Organizing a tradeshow can be challenging due to the complex nature of the event. There are many things to plan for that are crucial to the entire operation. But by following this short checklist, you and your company can have the foundation you need to run a smooth tradeshow.
Create a Buzz
Of course, a tradeshow isn’t an event without attendees. In order to get sellers and buyers to attend your event, you need to get the word out to everyone in the industry. Ideally, you’ll want to come up with a detailed marketing plan to promote the tradeshow on your website, social media, and in your local media sources. You’ll also need a sales kit to market your event to the vendor to show them why they should participate. To create a buzz, you should offer some sort of incentive to both vendors and buyers that will get them excited for your event, like providing a professional designer to improve their booth and an early bird discount.
Time it Accordingly
Timing is everything. If you pick the wrong time of year or a date that coincides with another major tradeshow, your event will suffer. You need to time your event perfectly to motivate attendees to reserve space at your tradeshow and to attract the most amount of people to your event. Even if there are no other trade shows scheduled on the same week as yours, you’re still be competing with other event organizers for people’s time and energy, so plan accordingly.
Hire Enough Staff
Save yourself the effort and use a staffing company for your tradeshow. If you’re short on staff during the big day, it could lead to all sorts of problems. To make matters worse, you’ll be too busy to deal with a staffing shortage. So hire someone who can take care of all the staff hiring and training for you.
Have a Back-Up Plan
To make sure your tradeshow goes off without any disasters, you need to be prepared for everything. That’s why you need to have a backup plan that will provide solutions to problems as they arise. The easiest way to do this is to do some research on the most significant issues that have occurred during tradeshows in the past and then create a solution for each one. You could also write on forums and online groups to ask other event planners what issues they’ve experienced and how they solved them. That way if anything does happen, you’ll have any unfortunate situations covered, saving you and all the staff a whole lot of stress.
Pick a Suitable Venue
Most importantly, to run a smooth tradeshow, you need to pick a suitable venue. One that can handle all the electrical needs for running power to each and every booth, internet access for hundreds of people, and enough space for your floor plan design. It can be very convenient to find a venue that can help you take care of the food and drink, provide a customizable space, and help you with some of the logistics.
And that’s where we come in! At St. Elias Centre, our professional team can provide everything you need for your tradeshow. With over 11,500 square feet of divisible event space, a spacious lobby, in-house catering and banquet services, high-speed internet, over 400 parking spots, along with exceptional customer service, we’re the perfect venue for your tradeshow needs!