How Do Trade Shows Work for Product Startups?

[0:00] hey everybody Welcome to Startup Chuck

[0:03] today we are going to be talking about

[0:05] trade shows the basics of them how to

[0:09] set up a booth things to think about it

[0:13] seems really daunting but after you do

[0:15] your first one or two trade shows it's

[0:18] not going to be nearly as hard as you

[0:19] think it is so with that in mind first

[0:22] we want to thank our sponsor which is

[0:25] chuckra and Chuck Rak is a pretty

[0:28] awesome rap that goes onto the back of

[0:31] your car it's hitch Mount EAS to load

[0:34] skis bikes swap between skis and bikes

[0:38] pretty easily and you don't have to keep

[0:41] the main post on the back of your car

[0:43] all the time you can you know take it

[0:45] off if you want pretty easily which is

[0:47] great so in terms of trade shows a big

[0:52] thing is first let's say you identify

[0:56] the trade you want to go to since I was

[0:59] doing it with Chuck rack it was pretty

[1:01] easy for me to use the Outdoor Retailer

[1:07] show so that is going to be our example

[1:11] show that I will go over because we just

[1:13] recently came off of The Outdoor

[1:15] Retailer Winter show but for example

[1:19] let's say you decideed you want to go to

[1:21] the snow

[1:22] show you would want to say I want to

[1:25] exhibit and then basically you would go

[1:28] through all of the registration stuff

[1:30] that you need to do for that but what

[1:32] does that mean well typically shows like

[1:35] this are about $25 a square foot which

[1:39] means that for any given Booth you are

[1:42] going to end up spending about $3,000

[1:44] for a 10x10 booth area that might seem

[1:48] like a lot it might not seem like a lot

[1:50] depends on your budget but let's assume

[1:52] that you're you're a bootstraps

[1:54] startup and that's a lot of money then

[1:58] so what can you do well there's a couple

[1:59] of things things that you can do first

[2:01] get a list of a previous floor plan so

[2:05] for

[2:06] example we can check out

[2:09] the uh winter retailer floor plan so

[2:13] this is showing the convention center

[2:16] and then you can go and look closer and

[2:19] zoom in and here are all of the booths

[2:23] it's actually extremely a small show

[2:26] this year which is a little

[2:27] disappointing but you and say okay

[2:30] what's the smallest Booth here oh this

[2:34] is 5x1 foot

[2:37] okay what else is small here's another

[2:40] one all right face glove so if you look

[2:45] at that then you have some sort of idea

[2:48] that when you talk to the sales guy you

[2:50] can say hey I don't want to do a 10x10

[2:54] Booth do you have anything that's

[2:56] smaller that you know might work better

[3:00] for us since we're really you know a

[3:02] bootstrap startup but we want to be at

[3:05] the show if you look at this there's not

[3:08] a lot of people that were at the show

[3:10] this year they would probably want

[3:13] anyone to come they sold us an 8 by10

[3:16] spot across from a major retailer order

[3:20] Vox I guess major design company uh

[3:27] and you know we paid 80 s feet on $25 a

[3:31] square foot you can do things such as

[3:34] join whatever the organization is

[3:36] typically there's like some sort of

[3:38] other organization alongside it that

[3:40] might be able to get you a discounted

[3:41] rate so for example if you join for the

[3:45] O show Outdoor Retailer snow show the

[3:48] snow industry of

[3:51] America group then you might spend 500

[3:56] to ,000 Dollars joining them but maybe

[3:58] they can get you

[4:00] uh square footage pricing that's lower

[4:02] and then it ends up working out it all

[4:04] depends on you know that tradeoff

[4:06] between how much it costs to join their

[4:09] group versus then how much discount you

[4:11] get on the booth space and how much

[4:13] Booth space you want if you

[4:16] are traveling to the show something to

[4:19] think about is how many people are going

[4:22] they're going to need hotels you're

[4:23] going to need food pay for travel there

[4:28] and then also if you have a really big

[4:31] Booth are you going to have to create it

[4:34] and then have them receive it there's

[4:36] all sorts of things that start getting

[4:38] really you know confusing

[4:41] so I'll get into it but basically at a

[4:44] trade show everything costs money uh if

[4:47] you want power at your booth it costs

