Whether you’re an expert or a novice at organising and planning for an exhibition, your success depends largely on your preparation.
A great deal of work must be done ahead of the show to ensure you achieve your goals and receive a handsome return on your time and investment.
At Pages, we are experienced with helping companies showcase their brands, products and services at exhibitions and trade shows and brand activations all over Australia.
Here’s our foolproof guide on how to plan and organise a successful exhibition stand.
- Start Planning a Year Out
It may sound extreme, but you should start planning twelve months out from the event. This will ensure you aren’t rushed and that nothing is missed. It gives you time to think about what it is you want to achieve from the event and plan a strategy to execute your plan.
- Set your budget, as well as your targeted return-on-investment.
- Set your goals and strategic objectives for the show. Are you there to generate leads, make sales, increase brand exposure, or debut a new product?
- Reserve your booth space as early as you can to ensure you get your ideal spot. Do research in advance to find the best high-traffic location in which to position your booth and to determine which booth size will best suit your needs. Also ensure you reserve adequate floor space to suit your needs If you want to display lots of products and really show off your stock you will need a big space to do this. Choose a floor space that you think will support your stand needs.
- Decide on whether you want to buy an exhibition stand you can customise and reuse, or you want to hire an exhibition stand. There are many different options when it comes to exhibition stands, if you want a customised option to highlight your brand and help you stand out, you could hire or buy a stand.
- Write a supply list for all the things that you will need on the stand – POS systems of selling goods, POS material, display stands, furniture and stationery. Determine if you are going to purchase or hire all of these items, furniture hire will be far more cost effective than buying and storing pieces so always keep your budget in the forefront of your mind.
- Six Months out
- Plan and prepare your sales and marketing materials, including brochures and handouts. If you want to give away any freebies, now is the time to make sure they’ll be ready for the show.
- If you’re launching a new product or service at the event, confirm that it will be fully tested and ready for its public
- Choose your shipping, installation, tear down, and storage vendors, and make sure all concerned parties are aware of the correct dates and the scope of services required.
- Choose your onsite trade show team.
- Confirm your event registration.
- Six Weeks to go
- Confirm that all signage, brochures, and other marketing collateral is underway and will be ready in time for the event.
- Confirm all dates and details with your shipping, installation, furniture hire and storage vendors.
- Commence marketing – send out press releases and notify your customer base. Consider an email campaign and take advantage of social media. Contact targeted attendees and book meetings in advance.
- Make sure everyone working your booth is trained to answer questions about your products or services. Ensure that they know your goals and strategy and have their sales pitches rehearsed and ready.
On the day of the exhibition it’s time to execute your plan.
This is your chance to make an impact and reach the goals you have set for yourself.
Ensure you provide food and drinks for your staff. ‘Happy staff will be more productive and efficient’ and make sure you keep track of contact information collected at the show.
A misplaced notebook could result in a show’s worth of leads lost.
If you are planning an exhibition stand, Pages Event Hire can provide a complete turnkey solution with all your stand, display, branding, booth & furniture hire needs to create an impactful and successful stand.
Contact our friendly team today and let us help you plan the perfect exhibit.