Five Reasons Why the Solo Trade Show Is a Bad Idea

There is a certain kind of person who we might call “self sufficient.” You may know someone like this. You may even be such a person. These are often the people most likely to become entrepreneurs. They look at big company structures and wonder how anything ever gets done. When they come to a business fork in the road, they ask themselves, “How much time and effort would it take me to learn how do this?” instead of seeking outside assistance. With technology, being self-sufficient is getting easier all the time.

You may have even figured out how to be fully self sufficient in business. But, whether you’re a sole proprietor or the marketing arm of a company, the one man or one woman trade show is generally a bad idea. Let us count the ways.

1. There’s always a chance you’ll get called back to the office during the trade show.You worked your calendar for six months to get these four days relatively clean, but no one could have predicted the bankruptcy of the biggest client, or an explosion at the plant. They need you now, and the trade show booth is non-refundable. At times like this, you will want to look your trusty trade show assistant in the eye and say, “Handle this.”
2. Trade shows are a fertile source of logistical snafus. The modular booth was supposed to be delivered to the floor, but instead it’s in a FedEx facility 25 miles out of town. You can improvise greeting attendees until your assistant straightens out the booth mess.
3. During the day, your biggest client wants to have a meeting about signing that new contract. Not on your calendar, but necessary none the less. Shutting down the booth is bad form and can even get you in trouble with the trade group. Multiply this one times any number of situations–they had a cancellation and need an extra speaker on the stage–and you can see why a backup makes sense.
4. A major reason to go to the show is networking. It’s necessary to be in the booth greeting old friends and making new ones, but entrepreneurs especially will also need to be out in the hall, if only to see what everyone else is doing. If you’re stuck in the booth, you missed the show.
5. Trade show veterans are also veterans at business travel. And ironically enough, business travel can be isolating. The meeting got cancelled, people are booked, or are less in the mood to party than they were five years ago. It’s best to have someone along to debrief the day with, and plot out the next day’s activities.

Even if it costs a few extra bucks, having a co-conspirator at the trade show is a good investment, and probably won’t make you any less self-sufficient.