Execute the Perfect Expo with This Trade Show Checklist

09 November 2018

Are you heading to a trade show?

Anyone who’s ever tried putting together a public product launch knows a trade show checklist is essential to standing out. After all, your competition includes anywhere from 50-250 companies as hungry as yours.

Each one will bring passion and planning to their table. You have to assume that anyway. With that assumption in mind, here’s what your to-do list should look like.

1. Get the Budget on Paper

Any preparing for a trade show checklist should start with the finances. How much money do you have allocated for things like marketing, travel, personnel, and materials?

Will you be there for the launch of a new product? Or will your attendance be more informational in nature?

Either way, there’s going to be overheard. Will that overhead, justify the projected cost-benefit you hope to achieve from the trade show itself?

This isn’t something you should ballpark. Details reduce expenses and create profits. They also provide a benchmark for future trade show marketing efforts.

Some other benefits of budgeting include the following:

Ensuring you don’t overspend
Helping achieve profitability if you plan on selling anything
Providing relevant numbers for tax purposes
Giving you a clear idea of which spending efforts are producing the best results

And that’s just a start. You also may be able to create partnerships from these exhibitions that inform data such as the cost of customer acquisition or indirect revenue generation.

2. Make the SMART Objectives

Any trade show exhibitor checklist will need to be written in the form of objectives. Objectives are specific things you hope to accomplish in the planning, execution, and breakdown of your trade show exhibition.

But for objectives to be effective, they need to be SMART, not smart. (Okay, maybe it’s both.) By SMART, we mean:

Specific: Your list shouldn’t say, “Pack up all trade show materials.” It should say, “Pack booth into box truck rental.” In other words, each item or group of items should have tailored directives.
Measurable: You should be able to look at your objective and determine whether (and how) it was accomplished. This ensures you remember to pack the important stuff. It also helps avoid partial shipments.
Action-oriented: Each piece of your inventory or each goal you hope to achieve should be attached to an action verb. Think “employ,” “carry,” “ensure,” etc.
Realistic: Can it actually be done? Or are you trying to do too much, too quickly?
Time-sensitive: Being time-sensitive keeps you on track. It makes sure everything gets the level of attention it deserves.

Make sure your trade show preparation aligns with these components. Doing so will ensure all your objectives are SMART ones.

3. Learn Your Audience

Another essential step in how to prepare for a trade show is getting to know the people who will be there. Take the annual San Diego Comic-Con, for example.

Superhero, horror, and fantasy films and TV series earn billions of dollars each year. But that’s from general audience support.

The audience at Comic-Con is a lot different. A lot more, shall we say, fanatical?

Playing to their sensibilities have made Comic-Con one of the largest and most successful trade shows in the world. Exhibitors give the people what they want.

These “fanatics” create a culture of fandom that helps put whatever property they’re supporting on the radar of general consumers. Only when exhibitors fail to make that connection to the fanatics do their films/TV shows fall flat. So make sure your audience is priority number one.

4. Make Early Reservations

Content should be your primary focus. You need your attention on it early and often. So get room and space reservations out of the way early.

Determine how many are going, how many rooms you’ll need, and when you plan on arriving. It usually doesn’t cost anything to make a room reservation, especially when you get ahead of it.

5. Dot I’s and Cross T’s

What are the legal terms of your attendance? Is there anything you may be overlooking?

Don’t just assume you can show up and be good to go. Read the fine print. It’s not a bad idea to hand it off to your attorney either, especially when the contracts are written in legalese.

6. Figure out Your Materials

Will you have any tents with your logo on them? Printed marquees or business cards?

Flyers, handouts, reports, books – what will help you leave your mark so the audience doesn’t forget you after visiting 40 other booths?

Now’s the time to figure it out. Don’t be afraid to try something no one has thought of before.

7. Test Your Wares

Launching a product at the trade show? You don’t want the show itself to be the first test run you give to it.

If it’s possible for the product to break or malfunction, make sure it happens long before accepting your first customer. Do extensive testing on your advanced prototypes in the weeks or months leading up to the event.

8. Work out Installation

Any trade show exhibit will have a “storefront” of some kind. It could be a simple gateleg table or a more elaborate booth. Whatever you choose, make sure you’ve got the manpower and the timing down to get it installed so your people can get comfortable with the environment before accepting guests.

9. Select Your Reps

Ideally, your representatives will be an even mixture of competent and personable. Now that package can be hard to come by in just one employee. Do a deep assessment of your talent and make sure they complement one another.

You wouldn’t want a couple of Big Bang Theory-type programmers manning a software demonstration if they weren’t very good with people. The goal is to make the product accessible to general customers. Always keep the intention in mind.

