Trade Show Strategies

It has been over twenty years since I last exhibited at convention trade show. For many years my software company would display our wares at annual conventions in the United States and Europe. During those prosperous years (for the business) we did little advance planning for the events, and our follow-up was hap-hazard and weak. Our only significant goal was to leave the show with sufficient orders in our pockets to cover our costs of being there – a goal we generally met.

As I’ve grown older and wiser I have come to realize how much more effective we could have been by implementing strategies for the shows. These strategies should have included:

• A mission statement describing the reasons for exhibiting at each show
• A detailed budget
• Notification of significant potential customers of our intent to exhibit along with a booth number
• Attention-grabbing booth design
• Goals for specific people we wanted to reach at the show
• Goals for number of good leads we wanted to garner from the show
• Goals for percentage of leads we wanted to convert to sales after the show
• Tactics for attracting maximum traffic to our booth
• Follow-up strategy

After a twenty year hiatus I’ll once again be exhibiting at trade shows starting with the American Institute of Organbuilders convention to be held in Columbus in mid-October. My manufacturing company, Wolcraft, will be exhibiting lamps of particular interest to those attending the show. In days and weeks ahead I’ll report not only on the strategies for this show but will also report on the results. Stay tuned.

Will Limkemann
Siqua Group Limited