How to “Do” Tradeshows as a Public Relations Professional

Image Created with DALL-E: I have so many questions about this one. Why is this guy's work wife all over him in public? Why is the dude on his knee in some sort of salute to the guy giving the product demo? Prompt: "I just wrote the below blog post on how to do tradeshows well from a public relations perspective. Using the content of the blog post as a guide, create an image to accompany the post on my blog where tradeshow attendees are super excited."

In 2024, public relations (PR) professionals do most of the things we do behind a computer screen. However, it’s my belief this relegation to a monitor may be making us hungrier for person-to-person settings not only in our personal lives, but our professional lives as well. This is why I’ve decided to compile a [not so] quick blog post on how to do tradeshows as a PR professional based on my learnings.

Tradeshows are a tried-and-true way for companies to network, learn about the industries they operate in, share proprietary knowledge, and introduce products to folks who care about them. HOWEVER, things are different now after Covid-19 ravaged the world of in-person events. People want more, they want to see their investment in these shows go further, and we as PR professionals need to understand how we can help.

I was lucky enough to get thrown into events early in my career at CES 2013, which was my first real “big boy” tradeshow, where I had the opportunity to represent the folks at D-Link alongside the incredible PR practitioners at Walt & Company. It was during this show I saw the power of in-person networking, how stories could be told in a compelling way face-to-face and why running in dress slacks across the parking lot is a surefire way to rip those pants down the crotch (true story).

Some companies are of the mind that tradeshows do not drive revenue growth in a meaningful way, and I think there’s elements of truth to that. If you do tradeshows incorrectly, or seek the wrong goals, tradeshows are a great way to toss money down the drain. In this blog post, we’ll talk about how to make the most of tradeshows, and how PR can play a critical role in that equation.

If you want my help with tradeshow support, hit me up because that’s kind of my thing (I’ve planned, staffed and executed more than 50 live events in my career). That’s not just some BS, “I’ve launched more than 20,000 products!”; that’s me literally counting the lanyards I’ve kept over the years.

Foster Connections

One of the core tenets of our roles as PR professionals is to broker meaningful connections between people. Typically, that connection for a publicist exists between a client and a journalist/creator. However, this is fairly limited in scope, and I think the best PR professionals use their network to build connections between all manners of players in any given industry.

1. Develop opportunities for people to spend time together in a social setting. Whether that’s a classic media dinner or press event, or something more casual like a happy hour or Booth x Beer situation. The goal is to bring people together in a low-stakes social setting where people can relax and get to know each other on a personal level.

2. Identify collaboration opportunities between non-competing entities. Whether that be a client and a trade organization, a client and another company in the same space, or something completely fresh. Use shows as an opportunity to identify commonalities and bring organizations together.

3. Participate in industry events. Whether that be panels, post-conference gatherings, award ceremonies, product judging opportunities, etc. The idea is to use every minute of the tradeshow to max effect and ensure your client shows up in the right places to shake the right hands.

Introduce New Products, Partnerships & People

I love a good alliteration as much as the next person and the subhead for this section really hits for me. In short, use tradeshows as a platform to tell stories about yourself that matter to the audience. But do so in a way that makes it easy for journalists and attendees to see/hear your story.

1. Provide information in advance of the tradeshow to journalists. This is standard fare, but it goes without saying that journalists are EXTRAORDINARILY busy during tradeshows trying to cover it all. I recommend touching base well in advance—at least one month—before a trade event to ensure journalists have you on their radar and can package up a story for delivery during the event without much hassle.

2. Bring a set of stories to a show with you, and the people who are best suited to tell those stories. In general, this is referred to as the “Narrative” of the show. PR people play an essential role in this equation and should be in early talks with events teams to ensure there’s a sticky story to tell.

3. Prepare your spokespeople well in advance of shows, and practice with them. This can be in the form of classic media training where PR professionals spend time with clients coaching them on how to deliver messages well. Or, it can be developing speeches for panels, keynotes, etc. In short, don’t rely on spokespeople to nail the stories on the first go around, give them an opportunity to shop it in front of an audience that can be critical, and provide useful feedback.

4. There is an argument for and against launching products at tradeshows. Some believe there is too much “noise” for a product to really shine through, and in some cases that’s true. Generally, iterative updates or minor company news won’t land you the coverage you’re seeking. That’s why PR professionals need to be in the room with the events and product marketing teams to ensure they understand what’s worth sharing, and what’s worth keeping in the back pocket for another day.

Flex On the Competition

It’s no secret that every tradeshow is a battleground for companies to demonstrate how they’re cooler/better than the competition. This trickles down not only from the product output, but also the booth and advertising rollout at the show.