[4:50] money if you want to hand out drinks at

[4:53] your booth you have to use their

[4:55] specific vendor and um

[5:00] all of this is not cheap so things to

[5:02] keep in mind now if you want to have

[5:04] something to drink or eat something at

[5:06] your own booth during the day that's not

[5:09] a big deal you can just have your own

[5:11] food sitting there when you get hungry

[5:13] and then eat it but if you want to hand

[5:15] out beer at happy hour let's say you

[5:18] need to have then the specific vendor

[5:22] paid and they will come and have a

[5:26] waitress or a waiter or whatever

[5:28] bartender hand out the drinks and you

[5:32] know you might pay by the drink you

[5:34] might pay by the case you might say well

[5:37] I only want to have 50 available and

[5:40] then hand out up to

[5:42] 50 it really depends on what you work

[5:45] out with

[5:47] them so let's see what else we got on

[5:49] here so a big thing is once you have

[5:54] figured out the size of the booth that

[5:57] you're going to have pre set it up

[6:01] so you want to have basically on the

[6:05] ground wherever you're going to do it in

[6:07] your garage or something a 5x10 or 8 by1

[6:10] or 10x10 taped out section on the ground

[6:14] and then you want to start figuring out

[6:16] what is my booth going to look like now

[6:19] most booths and this is really

[6:21] interesting I'll show you

[6:22] this um most most retailers like U

[6:29] Emerald who did The Outdoor Retailer

[6:31] winner they have a very large

[6:33] comprehensive possibly hundred of page

[6:36] exhibitor service manual and in there it

[6:39] LS it outlines everything that you could

[6:42] need uh dates and times of move in where

[6:45] it's

[6:46] located uh all of the different

[6:48] exhibitors so for example the union

[6:51] Freeman place that does the move in for

[6:54] you so if you want to do a hand carry

[6:57] load which is for example literally

[7:00] anything that you can hand carry you can

[7:02] go and park your car at a dock so for

[7:07] example we went and parked our car at a

[7:09] dock like this and

[7:12] then you know basically brought stuff up

[7:17] onto the dock area hand carried it in

[7:21] and it all came out of a car in a big

[7:23] pile like that and when we were done it

[7:25] all moved into a pile like that and so

[7:28] really the hand your your load here like

[7:30] James is doing not a big deal but they

[7:34] are very very stringent on making sure

[7:37] you hand carry it

[7:39] so they you cannot bring your own hand

[7:42] card you if you are bringing in skis you

[7:46] know they're on your shoulder um they're

[7:48] not going to want you to have your own

[7:51] dolly or anything like that that's what

[7:54] they're for and so they will charge you

[7:56] basically for a cartload if they feel

[7:59] like you are trying to get around the

[8:01] system which isn't that expensive I

[8:04] think it was like $65 for a cart load it

[8:06] was like a 3x4 foot cart and you could

[8:08] put as much stuff on you want it and

[8:10] then they push it and

[8:13] uh you know they'll they'll push it

[8:16] across the trade show and the trade show

[8:19] floor might look like something like

[8:21] this when you're trying to get into it

[8:23] basically a big open area that you have

[8:27] to walk all the way across to and

[8:29] there's all sorts of people moving

[8:30] crates and forklifts and all you know

[8:33] things like that

[8:35] so things that you might need to uh look

[8:39] out for so you don't get hit um let's

[8:44] see here so catering photography you're

[8:46] not allowed to have

[8:48] your uh own photographers running around

[8:51] and making media um mainly this is

[8:54] though for the Press they want anybody

[8:56] who's in the press or bloggers blog ERS

[8:59] Etc they want them to

[9:03] um have to go through this service and

[9:07] or pay to get a um photography badge

[9:12] that costs more things like that for for

[9:15] media and then if you want you could pay

[9:17] for security and air and water and gas

[9:21] if you've got some fancy equipment um

[9:24] and then the big thing is insurance

[9:27] so you need to have liability insurance

[9:31] and you'll see this later on in this

[9:33] document and it depends on the venue

[9:37] you're at this one required a $1

[9:39] million2 1 million2 million

[9:42] comprehensive policy and they had a

[9:45] thing all set up to where you could get

