Anatomy of a Successful Trade Show Exhibit
August 1, 2009 by Trade Shows and Exhibit Display Tips
Filed under About Trade Shows
A trade show, also known as a merchandise show or market week, is an exhibition or a business gathering organized by companies that showcase and demonstrate their new products and services and also their latest offerings. Trade shows also provide opportunities for companies to meet their customers, to learn new trends and to identify new prospects.
Trade shows are not open to the public and can only be attended by company representatives, members of the trade and members of the press. One advantage of holding a trade show is that it shortens the time it takes for companies to look for prospective customers. But the major disadvantage is that customers and prospects pay little attention to the many exhibitors and their products due to the many distractions and the busy atmosphere inherent in trade shows.
Exhibitors can make effective use of trade show displays in trade shows to direct visitors to their main display area. Trade show displays are used to give visitors a better understanding or appreciation of the products or services being marketed. Although exhibitors are only supposed to put their trade show displays within the confines of their designated trade show exhibit area, exhibitors also display items in strategic areas of the fair grounds. Trade show displays often used include banner stands, counters and cabinets, panel display etc. that clearly display the company logo, basic company information and company slogan.
The trade show booth is an important component of the trade show display as it aims to enhance the brand and marketing experience for the visitor. It facilitates valuable direct face-to-face contact between the companies and their prospective customers. The whole booth set-up includes counters kiosks, lighting, flooring, literature racks, banner stands and high impact graphics, with the booth design, the staffing and the handouts the main factors to a successful trade show booth.
Many companies prefer to rent pre-owned trade show exhibits and displays rather than to buy or to create them from scratch to save on the trade show booth construction costs and also on the expense of warehousing the displays after the trade show is over.
Trade shows demand a lot of work and effort, and exhibitors have to plan well in advance so as to make the trade show a success. It is because any successful trade show offers exhibitors with a very valuable opportunity to build relationships face-to-face with their clients and to close lucrative business deals.
Thanks to Susan Jan for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
Trade shows are not open to the public and can only be attended by company representatives, members of the trade and members of the press. One advantage of holding a trade show is that it shortens the time it takes for companies to look for prospective customers. But the major disadvantage is that customers and prospects pay little attention to the many exhibitors and their products due to the many distractions and the busy atmosphere inherent in trade shows.
Exhibitors can make effective use of trade show displays in trade shows to direct visitors to their main display area. Trade show displays are used to give visitors a better understanding or appreciation of the products or services being marketed. Although exhibitors are only supposed to put their trade show displays within the confines of their designated trade show exhibit area, exhibitors also display items in strategic areas of the fair grounds. Trade show displays often used include banner stands, counters and cabinets, panel display etc. that clearly display the company logo, basic company information and company slogan.
The trade show booth is an important component of the trade show display as it aims to enhance the brand and marketing experience for the visitor. It facilitates valuable direct face-to-face contact between the companies and their prospective customers. The whole booth set-up includes counters kiosks, lighting, flooring, literature racks, banner stands and high impact graphics, with the booth design, the staffing and the handouts the main factors to a successful trade show booth.
Many companies prefer to rent pre-owned trade show exhibits and displays rather than to buy or to create them from scratch to save on the trade show booth construction costs and also on the expense of warehousing the displays after the trade show is over.
Trade shows demand a lot of work and effort, and exhibitors have to plan well in advance so as to make the trade show a success. It is because any successful trade show offers exhibitors with a very valuable opportunity to build relationships face-to-face with their clients and to close lucrative business deals.
Thanks to Susan Jan for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
For more on Trade Shows visit Susan’s sites Trade Show Booth and Trade Show Exhibit, and also at Health and Fitness.
Protecting Your Interests: Using Competitive Intelligence Gathering Techniques at Tradeshows to Safeguard Your Bottom Line
August 1, 2009 by Trade Shows and Exhibit Display Tips
Filed under About Trade Shows
“This looks absolutely amazing!” The attendee was smiling, eyes bright, a wide grin. “If this is what I think it is, I’m pretty sure this piece of equipment will solve all of our problems.” He turned to the booth staffer, a young woman at her very first show. “Could you tell me how it works?”
The staffer, thrilled at the possibility of selling a piece of equipment that sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars, was more than accommodating. She answered every question, even the most technical. When the prospect wanted to take some pictures, she helped him get good shots — from every conceivable angle.
