Getting a trade show booth set up is a daunting prospect. Something almost always gets forgotten, from the technical, to the trivial, to the big-picture conceptual. Quantum put together a list of things people forget when getting ready for a show, and I'm going to present them in segments, in no particular order. Here's the first 6:

1. Develop a pre-show mailer to drive traffic: Mailers? Really? Yes! Mailers are still one of the most effective methods of delivering response, especially carefully crafted and targeted. Guess what we're good at doing?
2. Capture names and email for post-show followup: Remember, you goal is to build ROI, not blow away booth-builders
3. Once you have those names, do the followup! This one is huge...you'd be amazed how many people can find dusty lists of names, addresses, emails, likes, dislikes, laying aroudnd the Marketing Director's Assistant's junk drawer. These people were interested enough to sign up...they're the ones you went to the show for! Get a well-crafted, targeted mailer (sound familiar?) out to them ASAP, or get on the phone!
4. Videos are a waste of time, energy and money: Everyone has flat screens. They don't do a damn thing. Having your carefully conceived, expertly directed, and most of all EXPENSIVE ten minute infomercial running on a loop will accomplish two things: it'll make your budget disappear, and it will make you memorize every single second of the video. No one will watch it, and if they do, they won't care enough to stop in. There are a few situations a video works in...but on that fancy flat screen 20 feet up on the side of your booth is NOT ONE OF THEM. Don't do it.
5. Create messaging in levels: This speaks to #4 up there. If you need a video component, show it to people who are interested, and make it brief, informative, and leading. Leading to your booth attendant or representative talking with the visitor, leading to your website, leading to that same followup mailer we spoke of. More important than the media though is that there are multiple levels of messaging for the visitor to dig into, with multiple layers of complexity and data as well.
6. Avoid building barriers of entry to your booth: This is a big one people forget, and it ties into seeing through customer's eyes. If there are tables, display pieces, standup banners, and whatnot all over the perimeter of your booth, people won't physically know how to get in. Or if there's cryptic messaging, however wonderfully clever it may be, people won't know what you're offering. Both are barriers. Make it open. Make it obvious. Make it welcoming. Have cookies.

That's the first 6 in my list. I'll have more in the next day or two. What's your take? Let me know what you've learned in your booth-building or attending days. Give us a call and we'll make sure you don't forget a thing.