Believe it or not, trade shows and expositions are the number one source of product and purchasing information for business. 86% of trade show attendees have “buying power” and three out of four said they met a new supplier at the last show they visited.With a cost per sales lead half that of the next most cost effective source, no wonder businesses large and small continue to look to trade shows as a vital part of their sales and marketing mix.
In order to be successful at trade shows, companies need to understand the fundamentals of good trade show marketing. Our Tips include a useful glossary of terms and many useful tips from industry experts. Whether you’re planning on a pop up display, a panel system, banner stand or large island trade show exhibit, we hope you’ll visit our site often and that you find the “know” you need to make your trade show program a success!

Terms you should be familiar with:

AIF
(Audience Interest Factor)
This is the percentage of attendees that visit at least 2 out of 10 exhibits in a category. The national average is 48%.

Audit
Verification of show attendance figures by an independent organization or agency.

Booth Staff
Booth staff could be the most important—and most overlooked—part of most exhibits. 28% of trade show attendees said that they could not find salesperson to assist them in the exhibits they visited. And of those that did, over 40% said the salespeople they met did not understand their needs. The people in your booth are the most part of your exhibit. Make sure that they are friendly, dressed to identify themselves as part of your company and are knowledgeable about your products and services.
Some staffers may be attending a particular show for the first time. Help them to do a great job by giving them a thorough briefing about the particular show. Review your objectives and their individual goals. Show them how to work your exhibit and teach them how to qualify a prospect and take leads.
A typical show audience is one-third management, one-third engineers, scientists, production and operations supervisors, and one-third sales and marketing managers and others. Staff your larger exhibit with a mix of employees as well. If you can’t afford to have several people at the show, arrange a hot line or computer link to your office. This will allow you to instantly respond to a prospect’s needs.

Booth Size Formula
Figure a maximum of two staffers per 10’ x 10” booth size. So, for fourstaffers(see Booth Staffing Formula below), you would need a 10’ x 20’ exhibit. Should you have special requirements such as AV presentations, lots of product displays, or a presentation stage for demos, obviously more space could be required.

Bill of Lading
This is the document that serves as a contract between you (the shipper) and the transportation company. It includes the specifics of exactly what is being shipped where, and by when.

Booth Staffing Formula
The trick here is to have enough staff in your booth to handle prospects while not appearing overcrowded. A good formula to calculate your needs comes from CEIR
(Center for Exhibit Industry Research). It goes like this: Take the number of leads you expect (would like) per hour and divide that by the number of leads a staffer can handle in an hour. (How long is an average contact/presentation?).So if you expect 24 visitors in an hour and a staffer can handle a lead in about 10 minutes(6 per hour), you would need
4 staffers in your booth at all times.
Booth or Exhibit Configuration
This refers to the shape or type of exhibit. The most common are in-line (straight usually one sided), peninsula (three sided at the end of an aisle (one side backs up against another exhibit) and island (open on all four sides.) There is a surcharge to rent a peninsula or island booth space.
Booth Design Costs
The average booth design cost is $1,230 per linear foot for inline (straight wall) exhibits or $130 per square foot for island displays. Add another 6% to that for booth graphics.
Source: Exhibit Designers & Producers Association 2000 Exhibit House Survey
Comfort Level
Because of the tough business climate. some attendees may be “checking out” your company at the show to get a sense as to your company’s health.
Urge your booth staff to mention the size of your company, positive trends, employees and plants throughout the world, number of years in business, in short, anything that will positively affect the attendee’s comfort level about doing business with your company.
Consumer Show
A show that’s open to the general public.
Drayage
Fees charged by the show to transport your materials from the loading dock to the booth, storing your crates during the show and getting it all back to the dock for pick-up after the show. A good way to keep drayage costs down is to use a pop-up or custom modular exhibit which are usually lighter and requires less crates than custom.
General Service Contractor (GSC)
Company designated by show management to provide all labor and services for exhibitors at the show. In many cases, you must use the GSC for everything or specific service contractors designated by the show management.
Exhibitor Appointed Contractor (EAC)
Company selected by an exhibitor to provide specific show services. EACs must usually be approved by show management.
Horizontal show
A trade show with a broad range of exhibtors and attendees.an example of a horizontal show would be the Consumer Electronics show.
In-line Exhibit
This is another name for a straight or backwall exhibit. This type is located on an aisle with a wall or another exhibit backed up behind it.I &D
Installation and Dismantling (set-up and tear-down) of the booth. Portable and Modular panel systems help keep these costs low. In many cases, especially with smaller exhibits of this type, I&D can be handled by your in-house staff. Another way to save money is to save time at teardown by applying outbound labels to empty cases and shipping crates during set-up. Be sure to label the cartons “empty” for storage by the General Service Contractor (GSC) during the show. Anything you want back at the end of the show needs a label, including pallets. Anything that doesn’t have a lable will probably be thrown away.
Island Exhibit
This type of exhibit can be seen and entered from all four sides. Shows usually charge a premium for islands; the surcharge is usually calculated based upon how many “extra” sides of the exhibit are open. So if the surcharge per extra open side is $500, an island would carry an additional space rental fee of 3 x $500, or $1500.00.
Lead Cards
Forms used to collect information on attendees who visit your booth.
Lead Management
Usually after the show, leads are distributed to the sales force and nothing is ever heard of them again. Nevertheless, analyzing the results of your leads remains one of the best ways to measure your.results..
Start off by designing a custom lead card with the help of sales. The card should include all the info they’ll need to follow up with prospects after the show. Make it simple and easy to-use.
Sample Lead Card
Event ____________________
Date _____________________
Name__________________________________
Title___________________________________
Company_______________________________
Address_________________________________
City_____________________ State___________
Zip________________
Phone ( ) --- ---- Fax ( )--- ----
Product/Service now usingProduct/Service interested in_______________________________________________
Interest Level
High Medium Low Don’t knowPurchase time frame
Within a month 1-3 months this year don’t know
Notes:
Establish a ranking system to sort your leads into groups based on need from “hot” to “cool.” Before the show, set up a system so that “hot” leads can be sent back to the office right away.
 
