How to plan a successful exhibition?
- Identify the goal of the exhibition
- Calculate the budget
- Create a marketing plan
- Search and book a venue
- Consider the logistics
- Evaluate the event
Various exhibition halls around the globe host exhibitions every year. Exhibitions are mainly organized to display a selection of items or products and showcase them to target markets. These types of events are typically open for trade buyers and sometimes to the public to visit — providing a stellar opportunity for companies to promote products, improve brand image, and establish relationship networks. Thus, it’s important to know how to plan a successful exhibition.
Holding an exhibition soon? Many things go into the planning of these events — from creating a marketing plan to booking the venue to planning the logistics. That’s why we provide a step-by-step guide on how to plan a successful exhibition. Continue reading to learn more.
Identify the goal of the exhibition
Before starting the planning of any kind of event, organizers must identify its goals and objectives as they become a company’s guideline for planning.
Event organizers always refer to the goals as planning progresses. All decisions made for the event must help in achieving the goal. This can include the sponsors and exhibitors to invite and the overall look of the exhibition hall. design of the convention hall.
There are many kinds of exhibitions, and each has its own goal depending on what industry they’re from.
Art exhibitions would feature various artists and artworks in the venue. These may consist of collections or artworks of single or multiple artists. Event organizers need to carefully map out the venue for both featured artists and eventgoers. While giving the artists their own exhibit space, they must provide guests with a unique visual experience as they go through the exhibition hall.
With your goals identified, it will be easier for companies to plan their setups in the smoothest possible manner.
Calculate the budget
The next step in planning a successful exhibition is to create an event budget. To put plans in motion, there must be allocated funds for each expense.
An event budget helps organizers ensure that the exhibition is profitable while providing the necessary things for the event itself. The event budget must take into account an excellent venue, a qualified marketing strategy, guest speakers, and various amenities like audio-visual equipment, catering services, and support personnel.
If the event planner has difficulty creating a feasible budget, they can review financial records from the previous year. This helps them determine how much to spend on the exhibition.
Create a marketing plan
To attract their target audience, event organizers must create an effective marketing plan to promote their event. This helps in building brand awareness while facilitating sales.
For most events, a large portion of the budget may be dedicated to marketing efforts.
Depending on your marketing team, you may use a mix of traditional and digital marketing to attract exhibitors, sponsors, and visitors to attend your event.
Search and book a venue
An important factor that contributes to the success of exhibitions is its venue. The event venue determines many things — from the number of exhibitors you can accommodate to the available booths that can fit in your chosen halls
Deciding on the event’s date is one factor that can help narrow down choices for a venue. Event organizers should also consider the number of exhibitors, layout, and program of the event. With a bigger picture in mind, it becomes easier to imagine the exhibition space you need.
Consider the logistics
With the venue in mind, you can work on the event logistics. The venue must be accessible to attendees as well as ease for ingress of heavy machinery and equipment.
The location of the World Trade Center Metro Manila (WTCMM) is accessible for both participants and suppliers. It’s situated in Pasay City, making it easy for guests to drive or take public transport to the venue. It’s also within proximity of many hotels, international airports, and central business districts, like Makati City and BGC.
Evaluate the event
Once the event is over, an evaluation of the exhibitors and guests must be done to evaluate the exhibition as a whole. This helps the organizers identify further measures to improve the exhibition and be more profitable than the previous.
The evaluation should be based on the objectives of the exhibition. Were all these accomplished throughout the event? Organizers should also assess if they were able to stick to the provided budget. Points raised during the evaluation should be summarized by the organizers to improve the next exhibition.
Key Takeaway
In this article, we’ve provided a guide on how to plan a successful exhibition. Before you embark on planning and booking venues, make sure the exhibition has goals and objectives to follow. These become a guide for organizers as they make important decisions such as the budget, venue, etc.
If you’re looking for an event space for your next exhibition, choose World Trade Center Metro Manila (WTCMM). We have the best exhibition halls in the Philippines. We are also a premier accredited member of the World Trade Centers Association and Union des Foires Internationales (UFI) . Contact us here today to learn more about our event venue rental!
