A lot has been written over the last couple of years about making the pivot from exhibiting at live trade shows to exhibiting at virtual ones. No surprises there—it’s a hot topic for good reason. But what about the reverse situation? If your first trade shows have been virtual ones, what do you need to know about making the pivot from virtual to live? Or, if you’re just out of the practice of live trade shows? It’s time to get back into live trade shows again. Here’s how.

How to “Reverse Pivot” and Succeed

1. Expand Your Budget

For exhibitors, one of the main differences between virtual and live trade shows is the cost to attend. If you’ve only ever attended virtual shows, you don’t have any of the equipment that’s needed to exhibit at a live trade show. And this means your first live trade show is likely going to mean a significantly larger financial investment. For a first-timer, it can be a real shock to the system (not to mention the budget) to see those expenses stack up.

Booth space: Booth space alone starts at $15 to $25 per square foot and can go up to $45 to $50 per square foot at larger events. Depending on the event and the size of your booth, it’s anywhere from a few thousand for a small inline space to tens of thousands for a huge 20×20 or 40×40 island in the exhibit hall. 

The booth: Then there’s the booth itself. Costs are highly variable here. You can expect to pay anywhere between $50 and $300 per square foot, for instance. Prices will vary based on whether you’re renting and how much customization is needed. That would mean a total of $5,000 up to $30,000 for a 10 x 10, and $10,000 to $60,000 for a 10 x 20 booth.

But remember, while the upfront cost is high, most booths have a lifespan of at least five years. Attending several shows per year brings the cost-per-show down to a much more manageable level.

Additional expenses: Along with the booth, there are expenses such as travel and accommodation. These are things that you don’t have to worry about when you exhibit at a virtual event. But for a live one, along with shipping your booth to the event, there’s the cost to get yourself and your booth staff there too.

Don’t let any of this scare you off. The costs of exhibiting at a trade show are higher, but the potential rewards are greater. And there are ways to reduce your expenses. If your budget won’t stretch to purchasing a trade show booth, for instance, there are lots of rental options available. Plus, a smaller booth needs fewer staff: with a 10×10 inline, you really need only yourself and one or two others.

2. Focus on Booth Design

When people visit a virtual trade show booth, they have complete freedom to tailor their own booth experience. If virtual trade show attendees want fast information, they can quickly look through your content and decide what they want to access. If they want to linger and peruse every detail, they can.

That’s not necessarily the case at live trade shows. Live venues are more crowded, and definitely noisier, and so are the booths. That can lead to chaos in a crowded trade show booth, and it can mean that booth visitors don’t get the right impression of your booth or your brand.

If you want to make sure they do, it’s important to put some effort into booth design. Create a streamlined booth layout that takes each visitor from A to B to C, giving them a smooth experience that tells your brand story, showcases your products, and leaves them wanting to know more. That way, even when all your booth visits seem to rush in at the same time, they’re getting a controlled, branded experience.

Some other ways to enhance your booth design include:

• Don’t clutter the space. For instance, using wall-mounted displays can help open up the floor, leaving room for something special, such as a product demo.
• Use lighting to highlight key parts of your booth story. For instance, use strong backlighting for overhead signage, to stand out at a distance. Or, use spotlights to draw attention to a flagship product.
• Add an experiential element to attract more traffic and boost engagement. Think interactive product displays, an interactive presentation, or perhaps a product demonstration where viewers can try out the product for themselves.

3. Rethink Your Booth Team

The next thing to consider is your booth staff. Your virtual booth may have been staffed entirely by yourself or an employee. That works with a virtual event platform. However, for an in-person event booth, one staffer just isn’t sufficient. 

It’s always best to send teams of at least two people to exhibit at a live trade show, even for a small booth at a small show. This is important for several reasons.

• The booth should never be left unstaffed, and people will need restroom and lunch breaks at a minimum.
• Having two people available to engage with booth visitors helps ensure that you don’t miss out on potential leads if it gets busy. 
• During slow periods, staffers can take turns walking the show floor to check out the competition and engage in some networking. That’s what live events are about, after all.

 

Two Methods to Determine How Many Booth Staff You Need for a Live Event Booth

For any sized booth you’ll need a staff of two, at a minimum. As your booth footprint increases and includes additional displays and other elements, your staffing needs will grow too.

There are several ways you can calculate your staffing needs. Two simple methods involve using your booth size or sales objectives as a basis for calculations. Of course, this isn’t an exact “science,” and there are many factors that determine your potential audience share at any show you attend. But these calculations are a good starting point for your first live show.

1. Booth size: Using the booth size method, you add one staff member per fifty square feet of unoccupied booth space. For instance, if you have a 10×20 booth, you have a total of 200 square feet of space. If 50 of that is occupied space, subtract 50 from 200, for a total of 150. Divide by 5, to get a total of 3 staff needed for that 10×20 booth.
2. Sales objectives: Another way to calculate your staffing needs is use your specific goals for the event as a guide. For instance, if your goal is to generate 100 leads, then you need to consider:

• How many visitors can one staffer contact in an hour?
• How many hours is the show open in total?
• What’s your average qualification rate for leads?

For instance, say one staffer can contact 10 visitors in an hour. The show is open for 7 hours a day for two days. And your qualification rate is 25%. This means each staff member can contact 120 people during the show (because of course, your staff get time off for breaks and lunch!). Of those, 30 will end up as qualified leads. So, to hit that magic 100 you need 3-4 people staffing your booth.

Training Your Booth Staff

Once you’ve selected your team, make sure to spend some time on training by brushing up on booth etiquette and sales techniques ahead of time.

When you exhibit online at a virtual trade show, your virtual booth is typically set up so that people can view your content and then schedule a meeting if they want to learn more. That’s very different from how things work at a live show. 

With live trade show exhibits, you can’t sit back and wait for people to come to you: your sales staff need to be proactive, both in engaging visitors, and in managing the flow of traffic through the booth.

5. Use Your Virtual Event Data

One area in which virtual events really shine is in the ability to collect and analyze data. Fortunately, all of that data you gained from doing virtual trade shows is useful at live events too. You can use the demographic and behavioral data you’ve obtained to inform your trade show booth design, product offerings, and your sales approach, too. 

In short, the data you obtain from virtual events can help you target the right demographic at live ones. It can also help you craft sales pitches that get right to the heart of what they’re looking for.

Attending Live Trade Shows Can Help Your Company Thrive

Live events may have taken a back seat recently, but they’re still popular and effective for all the same reasons as before. The pivot from virtual trade shows to live ones can definitely pay off. Even at hybrid trade shows, it may be worth opting for the live exhibition experience. While you sometimes have a smaller audience reach, the quality of interactions you make can result in a longer-term relationship to leads. You have the possibility to connect with attendees in a meaningful way. The key is to be smart about the events you attend. Choose the right shows to maximize ROI and ensure your investment pays off.