How to Properly Organize Your Participation in Exhibitions in the USA

Exhibitions for promoting any business are the most important events of the year. The USA is no different from Kazakhstan, where people from the regions gather at various industry, professional, and interest exhibitions to get a boost for development, find partners, and most importantly, consumers of goods and services. Statistics show that in just a couple of actively held exhibition days, you can gain as many valuable contacts as you wouldn't be able to gather in an entire year. However, to achieve such results, you need to work diligently in preparing for this event.

We have prepared an overview of the most important steps that any exhibition participant must take, especially those present not as visitors but as owners of their own stands. We hope that after reading this article, you will have fewer questions and make significantly fewer mistakes that could cost you wasted money and time.

Selecting the Direction, Scale, and Venue of the Exhibition

Considering that in the USA, from 1 to 10 exhibitions are held annually for each industry, the choice should focus on real goals, set tasks, expected effects, and of course, the budget. The quickest and most effective results can be obtained by participating in industry exhibitions: all partner specialists and the target audience are guaranteed to be present there. However, these are typically large exhibitions that require substantial investments for space rental, stand preparation, staff salaries, promotional materials, etc.

Where to Start?

If you have decided to participate, try to accurately assess your strengths and budget, and focus on preparing and organizing all work processes. The importance of proper organization is clear: inability to manage time and financial resources wisely, lack of knowledge about the nuances of the exhibition process, and miscalculations in choosing the right advertising format will lead to the exhibition's failure and the squandering of the advertising budget. The saddest outcome of this would be a zero effect on your image and valuable connections. Consequently, this could result in a huge gap in the company's budget.

You should start by thinking through the concept and, equally importantly, familiarizing yourself with the layout of the exhibition spaces. Because even a very well-designed stand can go unnoticed due to its remote location from the main traffic routes. Ultimately, you will receive only 10% of the visitor traffic since most of those who reach you will not be the audience you were counting on.

Serious people you are counting on are usually not attending the exhibition for the first or even the tenth time. They have already planned numerous meetings with their partners and manufacturers, and a potential meeting with you is just in the "what's new" section of their list. True professionals always try to discover something new at the exhibition. However, if it takes 30 minutes to walk to your stand, those people simply won't make it to you.

But good spots are expensive, and if your company's budget doesn't allow for such significant investments in the exhibition, it’s better to abandon the idea altogether. In such a situation, it would be wise to start by visiting the exhibition as a guest to familiarize yourself with the rules, traditions of self-presentation, pricing, and advantageous locations, and then — the following year or later — finally become a direct participant.

You could also take another route — start with less significant, regional exhibitions to gradually build interest in yourself, gain the necessary knowledge about the exhibition process, and, of course, acquire invaluable experience that won't cost you as much.

The Organization Process

To ensure that organizing participation in the exhibition doesn't become a stressor for you as a manager and for the entire company, and doesn't lead to budgetary discrepancies, you should remember that there are three stages in this process:

1. Planning, which involves creating the very concept preceded by marketing research, drafting a plan, and calculating expenses.
2. Preparation. This is the process directly related to developing various advertising material layouts, printing them, creating video advertisements, preparing commercial proposals to attract clients to the exhibition, drafting contracts, etc. Additionally, this includes developing the decoration idea for the stand, selecting staff, and training them.
3. Actually participating in the exhibition.

None of the stages can be skipped; otherwise, the purpose of participation is lost.

Planning the Exhibition

The planning stage should start with defining the main goal of participation and identifying the tasks that need to be solved to achieve that goal. Based on these factors, the scale of work for preparing advertising materials is determined, and people responsible for different fronts of work are selected. There should be one main goal and several related tasks.

However, just before the goal is set, it is necessary to conduct mandatory marketing research, which will help identify potential competitors, similar or identical products presented at the exhibition, and reveal their strengths or weaknesses. Based on the information obtained, you can create your marketing plan, which will guide the entire advertising strategy. The goal of this stage is that within one minute of a potential partner or client's stay at the exhibition, they should understand how you differ from competitors and why they should work with you.

When the goals, strategy, and scope of tasks are clear, it’s time to calculate the cost of participation. In case of doubts, you can refer to information obtained from experienced participants: your budget cannot be lower than the average for this level of event. If your financial reserves do not meet this level, postpone the idea until next time. By the way, you can participate in the exhibition without purchasing a space or setting up a stand: it’s enough to attend as a guest and bring along promotional materials and handouts.

