Tips for attending trade shows (as a startup)

1. Don’t pay for it. These events usually have two parts – the free trade show, and paid conference. Unless you see that the lineup of speakers can add some invaluable information to your stack (which I doubt it will) it’s just not worth shelling out few hundred Euros, Dollars or Pounds just for ‘mingling’
2. Go there. You can see your competition, meet potential partners and see where the market is going. Most of all, you get the feeling of the climate in the industry. Listen to what people are saying in their conversations, which topics are discussed the most, what buzzwords are most commonly used. This is your best occasion to get industry wide spectrum of points of view – no time reading blogs, publications and reports will make up for listening to your peers and potential clients.
3. Setup a base. You don’t want to, or can’t afford to rent a booth, but you can get yourself into nearest restaurant or bar to around the venue. Arrange with the manager a table that is privately located and reserved for you all day long. Then set up meetings with clients that will be visiting the show anyway. At the fraction of the cost you’ll be able to capture their attention for your product demo in a way that no booth will allow.
4. Keep your tools handy. I don’t mean the business cards or collateral. Get an iPad or other way of demoing your product live. You have to be able to naturally flip any conversation into a product demo. Use a laptop if you have to, but always hold it in your hands and never switch it off.
5. Be organized. It’s easy to go to a show and return one day later saying that ‘there was nothing interesting’ or ‘it wasn’t your target after all’. Have a look at the list of the exhibitors, pick the ones you have to talk to. Set up meeting with other visitors. Figure out which free-seminar speakers you have to listen to and establish a conversation with (that’s the only reason why I sit on those things). And summarise the event afterwords – try to capture the trends, the potential leads and lessons learned.

These things usually happen once or twice per year per industry per country. Make sure you squeeze all the value out of time you spend there.