Event Runway is the Key to a Successful Event

(Originally published on 7/15/14 as a Guest Blogger on TrewMarketing's website)

So you have a trade show to plan.  It’s still three months away – no problem, plenty of time, right?  But tick, tock …before you know it, the event date is right upon you. If you have ever planned an event, you know exactly what I’m talking about.  I bet you can even pinpoint the moment when anxiety takes over.  Before you break out in hives, let’s take a moment to pause and plan.

(insert zen-like moment here)

Moments of stress or dread don’t have to come when planning an event or trade show.  Ever heard the saying, ‘luck favors the prepared’?  This is especially true when it comes to event or trade show planning.  I’ve planned countless trade shows and corporate events, and I’ve figured out that the key is to give myself enough runway – typically seven weeks -- to make the event successful.

Here is a breakdown of my seven-week approach to trade show planning:.

• Seven Weeks Out
  • Identify your resources – who do you need to be involved in this project?  Don’t be afraid to enlist the help of others.
  • Assemble a pre-con meeting – get everyone involved on the same page. This provides clarity on who is going to be doing what.  It also is a good precursor to manage expectations.
  • Marketing asset preparation – check your inventories.  Need a new banner?  Better get that ordered right away!  This gives you time to produce assets and some cushion for shipping them to your event.
• Six Weeks Out
  • Advanced shipping of event materials – Do you have things that can be shipped early?  If so, ship GROUND.  Shipping early is always a good option as it gives you time to react if a shipment is damaged or lost or even stuck in another location because of weather.  Once I had a client accidentally give me the wrong shipping address.  Boxes were supposed to go to a show in San Diego but instead she gave me an address in Boston.  Luckily, we shipped early enough that we were able to reroute and the situation was averted. 
    
  • Partner programs – Does your event include the participation of partners?  If so, six weeks out is good time to hit them up with your intended program.  Have these discussions early as everyone will become increasingly busy as the event or show draws near.
• Five Weeks Out
  • Email Drip Campaign – If you’re thinking about notifying your customer base about your upcoming event or show, five weeks is a good time to start.  Five weeks just right – early enough to give customers an opportunity to plan for it and stick in in their calendars but not so early that other events or shows get in the way.
• Four Weeks Out
  • Partner program set –  At this point, you’ve harangued your partners enough for the last two weeks that they’ve succumbed to participating in your partner program. 
• Three Weeks Out
  • Master schedule distribution – It’s amazing to me how this often this gets missed and is sent out at the last minute, as this step is critical to planning a trade show.  Distribute early so that if there are any changes, you can make them.  Don’t assume your first schedule is set.  More likely than not, someone will be pulled into a meeting or needs to fly home early so they can’t do booth duty, or tear down, or whatever the case may be.  Be flexible and keep everyone on the same page utilizing this schedule all the way through.
• Two Weeks Out
  • Event checklist – With so many moving parts, it’s always recommended that you have a checklist.  Create this checklist in the beginning of planning but make sure you come back to it.  I like to come back to it at two weeks out because at this point, most of the components are in place and I’m just making sure I didn’t miss anything. 
• One Week Out
  •  All systems go and final check – You’re almost there so don’t let off the gas pedal now.  Check all items and make sure your deliveries made it to their destination. 

Throughout this whole process, keep communication open with all team members.  Have a lot of meetings.  They don’t have to be long meetings just a quick “let’s touch base” meeting.  It makes a big difference.

Seven weeks is the optimal time to plan, but even with a shorter amount of time, you can still find ways to make all of the above happen and still have a successful trade show.  Keep everyone informed, stay organized, and circle back.  Having a jar of rash cream helps too, in case of a hive breakout.

Good luck and happy planning!

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