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Exhibitions and Trade Shows: 11 Things Your Visitors Want You To Know (Updated May 2025)
Trade shows. Business expos. Big rooms full of people trying to stand out while blending in – and somehow still managing to get it wrong.
Every single time, it’s the same missteps.
Dull stands. Teams standing around like they’re on a shift they didn’t sign up for, silently begging you to walk past and not engage.
And of course, the obligatory fan of branded pens – usually admired only by that one person who collects them like Pokémon cards and forgotten by everyone else.
If you’re planning to exhibit soon and don’t fancy being forgettable or avoided, here’s some honest advice to help you do it better…
Exhibitions and Trade Shows: 11 Things Your Visitors Want You To Know
1) Look interested!
There are always people slumped behind desks at their stands. Look, I get it – long days, sore feet, heels from hell. You deserve a break. But seriously, take it somewhere else. Or wear cow print slippers instead. Or maybe that’s just us.
Sitting alone at your stand, glued to your phone screams, “I don’t want to be here.” And if you look like you’d rather be anywhere else, guess what? People will walk right past you.
Stand up. Get stuck in. Have a laugh with people. Ask questions. Show you give a monkey’s.
We once chatted to someone offering pension auto enrolment — a subject drier than a Ryvita in the Sahara – but she nailed it. Asked about our brand, had a bit of banter, and made herself memorable. THAT’S the goal. Be the person they remember when they actually need what you’re offering.
2) Be proud of your stand’s uniqueness
If you have something cool on your stand, shout about it. We entered competitions, including a game where you had to touch the lit-up buttons the quickest. These are great to get the adrenaline going and get people involved. It doesn’t have to be complicated, though – one chap had a tub full of sand and you had to pick a plastic animal out of it. Whichever one you picked had a number which corresponded with an offer, or you could win a big prize. This wouldn’t have been expensive, but it got people engaging with the company and chatting with members of staff. Obviously, the company got our data onto their list, and that’s fine with us. (Just don’t screw up the follow-up. More on that later.)
3) Send in the A-Team
Don’t send your cheapest staff members to do your public-facing work. Just like your intern shouldn’t be running your social media solo, don’t stick the Saturday girl on the stand just because she’s easy on the eye.
People want answers. Real ones. If someone’s deciding whether your business is worth their time or money, they need someone who actually knows their stuff.
I once asked a guy on a software stand a basic question about their product — something you’d expect to come up all the time. He looked completely lost. No clue.
Do your research. Train your team. If you’re going to show up, at least be useful.
4) Sort out your online presence and contacts
Get your ducks in a row. After events we always schedule time for a bit of follow-up – adding a few newbies to our mailing list (yes, with their consent!) firing off some LinkedIn messages. Standard post-event stuff.
But wow. So many people I met were basically invisible online. No LinkedIn profile photo, out-of-date job titles, or missing their current business altogether.
If you want people to remember you and actually find you afterwards, make sure your online presence isn’t a total mess. Keep it consistent, keep it current, and for the love of networking – put a decent photo up so we know who the hell you are.
5) Don’t cut corners with awful collateral
Please. Stop handing out tat. We know budgets are tight, but some of the leaflets floating around at expos look like they were designed in WordArt, printed at home, and written during a power cut.
SHOUTY CAPITALS. Random font choices. And spelling mistakes galore — including one absolute gem from someone offering press release services. That was a hard pass.
If you’re going to bother with print, make it good. Invest in decent design. Learn how to write copy that actually sells – or pay someone who can. Don’t put a million words and graphics on a pull-up banner. It’s too complicated for people to read as they walk by.
Oh, and if you’re putting social handles on your leaflets, maybe make sure you actually use them. Just a thought.
6) Think – what’s in it for them?!
If I had a quid for every time someone told me they could get me to the top of Google, I’d be writing this from a sun lounger with a cocktail in hand.
People don’t want big claims and buzzwords. They want clarity. They want to know what you do and why it matters to them.
Most folks aren’t technical — they don’t care about your fancy features or the clever backend of your software. They care about results. What does it do for them? How does it make their life easier? What pain are you removing?
Sell the outcome. Not the fluff.
7) Tidy up!
Messy stands are a no. If it looks like a storage cupboard exploded, people will steer clear.
Tidy it up. If your team’s just standing around doing nothing, send them off to chat with other exhibitors or get them by the entrance with some leaflets and actual energy.
