5 Questions to Help You Prepare for a Business Event or Exhibition

Planning for an exhibition or trade show can seem like a mammoth task. With preparations, marketing materials and choosing the right team for the day all to take into consideration, it’s difficult to know where to begin. To give you a kick-start we’ve put together our top 5 questions to ask yourself when planning your next event to ensure you get the best out of it.

What is the objective?

If you could write down why you are attending the event in one sentence what would it be? To spread the word about your company? To get 200 people signed up to your newsletter? To make £5000 worth of sales? Whatever the objective is, make sure this is crystal clear in your mind when planning every aspect of your event.

Who is my audience?

Knowing the demographic of your audience is vital when creating a stand space so you can be sure it will attract the right people. Think about what kind of interests your audience have, what sort of media they consume and what type of products they purchase. This will inform so many decisions about the style of stand you create and should determine how you communicate with your target market on the day, both visually and vocally.

What is my budget?

We don’t like to admit it but what you can achieve when planning an event relies heavily on how much money you have to spend on it. You need to think realistically about what kind of return you are expecting from your time at the event and how you can justify your spending. If you know that the lifetime value of a typical customer is potentially high you can spend a little more to acquire them in the first place; it’s all about thinking of the bigger picture. Every single penny you spend needs to be accounted for including travel, accommodation, exhibitions stands, marketing materials and of course, all those coffees!

What existing internal resources can I utilise?

This brings us nicely onto our next point, think of what you can do in-house to utilise resources you already have. No one knows the business better than you do so having existing colleagues attending the event with all their working knowledge can only be a good thing. There’s no need to spend money on pricey event staff, just make sure you select the right personalities who have excellent people skills and you’re on to a winner. Why not try setting up your exhibition stand yourself? You can save so much on pricey set up costs, but always remember to factor in your time spent working too, this isn’t free you know!

How much space do I have?

Really think about what kind of space you have available to showcase your business, it’s amazing how quickly the area fills up once you have an exhibition pop up, a roller banner, tables and chairs. If you want to give away goodie bags or free samples make sure you also have ample storage to keep everything neat and tidy.

So that’s our top 5! Do you have any tips of your own that you always consider when planning your event?