Dear John:
I have a 10’ x 10’ booth, and I thought I did fairly well at the trade shows where I exhibited, but after reading some of your responses to questions asked I see I have a lot to learn. What can I use, other than dancing girls (which my company would not allow) to generate more activity in my booth?
Paul, Regional Manager
Pittsburg, PA

Dear Paul:
First, I want you to know I don’t believe in having dancing girls in a booth. Not unless you are at a trade show to generate PR, or just to be noticed and not to generate sales opportunities. Yes, I do know companies that do just that. One of the best devices you can have in your booth is a video display. If you are going to a major trade show, one of the best attention grabbers is a good screen presentation, either a Power Point or a video on your company, your products or services. When one of my clients asks me about using video, “Are you sure this will work?” I tell them to go to a department store and go to the electronic department where they sell TVs. You will see more people just standing around looking at television, not buying, just looking. At a trade show, if you get them to stop and look at your video presentation, you now have the opportunity to speak to them about what they have seen in the video. As you know, you have approximately 3 seconds to make an impression on an attendee passing your booth, be it with a good opening active question or a video that stops them in their tracks! I would let the video do the work for me.
To your continued trade show success
John Hill, Trade Show Coach

If you have a 10 foot booth, you have approximately 3 seconds to make an impression on an attendee passing your booth. If your company name does not spark an interest, or your “tag” line does not give the person any hope of finding out what your company does, then     you are the person that is going to make it happen!

Be prepared with a number of great lines that can be used on a myriad of attendees that will be passing your booth.

You have to be aggressive; you have to want to do business you have to be “on”. If you have no intention of taking an aggressive and positive attitude while you are in your booth, why are you there in the first place?

Technical Trade Shows and the people that stand booth duty are frustrating to work with. They usually talk in a language, using, letters, and buzz words that only another person, in the same industry will understand.

What these technical companies have a tendency to forget is that not everyone that works for, or buys technical products or services, knows the technical language. Therefore, companies selling technical products should be able to speak in a language that will be understood by the general public, not get the technical literate. I was once given the task to sell a digital voltmeter to a maitre’d in a restaurant.

If you want to generate business you had best be able to speak the language that will be understand by the person you are trying to sell.

Fact: 69% to 89% (the figure varies) of the literature given out at a trade show is thrown away before the person leaves to go back to his or her office or to return home. Yet companies invest thousands of dollars in very elaborate literature.  You can get your product literature into the hands of the attendees, but do it after you have gotten their qualification information completed, and you are able to send your literature directly to their offices.

You can make a very favorable impression with a very simple colored tri fold brochure that gives a general overview of the company, its products and services. I am not saying cheap, I am saying inexpensive, and tastefully done.

If the tri fold also contains information that the attendee can use while at the trade show such as, places of interest, hotel 800 numbers, airline telephone #s, Car rental places, and the top 10 restaurants in the area, guaranteed that attendee is going to hold on to your brochure. Literature is a tool to get the person’s business card and to be part of the qualification process.

If you help someone attending the trade show with helpful hints or information about the area or any reference information that will make it easier for them to enjoy their stay in that City, your company will be remembered and the information on your company will be read.