Preparation for the event

This is the most time-consuming and costly stage. To address the set tasks, it is very convenient to break down all the preparations into sub-stages:

1. Choosing a location for your stand and reserving a space. It is advisable to be among the first to select spots closer to traffic; otherwise, your stand may end up in a hard-to-reach or poorly visible location where few visitors come.
2. Developing promotional materials. This begins with brainstorming formats, discussing designs, selecting textual and visual content, editing, choosing printing companies, and only then proceeds to the printing and post-printing processes. The responsible person should be especially careful to ensure that there are no annoying mistakes or typos in the promotional and marketing materials. This is important because the attractiveness, interest, and usefulness of these materials conceal half the success of the exhibition events. Given the heavy workload, it is advisable to start this stage as early as possible (3 to 5 months before the exhibition) to allow time for proofreading, editing, and corrections.
3. Don't forget about pleasant souvenirs featuring your name, logo, and contact information, which will represent your company and remind participants and visitors of your existence long after the exhibition is over.
4. Stand decoration. It should be bright and clearly explain the focus of your company. In addition to traditional printed materials placed along the walls of the stand, such as banners and stickers, special exhibition equipment, working models, samples, screens with playing promotional videos, etc., can be used. The more attractive the appearance, the higher the chances that visitors will approach the stand, take promotional materials, and perhaps inquire about collaboration on some direction right there on the spot.
5. Promotional handout materials should be prepared in sufficient quantity: business cards and flyers for everyone, brochures for those particularly interested, catalogs for partners and potential users. Considering the traditional attendance at the exhibition, it is not too difficult to calculate the number of those who may be interested in this or that type of advertising.
6. Preparing the staff. This section concerns the selection of communicative, knowledgeable specialists who can creatively, promptly, and knowledgeably respond to all questions from visitors. This should be a cohesive team whose members clearly understand their functions and can always substitute for a colleague if needed. Additionally, make sure to arrange passes for your team members in advance, so provide the organizers with all the information about your specialists. Naturally, all staff should be fluent in the language of the country where the exhibition is held.
7. Preparing uniforms for the staff. Yes, it is advisable, no, even essential, to follow the corporate style in colors, logo presentation, mottos, etc., in the decoration of stands, promotional materials, and uniforms.
8. Payment for various services and forms of communication during the exhibition. These will include expenses for cleaning, security, equipment, electricity, internet access, etc. A special item of expense is for the services of loaders and installers. These people deliver bulky stands to the venue, assemble them, and connect them to all available networks.
9. If you think that all major issues are settled, you are mistaken. Your participation in the exhibition should be insured; more precisely, visitors should be insured against any troubles caused by your stand, equipment, employees, etc. Therefore, be sure to sign a contract with an insurance company.
10. Participation in the exhibition requires your team to be present on-site throughout the event. Therefore, it is necessary to arrange for hotel room rentals, preferably choosing a hotel located close to the exhibition, business, or other centers where the exhibition is held. If it was not possible to do this in advance and nearby hotels are fully booked, you will have to arrange daily transportation of staff and promotional products to the venue, that is, rent a vehicle.
11. Every exhibition involves a host of events—entertainment, educational programs with workshops, invited expert speakers, etc. You should think in advance about which of these events are necessary and interesting for your company and then apply to participate in them. The thing is, such meetings provide another very convenient platform for networking, exchanging information, opinions, and establishing business contacts.
12. Are you fully ready for the exhibition? Then invite your potential consumers and partners by sending them personalized invitations. This is appealing, it generates interest that can lead to a temporary contact or a long-term mutually beneficial partnership.

Final Check

Even if you did everything on time and, as it seems to you, perfectly, do not rule out that various incidents may occur during the exhibition requiring your composure, creativity, optimism, and quick decision-making skills. From experience in working at exhibition events, some inconsistencies, emergency situations, and mistakes can be anticipated. Those who are attending for the first time as owners of their own space should be prepared for the possibility that the stand will be smaller than planned, that the installers may not have assembled the structure well or at all, that they forgot to connect the power supply, that your space may be occupied, that suppliers may not meet deadlines for promotional materials, etc.