Lead Retrieval
Make sure you have a system in place to capture leads and to distribute them quickly after the show to the right people in your organization for follow up. Follow up with qualified leads with one week of the show. Lead retrieval can be as simple as typing up a list from business cards gathered in your booth or sophisticated electronic lead retieval systems that scan the badges of visitors to your booths and provide you with an electronic file of all your visitors. Most major shows have electronic retrieval systems available for rent for a nominal fee. These “scanners” read attendees’ badges and the data can be stored electronically or printed out. Many companies have computerized lead handling systems that can even prepare the prospects’ follow-up letters, often with pricing information, and set the stage for a meeting with a salesperson after the show.
Low-Cost Promotions
Promotions don’t have to cost a lot of money. Consider offering free consultations in your booth or 30-day free trial of your product or service. Show Special discounts, “Gift with purchase,” or Gift Certificates on future purchases can help move product without breaking your budget.
New
Most people at a trade show attend to see “what’s new” in the industry. There’s no better place to promote your new products, services, personnel or facilities. Prepare press releases, pre-show ads and mailers focusing on “what’s new.” Incorporate bold graphics, demonstrations and other attention getting methods in your exhibit. Hands on and interactive presentations involving the audience make new products more memorable and their launch more successful.Objectives
The majority of companies fail to set objectives for their trade show participationBe sure you know what you want to accomplish at the show. Whether it’s to increase sales through new orders, generate qualified sales leads for follow up appointments, introduce new product or inform and educate your customers about a new use for an existing one, set clear, measurable objectives and measure your results. Other measurable objectives may include:
Reinforcing customer loyalty
Conduct market research
Obtain literature requests to expand your mailing list
Open new markets or territories
Recruit new employees or distributors
Enhance your company image
Conduct sales meetings in conjunction with the showPop-up display (Pop-up exhibit System)
A pop up is usually a portable exhibit system which consists of an expandable aluminum frame upon which fabric or graphic panels can be hung with either hooks or magnets. Pop-ups come in different sizes and pack into their own case for transporting.
Pre-Show Promotions
Three quarters of attendees come to the show with a personal agenda. They know the companies, products and services they want to see and know which technical/educational sessions and social events they will attend.
Mailers and pre-show ads are a great way to assure that attendees put you on their “must see” list of exhibits. Plan ahead to let your prospects know you’ll be at the show. Advertise in pre-show publications, mention the features of your exhibit and let them know where it’s located. Surveys show that direct mail can influence 29% of newcomers and 53% of previous trade show attendees. . Make sure your mailer or ad arouses quick related interest and gives the prospect a good reason to visit your booth. Good pre-show promotion can more than double the activity at your exhibit.
Send out pre-show promotions with various codes on them for different groups. Then have different giveaways for each group, saving your best items for the VIPs or hottest prospects. This will allow your booth staff to prequalify a lead as soon as the visitor presents his or her card for the gift.
Press/ Press Releases
Prepare press kits for your exhibit and if the show has one, leave some in the press office. Avoid hype in your releases ; be brief and include photos with caption Put together a list of all business and trade publications relevant to your show. Submit your trade show plans and product and company information to all industry publications with special show issues.
Be sure to send out electronic versions of your Press Kit both before and after the show. Find out which publications will be sending editors or reporters and schedule appointments with as many as possible. Their time is limited and you want to do everything possible to make sure you get them to visit your exhibit at the show.
ROI
Return on investment. ROI compares how much business was generated compared to the amount of money spent on the show.
Refurbishment
Booths can get dinged and dented and simply show where over time and a busy trade show schedule. Refurbishing refers to the renovation of your exhibit by repairing minor damage, refinishing display surfaces and replacing graphics to extend the useful life of your exhibit. You should allow 25% of your display’s initial cost for annual refurbishment. Some things you can do yourself include cleaning your graphics and laminate surfaces regularly (especially after set up and before storage), touching up chips and scratches with appropriate color (Automobile touch up paint works great), camouflaging major holes with graphics, and using a lint brush or tape roller on fabric surfaces to keep them looking like new.
Show Program
This often overlooked tool can help you promote your exhibit and draw visitors. Turn your company description into a teaser by telling show attendees why they want to come to your booth. If your booth has a theme put that in your description so the visitor will recognize your exhibit when they see it.
Show Promotions
Most shows offer a broad variety of ways to promote your exhibit to attendees. These include:
Banners in the Show hall hotel or airport
Hotel closed circuit TV channel
Signs at the show
Hotel Room drops (literature or gift packages dropped at rooms of attendees
Sponsorships of educational events or Hospitality suites
Information is usually included in the show packet you receive at time of registration or is available on line at the show web site. Vertical Show
These types of shows target a niche market. The more vertical or “narrower” the audience, the higher the quality of the visitor. An example of a Vertical show would be a Storage Area Networking Show or Fiber optic products show.
Virtual Show
This is the online version of your trade show. It allows prospects , press and others to “visit” your exhibit before, during or after the show. When combined with a live webcast it allow people who were unable to attend to “visit” your exhibit at the show.Web based Promotions
These types of promotions basically extend your pre show and show activities to your company web site. At the show, you can do a webcast to extend the reach of your exhibit to customers and prospects who were unable to attend. After the show, post photos of your busy exhibit on your web site and entice people to “visit” your booth with an e-mail promotion.