Here are 7 Tips that can help you and your staff get organized when attending or exhibiting at trade show events in Los Angeles. We hope you find these tips helpful and keep them in mind to create a pleasant experience for you and attendees at your next event.

 

1. Anticipate LA Traffic

Los Angeles is notorious for traffic and freeway traffic jams, to avoid being late depending on where you are at in Los Angeles have 1 hour of travel planned.

This will allow you time to beat gridlock as well as give you time to look for alternate routes if you do run into a jam.

Finding parking in LA can be a bit of a challenge especially when you have merchandise to carry along with other products that help set up your booth.

Arriving early will give you enough time to find parking and a good booth location if there are no assigned sections at the event.

Parking is usually around $15 -$20 for an all-day pass in certain parking structures.

Los Angeles traffic typically starts at 6:30 am to 10:30 AM and pick back up at 3 pm til 7:45 pm. Mix in a bit of rain to the event and you’ll have to add an extra 15-30 minutes to your drive time. Find the time that best suits you and plan accordingly.

 

 

2. Don’t Procrastinate

We highly recommend getting your trade show equipment and booth set up 1 month prior to your trade show event, giving you peace of mind without rushing very important marketing and sales opportunity.

In Los Angeles, laid back and easy is a way of life but you’ll want to avoid waiting until the last minute to buy your display products.

This wait time only adds to the speed of the deadline when attending a trade show and can lead to making unwanted mistakes in design and in layout.

These mistakes can end up costing you a lot more money when there are rush fees involved in producing your trade show booth and shipping them out. This one would seem like common sense but many companies and people wait till the last minute to rush design and booth set up.

Plan out your trade show booth in advance to have time in correcting or adjusting any details in your final design.

 

 

3. Following Up

Following up with your trade show leads the very same day of the event with an email or text message can go a long way.

You’ll remind your prospect of the pleasant meeting or chat you guys had and set up the second point of contact.

You’ll also have your personal contact information stored on your leads phone for quick solutions if he or she is to ever need anything that your company can help with.

Don’t be embarrassed or ashamed to follow-up later on that day to say a quick hello and a great chatting with your text message.

 

 

4. A Pictures Worth

Keep text on your portable booth displays and table covers to a minimum, if a large part of your booth display is covered in the text the likely hood of people stopping to specifically read it is low.

If you do have text make sure it’s short, bold and readable.

Having visuals that tell a story or show your product or service in action will connect with the prospect a lot faster than he is able to read the solution you offer.

For text, we recommend using banner displays or retractable banners that you can get here.

 

 

5. Brand Perception

Perception is reality and if your booth displays or products are torn and worn out the public will consider these details and assume your business works the same way with its clients.

There are enough barriers to building a brand and relationship with your customers already. 

Having small blemishes and distractions on your booth and accessories can tarnish your customer’s first impression of your company.

Your brand image should give the best first impression at all times.

 

 

 

6. Smile & Greet

Study’s say that smiling causes happiness and relieves stress, therefore, smile at everyone you can.

There is nothing more inviting and encouraging than a smile, a warm genuine smile. A smile can open up conversations and doors.

The more you smile and greet people the more likely those strangers will turn into friends and be more open on approaching you or meeting you halfway.

Stay away from closed-off body languages like crossed arms or a frowning face with a bad attitude. Remember you’re in LA enjoy the sun and happy people walking around.

 

7. Have Fun

Having fun doesn’t mean you have to be serious all the time, come up with some playful ideas to get people walking by and engage with you.

Create a playful fun atmosphere to gather a group of people around your booth if you can.

Entertain your audience to get their attention and relate it to your product or service.

Add some creativity to your presentation to make it memorable so your customers leave with a pleasant experience and your order.

Most vendors at trade shows have the usual sales pitch and information without giving any thought to entertaining or hooking their prospect attention.

Trade shows are meant to do business but also to escape for a bit and have fun while meeting new people.

Incorporate a bit of entertainment with your business and watch the crowd begin to gather around your booth.

If you don’t possess natural entertaining abilities to find a person close to you that you admire for these abilities and work together as a team to create something entertaining. Channel your inner child and have fun at your next trade show event.

If you have any questions about attending a trade show event in Los Angeles or any questions about our products we’d love to help! Please feel free to reach out to us any time via email at info@laprintanddesign.com or give us a call at 562-505-2911