As anyone that has run a successful trade show booth can tell you, personality plays a key role in your success at these trade shows. Although your business marketing materials are also going to play a key role, ultimately it is up to the people at the booth to finalize the sale and make the personal connections that trade shows have become so well known for.

John ran a small printing company that thrived off of the work they were able to do at tradeshows. He knew the importance of this and made sure to put the businesses and the employees personalities front and center. This would always make a strong initial impression with those that they met at the tradeshows.

There are three key things to remember when choosing people to work your booth, John always took these into consideration.  First make sure they’re  outgoing and willing to talk to as many passerby’s as possible.  Next, be sure they’re comfortable with being surrounded by large groups of people. Finally be sure they’re comfortable with speaking in front of crowds of people that they don’t know.

Being Outgoing and Personable 

You’ll find that many companies at trade shows bring along some of the bigwigs within the company, or the prettiest women that work there.  While this is a strategy that could pay off; if these people have no social skills it could inevitably backfire in the end.  It is almost impossible to have success at a trade show if you do not have an outgoing group of people sitting at your booth. Not only should you yourself be outgoing, as the owner of the business and the person in charge of setting up the tradeshow, but you should also select outgoing individuals to accompany you as well.  John knew this and so he selected the most outgoing people that were at his company to represent them at their trade shows. This was a strategy that paid off and allowed them to keep groups of people around their booth at all times.

Comfortable With Strangers and Groups of People

John also knew that it was important to be comfortable around large groups of people. If you are running a successful booth at a trade show you are likely going to have large groups of people around your booth throughout the show. This means that those that are running the booth may have to juggle several conversations at a time, answer redundant questions over and over again and give the same elevator pitch about the business to hundreds of different people. It is important that the people that you bring along are not easily frustrated by these types of situations and are comfortable with large groups of people. John knew this and made sure to speak with everyone he was considering bringing about this prior to attending the trade show.

Speaking In Front of Crowds

At some point during the weekend you are going to be giving a small presentation in front of a group of people that wandered over to your booth. This means that you will need to be comfortable speaking in front of crowds. John would sometimes do a small video presentation when the crowd was large enough to warrant it around his booth. Verbal presentations he mostly would do them himself. He spoke with an employee beforehand about their comfort level speaking in front of crowds that they did not know to make the presentation was he was absent. You want to make sure that anyone that you are considering asking to be a part of your booth is comfortable with crowds. This will ensure the best outcome for your business and will also make sure that you are not putting your employees in an uncomfortable position unknowingly.