for a multimedia presentation at your booth, be sure to have it securely locked to your display, and take it with you at night if it's a multiple-day event. Display the samples of your more expensive products either well inside your booth where they can't "walk off" as attendees stroll by, or inside a locked display case.

8) For the most professional image, create a unified appearance for your displays. Choose no more than three colors for your display elements and table coverings - such as gray, white, and blue. Each exhibit component should be one of your three colors. Also, choose no more than three textures - such as brushed metal, matte vinyl, and clear acrylic; each display element should be one of these textures. This creates a professionally pulled-together booth that lets your products stand out in the display.

In summary, although it's tempting to go all out when designing your first trade show booth display, it makes more sense to keep your first booth small and simple, and focus your energy on marketing your products and networking at your first show. During the event, learn as much as possible about how you'd like to alter your exhibit for show next show, and write down all your ideas either during or immediately after the show.

Once you have your first trade show under your belt, you'll have a much sharper idea of what you do - and don't - need in a trade show display to make each successive show your most profitable one to date.

About The Author

Rena Klingenberg is a jewelry artist and small business owner. Her website, www.trade-show-booth-display.com" target="_new">http://www.trade-show-booth-display.com, is filled with new success tips and articles to help other small businesses market their products. Subscribe to her free "Trade Show Success on a Small Budget" ezine at www.trade-show-booth-display.com/newsletter.com" target="_new">http://www.trade-show-booth-display.com/newsletter.com.

rena@trade-show-booth-display.com


MORE RESOURCES:


PAREXEL International to Present at Stifel Nicolaus Healthcare Conference
MarketWatch (press release)
Josef von Rickenbach, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer will be making a presentation on PAREXEL at 4:25 pm ET on Wednesday, September 15, 2010. ...
Inspire Announces Webcast of Presentation at Stifel Nicolaus Healthcare ConferenceMarketWatch (press release)
Quality Systems, Inc. to Present at the Stifel Nicolaus 2010 Healthcare ConferenceMarketWatch (press release)
Merit Medical to Present at CL King's Best Ideas Conference and Stifel ...MarketWatch (press release)
SunHerald.com (press release)
all 139 news articles »


Halliburton to Present at the 2010 Barclays Capital CEO Energy/Power Conference
MarketWatch (press release)
For your convenience, a copy of the presentation will be available on Halliburton's Web site to download. A replay will be available on the Web site for ...
CMS Energy's Chief Financial Officer to Present Company Overview at Barclays ...MarketWatch (press release)
Oceaneering to Present at Barclays Capital 2010 CEO Energy/Power ConferenceMarketWatch (press release)
FirstEnergy CEO to Speak at Barclays Capital Conference on September 16 ...MarketWatch (press release)
SYS-CON Media (press release) (blog) -Sacramento Bee
all 351 news articles »


Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. to Make Investment Conference Presentations
MarketWatch (press release)
On the following day, Tuesday, September 14 at 1:50 PM EDT, Carrizo will make a presentation at the Credit Suisse 1st Annual Small & Mid Cap Conference in ...

and more »


Clarient Presentation Time Change at the Baird 2010 Health Care Conference
MarketWatch (press release)
A live webcast of the presentation will be available via a link provided at http://www.clarientinc.com/investor. An archived replay of the presentation will ...

and more »


Woodlands Online, LLC

CIGNA Announces Appearance at the Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare Conference
MarketWatch (press release)
CIGNA's presentation is expected to begin at approximately 11:30 am Eastern Daylight Time. Investors, analysts, and the general public are invited to listen ...
Humana Inc. to Present at the Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare ConferenceMarketWatch (press release)
Aetna Announces Appearance at Morgan Stanley Global Healthcare ConferenceMarketWatch (press release)
XenoPort to Present at the Morgan Stanley Healthcare ConferenceMarketWatch (press release)
PharmaLive.com (press release) -MarketWatch (press release)
all 138 news articles »


Saddle River's Church of the Presentation to add solar panels
NorthJersey.com
UPPER SADDLE RIVER — A clear southern exposure and a desire to go green have prompted leaders at Church of the Presentation to go solar. ...
Church of The Presentation offering new concept in faithNorthJersey.com

all 2 news articles »


Federal Realty Investment Trust Announces Participation in Panel Presentation ...
MarketWatch (press release)
The presentation will be broadcast live via audio webcast available on our website, www.federalrealty.com. A replay of the webcast will be available for 30 ...
Arbor Realty Trust to Present at Barclays Capital 2010 Global Financial ...MarketWatch (press release)

all 14 news articles »


GDT Tek Releases Its $100000000 in Clean Electricity Projects Slide Presentation
MarketWatch (press release)
The GDT Tek slide presentation can be accessed from the GDT Tek website Investors Page http://www.gdttek.com/investors.php, then click on Investor Overview. ...

and more »


Education Management Corporation Announces September Investor Presentation and ...
MarketWatch (press release)
An archive of the webcast and a copy of the presentation will also be available on the Company's website (www.edmc.edu). Education Management (www.edmc.edu) ...

and more »

Google News

Eitforum.com ©