[9:47] it for about $80 it was very

[9:50] inexpensive if you have a rental truck

[9:54] or something dropping off stuff you're

[9:55] supposed to have insurance on that truck

[9:58] you're supposed to have

[9:59] Insurance on your employees so you want

[10:02] to make sure that your employees are

[10:04] covered uh in case they get injured or

[10:07] anything like that and then uh you know

[10:11] they have mannequin rentals here but

[10:12] this also covers things like if you want

[10:14] to have a cart

[10:19] for clothing so like clothing hook cart

[10:24] then they'll they'll do that for you

[10:25] Clothing Rack uh or a table or chairs

[10:29] you don't want to haul with you carpet

[10:31] all that stuff they do it all so they'll

[10:34] have

[10:35] basically a list of things you need to

[10:37] do and before what deadlines the pricing

[10:40] for the square footage goes up based on

[10:43] how close to the show you are internet

[10:46] costs money you can just tether from

[10:48] your phone typically you have internet

[10:50] access

[10:52] inside power chances are if you don't

[10:55] need a ton of power you might be able to

[10:56] just bring a portable power supply to

[10:59] run whatever you need

[11:01] to so you can save money by being

[11:04] self-sufficient as much as

[11:06] possible and then uh if you have hanging

[11:10] signs this is interesting because it's

[11:12] it's if they're hanging from the

[11:14] ceiling not if they're just like hanging

[11:16] from you know like your stuff that's

[11:19] mounted to the floor they want to know

[11:21] if like is are you hanging massive

[11:22] banners from the ceiling things like

[11:24] that overhead obstructions are you

[11:27] having very large displays where people

[11:30] could walk under them or a forklift or

[11:33] something could accidentally hit it when

[11:36] you know going around and setting stuff

[11:40] up uh and then what they call Booth

[11:43] activation is basically anything that

[11:45] makes your booth exciting and louder

[11:48] than other booths that might be a

[11:50] problem they want to know

[11:52] that

[11:53] so here again was the general

[11:56] liability um actually they say it was 65

[11:59] I think I paid more than that but they

[12:02] wanted 1 million2 million Automotive

[12:04] liability workman's comp all

[12:07] that uh they tell you what the colors of

[12:10] the show are going to be what your booth

[12:11] is going to look like here's an example

[12:14] of a standard

[12:15] booth and if they give you a half Booth

[12:18] chances are it's divided either um front

[12:23] to back or side to side front to back if

[12:25] there's somebody else in it or side to

[12:27] side if nobody's in it and then they

[12:31] have you know height restrictions and

[12:33] wiggle room all sorts of things you can

[12:35] go through here everything spelled out

[12:37] I'm not going to go through all of it um

[12:41] but big thing is Freight deliveries so

[12:43] let's say you have a huge Booth it needs

[12:45] to get screwed together it needs to go

[12:48] and get shipped there in a crate they

[12:50] say where to ship it they say when to

[12:54] have it arrive because they want it to

[12:56] arrive no sooner than a week ahead of

[12:58] time but no later maybe than one or two

[13:01] days before the show so that they can

[13:03] then get it deliver it to your booth you

[13:07] can go set it up and then you have to

[13:09] mark it basically as empty and then they

[13:13] will then move it into a temporary area

[13:15] for a to wait until the show's over in

[13:18] which case then it comes back and then

[13:21] you will dump everything back into the

[13:23] crates and then you know ship them off

[13:26] and they probably have their own ship

[13:28] shers they like using to send stuff out

[13:31] so you got to get all of that organized

[13:35] but again if you have questions just

[13:37] call up these

[13:39] people and they'll help you figure it

[13:41] all out um let's see here move in andout

[13:48] procedures uh here's the self- unloading

[13:50] hand carry policy for privately owned

[13:53] Vehicles so for example I couldn't rent

[13:57] a uh um U-Haul truck for example and

[14:02] then come and then try and just do a

[14:05] hand carry load they want it literally

[14:07] from your car which is actually nice

[14:09] it's supposed to help small businesses

[14:12] and

[14:13] then you have to have a second P person

