How Delegation Mistakes Can Ruin Your Trade Show Success

There’s the good kind of delegation, and then there’s the bad.

The wrong kind, the sort that creates stress and angst for an unlucky staffer, often includes;

• A poor briefing about objectives or resources
• Short notice to achieve the task
• No allowance for the existing workload of the person or people assigned the job
• There’s a command to "get on and do it" when reasonable objections or questions are raised

For some reason, trade shows are often home to victims of this sort.

Stand builders like us become experts in spotting them, but you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to see the signs.

Maybe you’ve seen them too, and hopefully not on any stand you’re running!

These are stands where the team openly display signs of boredom.

The burning desire for them to be somewhere else is also easily spotted.

These will be the clients who say they didn’t have a good show.

It’s a waste of good money, and a massive opportunity missed.

Usually, stands like these include some of the following traits;

• The stand management function has been delegated (often at the last minute)
• The person who booked the stand is not present
• The stand team have had no training
• The event was booked late
• "I don’t know why I’m here" comments are made by the stand manager or team

It’s not a recent problem. It’s existed for decades.

Back in the 1970s, John Cleese, no less, made a video about exhibiting.
Apart from starring in Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and a host of other TV and movie titles, he co-owned Video Arts, a video production company specialising in training films.

In "How Not To Exhibit", we see the story of a hapless stand manager getting things wrong until his father (the business owner) turns up unannounced during an event to save the day and the money spent on exhibiting.

Corny? Yes, but it happens (the mistakes, not the Dad turning up).

If you’re responsible for booking events for your company, delegate carefully and work only with event experts like ourselves.

To start a stand design discussion (or graphics); email [email protected] or call 01702 662 111.

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