When the prospect left, he had every relevant piece of sales literature. He also had a dozen great digital pictures, the card of the booth staffer, and a promise that someone from the exhibitor’s company would be following up directly after the show.
However, the attendee didn’t let the grass grow under his feet. His organization was in touch with the exhibitor’s organization within days.
However, instead of a purchase order, the communication was coming from the attendee’s legal department — who had a pretty good case that the exhibitor’s display model was based on their proprietary design!
Tradeshows offer the most overt intelligence gathering environment imaginable. There is no other place where you can find all of the companies in one industry gathered in a convenient location, with all their offerings on display. Helpful booth staffers will answer questions, often those questions that should raise red flags among an exhibiting team.
This can work against you, or, as illustrated in the story above, it can work for you. The world is getting smaller every day. Ideas are stolen. They’re copied, reverse engineered, you name it. However, as the owner and originator of these ideas, you may have no idea that this has happened — until you stumble across the results at a tradeshow or industry event.
In an increasingly competitive world marketplace, you can’t depend on chance discoveries! Savvy tradeshow exhibitors and attendees know that they have to take the initiative, and carefully approach tradeshows with one eye toward protecting their own intellectual assets.
Determine a goal for your staffers or employees you’re sending to attend a show. Make it clear to them what type of thing they’re to look for: products that duplicate your own, for example, or that incorporate proprietary technology without permission.
It is never your employee’s role to have a confrontation about these topics at the show. Instead, their role is, as illustrated above, to gather as much information as possible about the product and company, and relay that data back to your headquarters, where it can be acted upon by the appropriate personnel.
Preparation is essential. You can’t send your staffers in with the command to protect your interests without equipping them to do so. Here’s how you start that preparation:
Prior to the show, study the exhibitor list. Identify which companies you already know, and make special note of any new names. It is far more common for emerging, smaller organizations to engage in unscrupulous activities — if only because the larger, behemoth firms have legal firms that keep them from getting into trouble! Sometimes show organizers make this easy by listing exhibitors by industrial categories, but other times you’re left facing an alphabetical list.
Create a ‘hit list’ of companies that you absolutely have to see. Of course you’ll want to visit your major competitors – but don’t be myopic. It is important to pay careful attention to any unfamiliar exhibitors, even if they are only tangentially related to your industry.
Augment your target list with pre-show research, including what readings from trade publications and industry knowledge. This will generally give you a starting point for your investigations. Pinpoint those items you definitely want to know more about, and include these on your team’s list of goals and objectives.
At the same time, it is vitally important to remain aware and open to any information that may arise serendipitously. It is impossible to know ahead of time what your team will encounter while they’re walking the show floor.
Having the skills and wit to recognize copyright infringement and intellectual property theft, no matter what form it takes, is a valuable asset in any employee. Make sure you recognize and reward your team appropriately!
Thanks to Susan Friedman for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
The staffer, thrilled at the possibility of selling a piece of equipment that sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars, was more than accommodating. She answered every question, even the most technical. When the prospect wanted to take some pictures, she helped him get good shots — from every conceivable angle.
When the prospect left, he had every relevant piece of sales literature. He also had a dozen great digital pictures, the card of the booth staffer, and a promise that someone from the exhibitor’s company would be following up directly after the show.
However, the attendee didn’t let the grass grow under his feet. His organization was in touch with the exhibitor’s organization within days.
However, instead of a purchase order, the communication was coming from the attendee’s legal department — who had a pretty good case that the exhibitor’s display model was based on their proprietary design!
Tradeshows offer the most overt intelligence gathering environment imaginable. There is no other place where you can find all of the companies in one industry gathered in a convenient location, with all their offerings on display. Helpful booth staffers will answer questions, often those questions that should raise red flags among an exhibiting team.
This can work against you, or, as illustrated in the story above, it can work for you. The world is getting smaller every day. Ideas are stolen. They’re copied, reverse engineered, you name it. However, as the owner and originator of these ideas, you may have no idea that this has happened — until you stumble across the results at a tradeshow or industry event.
In an increasingly competitive world marketplace, you can’t depend on chance discoveries! Savvy tradeshow exhibitors and attendees know that they have to take the initiative, and carefully approach tradeshows with one eye toward protecting their own intellectual assets.
Determine a goal for your staffers or employees you’re sending to attend a show. Make it clear to them what type of thing they’re to look for: products that duplicate your own, for example, or that incorporate proprietary technology without permission.