[14:16] with you because they need you in your

[14:18] car at all times in case you need to get

[14:20] out of the way of a bigger truck and so

[14:22] again you're going to need at least two

[14:24] people doing this uh if you don't have a

[14:27] second person well find

[14:29] somebody and let's see

[14:33] here um storage Freight early tear down

[14:37] so a lot of shows want to find you if

[14:42] threaten to F to find you if you leave

[14:46] the show early tear down your booth

[14:48] before the show is supposed to be done

[14:51] well a lot of times after three four

[14:53] days however long the show

[14:55] is a lot of vendors realize that the

[14:58] people that wanted to see their Booth

[15:00] are not going to be there in the last 3

[15:03] hours of the last day and so they just

[15:06] start tearing down early and then

[15:08] everybody starts tearing down early uh

[15:11] and

[15:12] then basically they don't like how it

[15:15] disrupts

[15:16] it but to be fair it really depends on

[15:20] the show if the show is hopping and it

[15:22] really makes sense to keep your booth up

[15:24] the whole time great if it doesn't well

[15:27] it's only a $500 fine for first time

[15:29] violations with at least uh Emerald who

[15:32] is running this show and chances are

[15:34] they're not finding

[15:36] anybody it takes you know or you might

[15:39] also not even go back depending on how

[15:41] good or bad the show was so that's

[15:44] something to think about uh and then

[15:47] let's see what else

[15:50] here safety they got a whole bunch of

[15:52] safety stuff cleaning you can pay people

[15:54] to vacuum and take trash away if you

[15:57] want and then again they want you to use

[15:59] their

[16:01] contractors electrical and lighting they

[16:03] they handle that internet displays if

[16:06] you have

[16:08] animals uh they do

[16:10] want you know your your display to not

[16:14] be a problem in terms of just like how

[16:18] chaotic it is they have some guidelines

[16:21] and then Hospitality food and beverage

[16:25] sampling happy hour noise ad

[16:30] advertising and what else more

[16:33] registration info how to get badges you

[16:36] know is in here um so then at the end

[16:40] which is kind of nice they have like

[16:42] press materials and daily guides that

[16:44] you can apply to to get your product

[16:47] into like the

[16:50] Daily Newspaper they have for the show

[16:53] and then more people might read through

[16:54] that and then come to your booth most

[16:56] people just throw them out but some

[16:58] people actually look at them and it's

[17:00] nice to see your product in there

[17:01] sometimes they cost money sometimes

[17:03] they're free but if you can get any free

[17:05] advertising it's great so that's what

[17:09] the exhibitor service manual says but

[17:13] there's a lot of other little things

[17:14] that are nice to know about so now we're

[17:16] going to get into

[17:18] those um so I talked about setting up

[17:21] your booth ahead of time but another

[17:24] thing is have flooring flooring is cheap

[17:28] and it will save your feet you want to

[17:31] have some type of soft flooring they

[17:34] make all types of snap together soft

[17:37] foam flooring at the end of this video I

[17:39] will show basically a time lapse of us

[17:42] setting up our

[17:44] flooring and if you don't have

[17:49] it it's it makes your booth like if you

[17:52] just a bare concrete your booth is not

[17:54] going to look as good I know that when I

[17:58] go to very large trade shows and I've

[18:00] been walking all all day I've got 25,000

[18:02] steps in I seek out booths that have

[18:06] soft flooring because it is relaxing on

[18:09] my feet at that point so think about

[18:12] having some sort of soft flooring it's

[18:15] really nice you can find it in all sorts

[18:17] of Shades and colors and looks you can

[18:21] get fake wood it's it's either way it's

[18:23] really nice soft carpeting is even nicer

[18:26] but you have to typically pay for that

[18:28] from the vendors there unless you want

[18:30] to bring in your own stuff but that's a

[18:33] huge pain and so uh some type of soft

[18:37] flooring is great um

[18:39] chairs bring some sort of chair to sit

[18:42] in there are times where you want a

[18:44] break and you can sit in the back of

[18:46] your booth and whoever else you're with

[18:48] can run your booth and it's just nice to