10. Make Sure You Document It

What good is a successful trade show if you can’t blast out pictures on social media? Whether paid or organic, the exposure you can get from a few well-tagged, well-captioned photos gives you a lot more bang for your buck – and meaningful relationships – than a dozen Super Bowl ads.

11. Identify Your Neighbors (And Competitors)

Part of getting comfortable with the surroundings in which you’ll be operating is reaching out to the people around you. You’re both in a strange new setting. Even if you’re competitors, it’s not going to hurt to introduce yourself and share pleasantries while waiting for the crowds to build.

Beyond passing the time, however, identifying your neighbors and competition gives you a chance to learn from them and they from you. Watching each other work in the same environment will tell you whether it’s a positive or negative interaction, and it can give you ample ideas for next time.

12. Actively Promote Yourself on Social Media

Promoting the event is important before, during, and afterward. It’s important before for a rather obvious reason – you want people to show up.

During the event? Just as essential. That’s because you can pick up impulse traffic with your social media posts or provide updates to followers who couldn’t feasibly be at your location.

Finally, afterward is a nice time to reflect, post pictures, tag new and existing contacts, and make a new checklist of the things you’ll do the same (and differently) next year.

One final tip here is to consider building a paid marketing campaign before the event. That said, you can go a long way with organic if you bring your relationship marketing skills to the social network.

13. Bring Your A-Game to the Event

In many cases, trade shows are the biggest events of the year for a business. They’re a great way to get whatever you do in front of the people or companies who can help take them to the next level.

As such, you don’t want your B-Team working the room. As mentioned before, bring your most knowledgeable and outgoing people to the event.

But don’t stop there. Ensure they’ve prepared a list of personal objectives for the event. Make sure they get the proper rest and show up to the event in proper attire and ahead of schedule.

14. Ensure Demobilization

Finally, demobilization is an important part of the trade show experience. That’s because conference halls often limit the amount of time you have to clear out your displays and materials before they start charging past the contracted time.

Either hire a moving company ahead of time or ensure you bring along the appropriate amount of muscle to disband and transport trade show materials away from the location. And it helps to have an effective portable trade show display going into the event.

Make Your Trade Show Checklist a Priority

Your trade show checklist will be one of the most important documents you have when gearing up for a major event. The other stuff is important too – exhibits, materials, accommodations, but something inevitably will fall by the wayside if you wing it.

And while you’re here, check out our top tips to help you build a brand for your small business.

Ariana Smith

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

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Have You Heard of Upcoding? It’s a Big Part of Medical Fraud

What does the term “medical fraud” conjure up in your mind? Do you picture a questionable-looking character going door to door, soliciting personal information of Medicare beneficiaries? Maybe you see a fake doctor administering tests to unsuspecting patients in a dingy medical facility. Sure, these exaggerated caricatures aren’t out of the realm of possibility, but it’s often the case that fraud in the healthcare industry is much subtler, to the point that it can occur to almost anyone without their knowledge. It even happens in the sleekest looking medical facilities, and it can be perpetrated by professionals that one would seldom suspect of being a fraudster. One of the most “subtle” and common forms of medical fraud has a name that belies its simplicity. It’s called upcoding, and while that might sound like a boring, complicated system, it’s quite easy for a medical professional to do. Upcoding is the practice of billing for services other than those provided. It some cases, it’s essentially just overbilling, and it’s one of the easiest ways for a provider to earn a little extra money without risking being noticed by the authorities or by patients. Before we look at just how prevalent this practice is, it’s important to understand that virtually every medical service has a code to which it is associated. These codes are very specific, and a provider lists the code of the service they provided their patient either to the patient themselves or to the insurance company that will pay for the service. When a doctor is guilty of upcoding, it means that they provided a different code than the one representing the service that was provided. While some forms of upcoding are blatant, and could easily be spotted by someone who simply took the time to notice, others are so slight that they would go undetected unless someone was paying close attention. For example: You see your doctor for a checkup. You schedule your appointment, sit patiently in the waiting room, see your doctor for about 10 minutes, pay your co-pay and you go home. Meanwhile, your doctor has billed you for pretty much exactly what transpired during your visit, with one major exception. Instead of billing you for the 10 minutes he spent with you, he bills you for a much longer period of time. You likely never looked at your bill, and it would be difficult for an insurance provider to say that he didn’t spend that extra 20 minutes in your presence. These face-to-face interactions are some of the easiest for a doctor’s office to “fudge” the numbers ever so slightly in a way that is difficult for anyone to dispute. When time or, more specifically, face-to-face interactions are the services being billed for, it leaves a much larger margin for error or, in this case, for fraud. In addition to face-to-face time, upcoding can also occur when services billed are simply inflated versions of the service provided, whether that be a test or a treatment of a patient. In these cases, even some of the most medically savvy or attention-detailed patients might not catch the fact that they paid for something that doesn’t reflect what they received. Upcoding is so common, in part, because it is so easy to do without getting caught. Investigators are always on the lookout for upcoding as one of the first signs of a fraudulent medical provider. For the aforementioned reasons, it’s not always easy to discover upcoding without the cooperation of someone who is familiar with the services and billing practices of a facility. This is one of the reasons that whistle blowers are so important to the process, and it’s also one of the reasons that whistle blowers are often employees of the company or facility that has committed fraud. And that’s the simple story of one the grossest and most widespread forms of medical fraud in the United States. While we don’t know exactly how much money is taken from programs like Medicare because of upcoding, investigators suspect that it is very significant and it is common. So, pay attention the next time you look at your medical bill. The chances are good that your facility was completely justified in the amount that you were charged, but there is also a slight chance that there is something there that is just a little off - and that slight difference might be part of a larger system that defrauds patients and costs taxpayers vast sums of money. Bert Louthian is a whistleblower attorney in South Carolina who focuses on helping those who have been wronged, or who have witnessed wrongdoing to come forward to report fraud. He can be reached by calling or visiting his website -thewhistleblowerlawyer.com Read Also: Types Of Stethoscopes How Can A Cardiologist Save Your Life? Are Oncology Clinical Studies Facing Challenges? Folic Acid Deficiency Symptoms: Supplement The Deficiency Before It’s Too Late The Disturbing Trend Of Multiple Chronic Medical Conditions

