How to Prepare for a Trade Show: The Complete Team Checklist (2026)

George El-Hage 🔗 LinkedIn

Founder, Wave Connect | 50+ trade shows attended since 2019

I've exhibited at dozens of trade shows across North America, from 200-person niche expos to massive floors like Collision and CES. This checklist comes from real mistakes I've made and lessons I've learned the hard way.

How to prepare for a trade show comes down to one thing: starting early and staying organized. I've watched teams lose thousands of dollars at events because they scrambled during the final week instead of planning 12 weeks out.

In this guide, I'll walk you through a complete trade show preparation checklist - from the first planning meeting to day-of logistics. I've used this exact process with my own team at Wave Connect and refined it after every single event. Whether you're exhibiting for the first time or looking to tighten your process, this will save you from the most common mistakes.

The Trade Show Preparation Timeline (Start 12 Weeks Out)

The single biggest reason teams underperform at trade shows is starting too late. Twelve weeks sounds aggressive, but it gives you enough runway to handle the logistics without rushing. I've compressed this into four phases that my team follows for every event.

Weeks 12-10: Lock in the Basics

This is your foundation. Everything else builds on decisions you make here.

• Register for the event and book your booth space. The best locations (near entrances, food areas, main stages) go fast. I've learned this the hard way - at Collision 2023, we registered late and ended up in a back corner. Our foot traffic was noticeably lower than the year before when we had an aisle spot.
• Book travel and hotels. Trade show host cities inflate hotel prices 2-3x during event week. Book early. Look for the event's official hotel block - they usually negotiate group rates.
• Set your budget. Booth, travel, meals, marketing materials, shipping, and a 10-15% buffer for unexpected costs. Track everything in one spreadsheet.

Weeks 8-6: Build Your Materials

• Design and order booth graphics. Banners, tablecloths, signage - give your printer at least 3-4 weeks. Rush orders cost double.
• Create or update your marketing collateral. Brochures, one-pagers, sell sheets. Digital versions are just as important - more on that below.
• Start pre-event outreach. Most trade shows share an attendee list or have a networking app. Use it. I personally message 30-50 target accounts before every event to book meetings in advance. This alone has been our highest-ROI activity.

Weeks 4-2: Prepare the Team

• Assign roles and KPIs for each team member. Who's running demos? Who's working the booth entrance? Who's attending sessions for intel? Everyone needs a clear job.
• Run a team training session. Cover the pitch, product demo flow, lead capture process, and FAQ handling.
• Set up your digital tools. CRM integrations, lead capture apps, digital business cards - test everything before you leave the office.

Week 1: Final Checks

• Confirm all shipments (booth materials, swag, hardware)
• Print backup materials (agendas, maps, emergency contacts)
• Do a team walkthrough of the event schedule
• Charge all devices, test all tech, pack backup chargers

Setting Goals: What Does Success Look Like?

Trade show success means different things to different teams - define yours before you spend a dollar. "Generate leads" isn't a goal. "Collect 200 qualified contacts and book 15 follow-up demos" is a goal. The difference between teams that crush trade shows and teams that waste money usually comes down to this step.

Here's how I think about it. Ask your team three questions before the event:

1. What's our primary objective? Lead generation, brand awareness, partnerships, customer retention - pick one primary and one secondary. Trying to do everything means doing nothing well.
2. What's our target number? How many leads, demos booked, meetings held, or deals progressed? Give your team a specific number they can track throughout the day.
3. How will we measure ROI after the event? Revenue generated, pipeline created, or follow-up meetings converted? Trade show ROI data shows that companies who set measurable goals before the event generate significantly more pipeline than those who don't.

At Wave, we set a lead target for every event and track it in real time. The team can see how we're pacing against our goal throughout the day. It creates healthy urgency and keeps everyone focused, especially during the slow mid-afternoon hours when energy dips.

Booth Setup: Making Your Space Work Harder

Your booth has about three seconds to grab someone's attention as they walk by. That's it. If your setup doesn't communicate what you do and why they should stop, you're invisible. I've spent years refining our booth setup, and here's what actually moves the needle.

Design for the Walk-By

• One clear message on your banner, not five. Your headline should answer "What do you do?" in under 8 words. Save the feature list for the conversation.
• Demo screen visible from the aisle. If you have a product demo, angle your screen so passersby can see it. Live demos attract crowds - static slides don't.
• Clean, uncluttered table. I've seen booths with so much swag and paper stacked up that people can't even tell what the company does. Less is more.

Tech Setup That Won't Fail You

• Bring your own Wi-Fi hotspot. Convention center Wi-Fi is almost always terrible. Don't rely on it for demos.
• Pack power strips and extension cords. You'll need more outlets than you think. And bring gaffer tape to cover cords on the floor - it's a safety requirement at most venues.
• Test your demo on the actual hardware you'll use. If you're demoing on a tablet, practice on that tablet. Not your laptop. Not your phone. The exact device.

