Trade Show management secrets every event planner should know

A Guest Post on Trade Show management By Traci Browne, Owner of Red Cedar Marketing and Partner for Live Well Expos

I’ve worked in the trade show business for about 15 years exhibiting, consulting for and coaching exhibitors on their trade show management strategy and even coaching show producers on their sponsorship packages. In 2008 my consulting business took a nosedive when the PhRMA Code changes were anticipated, then the economy tanked in 2009.

I had the wild idea that the best way to ensure I had a job was to produce my own event, a new consumer health and fitness fair.  I partnered with a local meeting planner Debbie Anmuth-Hunt of Eventive Productions and we formed Live Well Expos.  After all my experience working with trade shows, how hard could it be, right?

Here is what I learned over the next ten months:

1. Get insurance advice from a professional you trust.

Insurance policies are not written in a language that’s easy to understand. I had the luxury of having Paul Cook of Clarity Event Insurance in the UK as a friend.  He spent hours on the phone with me going over every line in my policy to make certain I knew what was covered and what was not.  (Paul, can you please open an office in the US?)

2. Build money for technology into your budget.

We managed all our registrations and exhibit sales on spreadsheets.  I was working at least 18-hour days to keep up with everything and some things still ended up slipping through the cracks.  There are great registration and planning tools out there that are not that expensive in the scheme of things.  Budget for them right away.  They should not be an optional item.

3. Exhibit sales are unpredictable.

As an experienced exhibitor, I knew what exhibitors wanted and needed, but things had changed with the economy.  Exhibitors were not reserving space a year in advance.  Six months out, we had no exhibitors and our target was 50.  Three months out, we had four.  Two weeks out we had 20 and just five days before we had 45 exhibitors.

Don’t hinge your emotional stability on your exhibitor sales. Keep the drama level as low as possible so you can focus on providing the best value possible.

4. Develop exhibit packages based on demand.

We put together several different exhibit packages with excellent marketing opportunities to fit every budget.  No one cared.  What we found out too late was everyone was just too busy to take advantage of our very complicated packages.  We will be spending a lot more time this year finding out what would truly be helpful to our sponsors and exhibitors by asking them directly.

5. You have to adapt on the fly.

Our very first year, we changed locations of our main stage in the middle of the event because we saw it was not getting enough traffic.  This year we changed the layout of our show floor four times the day of set-up.  We were hauling tables and pipe and drapes all over the place.  The only thing that was important was that we got it right, and it worked because we were able to adapt in the moment.

Be not afraid!

Creating your own trade shows and expos is challenging and exciting, but also a lot of fun.   You’ll never know everything, but as long as you surround yourself with people with more experience as well as people with skills you don’t have, the expertise you need will always be available to you.

Don’t get too hung up on the details.  As long as you stay true to your goals and objectives the details will have a way of working themselves out.  When your day finally arrives, make sure you take the time to enjoy it.  The people who came are the ones who were meant to be there and you must put on your best show for them.

Thanks to Traci Browne for contributing this post! If you have a story to contribute, please contact me on Twitter. – Emily