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It is worth mentioning that, like every other population, senior citizens in America are also more vulnerable to isolation. These factors contribute to different challenges associated with the mental and physical wellbeing of old people. In this article, we’ll provide an extensive explanation of why aged patients must receive patient-centered care for better results. Some of its benefits include: 1. Job satisfaction: Satisfied doctors are more likely to treat their patients productively. It’s been observed that patient-centered care even motivates physicians to become more efficient at their jobs. Many medical practitioners, especially nurses, take a step ahead by enrolling in various MSN to DNP nursing education programs for excellence in their careers. This extra qualification enables healthcare professionals to focus on the strategies that can help them attain the best outcomes for aged patients. 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This practice enables doctors to understand the patient’s unique touchpoints – risk factors and medical records – to provide the right medicinal solutions. 5. Mental health: The elderly often feel helpless and secluded from their surroundings. This sense of isolation isn’t healthy at all! Boredom affects the mental health of elderly patients. However, patient-centered care allows them to engage in several activities. These actions ward off depression and cure their sense of solitude. Some of these riveting activities involve mundane tasks such as: Painting Gardening Listening to music etc. A study published by Pew Research last year showed that one-fourth of US adults aged 60+ are living alone. This means more and more adults are likely to face mental health issues, which has increased the need for quality health care in older adults. 6. Good reputation: This approach improves patients’ satisfaction since the patient-centered service aligns with the patients’ healthcare expectations. 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Execute the Perfect Expo with This Trade Show Checklist

1. Get the Budget on Paper

2. Make the SMART Objectives

3. Learn Your Audience

4. Make Early Reservations

5. Dot I’s and Cross T’s

6. Figure out Your Materials

7. Test Your Wares

8. Work out Installation

9. Select Your Reps

10. Make Sure You Document It

11. Identify Your Neighbors (And Competitors)

12. Actively Promote Yourself on Social Media

13. Bring Your A-Game to the Event

14. Ensure Demobilization

Make Your Trade Show Checklist a Priority

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Ariana Smith

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

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Related

Have You Heard of Upcoding? It’s a Big Part of Medical Fraud

6 Reasons To Prefer Patient-Centered Care For Older Adults

Are the World’s Largest Sectors Doing Enough to Minimize Single-Use Plastic Usage?

Execute the Perfect Expo with This Trade Show Checklist

1. Get the Budget on Paper

2. Make the SMART Objectives

3. Learn Your Audience

4. Make Early Reservations

5. Dot I’s and Cross T’s

6. Figure out Your Materials

7. Test Your Wares

8. Work out Installation

9. Select Your Reps

10. Make Sure You Document It

11. Identify Your Neighbors (And Competitors)

12. Actively Promote Yourself on Social Media

13. Bring Your A-Game to the Event

14. Ensure Demobilization

Make Your Trade Show Checklist a Priority

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Here Are Some Things That You Should Know When You Use Storage Units

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I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

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