Attending a trade show is always a great opportunity to build relationships and generate business, so make sure you plan your stand to showcase your company’s full potential and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Participating in a trade fair involves an investment in money, time and effort, so it is always important to maximise the results.

The main advantage of a fair like Mindtech is that it brings together in the same space all the relevant stakeholders for your company, such as potential buyers, suppliers and related institutions eager to do business. An industrial fair is a highly professionalised space, where you make sure that the public visiting your stand fits your target profile, while at the same time showing all your muscle in front of potential competitors.

Therefore, planning your trade fair participation well can help you attract the largest number of buyers to your stand. Here are 8 keys to success for your stand at Mindtech 2023!

1. Devise a strategy

Although an essential part of trade fairs is the spontaneity component, the more you plan and prepare your participation, the more you will benefit. Study the exhibitor directory and identify who you want to do business with. Also, remember that your stand is not set up overnight, whether you opt for a modular design or a designer stand, make sure that the colours, vinyls, slogans and the promotional materials themselves send the message and image you want to convey.

See all exhibiting companies here

2. Inform everyone that you are attending the fair.

Take advantage of all your channels to advertise your participation in the fair and make sure that the customers you want to impact visit you at your stand. Don’t wait until the days of the fair to do so, you have many options to maximise your presence:

• Send email invitations to all your contacts and potential customers: Mindtech offers you in this sense a personalised service from your exhibitor area, where you can even keep track of who signs up through your invitation.
• Make the most of social media: share on all your networks that you will be exhibiting at the fair and on what number of stands and make sure to share daily updates during the days of the fair. You can publish photos of the set-up, of meetings, small videos from the stand… You have endless possibilities before you. And don’t forget to use the fair hashtag to make sure you’re seen! #Mindtech23
• Take advantage of the impact of the trade fair: trade fairs generate a great deal of media interest, so do not pass up any interview requests you may receive from the trade fair itself or from the general or specialised media.

3. Define a speech and a presentation

It is essential to be clear about the added value of what you are going to sell, how to capture the attention of the interlocutor and how to transmit your advantages over your competition. The what is as important as the how.

Prepare your commercial speech, but also take into account what information you are going to transmit through the posters, promotional leaflets or possible videos that you are going to show. All messages must be aligned and convey your added value and commercial slogan quickly and easily.

4. Design an inviting stand

When people pass by your stand, it should invite them to come in and make them curious to know more. It is therefore necessary to plan and make the best use of the exhibition space.

The first thing to be clear about is that attendees are attracted to visually appealing stands, so don’t be afraid to take risks with colours, layout and display materials. If you can bring a machine or product it will always attract more impact than a stand without any additional attraction. The message you want to convey must be clear and visible everywhere.

Remember that less is more: one of the most common mistakes is to overcrowd the space, preventing visitors and staff from having enough room to interact comfortably. You want people to stop at your stand and stay, possibly even sit with you at a meeting at your tables, so make sure the space invites them in.

5. Build relationships

Of course you know this, but it needs to be emphasised. One of the most interesting aspects of a trade fair is the opportunity to talk and build relationships.

So meet and talk to everyone and everywhere. Contact visitors, other exhibitors, event organisers. You never know where and when a business opportunity will appear.

At Mindtech, you will be able to take advantage of your participation by generating valuable contacts through B2B meetings, face-to-face meetings where exhibitors, buyers, visiting companies and international delegations will have access to organised meetings to explore business and collaboration opportunities. Take advantage of this tool and schedule meetings through the online platform where you can see all the registered companies and buyers and request meetings in the slots they have available in their agenda.

Find all the information about B2B Meetings here. These meetings can be a big part of the success of your participation in the fair!

6. Give away promotional products and keep your stand active.

One option to consider is to offer branded promotional products and gifts. In this case, the most important thing is that you choose something relevant to your business and useful to the consumer.

The most common and long-lasting are: pens, reusable bags, folders, notebooks, mugs, reusable water bottles or a USB stick.

Another important issue is to keep your stand active and moving. Para ello puedes organizar una demostración de producto o una breve presentación y anunciarla en tu perfil de empresa en la feria. Remember that all the events and activities you register at your stand during Mindtech 2023 will be visible to visitors on the official APP of the fair.

7. Subsequent contact

Once the fair is over, it is crucial to get back in touch with the potential customers that have arisen.

An interesting option is to thank them for attending the event via email and make yourself available for further information or to arrange a meeting.

In this case, it is advisable to allow one or two days for further contact. This prevents your email from being mixed in with all the emails that have accumulated during the days of the fair.

8. Evaluates the objectives achieved

It is important that, during the course of the fair, the fulfilment of the pre-established objectives and the opportunities that arise are monitored.

This will facilitate the final evaluation of the participation in the event and the detection of opportunities for improvement for the next edition.

Conclusions

Successful trade and industry fairs require advance planning.

These are some of the tips that Mindtech, Metal Industry and Technologies International Trade Fair 2023 wanted to offer to the companies that will participate from 20 to 22 June at the Instituto Ferial de Vigo, and that will have the opportunity to give their best at the leading industrial fair in the Iberian Pole.