Booth employees not paying attention is highly ranked in the top 3 of annoyances exhibition visitors experience. Booth employees who are merely paying attention to their smartphone – or even worse: to each other – are conveying a very clear signal to the visitors walking by: I am busy! It only takes a few simple measures to create a booth team that’s energetic, alert and welcoming:

- clear objectives: Every member of the booth team has to be fully aware of what is expected from him and her and in which way he or she contributes to the success of the fair participation. Organise a kick-off meeting a few weeks prior to the fair trade during which all matters are discussed and where every team member receives individual goals.

- full agenda: Have all team members make appointments with important clients and prospects in advance. The exhibition organiser is able to inform you on the somewhat quieter times in the area of your booth; those moments are perfect to welcome important relations correctly for a good conversation.

- driving times and resting times: Plan a short break for every team member every two to three hours. Encourage the team to explore the other booths of the exhibition during their breaks. Having an extensive lunch is not very efficient; provide small snacks that can be consumed discretely, out of view of visitors.

- waking up together: Start every exhibition day with a collective breakfast, preferably in or near the booth. This also provides you with an opportunity to remind the booth employees of the goals, to adjust where necessary and to highlight individual performances. Moreover, you prevent employees from arriving late.

- playful competition: Enrich the individual and collective goals with a playful competition element to which as many as possible team members are able to contribute: who was asked the funniest question? Where did that ‘foreign’ visitor come from? How much coffee did we serve?... Use the input as an icebreaker during breakfast.

- good back-office: Also involve the ones staying at the office in the fair participation. They are an essential link in the rapid follow-up on exhibition contacts and are able to take over a few tasks from the booth team: entering data in the CRM-system, sending emails, editing quotations... Create templates in advance for every type of message.