Tradeshow Exhibit Booths

Here are some general tradeshow exhibit booths guidelines to help you formulate the basic booth principles that you will need to think about.

Do this step BEFORE you start to think about the specific campaign.

By separating the two you will make two separate decisions. The basic booth decision and the marketing campaign decision.

Booth Size.

Both sizes come in 10x10, 10x20, 10x30, 20x20, 20x30, 30x30 and custom sizes above that.

Consider how many people you have, how much floor traffic you expect and how much of a role the booth will play in your exhibitng plan.

Booth Configuration

Are you looking at just a back wall, an island, a peninsula, table top, banner(s) or an overhead layout and configuration?

You have many choices in each type of booth and in the sizes you selected.

Your Budget

Do you think you'll spend less than $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, or $50,000.

Anything above $50,000 gives you options to think custom. Now you are not planning a booth, you are planning a place.

Campaign-specific Options

What goes in the booth? LCD displays, product demonstrations, samples, people, a stage, handouts or you-name-it?

Set these parameters in place and then you can hold the planning meeting that has the goal of brainstorming the best marketing program to meet your goals.

The temptation to spend time on the booth details (low leverage) will not take away from the time spent on marketing program selection (high leverage!)

Trade Show Marketing Tip

From here on in you are reading an excerpt from The World's Most Powerful Trade Show Marketing Guide.

Book Your Travel – NOW!

One thing you will most certainly discover is how much it costs to fly 10 people across the country on short notice.

Or as has happened to us, you go to book one of the block of rooms at the hotel at the conference rate only to discover the conference rate rooms are long gone.

One thing we used to do was check a Priceline.com booking for the show dates as soon as we confirmed we would attend. More than once we were able to beat the conference price simply by trying. In a non-sold out situation, that worked for us.

Earlier, better planning for your T&C expenses can certainly allow you to attend at a lower cost and therefore to improve your ROI.

Try a bit harder to contain your T&C expenses.

Your CFO will love you.