[18:50] be able to sit same thing with bring

[18:52] water there are times where you just

[18:54] can't leave your booth and you're

[18:56] thirsty so bring you know a gallon

[18:58] however much water you need to drink

[19:00] during the day some snacks really

[19:02] helpful to have your own stuff I like

[19:04] having a table with a tablecloth where I

[19:08] can hide all this stuff underneath so if

[19:10] I want to

[19:11] have uh more chairs or food or drinks or

[19:15] my backpack and jacket whatever it can

[19:18] all go underneath the table super

[19:21] handy uh locks you're going to want to

[19:23] lock up your stuff if you leave it there

[19:25] overnight it depends you can take it

[19:27] with you to

[19:29] depends on uh how small or easy it is to

[19:32] to deal with I mean the show itself is

[19:34] locked up but if you have some amazing

[19:38] piece of proprietary technology you

[19:40] might want to take it with you or lock

[19:42] it in something that's not easy to take

[19:45] with you and then uh let's see here

[19:49] candy candy or giveaways so candy is

[19:52] really good at your booth because

[19:54] everybody wants candy or mints or

[19:56] something and they see it on your booth

[19:59] and they come over

[20:01] and you kind of like an attempt to you

[20:05] know give them your Spiel and so it just

[20:08] brings people over and you don't have to

[20:11] you know a lot of people you can tell

[20:12] aren't interested in your product but at

[20:14] the very least it brings more people to

[20:16] your booth and your booth seems like

[20:18] it's more active which is great plus if

[20:20] you want a snack you can eat some during

[20:22] the day keep your energy levels

[20:24] up uh let's see here banners so I talked

[20:27] about preset setting your booth up ahead

[20:29] of time so you want to order your

[20:31] banners and your business cards early

[20:34] and when I mean early not like 2 3 weeks

[20:38] ahead of time because you know you'll

[20:40] have plenty of time to get it in prepare

[20:43] that they're going to make a mistake on

[20:45] your banner or business card at least

[20:48] once and you're going to have to have

[20:50] them make it again in order to get it

[20:53] right because this has happened to me

[20:55] multiple

[20:56] times and it'll be either the trim is

[20:59] off on the business card or somebody

[21:02] missed um proof reading or the vinyl

[21:07] company made a mistake and didn't it's

[21:11] like art on the banner just vanished no

[21:13] no idea how but it just wasn't on there

[21:16] and so then you need to either like

[21:19] stick with what you got which is not

[21:20] ideal or you have time to have them

[21:23] remake it before the show so really you

[21:26] want to get your banner

[21:28] and any artwork or any business cards

[21:31] early so that you have time to get them

[21:34] remade if you have

[21:36] to in terms of um

[21:41] Raffles and again this depends on your

[21:45] state and I'm not giving any legal

[21:48] advice here at all but you might want to

[21:50] check into what you're allowed to give

[21:51] away in your state and also the rules

[21:54] for the based on the exhibitor service

[21:57] manual for whatever show you're going to

[22:00] but by having a raffle and collecting

[22:03] people's business cards or

[22:05] emails or whatever you can then get a

[22:08] bunch of potential customer info that

[22:11] you can then reach out to and try and

[22:13] sell to them later and that's super

[22:16] great to to have a bunch of emails of

[22:18] people who are interested in your

[22:19] product they at least wanted to win one

[22:22] means they might want to buy one later

[22:24] on so Raffles are really good for that

[22:27] as well on your business

[22:29] cards um or at your booth itself it's

[22:32] really good to have a show

[22:34] special that way people want to take

[22:36] your business card with them with your

[22:38] info and then if they are interested in

[22:41] your product then they can get it at a

[22:43] discount which is great they're less

[22:46] likely to throw away your business card

[22:48] if it has some theoretical value to

[22:52] it and then let's see here badges so I

[22:58] don't know it depends on the show I'd

[23:01] say all the different shows that I've

[23:03] been to usually they'll give you six

[23:05] Badges

[23:07] and I don't know whether or not

