If you are like me, you have exhibited at hundreds of trade shows, and yes exhibiting can be expensive. It’s only a matter of time before you exhibit in your first or next trade show. You’ll want to be ready in full force to market your company’s services and generate qualified leads. Don’t be scared of making mistakes when exhibiting if you are new to trade show marketing, just be sure to prepare yourself as much as possible. Three of the most important aspects of trade show marketing are, pre show planning, setting quantifiable goals and post show follow up. Today we are going to focus on the early stages of pre-show planning.

Picture this, it’s Monday morning and you are going on your second week at your new job. You are starting to get the hang of things in your new career at XYZ Company. As you sit at your desk prioritizing for the day, sipping on your morning coffee, your boss stops by your office and says “I’ve got the perfect project for you. Are you up for the challenge?” Of course you say “ Yes”. He says “I am so glad you are up for the challenge. You are the best candidate to plan our trade show exhibit for ABC Show.” Trying not to panic in front of your boss you say “Great, I can’t wait to get started.” As he walks off you think to yourself “OMG, I’ve never even attended a trade show let alone outlined planning to exhibit at one… What do I do?” First things first don’t panic. There are tons of resources available for new exhibit managers to learn the processes of planning for exhibiting at trade shows. Resources like Exhibitor Magazine, TSEA and many other organizations dedicated to educating people just like you and even myself. Do a little research on how to get started and you’ll do just fine. For now let’s get into the nuts and bolts for pre-show planning.

The first thing you will do is reserve your exhibit space. On average exhibit space costs are between $9.50 to $42.85 a square foot depending on size and popularity of the show. Go to the ABC Show’s website and look up contact info for your exhibit space sales rep and contact them for an exhibit space contract. When creating your trade show budget you should always include costs of the exhibit space, booth (exhibit) rental or purchase, and show services. Show services will include electrical, drayage (material handling), transportation of exhibit properties, travel, housing, internet, catering, booth hostesses/booth staffers, entertainment, lead retrieval, plumbing, and other show related costs. However, there are more costs you’ll want to consider when setting your budget for the show. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself: Will you be wining and dining any clients or prospects? Do you have budget for advertising with show management or show association publications? Are you going to be having a private event or cocktail party during the show?

Now you are on a roll. You’ve got your exhibit space reserved and your sales rep has informed you they will e-mail you the exhibitor manual as soon as it is online. Since the exhibitor manual is not available yet. You won’t know how much booth labor, electrical, drayage and other show services will cost until it is. There you will also find basic booth furnishing packages that are going to be the most inexpensive to rent for one time use if you your company doesn’t already own their own exhibit. A lot of times simple pipe and drape with a table and chair will be included in your exhibit space contract for inline booths. You will also want to keep an eye out for the show services advanced rate deadlines to save money on show services. The venue the trade show is taking place may have a slew of vendors you will be ordering from. Each vendor may have a different advanced rate deadline for placing orders. Placing orders late or at the show will cost almost double sometimes triple. Make sure you place all your orders on time.

There are a lot of things to consider when starting your planning for any show. As long as you reserve your space and stay on top of ordering your exhibit and all necessary basic show services (i.e. booth labor and electrical). You can stick with basic packages for your booth furnishings to keep it simple. If you are interested in having a nice booth built for your company you will want to check out the next Trade Show Marketing 101 series on exhibit design and the RFP (request for proposal) process.