Imagine owning a fine restaurant and your waitstaff does not know the specials, how anything is prepared, or what is on the menu.
That’s what it’s like when your booth staff is not properly trained.
Without good booth staff, you might as well just put out your swag and come back at the end of the show. Your exhibit is there to start the story, not tell it. That’s the job of the professionals who are welcoming and engaging with your visitors and potential leads.
What are the main responsibilities of a trade show booth staff? Depending on your setup, they may have one or more of these onsite jobs:
Our 3,000+ clients have shared Bring your best your booth staff. It goes without saying that the corporate staffing whom you choose to employ for your trade show should be very familiar with your products. However, what other trade show staff training tips are necessary? Your trade show booth staff is critical to your trade show ROI, so we have collected the best tips from some of our 3,000 exhibitors to look at booth staff training.
There is no room for doubt one of the single most important aspects of any company’s trade show presence is the behavior, knowledge and professionalism of its trade show representatives. So it makes sense that attention is given to improving your staff’s ability to interact with trade show attendees.
Trying to teach your staff new strategies a couple of days before the next big trade show isn’t the optimal approach. No matter what tips you ultimately decide to use, it is in your best interest to start exploring your different options for improving performance well before that next big trade show. In this way, your employees will have weeks or even months to perfect their new skills. However, once your booth is available, make sure that your staff has at least a full day of experience working directly with the custom display that you will be using for the trade show as well. In this way, they will be very comfortable with the booth and any interactive features that it may employ.
At first it may be a little awkward to have your employees engage in role-playing in preparation for the next trade show, but the results can be quite impressive. No matter what the situation may be, advanced preparation can lead to better outcomes and help individuals deal with “curveballs” that get thrown their way. There is a good reason that firefighters rehearse different fire fighting situations, and your employees can benefit in a similar fashion.
While they may not have to worry about any fires, they do want to impress your prospective clients and customers, and rehearsing how they will interact with customers well in advance is a very prudent move. You can expect your rehearsal time to result in smoother presentations and more competent and confident team members. It is also a great idea to have your staff learn and rehearse an “elevator pitch” that quickly sums up your company and products.
Taking the time to make sure that your employees have thought through what they want to do in detail, their interactions with potential customers and their approach at the next trade show far in advance can pay off big for all involved. You could also think out of the box and have them take something like sales training from a prestigious insitution like Cornell University virtually.
Want to gain an edge? Get ideas, tips, and
resources from the exhibit industry's top experts.
Our Work 
Advice From The Trade Show Floor