It is never your employee’s role to have a confrontation about these topics at the show. Instead, their role is, as illustrated above, to gather as much information as possible about the product and company, and relay that data back to your headquarters, where it can be acted upon by the appropriate personnel.
Preparation is essential. You can’t send your staffers in with the command to protect your interests without equipping them to do so. Here’s how you start that preparation:
Prior to the show, study the exhibitor list. Identify which companies you already know, and make special note of any new names. It is far more common for emerging, smaller organizations to engage in unscrupulous activities — if only because the larger, behemoth firms have legal firms that keep them from getting into trouble! Sometimes show organizers make this easy by listing exhibitors by industrial categories, but other times you’re left facing an alphabetical list.
Create a ‘hit list’ of companies that you absolutely have to see. Of course you’ll want to visit your major competitors – but don’t be myopic. It is important to pay careful attention to any unfamiliar exhibitors, even if they are only tangentially related to your industry.
Augment your target list with pre-show research, including what readings from trade publications and industry knowledge. This will generally give you a starting point for your investigations. Pinpoint those items you definitely want to know more about, and include these on your team’s list of goals and objectives.
At the same time, it is vitally important to remain aware and open to any information that may arise serendipitously. It is impossible to know ahead of time what your team will encounter while they’re walking the show floor.
Having the skills and wit to recognize copyright infringement and intellectual property theft, no matter what form it takes, is a valuable asset in any employee. Make sure you recognize and reward your team appropriately!
Thanks to Susan Friedman for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, internationally recognized expert working with companies to increase their profitability at tradeshows.
Author: “Riches in Niches: How to Make it BIG in a small Market” and “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies.”
Conducting Successful Product Demos At Tradeshows
August 1, 2009 by Trade Shows and Exhibit Display Tips
Filed under About Trade Shows
What You Should Know about Tradeshow Product Demos
• Nothing sells a product like a convincing demonstration
• Invite audience participation
• Tap into the fives senses and keep the demo under 10 minutes
Brochures and promotional items are nice, but nothing sells a product quite like a convincing demonstration. Consider the history of Tupperware, which was first introduced in 1946. Sales of the innovative product were flat until the first Tupperware party was held two years later. These in-home demonstrations introduced a generation of consumers to an unfamiliar product. Similarly, infomercials would not occupy so many timeslots if they did not tap into our fascination with the art of the product demo. Who doesn’t know Ron Popeil and the Pocket Fisherman and Showtime Rotisserie?
Find a Charismatic Presenter
Choose a presenter who is charismatic, articulate, and familiar with both the product and its pitch. Let the presenter know that it’s not enough to simply repeat a spiel from memory, and its okay to ad-lib. Invite one or more of the audience members to participate in the demo as well. Back in the 1980s, Bruce Springsteen would invariably invite a female audience member onstage for a dance during his concerts. Bruce knew it was a sure fire way to make the audience feel included. Come up with a role suitable for audience participation. Remember to keep it simple and safe. No audience members handling sharp cutlery at a food industry show! Consider using games or fun quizzes as a way to involve attendees in demonstrations.
Keep it Between 2-4 Minutes
Try to tap into as many of the five senses as you can with your demo. Don’t exceed the ten minute mark if you want to hold people’s attention. An optimum length of time for a demo is more in the realm of two to four minutes. You can opt to hire a professional to deliver the demo, but it would behoove you to find someone in your company who can do it if at all possible. The Home Shopping Network failed to move Joy Mangano’s “Miracle Mop” until the plucky housewife turned inventor began hawking them herself. Now she’s a millionaire! There is something to be said for the personal touch. Regardless of who conducts your demo, they need to be relaxed, confident, well prepared, and above all have fun!
Thanks to Mel White for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
• Nothing sells a product like a convincing demonstration
• Invite audience participation
• Tap into the fives senses and keep the demo under 10 minutes
Brochures and promotional items are nice, but nothing sells a product quite like a convincing demonstration. Consider the history of Tupperware, which was first introduced in 1946. Sales of the innovative product were flat until the first Tupperware party was held two years later. These in-home demonstrations introduced a generation of consumers to an unfamiliar product. Similarly, infomercials would not occupy so many timeslots if they did not tap into our fascination with the art of the product demo. Who doesn’t know Ron Popeil and the Pocket Fisherman and Showtime Rotisserie?
