So, who should manage your trade show? That’s a great question because the answer to who should manage your trade show is that it’s highly unlikely that one person can manage all the aspects of a successful trade show. Here are four essential management categories to a successful trade show.
Who Should Manage Your Trade Show?
Senior Management
The number one mission of senior management for any trade show is to define the organizations purpose for being there. Once the mission has been determined, and shared, then senior staff members can be involved in the show vetting process, deciding on budget parameters, as well as choosing show personnel. Senior management might oversee the entire project, but they’ll need some help managing it.
Marketing and Design
A senior manager, unless they have a design and marketing background, may not be the best person to decide on display design, and show marketing. Design and marketing professionals know things like, “Your display should reflect your brand. Corporate colors, fonts, and logos should be used. If your corporate colors are blue and orange, don’t create a purple and black booth. Your booth should add to your brand image not detract from it.
Don’t overload show attendees with information because you only have three seconds or less to capture their attention. Attempting to send multiple messages can be confusing. Include your company logo and name in the display, but it doesn’t have to be front and center. If your message is about a problem you solve for your clients, use your message to attract visitors.” — Keys to Trade Show Booth Design
Logistics
Logistics isn’t only getting your display shipped to the show on time, its hotel rooms for your staff, electricity for the booth, and more. It’s also having someone at the show who can set the booth up and make sure all the tools that are needed will be there. This could be a shipping, installation, or marketing manager. It’s most likely a combination of leaders forming a team to assist each other.
Sales
So, who should staff the show? If your show is intended for lead generation, your best bet is for sales personnel and leadership to manage the show. Here’s an example of one approach. “At a large show, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd and lose opportunities. It’s hard to get prospects to engage. No matter your approach a large percentage of prospects will not engage; however, if you sit and wait for them to engage you, you’ll be sitting a large part of the time. The idea behind the greeters and consultants approach outlined below is to simply and quickly attempt to engage prospects in conversation about their needs, wants, or desires for your products or services.” — Using Greeters and Consultants at a Trade Show.
It’s a 4-Way Street
As I said, one person might not be able to handle all four aspects of a trade show. So, who should manage your trade show? The answer is a team. A team working together, merging purpose, marketing, logistics, and staff is nearly unstoppable.
