ExhibitDay

Tracking Miscellaneous Expenses in your Annual Events Budget

Based on user feedback, we just released new functionality to track non-event-specific miscellaneous expenses in your annual budgets. These are trade show and exhibit expenses that are incurred against your annual event budget that cannot be attributed to a single event — for example: new booth furniture, or, updated print brochures.

You can manage your miscellaneous annual expenses under the [Other / Miscellaneous Expenses] tab of the Annual Budgets page in ExhibitDay.

Create a free ExhibitDay account and start tracking the budgets for all your trade shows, exhibits and sponsorships.

Trade Show Shipment Tracking

Just Released – ExhibitDay’s Shipment Tracking module.
You can now use the [Shipment] tab of your events in ExhibitDay to track all your shipments (e.g. booth furniture, swag, presentation equipment) for your trade shows and exhibits.

The information that can be tracked for each shipment

Shipment Description
Courier
Tracking Number
Pick-up / Drop-off Location
Destination
Pick-up / Drop-off Date
Delivery Date
Shipment Cost (used in calculations of actuals in the event budget)
Invoice (attachable)
Notes/Details about the shipment

Create a free ExhibitDay account and start tracking the shipments for your trade shows and exhibits.

Trade Show Budget Tracking

Just launched — the ability to track budgets and actual costs for your trade shows and sponsorships in ExhibitDay.

This new enhancement helps you get a better lens into your investments in exhibits and event sponsorships and gives you more clarity when planning for future events.

Like most things in life…

“If you can measure it, you can make it better.”

Event-Specific Budgets

Under the Budget tab of each event, you can now enter the planned budget for the exhibit booth, services, travel reservations, shipments, sponsorships, and other/miscellaneous expenses.

Event Budget Summary

The planned and actual sums are automatically calculated in the top summary section:

Entering Actual Costs

A new “Cost” field has been added for:

Booth Reservation (under the event [Booth] tab)
Booth Services (under the event [Booth] tab)
Travel Reservations (under the event [Travel] tab)
Sponsorships (under the event [Sponsorships] tab)
Other Expenses (under the event [Other/Misc. Expenses] tab

Use the newly added “Cost” field to specify the actual cost for each expense. The costs that you enter get aggregated into the actuals under the event Budget tab.

Annual Budgets

We also added the ability to track annual budgets (for all your trade shows).

Under the annual budgets tab, you can set your overall annual budget for your Exhibits as well as your event Sponsorships. The actual costs are automatically aggregated from the values you enter in the “Cost” fields of all your events for the year.

Access Control

You have the ability to control which users in your ExhibitDay workspace have access to view and update costs as well as budgets.

How to Exhibit at a Trade Show on a Low Budget

For many small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurial ventures, sometimes, a massive trade show just isn’t in the budget. If you’re just trying to break into a market, you may not have extra funds to spend on booth furniture, services and materials that are essential to trade shows. Many new businesses don’t even witness a profit within the first few years of operation – it’s totally normal.

Still, you need to get your business out there – people need to know you exist. If you are looking for prospects, partners then trade shows are an excellent way to get everyone in one room, learn more about you and your offerings.

Here are a few ways to exhibit at trade shows on a budget:

Startup Pavilions

Although not every trade show hosts a startup pavilion, definitely check to see if one is available before you pay full price for a regular booth. These pavilions are reserved for the newcomers that generally need a money break.

Small Spaces

You don’t need a massive booth to make a lasting impression. In this case, quality trumps quantity, which is why you want to book the smallest space possible while the discount window is still open for either the startup pavilion or the early sign-up period.

Say No to Electricity

You can get creative; electricity isn’t really necessary for a good startup booth. But, if you feel it’s dire, be sure to reserve your setup during the initial discount period.

Lead retrievals

Lead Retrieval systems are very costly. Consider collecting leads on a form that your prospects would complete. Give them incentives to fill it out by offering them a chance to win your product or subscription to your service in a drawing. Alternatively, you can collect business cards or use your laptop to record your leads.

Portable Display Vehicles

Budget trade shows can be a do-it-yourself kind of adventure, especially if you invest in a portable display vehicle that enables you to carry your entire display to the show all by yourself. These carrying cases can also double as the booth counter, and the back wall fits inside the case. The entire thing comes with wheels for ease of transportation so you don’t have to hire anyone else to help carry it.

Trade Show Accessories

For all extra seating, trash cans, flooring, and so forth, be sure to check big box stores for major savings. You could purchase flooring, chairs and other accessories from a local vendor such as Walmart, Home Depot or Ikea and save yourself shipping and rental charges.

Shipping and Handling

When it comes time to have your trade show material and booth shipped, elect to have your items shipped via shipping carriers, such as FedEx, that hold the packages at the destination for you to retrieve. Although less convenient, you will save money by handling the shipment by yourself and bringing your booth furniture on your own.

Plan Ahead of Time

Flights, train tickets, and other kinds of transportation are significantly cheaper if you book them ahead of time. Tuesdays at around midnight is typically the cheapest time to book a flight. And, the cheapest days to fly are Tuesday and Wednesday (you’ll save an average of $73 per ticket). Additionally, opt for an Airbnb over a hotel. Many decent Airbnb’s are only $50-70 per night.

Many small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurial ventures start out at trade shows with a low budget. Nothing to fear – just follow the tips above for saving the most amount of money when it’s time to exhibit at your next trade show.

The Do’s and Don’ts Following a Trade Show

Once you’ve done all the hard work, set up a trade show booth, showcased your products and services to exhibit hall attendees and potential customers, and packed up for the day, there are a few after-the-show do’s and don’ts you should definitely consider.

We are going to share our top do’s that’ll help yield more sales, as well as the top don’ts, that could lose you the valuable leads you worked so hard for.

After-the-Show Do’s

1) Follow Up Email

Attending a conference or a trade show is usually an all-day event and it can get exhausting. The attendees absorb a lot of information and make many new connections; which is why they might not necessarily remember you or have your business card in their wallets when they get home. It’s up to you to send out a follow-up email that reminds them of their conversation with you. We recommend sending the follow-up email on the evening of the day of the show.

2) Virtual Connections

There’s nothing wrong with sending out a LinkedIn request or liking a Facebook page. It’s a great way to strengthen the lead without being overly obnoxious. Once you interact modestly online, follow up with a phone call to gauge their interest.

3) Measure Results

In order to assess and improve your trade show strategy, you need to be measuring the total cost, number of leads in relation to the cost, and the number of sales secured per trade show. Once you compile this data, you can determine which shows yield better returns on your investment.

4) Review and Adjust

What worked and what didn’t work that day? Think about everything from the set up until the booth dismantle and make sure to note what you can do better next time.

After-the-Show Don’ts

1) Be Annoying

No one wants to receive 4 emails per day following a trade show. One email is enough, and if you are afraid it went to spam, then sending a LinkedIn message as well is fair. Otherwise, let these people come to you. Don’t be annoying!

2) Forget Promises

If you promised an investor a whitepaper or a potential customer an answer to a technical question about your product, make sure you follow through with those promises.

3) Forget Prizes

If you had prizes or giveaways that day, do not forget to reward the winners and showcase it on your social media. You don’t want to look dishonest or cheap to your potential customers.

4) Forget Names

It’s really great etiquette to send a thank you note or some kind of indication that you appreciated everyone who showed up. It shows you are willing to go the extra mile. Also, do NOT forget names — generic emails don’t feel personal and will most likely not get read or end up in the trash.

Trade shows come with their own unique sets of etiquette and procedures, no doubt. If this is your first trade show, fear not — our list above is a good guideline to follow.

Exhibit Day