Tips On How To Attract Guests to Your Tradeshow Booth

Tradeshows are a great way to get your company or product out in front of the right industry and customer. There’s never a better time to promote your product to such a targeted group - all gathered in one place! I personally enjoy working on designing tradeshow spaces because while most other showcases have the same, generic feel at tradeshows, we work with our clients to discover creative ways to make their booths stand out.

Besides just designing and staffing a tradeshow booth, we always recommend going that extra step to get more eyes on the booth. Among the hundreds of booths, there are ways to make your area stand out and attract the guests that you want.
Here are a few ways to get those impressions:

Iconic Figures. Schedule an autograph session by a famous icon of the industry inside the booth. Most conventions, such as Comic Con, have autograph sessions that take place in designated autograph areas of the convention. Instead, hold yours inside your booth. Find a “celebrity” and then promote it well. This doesn’t have to be a celebrity in the mass market world (no need to spend an exorbitant amount of money to get Will Smith to come out!), but find someone that is important in your industry, such as an author or an industry specialist that is frequently featured on news shows. Weeks before the convention, send emails and issue press releases announcing this icon, and times that he/she will be at the booth. Encourage attendees to bring an article for them to sign (i.e. a book, or a photo). At the convention, showcase a sign outside the booth announcing the times that the autograph sessions will take place.

Appointments. A few months before the convention, begin to schedule back-to-back appointments with movers and shakers in the industry, key customers and potential strategic partners to come check out the booth. Once at the booth they should be greeted by high level executives who will give them a personalized tour and commentary around the booth. Make sure your VIP guests are given the golden treatment – offer them water, introduce them to all of the executives manning the booth, and schedule follow up lunch meetings with them to really drive the message home.

Press List. All conventions and conferences put together a list of invited members of the press. Utilize the press list! Call up the conference organizer and ask for a copy of this list. Many times these lists will have the complete press contact information including phone numbers and email addresses, but if not, they will at least contain the name of the press outlet and the contact person. Before the convention, call up those press contacts and set up appointments with them, much like the appointments you will set with the movers and shakers in the industry. Also offer key press behind-the-scene looks at your booth, exclusive interviews with executives and never-before-announced pieces of information about the company, all leading up to the convention. If timed right, all of these features in the press will be released immediately before, during, and following the convention.

Exclusive Areas. There is an innate want in humans to be a VIP. Set up “exclusive” meeting rooms/screening areas of the booth, blocked off to the general public. Usually this can be done by designing the booth so that a wall with a door blocks off the VIP area. Invite select guests, especially ones that express a lot of interest in your product, to this meeting room. Here you can discuss with them, in a one-on-one setting, features of your product or service. You can also set up a screening area where a special promotional trailer runs for these invited guests. This is a good way to show that you appreciate those valued and enthusiastic customers. And once these guests feel like VIPs, they will spread the word about how well you treated them, and others will be encouraged to check out your booth in hopes to get an invite into the VIP area.

Happy Hour. Who doesn’t love a happy hour? The perfect time to catch customers is when they’re all done pacing the convention floor and now just want to relax, an idea perfected by the marketing team at Virgin Charter. Set this up during the last hour of every convention day, offering light snacks and drinks, organized through the convention center’s catering service. Throughout the convention days make sure to tell valued convention attendees to come back and visit the booth during the happy hour for complimentary refreshments. Right before the happy hour kicks off have some of your employees roam the convention center floor, spreading the word about the event, driving more attendees to your booth. Happy hours are a great way for you to network in a more informal setting, without having your guests feel like you’re selling to them. Our friends at Virgin Charter secured some really valuable contacts at these one-hour parties, without having to spend any extra money on renting out an additional venue.

A lot of money is invested into showcasing at tradeshows, so make the most of it!

Good luck,
Gail