[23:10] other conventions do more or less but

[23:13] from what I've seen six is fairly

[23:16] typical and if you need more you can buy

[23:20] more uh but usually they give you at

[23:22] least those six and then they can be

[23:25] categorized in different methods so

[23:28] for example you can have your badge be

[23:30] like for the CEO the CFO for your

[23:32] engineers and it'll say engineer across

[23:36] the front of it or designer or whatever

[23:40] and you'll see that different badges at

[23:41] the show have different colors based on

[23:44] what the person is doing I thought it

[23:46] was funny that the red badges at The

[23:49] Outdoor Retailer show were for non-

[23:51] buyers because the show is only supposed

[23:53] to be for people uh it's mainly supposed

[23:57] to be for

[23:58] companies to show their products to

[24:00] people who would potentially put them

[24:01] into retail stores and buy a lot of them

[24:04] and so they're kind of highlighting the

[24:07] red one saying ah it's a non- buyer

[24:09] don't even bother with this person which

[24:11] I thought was kind of

[24:13] interesting and then the last I guess

[24:16] two things before we show the video of

[24:18] us building up our booth is really uh

[24:23] there's usually a happy hour if it's a

[24:25] big enough show uh at the end of the

[24:28] first day or two usually not on the last

[24:31] day sometimes but usually there's a

[24:33] happy hour so if you want to get a drink

[24:36] and network with people it's usually a

[24:38] great

[24:39] opportunity they don't usually start

[24:41] until the last hour or two of the show

[24:44] for good reason and then it's always

[24:47] super nice to tip the bartenders so make

[24:48] sure you have cash or um sometimes they

[24:52] take venmo things like that CU you're

[24:54] going to see them multiple days most

[24:56] likely and

[24:59] so these are good opportunities for you

[25:01] to network with either you know

[25:04] retailers or other people at the show

[25:07] personally I like really interacting

[25:09] with other people at the show because

[25:11] they are entrepreneurs like yourself and

[25:14] chances are they have had good or bad

[25:17] success in dealing with for example

[25:20] certain vental Capital firms or any

[25:24] other problem that you might have had

[25:26] along the way like oh I was trying to

[25:28] get into retail and I talked to such and

[25:30] such company and they were not a great

[25:32] retail that work for or to to sell to

[25:34] because of these reasons but this other

[25:36] retailer was great you know they gave me

[25:39] much better terms they wanted to pay

[25:40] more for my product Etc and these are

[25:43] all things that uh other people again

[25:47] have learned through hard experiences

[25:51] that you can benefit from their mistakes

[25:56] and their time that they've already SP

[25:57] spent getting to the point that they're

[25:59] at and

[26:01] so networking is a great way to save

[26:04] yourself time and energy so that's

[26:07] another thing that I would definitely uh

[26:09] think about doing when you're at the

[26:11] show have somebody hang out at your

[26:13] booth and then you go walk around and

[26:15] talk to other people bring your product

[26:16] with you if you want and just show it to

[26:18] them they're going to see that you're an

[26:20] exhibitor because it'll say exhibitor on

[26:22] your badge and so they'll realize that

[26:25] they don't need to try and sell you what

[26:27] they've got they might want to though at

[26:29] the very least you guys can strike up a

[26:31] conversation and then usually people are

[26:35] totally willing to help you out in terms

[26:37] of giving their knowledge away because

[26:41] we all know how hard it is to do what

[26:44] we're doing and if we can prevent

[26:45] somebody from making the same mistakes

[26:47] we did we're glad to share that

[26:48] knowledge unless you're an exact direct

[26:51] competitor but even still most of the

[26:54] time people put the fact that they're a

[26:56] direct competitor to the side and then

[26:58] just chat like the regular people so

[27:01] that is all I've got on conventions hope

[27:04] that was valuable if you liked what I

[27:08] talked about please like And subscribe

[27:11] and I hope you enjoy the

[27:13] little uh setup video I've got going on

[27:17] right after

[27:18] [Music]

[27:26] this

[27:29] [Music]