It is clear that most of these problems do not depend on you, but it wouldn’t hurt to check yourself before the exhibition opens to see how well you have prepared for the event. You can create a special checklist that includes, in addition to the aforementioned stages, the following:

• Preparation of furniture and planned layout.
• Preparation and checking of equipment with a layout plan and connections to communications.
• Check the communication provisions – phone, internet.
• Ensure you have contact numbers for all technical and repair services, movers, and installers – everyone responsible for the effective technical operation of your stand and the supply of consumables.
• Preparation of texts for client outreach and role-playing with team members.
• Develop a schedule for team members to rotate at the stand without losing quality of service.
• Prepare both primary and backup meeting locations – the stand, rented space, café, or restaurant. It is poor etiquette to drag a client around the exhibition asking, “Where can we talk?”
• Preparation of official documents (commercial proposals, projects, contracts, press kits), business cards, and contacts for the manager.
• Get to know your stand neighbors and establish good relationships.
• Check the layout of promotional materials that should be available to different categories of visitors depending on their interest in your business.

Role-playing with your specialists

The effectiveness of your exhibition presence depends on how well the team knows its business in the office and at the exhibition. Therefore, all potential questions and answers should be well thought out and practiced, and the team should include specialists in the following areas:

• A representative from the customer service department, who confidently engages with guests and participants, identifying their problems, interests, and distributing promotional materials. The main task is to highlight potentially interested clients from the crowd and engage them with informative and interesting content about the business;
• A specialist with an excellent knowledge of the product. The next person to interact with the target visitor after the customer service representative. Their task is to explain the product as clearly, interestingly, and truthfully as possible and to collect contact information from the potential client;
• A manager. This person is responsible for direct sales and contract negotiations. Their task is to close deals with “warm” clients;
• An additional specialist. This team member gathers information about current and potential competitors and visitors who might be interested in your product, directing guests and participants towards your stand. The person assigned to this role should not be identifiable as a company representative, so they should not wear company insignia or uniforms; their behavior should be discreet and moderately cautious. Their task is to walk around the exhibition and find out what they need to know. Other exhibitors should see them as a partner or client, not a competitor.

During peak traffic and client influx, they can assist the main team at the stand.

Participation in the exhibition

Everything is checked, everything is ready, and work can begin. It may be tough at first, but you will get into the rhythm. To leave the exhibition without feeling something was left undone, try to carry out these simple yet useful actions:

1. Collect contacts. This may include business cards, brochures, and other promotional materials.
2. Scan the badges of all clients who visit your stand.
3. Ensure all collected information is saved as it comes in.
4. Network with relevant businesses, suppliers, and consumers.
5. Observe how other exhibitors operate and take notes.
6. Participate in events yourself or delegate your employees.
7. Meet with your most important clients and contacts for dinner after the exhibition.
8. Check the quality of the team's performance.
9. Don’t forget to rest and allow your specialists to rest as well. After the exhibition, be sure to thank all participants with a team dinner or gifts.
10. Give interviews and distribute press kits among media representatives.
11. Engage in social events and, in general, be as visible as possible.
12. Spread information about your business, company, and brand by all available means and through every possible channel – that’s what exhibitions are for.

Summary

In conclusion, we would like to remind you once again of the importance of participating in exhibitions of any level held in the USA. Therefore, preparation and participation should be meticulously planned; some seemingly minor mistakes can seriously damage the company’s business image or fail to recoup invested funds. Thanks to successful self-presentation, you gain a wealth of valuable information and a vast client and partner database to work with, converting all acquired data into real deals in the months following the exhibition.

Our company, being an experienced organizer and participant in such events in Europe and the USA, has invaluable practical experience in organizing preparation and participation processes, as well as a team of professionals always ready to help establish relationships with the press, attract visitors' attention, and engage with commercial partners' proposals.

We are ready to assist at any stage, from selecting and renting a space to preparing concepts and printing promotional materials, setting up and ordering stands, and carrying out all related work, including installation and connections to communications, as well as choosing and preparing personnel. Before the exhibition opens, we can also help book hotel rooms, transportation, deliver everything needed to the stand, find translators (if necessary), and even organize all events at the exhibition itself.

If you are interested in success rather than budget drainage, contact the professionals!