This week you need to check in with all departments to ensure everyone has their bases covered. Here’s who you’ll need to meet with and what to ask:

Get your Sales Team Ready

  • Are all the sales team fully versed on exactly what they are offering at the exhibition?
  • What is the elevator pitch they are going to use with visitors to their exhibition stand?
  • Do they know exactly what their targets are for the show in terms of leads, sales and appointments?
  • Have they invited all their clients/customers?
  • Who is covering the exhibition stand and what are the timings?

Plan your Marketing

  • Is all the marketing collateral ready to go?
  • Do we have enough marketing materials for the duration of the exhibition?
  • What is the social media strategy for the exhibition? Do we have a designated person to do this?
  • Have we sent invites/tickets out to all our clients/customers?

Smooth Running Operations

  • How does the exhibition stand look?
  • Who will be on-site building the exhibition stand and are they good to go?
  • How and who will be delivering the exhibition stand(s) to the venue?
  • What time will the exhibition stand be successfully built by?
  • Is there anything else that we need to order for our exhibition stand? Electrics, furniture, etc.

The Team at the Exhibition

  • Does everyone have a specific responsibility for the duration of the exhibition?
  • Are we all aware of the specific objectives?
  • Does everyone know three key selling points about what you are offering?

This is not an exhaustive list but rather one that should throw up questions and answers that are going to help you finalise your plans for the show and ensure that it is a success. In covering these questions it gives you the last minute things that you need to do.

If you are exhibiting with Quadrant2Design, then a massive portion of the operational phase will be looking after and supported by the Q2D team. Opting for the Free2hire option with them ensures that you’ll benefit from a professional installation and the entire process will be project managed by their in-house specialists.

Planning for an exhibition is realistically the most important part of the overall process because without a plan and objectives you can’t really assess how successful or not it was. Planning starts from the day you book the space.

This to me is the second biggest mistake companies make (not following up leads taking the top spot) and to be honest if you are serious about exhibiting and spending your hard-earned money on exhibiting you need to have a rock-solid plan. Planning is not solely what you do before the show but also what you do during, and after the show. Your plan for pre-show should be done at this stage but it’s important that you plan for the more specific things at the show itself.

For specific on-site planning, you’ll want to consider:

  • How is the stand actually going to look?
  • Where are we going to stock all of the additional marketing collateral?
  • Who is responsible for keeping the exhibition stand well stocked and tidy?
  • What do we do if one of our competitors drops their prices at the exhibition?

Fortunately, there are many processes in place at Quadrant2Design to alleviate the stress during this crucial planning phase of your planning. From lockable storage for additional marketing literature to receive a professional photograph of your exhibition stand, as part of their 100% pre-build guarantee.

Stephan “The Exhibition Guy” Murtagh has 25+ years’ experience in the exhibition and events industry and has worked with many of the biggest organisers in the industry. As a qualified Fetac trainer, he set-up The Exhibition Guy to educate and train people on how to sell more, his website features module-based courses and coaching for real-life situations within the sector.