Episode 15: DNA Motoring

Episode 15 of Exhibitor Insight features Charla from DNA Motoring. They have been attending SEMA as a sponsor for the past 7 years, and as an exhibitor for the past 5 years. Let’s hear some helpful advice from Charla about the strategy of exhibiting at a trade show.

Trade Show Strategies


1. Dedicated and Hard Working Team
Preparing and exhibiting for a trade show is not as easy as it looks. It certainly requires a disciplined and hardworking team as well as an adequately designed booth. Your team’s dedication level and skills will mostly determine how successful you are going to be in the show.

2. A Social Speaker
Having a booth is excellent, but the platform that being a speaker provides is tough to beat. Speaking on a topic of expertise to a targeted audience provides instant credibility. However, talking like a computer that memorized everything will not help. The person that you choose as the main speaker/exhibitor should be a social speaker who communicates efficiently with the attendees. The slide deck from your presentation can also be used as content to nurture leads and prospects after the trade show.

3. Management is the Key
Overcoming problems that rise at the very last moment, controlling stress levels, giving out tasks relevantly to your team members… These are all examples of essential management aspects that you will need to emphasize on. A useful tool in trade show preparation is communication. Various teams typically attend trade shows, including marketing, sales, and the executive team. Make sure everyone is on the same page and has all of the relevant information leading up to the event. How you manage your team and trade show operations will change your results significantly.

4. Game Plan and Scheduling
Planning even the little details way ahead of time matters a lot! If you have a solid game plan and schedule every step before the show starts, you automatically decrease the possibility of failure.

5. Quality Over Quantity
Trade shows are great opportunities to announce new products and showcase the most popular products as well. However, if you try to put on display every single product you have, you will not get the best results. Quality over quantity should be your motto when it comes to including products in your trade show. The goal should be displaying the most important and impressive products so you have to choose them wisely.

6. Bring Energy
People like doing business with people they like! The more energized you are during the show, the more you will attract attention and goodwill from your target contacts. Show the attendees that you are happy and eager to exhibit, show that you believe in the company and its products. Be a professional but don’t lose your sincerity.