Make it an experience. Give people something to taste, smell, watch, or touch, or compete against. Trigger their senses – it’s how you stand out in a sea of sameness.
And for the love of all things marketing, be really bloody clear about what you do. If people have to guess, they won’t stop. They’ll just walk on by.
8) Start the conversation
Engage! Chat! Speak!
Look, we all know the classic “Hi, how are you?” gets used more than the coffee machine at a trade show. It’s safe. It’s polite. And it’s boring as hell.
If you want people to stop, smile, and actually talk to you, then hit them with something unexpected. Something human. Something that cuts through the fluff and makes them think, “Finally, someone not trying to sell me an apprenticeship in the first five seconds.”
Try these instead:
🔹 “Be honest – how many stands have you swerved past today?”
🔹 “Seen anything today that made you think, ‘Wow, that’s clever’?”
🔹 “Quick one – are you just collecting freebies or actually hoping to find something useful?”
🔹 “On a scale of 1 to ‘get me out of here’ – how’s your expo experience going?”
🔹 “You look like you’ve been ambushed by salespeople all day… fancy a normal chat?”
🔹 “Want the 20-second version of what we do, and then you can decide if it’s worth talking?”
🔹 “We’ve made a game of guessing what people actually do – care to confuse us?”
🔹 “What problem are you trying to fix today – or are you just collecting branded mints?”
These openers do the job of breaking the ice without sounding like every other tired exhibitor out there. And here’s the kicker – even if they’re not your perfect client, they might know someone who is. So make the conversation count.
9) Follow up!
There’s no point chucking time, effort and budget at an expo if you’re just going to let all those juicy leads or potential networking friends rot in your bag next to the leftover Haribo.
Old school? Use an enquiry sheet. Fancy? Scan badges. Whatever works — just make sure you do something with the info you’ve collected.
Should they go on your list? Do they need a follow-up email? A call? A coffee, pronto? Decide. Act. Don’t faff.
Have your process nailed before the event so you’re not sitting there afterwards wondering who half these people even were.
10) Do your post-event research
You don’t know it all – and that’s fine. But if you’re not asking questions and listening, you’ll keep making the same mistakes.
Ask your current customers what stood out (and what was a bit crap). Chat to the event organiser – they see everything.
Keep an eye on the event hashtag and socials. What were people actually talking about? What grabbed attention?
And don’t ignore your stand neighbours – they’ve been watching you all day. Do they want to book a call to see if you can help each other? Network, chat, listen. Feedback’s free, and it’s bloody priceless if you use it right.
11) Work out – it is worth it?
Expos aren’t cheap. Time, money, energy – it all adds up. So don’t just keep going to the same events because “you always do.” That’s lazy marketing.
Was it worth it? Did it bring in leads? Sales? Connections? Ask people how they found you and why they chose to talk to you.
If you can’t link results back to the event (and this may take a while), it’s probably not working. Be ruthless. If it doesn’t deliver, bin it off.
Now it’s your turn…
What do you reckon? Got any golden tips for trade show survival?
What’s the best event you’ve rocked – or the worst one you’ll never get those hours back from? Drop your stories, disasters, or genius ideas back to us. We’re all ears (and still recovering from the endless bowls of sad boiled sweets).
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12 comments on this article
Geraldine at 19:57pm on May 18th 2015
Sounds like you had a very productive day!
Other tips include:
* freebies (who doesn’t love a free gift, especially if it’s something a little bit different?) bearing the company logo, website etc of course
* tote bags (also printed with company logo & stand no.) – visitors to exhibitions always get loads to carry around, so they may as well carry it around in a bag advertising your stand
* you’ve touched on it in #7, i.e. offer free coffee or other refreshments (I recall once seeing a stand making fruit smoothies – nothing to do with their biz at all, but it was a very popular stand)
Jo Ciriani at 16:47pm on May 19th 2015
Hi Geraldine,
Yes I did grab a couple of handy pocket torches. The only thing about freebies is that I’m not sure how valuable they are once people have left. Food, in particular, seems to be a bit of a waste of time as people throw away the wrappers and forget the company name.
I picked up a lovely tote bag too, but again I can’t remember the name of the company nor would I use them unless I’d chatted to them and liked them.
I guess I just see a lot of stands looking exactly the same; pull up banner offering random solutions, a goldfish bowl for business cards, and a bottle of champagne to give away as a prize draw. I’m sure it works, but I really enjoy seeing something different!
