Give Your Trade Show Program A Boost, Get Organized
How many times have you heard someone say or been told that it isn’t that hard to execute an exhibit or trade show event? If you’re like me, then more than you care to recall. Well, it’s true. You don’t have to have to be a genius to be a successful trade show coordinator or marketing manager (or account lead at an exhibit firm); however, you do have to be exceptionally good at two things. Communication and organization. For the purpose of this post I’m going to focus on organization. And when I say organization, I’m talking about thoughtful preparation and attention to details. If your goal is to manage a successful trade show event or any other marketing event for that matter, you have to the right system in place first. The following are five steps that will help you along the way.
Image Courtesy of Jeffrey Beall's Flickr Stream
I have to preface the remainder of this blog by acknowledging that mistakes an oversights WILL HAPPEN. It’s the only consistent rule in this industry. The goal is here is to be as highly prepared as possible so that you can avoid mistakes and mitigate their impact if needed.
- Write A Killer Event Marketing Plan: this is your chance to establish goals and objectives for the event. It will outline your reason for being at the event (key demographics, competitors, etc.) and give you something to measure your overall success after all is said and done. For help writing your plan, I recommend you start with Allison Saget’s (yes she’s a friend) proven Event BLT methods .
- Get A Handle On Logistics: open up a folder (electronic and physical) to track all event related information. At Echelon, we call these job bags. Inside every job bag is all client service orders, graphic layouts, floor plans, etc. If it relates to your event, the information is added to the job bag. It’s how we keep track of your info so that a job is successful from start to end.
- Prepare Yourself for Travel: this requires a little bit of time and effort that will result in a huge payoff in the end. Reference our top trade show tips.
- Update Critical Data When Changes Occur: save yourself headaches down the road by making detailed notes to your shipping manifests, packing lists or whatever you want to call it. There are hundreds of parts and pieces that go into an exhibit property so do yourself a favor and keep track of where everything is stored when its not in use. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to pull four carpenters away from something productive in order to search for a misplaced set of graphics, hardware, etc.
- Download Experiences With Your Team: behind every good marketing events professional is an even better support network. Of course you should you rely on these gifted people for help before and during your event, but it’s equally important that you bring them into the post-event meetings so that they’re apart of your successes and have a complete picture of the project.
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Couldn’t agree more with this list, I especially like the picture. Thanks for the post.