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The Top 5 Considerations When Planning an Exhibition
Trade shows, or exhibitions, offer great opportunities for businesses to showcase their products and services, connect with potential customers and enhance brand recognition. Achieving success in these events depends on careful planning and execution. Before you start preparing, it's essential to clearly define your objectives. Whether you aim to generate leads, increase brand awareness or build customer relationships, setting goals will help you create an effective exhibition strategy. Once you have established your foundation, let's explore the top five considerations for planning a successful exhibition.
1. Trade Show Audience and Messaging
Knowing the attendee demographics that align with your target audience is crucial to creating relevant messaging at the show. Consider the needs of your ideal customer and how you solve their everyday challenges. Highlight the outcomes of using your product or service. Always promote your brand's unique value proposition. High quality, innovation and exceptional service are all expected in today's marketplace. Think about not just what you do but what you do better. Then, highlight that distinctiveness to grab your audience's attention and set you apart from your competition.
2. Booth Design and Layout
Trade show booths come in all shapes and sizes, and your design and layout should first consider the booth's location and type, i.e., inline, peninsula or island. You'll need to know how high you can go, how much clearance is required from the aisles and what the attendees will see as they approach your space. Knowing your budget will help you determine whether you need a custom booth, a rental booth, portable or modular displays, or a combination thereof. We know people attend trade shows primarily to see new products, so make these easily accessible and highly visible to draw visitors into your booth. Once they're inside, be sure to include interactive displays that engage your visitors and inspire them to discover more. You may also consider offering hospitality, giveaways, contests or other events in your booth to draw people in from the aisles to explore your brand and products.
3. Logistics and Show Services
As you plan your exhibition, you'll have many deadlines to meet to ensure your booth has all the required services, such as power, internet/Wi-Fi, cleaning, trash removal, furnishings, lead retrieval and more. You'll need to know if your show has specific target move-in and move-out dates and arrange correct freight delivery and pickup dates/times. You'll need to schedule rigging for hanging signs, utility contractors to install electricity or plumbing, and flooring contractors to install carpet or laminate. Once all the foundational work is done, you still need to install and dismantle your displays, so understanding the labor rules of the venue is critical. Finally, once the show is over, you'll need to have a plan on where to store your booth displays until the next show. It's quite a bit to manage, so seeking the expertise of a qualified exhibit producer will undoubtedly help you navigate the event to ensure your budget and goals are met.
4. Trade Show Booth Staffing
One of the most critical elements to a successful booth is having the right staff on hand. You'll want friendly and knowledgeable personnel who can effectively engage with attendees and answer their questions. Having adequate staff in the booth during peak times is also critical. Attendees typically have much to see and do at a show, so you'll want to respect their time and ensure everyone visiting is appropriately served. And if you're sending equipment to your booth, you need to ensure you have technicians who can set up your machines and keep them running at optimal performance during the show.
5. Exhibition Budgets
In a perfect world, marketers would have unlimited trade show budgets. Since this is not a reality, it's important to understand all the financial considerations that go into planning an exhibition. Space costs, displays, shipping, material handling, labor, wages and travel expenses should all be considered. There are many ways to save when planning a show, such as taking advantage of early bird discounts, optimizing your hundredweight (cwt) freight to minimize drayage costs, scheduling labor to avoid overtime and leveraging local talent to reduce travel expenses. A skilled trade show house understands all these details and will guide you through them. Ultimately, a carefully planned budget yields the greatest return on investment for your exhibition endeavors.
Let the Experts at Rogers Help you Plan Your Next Trade Show
At Rogers, we understand the complexities of planning a successful exhibition and crafting engaging visitor experiences. Our comprehensive line-up of products and services enables businesses to leave a lasting impression on the trade show floor. From strategic planning to exhibit design to seamless logistics and support services, we are dedicated to helping you achieve your trade show goals. Partner with Rogers and elevate your event strategy to new heights of success.
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