1 Absolutely Easy Way to Supercharge your Trade Show Planning

Congratulations. You’ve got a striking trade show display. Colorful, attractive graphics are strategically displayed throughout the booth.

  • You’re in a great space on the show floor.
    Trade Show Planning: VK-5106 trade show booth with dye sublimation printed fabric and podium

    VK-5106 trade show booth with dye sublimation printed fabric and podium

  • Your exhibit showcases the latest and greatest technology your company has ever produced.
  • You’ve even got great promotional items ready to distribute to booth visitors.
  • You’ve also got a trade show manager’s “Holy Grail”: a committed team of professionals.
  • They’re staffing your exhibit, wearing stylish shirts (embroidered with your company’s logo, of course). They’re also in matching black skirts or slacks.

This is the result of almost an entire year of trade show planning, and it’s all coming together right on schedule.

You have every reason to be happy and proud of what you’ve accomplished.

So what’s missing?

What can increase the effectiveness of all your work and planning by as much as fifty percent?

For many exhibitors the answer is a live presentation. Surprisingly, this applies to companies large and small, and to a broad range of industries.

Think of it as a commercial for your product or service. But this commercial is happening in real time, right there in your exhibit.

This commercial engages show visitors face-to-face. That’s because they’re the ideal targets for your marketing message.

Consider: you’ve already invested tens of thousands of dollars. In fact, your investment might be much more than that. Your goal is to make your presence known at the most important shows on your trade show calendar.

So why not take the next step that can almost guarantee increased visibility? This step also helps ensure your marketing message gets heard, understood and remembered.

A live presentation can take many forms. They could involve a custom scripted performance using actors in costumes. Or it could be a themed product demonstration. It might use a magician, juggler, musician or other performer using your product in some way.

These methods can all work to gather a crowd and explain the features of your product or service.

Download a FreeTrade Show Schedule Planning Outline

Here are a few reasons exhibitors chose to incorporate live presentations into their trade show plans. I’m betting that these reasons are just as important to your company:

Reason #1: We Want To Stand Out From The Crowd

Think back to your last show, and try to recall the exhibits that surrounded your booth. Some might have been larger than yours and some were smaller.

Some showcased cutting edge exhibit design, while others seemed dated or road weary. But there were probably one or two exhibits that buzzed with activity throughout the show.

And I’m betting some or many of those exhibits had a live presentation or product demonstration. The presentations helped those exhibitors stand out from the crowd.

The common theme? Their trade show planning included presentations that invited attendees to enter the booth.

They also gave them an overview of the exhibitor’s product or service. And they encouraged attendees to speak with booth staffers for more information.

Trade Show Planning: Modified VK-5095 Visionary Designs Hybrid Island Exhibit with Fabric and Direct Print Graphics

Modified VK-5095 Visionary Designs Hybrid Island Exhibit with Fabric and Direct Print Graphics

Don’t you want those same results? Don’t you want to be among the most successful and best-remembered exhibitors at your most important shows?

That’s what a live presentation can do for you. Live presentations can be cost-effective too.

You may not need as many staffers working your exhibit. (The presentation can do the job of separating the “tire kickers” from legitimate prospects.)

Here’s another tip – amortize the presentation costs over several shows to get a good return on your investment.

Reason #2: We Need To Showcase New Products Or Services

Perhaps your company has a really amazing new product to debut at your next show? Maybe you need to show how to use it or explain the technology in layman’s terms.

If your booth staffers are busy showing how your latest widget works, they’re not selling. And if they’re doing a demo to one visitor at a time, they’re not being efficient.

So how can you explain this great new technology to show visitors who only give you seconds to capture their attention? A live presentation can reach out and touch those people. It can tell your product’s story.

The theatrical techniques can make the message engaging, interesting and memorable. The presentation draws a big crowd. This allows you to introduce your new product or service to lots of people at once.

They can all learn what makes it better than the competition, at the same time. Even the most motivated and dedicated booth staffers can’t reach that many attendees at once.

If you use a live presentation, your staffers will be talking to real prospects. And those prospects will already have a basic understanding of what you’re offering.

And if they stayed to talk, they want to know more. These are the people who matter most! A presentation delivers these pre-qualified prospects directly to your sales force.

Reason #3: We Want Added Visibility—Even Off The Show Floor

By now, you might think live presentations work. You might believe planning a good presentation can get your company’s product or service more attention on the trade show floor.

But there are other ways your company can achieve greater visibility, beyond what takes place at the show. Live presentations often use odd or unusual “props”.

These props can help tell your story and pique the interest of show attendees. Sometimes props attract attention because they seem incongruous in the surroundings of your exhibit.

Trade Show Planning: RE-9032 / Large Double Deck Rental Display

RE-9032 / Large Double Deck Rental Display

But there’s another added benefit: those props look great in photographs. Why is that important?

Media coverage!

Offering something visually interesting during your presentation has many benefits. It helps communicate to the attendees.

But it also gives you a much better chance of attracting the attention of writers and photographers.

They are covering the show for media outlets, and are all looking for interesting story ideas.

Free added visibility in trade publications and online resources is a huge benefit that would otherwise be very expensive.

Think of how many potential prospects you could reach beyond the attendees at the show. These new prospects would come from getting featured in the trade press or online reports from the show.

I also want to make it clear that a live presentation doesn’t have to be big to be effective. I’ve seen successful presentations done in 10 by 10 exhibits. And others, at shows like CES and E3, have been absolutely enormous.

The point is that you can create a presentation that delivers the kind of results I’ve been talking about. The size of your exhibit and budget doesn’t matter.

If you want help adjusting your trade show planning to incorporate a live presentation into your exhibit program, let’s talk.

We don’t offer jugglers or magicians.

But we can offer Tips for Giving Killer Presentations in Your Trade Show Displays.

We can help your trade show planning include spaces in your trade show booth for presentations.

You may be able to fit the presentation into your existing booth with just a podium or trade show counter. You may need to add a few more modular components to help create an effective space.

Either way, we’re here to help, as always, so call us (800) 676-3976 or email [email protected].

For more, check out our list of pre-planning tips or our article on trade show ideas and planning.

Download a FreeTrade Show Schedule Planning Outline