WHY SOME EXHIBITORS FAIL?

More nervous and physical energy seems to be expended on exhibitions and trade fairs than on any other form of marketing operation. Yet even with the best intentions, exhibiting can result in miserable failure.
The experience is not uncommon: The exhibition doors open on the appointed day and you find that your booth is not ready to go. Maybe your group's prime exhibit literally missed the boat because the exhibitor underestimated the factory delivery times. Or perhaps the services - electricity, water or compressed air - so vital to demonstrate the products properly - were simply not ordered. Maybe you did get your booth up on time, but at the close of the exhibitions when the organizers produce figures showing the event was the biggest and best ever, you ask yourself, "Why weren't we successful?" After all, your booth was as good, if not better than the next man's, yet he reckoned success in dozens of real orders and sales leads while your country barely covered its costs. Somewhere along the line something went wrong and you knew it should have gone so smoothly.
It is in the organizer's interests to do everything possible to smooth the exhibitor's path and help him to achieve maximum results from his participation. But in the end the success or failure of the booth rests primarily with the exhibitor.
If you consider you failed at exhibiting in the past, conduct a close inquiry. Was the exhibition right for your country? Was the timing correct? Were the products of real interest to the kind of visitors expected? What were your objectives in being there in the first place? Answer these truthfully, and you have perhaps discovered the basic cause of your group's failure. In the final analysis, however, the smooth run up to opening day lies in the planning and the close coordination of various stages under one man, whether he represents the interests of one company or a whole group of companies under a national banner.