Find a Charismatic Presenter
Choose a presenter who is charismatic, articulate, and familiar with both the product and its pitch. Let the presenter know that it’s not enough to simply repeat a spiel from memory, and its okay to ad-lib. Invite one or more of the audience members to participate in the demo as well. Back in the 1980s, Bruce Springsteen would invariably invite a female audience member onstage for a dance during his concerts. Bruce knew it was a sure fire way to make the audience feel included. Come up with a role suitable for audience participation. Remember to keep it simple and safe. No audience members handling sharp cutlery at a food industry show! Consider using games or fun quizzes as a way to involve attendees in demonstrations.
Keep it Between 2-4 Minutes
Try to tap into as many of the five senses as you can with your demo. Don’t exceed the ten minute mark if you want to hold people’s attention. An optimum length of time for a demo is more in the realm of two to four minutes. You can opt to hire a professional to deliver the demo, but it would behoove you to find someone in your company who can do it if at all possible. The Home Shopping Network failed to move Joy Mangano’s “Miracle Mop” until the plucky housewife turned inventor began hawking them herself. Now she’s a millionaire! There is something to be said for the personal touch. Regardless of who conducts your demo, they need to be relaxed, confident, well prepared, and above all have fun!
Thanks to Mel White for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
Mel White is the V.P. of Marketing and Business Development for Classic Exhibits Inc., a designer and manufacturer of portable, modular, and hybrid displays. Mel White has spent the past 15 years immersed in trade show marketing, having worked for three trade show exhibit manufacturers and personally assisted hundreds of trade show clients. You can reach Mel at Classic Exhibits,
www.classicexhibits.com, through the Classic Contact Page, or the Ask Classic email submission form. I welcome your questions and comments and look forward to hearing more about your
trade show exhibit marketing goals.
Mystery Shoppers Enhance Tradeshow Performance
August 1, 2009 by Trade Shows and Exhibit Display Tips
Filed under About Trade Shows
Everything’s perfect. The display is beautiful, your team is well-trained, you’ve got fantastic giveaway items and the best pre-show promotion you’ve ever had. This is going to be the absolute best tradeshow ever.
Are you sure? You might be the last person who can answer this question honestly. It’s not that you don’t want to — it’s that you can’t.
Let’s face it. After you’ve spent weeks, even months, planning, preparing and practicing your exhibit routine, you’re no longer objective. You’re too close to your work to see it as a stranger would. This is no fault of your own. It’s human nature. We can’t engage with our work and distance ourselves from it at the same time.
Yet it is critical that our tradeshow performance be excellent. Your organization’s financial well being depends in part of what attendees learn about your company from your exhibit. How will you know, at the end of the day, what they thought of your booth?
This is where the mystery shopper comes in. By stopping by your exhibit and doing a little covert surveillance, the mystery shopper can provide you with a critical and fair assessment of your performance.
This skilled professional will assess your booth on many levels. Was your team as polished as you thought they were? Was that clever signage really that funny? Did the giveaway items appeal or were they just so much more stuff to haul around the show floor? The mystery shopper can tell you.
Getting an objective opinion of your exhibit is one very valuable and valid reason to hire a mystery shopper. It’s not the only one. There’s another reason to consider hiring a mystery shopper, especially if you have a larger company with several display teams.
When the cat’s away, the mouse will play. It’s an old saying, with more than a little modern truth to it. Any time the boss is out of the office, for example, employees tend to slack off a little bit. It’s a good time to chat and surf the web.
What happens when it’s not the boss who’s away, but the employees? If you’ve packed up your sales team and shipped them across the country to a tradeshow, how do you know they’re performing up to your standards?
We all like to hope that professionalism and responsibility will carry the day. Employees who do a good job all the rest of the year will probably continue to do well in the tradeshow environment. It might be a safe bet — but do you want to take chances with your company’s reputation?
If the answer to that question is no, you have a few options.
The first is to go to the show yourself, and keep an eye on things. If you can’t go, you could delegate this duty to a trusted supervisor.
If that doesn’t work, or you want a wholly objective opinion, you can hire a mystery shopper. Mystery shoppers walk the show floor, and will visit your display. Without identifying themselves, they assess your team’s performance. Were they greeted promptly? Did your team ask qualifying questions? Was the level of professionalism and product knowledge displayed in keeping with your company’s expectations?
