Trade Show Help & Advice

The 10 Cardinal Sins Of Exhibitors

In the 15 years I have been organizing exhibitions I have seen all of the following “sins” (and more) at every show I have worked on. Make your life easier (and mine) by avoiding them like the plague. You will also enjoy a stress free show and make more money than those that do the sinning.

1) When the organizers manual arrives, don’t read it. Put it to one side to deal with when you’re not so busy. As a consequence you will not get your various order forms in on time and miss out on your free catalogue entry.

2) Leave it to the organizer to put the visitors onto your stand... it’s what you’re paying for. Don’t bother sending the free invitations to your customers (one of your competitors will do that)... instead, invite all your friends and drinking buddies.

3) Order the smallest stand possible. You can always steal a bit more space by hanging over into the gangways. OK it’ll look a bit untidy but the visitors understand that it’s just a show.

4) Lets Party! Down the bar... plenty of booze... nice garlicky curry. Sleeping’s for wimps, there’s all day tomorrow to cure the hangover... hair of the dog... that’ll sort it.

5) If you’re alone on the stand and you need a break, just leave your stand unattended. If any visitors are looking for you they’ll always come back again. Why pay for two people on your stand when you can handle it on your own?

6) Don’t let anyone walk past your stand without telling them all about your company and giving them an armful of free literature. OK.. some might not be interested but law of averages......

7) If anyone comes onto your stand showing interest in your products simply give them a business card and ask them to contact you after the show. You just don’t have time to take their details or chat for too long.

8) Exhibitions are a great place for swapping jokes with your colleagues and what about that gorgeous bird on the next stand! In fact if it wasn’t for these bloody visitors interrupting us it would be perfect.

9) Feel free to smoke, booze and eat your meals on the stand. Don’t bother too much about tidying up the cleaners are paid to do that tonight.

10) Don’t fret too much about leaving things behind. There are always plenty of people at the show to scrounge stuff from and there's bound to be some shops nearby. Far to busy to bother with lists.

11) (Bonus Sin) Leave setting up until the last possible minute. Just get the basics in place and you can finish off on the first day of the show. Make sure you get away from the show early on the last day, get the truck up to the door an hour before the end of the show and you can start sneaking stuff out.

Far fetched? Not a bit of it. Now I doubt very much if you will fall into these traps. After all you are reading this. But look around any show and you’ll see these sins being acted out by a number of exhibitors.