Topic
Planning & Objectives
Set clear goals, pick the right shows and build a timeline that keeps you ahead of every deadline.
A good trade show starts months before the doors open. If you aren't planning 12, 9, 6 and 3 months ahead, you're setting yourself up to scramble. That's the first item on my list of the 25 most common trade show mistakes. I learned it the hard way at my first show, where I had about three months and no real plan, which I wrote about in one of my biggest trade show mistakes.
Decide what the show is for
Before you look at a single prospectus, write down what the show has to do for you. It might be new leads, meetings with current customers, a launch, recruiting, press or partners. Pick one to three. If nobody can say in one sentence what has to happen there for you to come back next year, you're not ready to judge the show. That sentence becomes the Return on Objectives you measure afterward, the first of my 3 things to measure at trade shows.
Pick the right shows
Every prospectus says about the same thing, so check for yourself. Ask your best customers which shows they walk. Ask organizers who actually attended last year and whether the numbers were audited, and read last year's exhibitor list. Walk a show as an attendee before you commit if you can. My guide to how to choose which trade shows to exhibit at has the scorecard I use, and you can search upcoming trade shows or browse my guides to major shows.
Get sales and marketing on the same page
Agree on the goals before the show, then measure them and report on them afterward. I'd answer a few questions up front, starting with who your target audience is and what you want to accomplish when you reach them. Then decide how you'll capture the right information. The full list is in how executives should measure trade show results.
Build a timeline
Deadlines never push back the start of the show. Build a timeline for every show so everyone knows the artwork due dates, shipping dates and the discount deadlines for show services. When the exhibitor manual lands, take 15 minutes that day to put every vendor's deadline on the calendar. I walk through that in your exhibitor manual's money deadlines. And plan your pre-show emails so people know you'll be there.
Start here
Your Exhibitor Manual's Money Deadlines: Where Ordering Early Saves the Most in 2027
The deadlines that save the most are the advance-order (discount) dates for show services and venue utilities, the EAC notice, and your freight windows. One 2026 show manual says ordering early "can save you up to 30%."
How to Choose Which Trade Shows to Exhibit at in 2027
To choose which trade shows to exhibit at in 2027, score each one on audience fit, full cost, timing and proof.
How should executives measure trade show results?
It's not uncommon for a CFO to review the balance sheet and see trade show expenses as #1 or #2 category on the marketing budget. This usually raises the "red flags" and leads to marketing teams scrambling for answers to the question that follows, "What are we getting out of our trade shows?"
One of my biggest trade show mistakes
When I first started my job, I was beyond excited! "You're in charge of our trade shows," I was told. How exciting! Event planning should be easy, right?
25 of the most common trade show mistakes
Since I started in the trade show industry in 2006, I've seen the same mistakes come up again and again, at companies of all sizes and in many industries. Here are the 25 I see most often.