The mystery shopper will let you know. These professionals are not only objective, the best ones are well versed in what makes an effective tradeshow exhibit. Simply knowing that a mystery shopper will be stopping by the booth can act as a de facto ‘cat’ for your booth staffers. When they don’t know who the important attendee they have to impress is, all attendees become important. That’s good news for your company!
You might also opt not to let your team know about the mystery shopper. This way, the mystery shopper will get to assess the exhibit as it really is, without any special pretense or put-on behaviors. If your team is doing a good job, the mystery shopper will see that. If things aren’t as you might wish them to be, the mystery shopper will see that too.
The mystery shopper can let you know of any performance problems. The first step to improved performance is to have an accurate assessment of the current exhibiting situation. This assessment will allow you to identify weak areas and pinpoint performance problems — information that’s critical to have if you want to formulate solutions. That’s what a mystery shopper can provide.
From critical exhibit assessment to objective performance review, the mystery shopper provides a critical service to the exhibitor. Everyone can benefit from having a fresh set of eyes on them, from fledgling exhibitors to the ‘old pros’. Consider having a mystery shopper work with you on your next show. You’ll be amazed what you can learn.
Thanks to Susan Friedman for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
Are you sure? You might be the last person who can answer this question honestly. It’s not that you don’t want to — it’s that you can’t.
Let’s face it. After you’ve spent weeks, even months, planning, preparing and practicing your exhibit routine, you’re no longer objective. You’re too close to your work to see it as a stranger would. This is no fault of your own. It’s human nature. We can’t engage with our work and distance ourselves from it at the same time.
Yet it is critical that our tradeshow performance be excellent. Your organization’s financial well being depends in part of what attendees learn about your company from your exhibit. How will you know, at the end of the day, what they thought of your booth?
This is where the mystery shopper comes in. By stopping by your exhibit and doing a little covert surveillance, the mystery shopper can provide you with a critical and fair assessment of your performance.
This skilled professional will assess your booth on many levels. Was your team as polished as you thought they were? Was that clever signage really that funny? Did the giveaway items appeal or were they just so much more stuff to haul around the show floor? The mystery shopper can tell you.
Getting an objective opinion of your exhibit is one very valuable and valid reason to hire a mystery shopper. It’s not the only one. There’s another reason to consider hiring a mystery shopper, especially if you have a larger company with several display teams.
When the cat’s away, the mouse will play. It’s an old saying, with more than a little modern truth to it. Any time the boss is out of the office, for example, employees tend to slack off a little bit. It’s a good time to chat and surf the web.
What happens when it’s not the boss who’s away, but the employees? If you’ve packed up your sales team and shipped them across the country to a tradeshow, how do you know they’re performing up to your standards?
We all like to hope that professionalism and responsibility will carry the day. Employees who do a good job all the rest of the year will probably continue to do well in the tradeshow environment. It might be a safe bet — but do you want to take chances with your company’s reputation?
If the answer to that question is no, you have a few options.
The first is to go to the show yourself, and keep an eye on things. If you can’t go, you could delegate this duty to a trusted supervisor.
If that doesn’t work, or you want a wholly objective opinion, you can hire a mystery shopper. Mystery shoppers walk the show floor, and will visit your display. Without identifying themselves, they assess your team’s performance. Were they greeted promptly? Did your team ask qualifying questions? Was the level of professionalism and product knowledge displayed in keeping with your company’s expectations?
The mystery shopper will let you know. These professionals are not only objective, the best ones are well versed in what makes an effective tradeshow exhibit. Simply knowing that a mystery shopper will be stopping by the booth can act as a de facto ‘cat’ for your booth staffers. When they don’t know who the important attendee they have to impress is, all attendees become important. That’s good news for your company!
You might also opt not to let your team know about the mystery shopper. This way, the mystery shopper will get to assess the exhibit as it really is, without any special pretense or put-on behaviors. If your team is doing a good job, the mystery shopper will see that. If things aren’t as you might wish them to be, the mystery shopper will see that too.
The mystery shopper can let you know of any performance problems. The first step to improved performance is to have an accurate assessment of the current exhibiting situation. This assessment will allow you to identify weak areas and pinpoint performance problems — information that’s critical to have if you want to formulate solutions. That’s what a mystery shopper can provide.
From critical exhibit assessment to objective performance review, the mystery shopper provides a critical service to the exhibitor. Everyone can benefit from having a fresh set of eyes on them, from fledgling exhibitors to the ‘old pros’. Consider having a mystery shopper work with you on your next show. You’ll be amazed what you can learn.
