Here are just a few general tips to help you make your next trade show more successful:

• Have something to show and to sell.  Make sure you are demonstrating your product, or if a food, sampling it. 
• Make sure your product literature is available and attendees have easy access to it.
• Be inviting.  Don’t allow employees or staffers to stand in the booth, frowning, with their arms folded. 
• Make sure you have the right location.  Determine where you want to be before you spend your money.
• Stay in the booth.  Don’t wander around leaving the booth poorly staffed or not staffed at all.  If you want to see what your competitors are up to, do it before the floor opens to attendees. 
• Feed your prospects.  If you have a food item that you are selling, make sure it is prepared and ready for sampling.  If you are selling a non-food item, be sure to have mints and water in your booth.
• Eliminate clutter.  Make sure your booth is easy to maneuver and clean. 
• Be polite and courteous to everyone.  Even competitors.
• Look good.  Image is everything.  Make sure your staff is uniformly dressed, in corporate logo’d apparel and their clothes are pressed.
• Give something away!  Don’t allow your visitor to walk away empty handed.  Make sure your logo or message is prominently displayed on anything you give away.
• Sell, sell, and sell some more.  Always be in a selling mode.  Read tips on how to sell at trade shows before attending.