How To Prepare For Your First Exhibition?

Preparing for your first exhibition is an exciting and important step in sharing your work with the world. Whether you are an artist, a photographer, a designer, or involved in any creative endeavor, a successful exhibition requires careful planning of all the elements from budget to exhibition display while giving proper attention to all the details. Here are some helpful tips that will help you prepare for your first exhibition.

Tips To Prepare For Your First Exhibition

1. Go To The Right Event

If you are a first-time exhibitor, it is vital to pick the right event/show to attend. There are some events that are suitable for all types and classes of business while others are relevant to either small businesses or large corporations.

Some events are suitable for B2C businesses and some are suitable for B2B businesses. So, it is necessary to pick the right event before booking the exhibition booth for your business to showcase your service to the right set of audience. These events are the perfect place to boost sales, generate potential leads, and expand your network. So, it is vital that you go to the right event that matches your objective so you can grab new opportunities for your business.

1. Plan And Plot The Goals Properly

Before diving into booking the exhibition booth, it is necessary to brainstorm some ideas and plan all the aspects properly so that everything goes smoothly on your first exhibition. Plan all your objectives beforehand. You can follow the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based) approach to plan all the things.

With the SMART approach, you need to be specific with your goals with which you can focus on all the efforts to achieve them successfully. Moreover, you have to consider that all the goals that you set for yourself and your team are measurable. This will keep everyone motivated at the exhibition.

Also, be practical and avoid setting goals that are not realistic. Nobody wants to fail at the first exhibition so make sure everything is attainable while pushing and stretching the limits of everyone.

In addition to this, you have to keep in mind that whatever you are planning to showcase at the exhibition is relevant to your business end goals. Lastly, make sure you set prior time deadlines for all the tasks and track all the milestones so that you don’t miss out on anything important which can create a last-moment hassle.

By following this SMART approach, you will be able to set and manage all your goals seamlessly.

1. Fix A Budget

It is critical to set a fixed number for your budget for your first exhibition. Make sure that you stay practical and realistic with the number that you are going to decide. If you don’t have a fixed number of your budget, you can have issues later while planning and implementing your first exhibition display.

Also, make sure that you cover all the aspects from design and staffing to exhibit insurance while fixing a budget. You have to keep in mind that your stand is the first thing that your audience will see in the exhibition. So, invest proper time and money in it.

Also, you can be clean on renting or buying a custom stand when you decide the budget properly.

1. Perform A Comprehensive Research

It is necessary to conduct exhaustive research on different aspects to gain an edge for your first exhibition. Let us discuss everything in detail.

• Back search the event/trade show

Always look back at the prior editions of the event or trade show that you have selected for your first exhibition. Check out its online website and go through its social media handles on various platforms. This will give you several insights about the event and you can plan everything accordingly.

• Competitor Research

Next, you have to consider your competitors that are going to attend the exhibition. You can do this by requesting the floor plan from the organizer. Try to learn about their product and services, their marketing strategies, and other relevant things to expect what they are going to showcase in the event. Moreover, you can look into the display design of your competitors and try to make your stand unique so that it stands out from the whole crowd.

Also, keep an eye on the schedule of the exhibition with which you can visit the stands of other exhibitors and expand your network. You have to keep in mind that networking is key to expanding your business.

• Audience Research

At last, you need to research the people that are going to attend the exhibition. With the prior research, you will be able to know about all the influential leaders, potential investors, and other parties in the exhibition and plan your pitch to sway them from their feet. Moreover, you will know about the prime demographics that are going to attend the exhibition so you can customize your exhibition display to attract them.

1. Organize Your Team

Now that you are clear with all your goals and budget, it is time to consider your team and pick the roles for everyone. You have to consider all the strengths and weaknesses of all the members while assigning the roles to them. The best way to know more about your team is to directly talk with them and pick the members who are up for the challenge.

You have to pick the ones that are self-motivated to try new things and understand your brand properly. Share all the responsibilities of the roles with every member and explain the whole marketing plan to them. You can conduct team meetings to gather new ideas from all minds and work on them if you find them interesting. This will improve your team engagement as all the members will feel valued and this will further reflect in their action.

1. Design And Customize Your Exhibition Stand

While designing your exhibition display or stand, you have to keep your brand in mind and customize the elements according to it. Try to attract different senses of the audience and invoke emotions by the design and style of your stand. You have to make sure that the whole display complements your business goals. It is vital to know that the attention span of people at the exhibition is pretty small. After entering your stand, they will take a few seconds to decide whether they are going to stay or not. So, make sure that you are adding visual elements that keep them engaged so that anyone from your team can cater to them properly in case of a sudden inflow of traffic.

Also, some events and trade shows do not cover flooring, so make sure that you check the flooring plan of the event to avoid any unnecessary stress at the last minute.

1. Indulge In Pre-Show Marketing

Once you have proper confirmation about your booth in the exhibition, it is time to spread the word about it. The marking choice will depend on your target audience. You can advertise about your stand through offline modes like newspapers, magazines, etc., or share information about the event and your stand on different social media platforms.

You can check the event website to learn about any social groups. If there are any pre-networking events then attend them to further spread the word. No matter your mode of communication, you have to make sure that people know the exact place to reach you at the event. You can shoot small previews and spread them through your channels to let them know the exact location of the exhibition.

1. Manage All The Visitors Properly

Stay attentive at your exhibition display and interact with everybody. You never know who might enter your stand, so never let go of any opportunity to interact with the visitors.

An engaging display stand will encourage your visitors to stay for some moments, but you have to communicate with them so keep some conversation starters in your mind. You can plan some open-ended questions to dive deep into the conversations and address the pain points of your target audience.

Try to make the interaction memorable with your visitors so that they can further spread the word about your business to the whole audience in the exhibition. This will further increase the foot traffic at your stand.

Besides this, you have to maintain a system to keep track of potential leads and get proper information for follow-up. These events can be a treasure if you are in for lead generation so invest in a proper system to keep track of all the important information.

The Bottom Line

Here are some tips that will help you plan and manage your first exhibition properly. Your goal is to be memorable so that the visitors remember your brand even after the event. Whether it is your pitch, promotional material, or presentation of products and services, it is necessary to stand apart from the whole crowd and catch the eye of the whole audience. Adding your unique touch will help you attract more foot traffic to your exhibition booth at the event.

So, go through all the points carefully to plan everything and stay confident while dealing with all the visitors.