Thanks to Susan Friedman for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
Written by Susan A. Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, internationally recognized expert working with companies to increase their profitability at tradeshows. Author: “Riches in Niches: How to Make it BIG in a small Market” (May 2007) and “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies.” http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com
Avoid Tradeshow Problems by Preparing for Them
July 31, 2009 by Trade Shows and Exhibit Display Tips
Filed under About Trade Shows
“
Sometimes the smallest mistake can take what was going to be a great tradeshow appearance and turn it into a disaster. The problem is you’re going to be away from your company, away from home, and without all the resources you would normally have access to.
This means any problem is going to leave you scrambling to figure out how to fix it with the limited resources you have on hand, and if you weren’t prepared, you aren’t likely to have very many resources at your disposal.
But even some of the worst mistakes can be contained if a little preparation is taken to handle any crisis that might come up.
The first thing to do is make sure that the people you’re taking are up to the task and reliable. When the pressure hits you can’t have anyone falling apart. Talk to them beforehand and let them know that you’re relying on them, so they’ll know what kind of responsibilities they’ll have.
Next, take the time to research the different companies close by the tradeshow that you can use if you need to. Printing companies should definitely be on your list, because one of the biggest mistakes you’ll find people making is leaving behind material. That means they’ll need to get some quick poster printing or brochure printing taken care of.
If you leave behind flyers or even worse, business cards, your tradeshow is going to suffer a lot because of it. But if you took the time to find out a good local printing company and made sure to bring all the information on your material, you can easily hand them a file with all the info they’ll need to quickly get your color printing done and save you from being without.
When something does go wrong, be sure to keep things coordinated. It works best if a single person, which might or might not be you, is set to take charge in the case of an emergency. You’ll avoid the chaos of figuring out who should do what, and everyone can know who to look to in order to get their orders on what to do.
And lastly, be sure to take action as soon as possible to solve the problems. This seems like the most obvious, but often when things go wrong people can be distracted, and sit around too long trying to figure out what to do rather than doing it.
Don’t let inaction compound your problems until so much time has passed you don’t have enough time to fix things.
Having a good team with you and having done the proper steps to prepare will ensure that even when the unexpected occurs, you’ll be in a prime position to cover the damage and fix the problem before it gets out of hand.
“
Thanks to Robert Johnston for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
Sometimes the smallest mistake can take what was going to be a great tradeshow appearance and turn it into a disaster. The problem is you’re going to be away from your company, away from home, and without all the resources you would normally have access to.
This means any problem is going to leave you scrambling to figure out how to fix it with the limited resources you have on hand, and if you weren’t prepared, you aren’t likely to have very many resources at your disposal.
But even some of the worst mistakes can be contained if a little preparation is taken to handle any crisis that might come up.
The first thing to do is make sure that the people you’re taking are up to the task and reliable. When the pressure hits you can’t have anyone falling apart. Talk to them beforehand and let them know that you’re relying on them, so they’ll know what kind of responsibilities they’ll have.
Next, take the time to research the different companies close by the tradeshow that you can use if you need to. Printing companies should definitely be on your list, because one of the biggest mistakes you’ll find people making is leaving behind material. That means they’ll need to get some quick poster printing or brochure printing taken care of.
If you leave behind flyers or even worse, business cards, your tradeshow is going to suffer a lot because of it. But if you took the time to find out a good local printing company and made sure to bring all the information on your material, you can easily hand them a file with all the info they’ll need to quickly get your color printing done and save you from being without.
When something does go wrong, be sure to keep things coordinated. It works best if a single person, which might or might not be you, is set to take charge in the case of an emergency. You’ll avoid the chaos of figuring out who should do what, and everyone can know who to look to in order to get their orders on what to do.
And lastly, be sure to take action as soon as possible to solve the problems. This seems like the most obvious, but often when things go wrong people can be distracted, and sit around too long trying to figure out what to do rather than doing it.
Don’t let inaction compound your problems until so much time has passed you don’t have enough time to fix things.
Having a good team with you and having done the proper steps to prepare will ensure that even when the unexpected occurs, you’ll be in a prime position to cover the damage and fix the problem before it gets out of hand.
“
Thanks to Robert Johnston for contributing this article to our Trade Shows blog:
Visit these sites for more information on brochure printing and poster printing
