Candy Adams, CTSM, CME, CEM, CMP, CMM, “The Booth Mom,” is an independent exhibit-management consultant, trainer, speaker, writer, and an Exhibitor conference faculty member. CandyAdams @BoothMom.com

ou’re at your company’s biggest trade show of the year. Your exhibit looks great, your signage is top notch, and your staff is … well, your same old staff (along with the same bad habits of talking on their cell phones, hanging in groups talking about last night’s party, and spending too much time with unqualified prospects).

Exhibit managers can’t always control the selection of exhibit staff, but they can control their training and set high expectations. As a certified exhibit-staff trainer and coach, I can assure you that staff training is one of, if not the most, important elements of a successful trade show program.

Sadly, pre-show training is often an afterthought. Somehow show logistics hog our time and resources, and we often forget that our exhibit staff, who will be talking with attendees during the show, doesn’t have the same level of involvement and knowledge about the show.

In a perfect world, exhibit training begins with a pre-show meeting held up to a month before the show at the corporate office. At the very least, hold a training meeting and booth orientation the day before the show, or even at breakfast the first day.

Here is a list of seven topics to cover in your pre-show training meeting to make sure your staff understands the value of what they will be doing at the show, what you and the company expect of them, and how they can best contribute to the return on the company’s investment.

1. Corporate Perspective

Ideally, someone from your company’s management team should open the meeting, emphasizing his or her support of the trade show program and the specific show as part of the overall corporate sales and marketing strategy. This is a great way to let your staff know their involvement in the show matters to the company and to motivate them to come to the meeting in the first place.

Share results from last year’s show, and let your staff know how much it costs to exhibit at the show. This information can open their eyes to the value of the show and help them to think of the show and their role in it as a critical investment for the company.

Identify the corporate goals you are trying to achieve at the show, and translate these into measurable, show-specific objectives so your staffers have a clear picture of their role and what is expected of them. Personalizing goals and objectives for each staff person can further clarify your expectations of them. For example, if your goal is to get 300 leads during the show, divide the total number of leads by the number of hours the floor is open and divide it again by the average number of staff members in the booth. This will give you a target number of leads per hour, per staff member.

2. Target Audience

Review the profile of your target audience, including job titles, type and size of company, budget size, and the problems your “perfect prospect” typically encounters. Talk with customers who have already purchased your product or service to identify the benefits of your product that they found most helpful in saving time, money, or hassle.

Most shows provide color-coded badges that identify different types of attendees, such as press, industry analysts, industry VIPs, and other exhibitors. Be sure everyone working your booth can recognize the color of each type of badge, and knows who on your staff should handle inquiries from each different type of visitor.

You can train your staff to direct all press and analysts to a public relations professional in the booth. VIPs may want to meet your executive staff or have an exclusive tour of your latest offerings. To help international visitors, identify who on your exhibit staff speaks languages other than English, and make sure staff members know the processes for ordering your products or services internationally.

3. Basics of Trade Show Interaction

Explain to your staff that time is their biggest competitor at a show. With plenty of exhibits battling for attention on the show floor, attendees only have time to stop and visit with a finite number of them. For that reason, conversations typically need to be brief and concise — no more than five minutes. Although sales are made at some shows, the primary goal of exhibitor-attendee interaction is usually to determine a prospect’s needs and obtain an agreement for future contact after the show to move them through the sales process.

Try outlining a specific structure for each three- to five-minute interaction, and give your staff time to practice through role plays. Each engagement with an attendee can include any or all of the following elements:

Greeting: Eye contact, a greeting by name from their badge, a handshake, and an ice-breaking statement.

Qualifying questions: Open-ended questions used to find out the attendees’ needs, problems, roles in the purchasing process, purchasing timeframes, and budgets.

Elevator speech: A 30-second speech that introduces visitors to your company, including an irrefutable fact about your company such as size and product focus, a brief list of notable clients to give credibility, a couple of benefits of working with your company, and a call to action or question of how these features could benefit them.

Brief, focused presentations: Product demonstrations or an explanation of what your company can help the visitor accomplish relative to his/her needs.

Lead form: Regardless of the system you use to gather data on your prospects, make sure your exhibit staff understands the lead-gathering process and records accurate, complete information in writing during or immediately after each interaction.

Cross selling: Find out if there are any other needs that your company’s products or services, or those of your business partners, can fulfill.

Disengagement: End with a summary of your discussion and actions needed to advance to the next step in the buying process, such as sending additional literature or having a sales representative call them. Thank them for coming by your exhibit and wish them a good show.

4. Boothmanship

Let your staff know that their behavior in the booth is a direct reflection on your company. Attendees will notice their enthusiasm, friendliness, company and product knowledge, listening and consultative selling skills, and overall professionalism. Remind your staff that their role of company ambassador is a 24-hour-a-day job while at the show.

Stress the value of a positive first impression, good listening skills, and confident body language. Ask staff to help you compile a list of the dozen worst exhibit faux pas — such as talking on their cell phones, text-messaging, checking e-mails on a PDA, eating in the booth, chewing gum, ignoring attendees, and talking in closed groups. Then deputize them to help you police offenders.

5. Exhibit Awareness You know your booth inside out, but your staff doesn’t know the storage closet from the meeting room.

Whether or not you hold your meeting on show site, review your booth layout, including demo stations, information counters, and lead-gathering systems. Point out the locations of the nearest entrances and exits, restrooms, concession stands, luggage and coat-check areas, and fire-safety equipment. If time allows, run through the demos and presentations to familiarize them with the information that will be presented to attendees.

Identify your staff members’ individual roles in the booth and show them where they will be stationed during show hours.

6. Tough Questions/Unwanted Guests

If your organization or industry has had any recent skeletons in its closet that attendees may bring up, have your public relations people prepare standard answers with a positive spin.

Also identify what your staff should do to deal with each of the following categories of problematic booth visitors: angry customers, snoopy competitors, unqualified prospects, ex-employees, and booth beggars who are just looking for free goodies. Brainstorm techniques to dismiss unwanted visitors without being rude or hostile.

7. Housekeeping Details

Your training meeting is also a good place to take care of some of the logistics. Pass out badges, explain dress codes, hand out any other collateral they need to be familiar with before the show, and discuss details such as personal storage in the booth and transportation to and from the venue.

Remember: Professional athletes don’t play the big game without a warm up. Actors don’t skip their dress rehearsal. And your staff should not go to a show without a comprehensive pre-show training meeting. It may mean the difference between a focused, hard-working team that helps you achieve your objectives, and a group of non-committed loiterers, just waiting for the show to end so they can go out on the town. e