you have the resources to service these markets – if 40% of visitors are coming to a show in Europe are from South-East Asia but you don’t have the capacity to service that location, would it be worth you investing in a show that for 40% of visitors you cannot supply? Aside from just the implications of visitor origin, there’s also significant additional cost and complexity involved in exhibiting at shows outside of your domestic market, so any investment needs to work harder than ever.
How?
In researching potential trade shows it’s useful to understand how the event organisers advertise and recruit visitors and how hard they are going to work on your behalf. Event organisers want you to have a successful event as it increases your likelihood of rebooking, as well as acting as an advocate to other organisations in your network – so don’t be afraid of asking relevant questions. Organisers should be happy to share what they’re planning on doing and how they’ll get people through the door, as it’s all part of the package you’re paying for. If they’re reluctant to talk about what their marketing plan is or give your vague references about campaigns it might be worth questioning whether they are a partner you want to work with. It’s worth reviewing who their previous exhibitors were and even asking for contact details so you can get some feedback from companies who have previously exhibited. GDPR regulations permitting, if you can get the details of a couple of visitors to speak to about their experience and what they are wanting from the show this will also add insight to your decision.
Reviewing the list of speakers at an exhibition will give you a good indication of the how well the event is respected within the industry – are the speakers likely to be of interest to or influence the type of customers you’re hoping to meet at the show? If it’s not in the public domain then ask the event organiser to send you through the seminar programme and speaker bios of previous events – if nothing else, this gives you details of industry leaders that you might want to contact ahead of the show and invite to your stand if you do exhibit. In these initial engagements with an event organiser you should also get a sense of their culture and how supportive they are going to be in helping you achieve your objectives. In the budget planning section, we will talk more about how you can stretch your budget through asking for added value elements such as speaker slots on live features, or inclusion at networking events and these initial discussions with organisers will give you a flavour of how open they are likely to be to such requests. All good quality event organisers will be keen to work in collaboration with you to help you achieve your objectives rather than just sell you space – after all if you add value to their show by being creative, it all benefits their visitors.
In addition to the general marketing campaigns that the event organisers will run, it is also useful to research who the media partner is. If there isn’t one, this eliminates another channel through which you can publicise your participation in the show and it is worth questioning why the relevant trade publications aren’t covering the event – is it not seen as credible, is it not newsworthy? If there is a media partner this gives you a fantastic opportunity to speak to a broader audience about why they will benefit from coming to see you at the show as well as driving brand exposure to a much wider audience (see Section 3.8, pre-show marketing).
Researching a show is going to take a bit of time and some clever questioning of the event organisers, customers and previous exhibitors but if you are thinking about investing significant sums of money then you want to be sure you’re investing it where you have the highest potential returns… which brings us neatly onto budgets!
3.3 Budget planning
We may have mentioned it before, but trade shows cost money, there’s no escaping the fact. When it comes to budgeting it’s not about how much money can you save, but ensuring you have a realistic budget in the first place and making every single penny work as hard as it possibly can. Trade shows aren’t the place to cut costs as it will show in every element and reflect on your brand image, but they are the place to get creative and find efficient solutions.
(Skyline, 2010)
Trees provide a useful analogy to think about budgeting for trade shows in demonstrating the amount of invisible cost that goes into delivering an event. Yet only with solid roots and investing in some of the non-visible elements can the branches and leaves flourish.
Whether you’re a business owner setting your own budget or working in an organisation and having to influence a senior team to invest, it’s crucial to consider the root costs that can all have a huge impact on your show delivery and hence your return. For example, if you don’t take the time to train your team on the SMART objectives, stand operations and opening lines, how will they know what they’re trying to achieve and how to engage with visitors. Equally, you may design a high-impact and engaging stand but if you don’t factor in any costs to transport or build it, how do you intend to get it from the warehouse to the show floor? Businesses don’t react well to surprises or uncertainty so in ensuring that you have all the elements factored into your budget you’re at least informed, even if it is a scary number. And it’s a much scarier number when no one is expecting it and it only reveals itself as part of the final evaluation.
In starting to pull together an approximate budget, it’s helpful to start at a macro level and think about how much you might allocate to each of the key areas of budget. Here’s a guide that outlines an average breakdown at that level:
| Element | % of budget |
| Buying space | 30% |
| Stand design and build | 25% |
| Additional services | 10% |
| Staff and travel | 20% |
| Promotional | 10% |
| Miscellaneous | 5% |
| Total | 100% |
| Contingency | 20% |
Buying space
The next section will focus on the process of booking space and how you can add value to your budget in this area. On average the rates for booking space at UK events are around £300 per square metre and shell schemes around £350–£400 per square metre. For more detailed explanations of shell and space options jump ahead to the next section, but shell schemes often come with a number of additional features such as walls, lighting, power, etc., making them more expensive than just buying the physical space. If you’re considering investing in space only, the overall cost of delivering the whole show is often estimated at around three times the cost of the space. For example, investing in a 5m × 4m space at a rate of £300 per square metre = 20 × £300 = £6,000. Therefore, the budget expectation for delivering at this scale could be around £18,000, giving you a grand total of £21,600 including a contingency element.
For shell schemes, the average spend is roughly double the cost of the space. For example, investing in a 3m × 3m shell at £375 per square metre = 9 × £375 = £3,375. Therefore, a total budget expectation for delivering at this scale could be around £8,100 including your contingency pot.
Stand design and build
Again, we will discuss some of the elements to consider when briefing an agency on developing your presence at the show, but from a budgeting perspective it is sensible to allocate around 25% of your funds for this. Even if you are investing in a shell scheme it’s important to invest in creating graphics boards and displays that reflect your brand