Thanks for your comment.
Lin at 20:10pm on May 18th 2015
Great article, I think standout and thinking about what the visitor wants to get from the show are key
One of the best stands I’ve been to was a pop up room where it was set up as a beach – real sand, waves music playing, sticks of rock to eat, shells to hold and deckchairs to sit in and a wall size poster of donkeys and the beach. It was for helping people with Alzheimers – it got the most attention at The Care Show
Another was a stand where as you chatted to the staff and watched a video about the service / product sitting in a massage stool – someone was massaging your neck and shoulders …. that stand had a queue
Lin
Jo Ciriani at 16:49pm on May 19th 2015
Thanks for your comment, Lin.
The beach sounds great – I love that idea. Sounds perfect for The Care Show too.
Ah yes, and a massage is always a great giveaway! Especially for tired people walking around a show all day. Was what they were selling relevant or was it just a nice way to relax?
Bobby Stearns at 17:16pm on May 19th 2015
Another very helpful blog from the guys at Spaghetti!
I write a lot about this stuff on our blog too, and to be honest, poor ‘exhibitionists’ are a particular bone of contention for me, probably because I have to visit so many.
We see many of our competitors going to the opening of an envelope in terms of exhibiting. At WBC, we are VERY selective about which shows we do. That surprises some people, but the truth is, we all know exhibiting is an expensive business (getting wifi on your stand alone, is like daylight robbery (don’t buy it from the show, bring your own dongle). But for us, there is no doubt that when we spend MORE time carefully and conscientiously marketing and communicating effectively with our own database, and LESS time dishing out eye-watering fees, we see a much better return for our money
Not wanting to promote ourselves at all, but if anyone finds it useful, there’s a wee video we made called “How to build an effective exhibition stand without killing someone” over on our blog…. blog.wbc.co.uk
Todd at 13:06pm on May 20th 2015
Thanks Bobby!
We love that video on your blog by the way and it’s totally relevant to this post!
We love WBC!
Keep it selective!
Here’s the blog post and awesome video! http://blog.wbc.co.uk/2015/03/how-to-build-an-effective-exhibition-stand-without-killing-someone/
Geraldine at 20:16pm on May 19th 2015
(Still won’t let me reply to your reply)
I have to admit it’s been a few years since I last visited an exhibition, so I’m a bit out of touch. But I still reckon there’s a place for ‘decent’, branded freebies that actually serve a purpose post-exhibition, e.g. USB sticks or good quality pens. Maybe I’ve just been brainwashed though as I worked for clients in the promotional merchandise industry for several years…
andrew hope at 12:26pm on May 21st 2015
A very interesting article and as one of the people having a stand at the expo some good feedback.
The “lady that looks interested” in point one was actually my assistant so I will feed that back to her @wponlineUK
I also have a real bugbear about people sitting down messing with phones etc.
Making your stand is really hard but worth the effort
Jo Hanson at 4:28am on May 22nd 2015
Hi Todd /Jo
A great article, and some all too familiar scenarios!
It’s been a while since I’ve been to an event, and some of your points made me realise why I don’t go. I’ve been to an event where they try to draw you into a competition as soon as you walk past. Obviously everyone likes something free out of an event, but the only thing is that I went away feeling like I had filled out loads of competition forms, ticked boxes for them to send through email trash, but I new very little about the company and it’s brand. So in terms of hits, the stall could be visited by ‘x’ amount of people, but in theory there is no real measure of success for when they evaluate at he end of the day.
I have been on the supplier side of the spectrum, and seen events planners trying to pull together print material / banners at the last minute, but no real marketing strategy in how they will engage. It always amazes me when businesses see events as low level, by just sending a bunch of representatives, and your right, often than not, they send the non-expert, an empoyee that they can afford to do without for the day.
They miss how crucial customer facing events are, and social media has provided a much more wider reach extending from the event, especially with event Hashtags etc.
Marie O’Riley at 8:50am on May 22nd 2015
Hi Jo
Great article, loving all the tips. As a company who design and build exhibition stands, we know how important this is.
I’m currently working on our blog about exhibition tips (using the blogging skills I’ve learnt on one of your workshops)
Watch this space…….. http://www.quattrodisplay.com
Thanks
Marie
Kontraktor pameran at 16:09pm on April 7th 2019
Great post
Todd at 14:54pm on April 23rd 2019
Thanks!