Within a few days of returning from a trade show, it’s important to get together with your team to review the event’s successes and failures. Your booth staff will have fresh memories of what went well or wrong, and those staff who didn’t attend the event will likely have early impressions of any resultant sales or leads. 

To ensure you capture this feedback in a way that can guide next year’s exhibit, we’d like to offer up the following list of staff questions.

Pre-Show Marketing

• Did attendees mention any of your pre-show communications?
• Which advertising and marketing channels seemed to reach this show’s attendees?
• How did the actual attendees match up with your pre-show demographic targeting?
• What type of website traffic were you able to obtain prior to event?
• Did you receive any social media engagement from attendees?

Booth-Related Questions

• Was the booth design effective for showcasing your products or services?
• Were the graphics effective in communicating your brand, company culture and offerings?
• Did you have the right kind of marketing materials on hand?
• Which aspects of the booth helped differentiate you from competitors?
• What were your comparative strengths and weaknesses?
• Was the booth layout functional for both staff and attendees?
• How did your booth compare in size and traffic in comparison to the nearest competitor?
• Were the products or services on display the right ones for this show’s attendees?
• Did you have adequate storage space and private meeting space for talking to clients?

Staffing-Related Questions

• Did you have the right ratio of staff to attendees?
• Did staff work effectively as a team?
• Did staff feel adequately prepared to handle questions on the floor?
• Did you send the right staff to effectively engage with this show’s unique audience?

Show Programming and Activities

• If you did any presentations, what size audience were we able to attract?
• Did presentation attendees seem interested in — and informed by — the content?
• How engaging was the booth?
• What strategies helped you obtain the most leads?
• How effective was your lead generation capture technology?

Event-Specific Questions

• How well did this show meet your marketing and sales objectives?
• How many quality leads did you obtain?
• Who were the most qualified leads?
• How effective were show services in responding to your needs?
• How effective was your booth location?
• Was our presence too small, too large or just right for this event?
• Did we achieve an effective ROI for this event?
• Should you exhibit at this event again?
• Are there other, similar events that might be more suitable for you than this one?

Obtaining objective, honest answers to the above questions can be invaluable when it comes to fine-tuning your trade show presence, and in determining which events are earning an effective ROI. So, before you move on to executing the next event, sit down right away with your team to gather their input. Just knowing that their experiences and insights are valued goes a long way in helping your team get more for themselves and for your company, out of each successive event you attend.

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