Preparing Your Team: Training and Tools

Your team is your booth. The graphics and swag get people to stop, but your people are what convert that attention into leads and conversations. I've found that the gap between a good trade show and a great one almost always comes down to how well-prepared the team is.

The Pre-Event Training Session

Run this at least one week before the event. Not the night before in the hotel lobby - trust me on this one. Cover:

• The 30-second pitch. Everyone on the team should be able to explain what you do, who it's for, and why it matters in 30 seconds. Practice until it sounds natural, not rehearsed.
• Demo flow. If you're showing a product, every team member should be able to run the demo independently. Assign a "demo lead" for complex walkthroughs, but everyone should know the basics.
• Qualifying questions. Teach your team to ask the right questions fast. "What's your current process for [problem]?" tells you more in 10 seconds than a 5-minute pitch.
• Lead capture workflow. Make sure everyone knows exactly how to capture a contact. Which app? What fields? Where does it go? The right lead capture tool makes a huge difference here.

Digital Tools for Your Team

Paper business cards at trade shows are a gamble. You hand someone a card, it goes in their pocket, and it's a coin flip whether they follow up. Here's what we do instead.

Every team member gets a digital business card through Wave Connect before the event. I can deploy cards for the entire team using bulk Excel import - takes about 5 minutes for 20 people. Everyone gets a consistent, branded card with their contact info, LinkedIn, calendar link, and any event-specific materials attached.

The practical advantage? When someone taps or scans your card, their phone opens your profile immediately. No app download required. They save your contact, and you get a notification that they viewed your card. At a busy trade show, knowing exactly who engaged with your info after the event is worth its weight in gold.

Your Digital Presence: Business Cards, Lead Capture, and Follow-Up Systems

The connections you make at a trade show are only valuable if you can follow up - and most teams drop the ball here. I've seen teams collect hundreds of leads and then take two weeks to send the first follow-up email. By then, your prospect has forgotten who you are.

Before the Event

• Set up your CRM pipeline. Create a specific tag or stage for trade show leads so they don't get mixed into your regular pipeline.
• Prepare follow-up email templates. Write 2-3 templates before the event: one for hot leads (booked a demo), one for warm leads (showed interest), one for general contacts. Personalize them on-site with notes from each conversation.
• Test your lead capture tool end-to-end. Scan a test contact, make sure it lands in your CRM, and confirm the automated follow-up triggers. If you're using digital business cards, test the sharing and capture flow with your team.

During the Event

• Capture notes immediately. After every meaningful conversation, spend 30 seconds adding notes to the contact. What did they care about? What's their timeline? Who else is involved? You'll forget 90% of this by the next morning.
• Tag leads by priority. Hot, warm, cold. This determines your follow-up speed and approach.

After the Event

• Follow up within 24-48 hours. This is non-negotiable. The companies that follow up fast after events close more deals. Period.
• Sync all leads to your CRM. Don't let contacts sit in a spreadsheet or scanning app. Get them into your system the day you return.
• Debrief with your team. What worked, what didn't, what would you change? Document everything while it's fresh.

Day-Of Checklist: Everything You Need

The morning of the trade show is not the time to realize you forgot something. This is the packing and prep checklist I run through the night before every event. It's saved me more times than I can count.

One thing I always tell my team: set up your booth at least 30 minutes before the doors open. Use that time to test your demo one final time, arrange your materials, and do a quick team huddle to get everyone's energy up. First impressions start the moment the first attendee walks past your booth.

5 Trade Show Mistakes I've Made (So You Don't Have To)

Every experienced exhibitor has a list of mistakes they've learned from. Here are five that cost me real time and money before I figured them out.

1. Not pre-booking meetings. At our first few events, we relied entirely on booth traffic. Some hours were packed, some were dead. Now we book 30-50 meetings before we even arrive. Those pre-booked meetings are our most productive conversations every time.
2. Bringing too much swag. We once shipped three boxes of branded notebooks to a trade show. Brought most of them back. People don't want stuff - they want solutions. Now we bring just enough swag to be memorable, and invest the savings in better booth design.
3. Skipping the debrief. For our first year of events, we'd fly home exhausted and immediately jump back into regular work. Leads sat untouched, lessons went unrecorded. Now we do a 30-minute debrief on the last day of the event while everything is fresh. This single habit has improved our event ROI more than anything else.
4. Putting the whole team at the booth all day. You don't need five people standing at your booth at 2 PM on day two. Rotate. Send people to attend sessions, network in the hallways, and grab coffee with prospects. The best conversations happen away from the booth.
5. Using only paper business cards. I mentioned this earlier, but it deserves its own bullet. We lost track of contacts consistently until we switched to digital. It's not just about looking modern - it's about actually being able to follow up with every person you meet.