1. Do invest in advertising at the show in the right places. This isn’t “pure” PR so to say because it’s paid, but ensuring the company you represent is spending money in the right places will open doors. Not only will you have an opportunity to share a broader narrative more visually at the event, but you can use that as a weapon in the storytelling to people who visit the booth, “Curious to see X and X didn’t really invest in the show this year, I wonder what’s up with them…”

2. Draw indirect comparisons to competition whenever possible. Generally, it’s a faux pas to mention competition in your conversations/press materials/etc. However, a wise PR professional might find opportunities to point out “surprising” holes in the competitive mix for the tradeshow. “I’m not seeing many folks out there with this specific product feature that we have, it seems like a miss, what is your take on it?” 

Capitalize on Awards and Speaking Opportunities

Many a PR professional will lament the sheer volume of award and speaking submissions we work on yearly, but there is a ton of value in these opportunities from both the earned editorial and content marketing camps.

1. Ensure you’re compiling award opportunities for the tradeshow you want well in advance, at least a full quarter. These award submissions are typically due at least a few weeks in advance of a show, so you’ll need to be on top of deadlines. Ensure you have someone on the ground at the event who can pick up the award (should you win) and take pretty pictures for content marketing’s sake.

2. Ensure you’re compiling speaking opportunities even more in advance than award opportunities. I’d say at least six months, if not more, before the show. Typically, these speaking submissions are decided [and marketed] around a quarter before the show starts, so if you have a client that’s hungry to speak at an event, prepare that list of potential events for them EARLY to not miss these important opportunities.

Teach Attendees & Be a Trusted Resource

Work alongside product trainers and other brand representatives to teach attendees at shows something they don’t know about the space. This is extremely effective at B2B shows where people who have a vested interest in knowing more about the technology/products can learn and potentially make more money.

1. Suggest educational sessions to show organizers, if they don’t exist already. This could include panels to unpack a newer technology, credentialed trainings where attendees earn credits toward a specific technology milestone, or something similar. The goal is to come off as a trusted resource by thrusting your smartest and most influential people in front of the folks who will be sharing your products/techniques/etc. with their own customers.

Host a Killer Product Demonstration

The art of the demo is a nuanced skill. From a PR standpoint, it could make or break media interest in your product, and generally sets the vibe for the brand. It’s important the savvy PR person works closely with the product team to ensure you have the right representative speaking about your product in a way that’s engaging, and authentic to the brand.

1. Identify a spokesperson with tons of charisma. Nothing is worse than a product demo where the demo-er is bored (or boring). I typically tap product trainers, product marketers and/or marketing representatives that are super close to the brand and can speak to a product fluently from a consumer perspective and a technology perspective.

2. Work alongside this spokesperson to ensure they’re nailing the high points of the product, and injecting opportunities for press to draw contextual parallels that make it easier to inject the product into their writing.

3. Invite press to join this product demonstration. I typically do this a few weeks in advance of the show. If you’re lucky, you’ll know exactly what media are going to be interested. But if not, I suggest starting well in advance and doing the homework of understanding the press landscape, and who needs to be in attendance.

4. Provide media with a useful “press kit” filled with product materials at the show. This should include press releases, product information documents, imagery, videos, links to affiliate portals, contact information, etc. Typically, this was done with a USB stick, but recently I’ve found that QR codes are just as effective and can be easily shared.

5. Follow up with press who attended your product demonstration/met with your team at the show. I typically like to give media a solid week to decompress, then check in with them to see if they got everything they needed/want to explore deeper storytelling with the brand or product.

Join the Conversation Online

Ensure you’re working closely with a social media team/person to talk about trends at the show, provide from-the-floor updates, and re-post content that’s valuable to your brand. Tradeshows typically have some sort of hashtag or taggable entity to join the conversation, use those to your advantage.

1. I like to go into tradeshows with a social media plan in place. From a PR professional’s perspective, this plan should include regular updates on the brand’s attendance, sharing fun moments from the show floor, capturing demonstrations in progress, sharing award wins, sharing speaking opportunities, sharing big media wins, etc.

Report On Media Performance After the Fact

At the end of it all, do an audit on how your media performance was at the show. If you launched a new product, how much coverage did it get? Was the reception positive? How about award wins? Or speaking opportunities? Quotes? Pictures?

1. This is the ROI part of the discussion, and it brings up a point I failed to mention at the top in more detail, OUTLINE GOALS FOR THE SHOW. This is so important to do in advance and is something that will help make those executive conversations run a lot smoother once the show is over.

2. Don’t overpromise. There’s no guarantee a great product launch will mean exceptional sales down the line. The goal of most PR is to drive positive awareness, and I try to ensure my clients are focused on the top-of-funnel element of tradeshows when most applicable, or bottom-of-funnel element if the show is more focused on driving purchases.

In summary, tradeshows and events are an incredibly powerful tool in the PR professional’s toolkit. They serve as a critical platform for launching new products, offering hands-on demonstrations that can directly influence buyer decisions​, providing a focused environment to meet directly with target demographics, etc.  

One thing we didn’t discuss at length is the rise of hybrid trade shows, which add a layer of physical and virtual participation options to accommodate more attendees and broaden reach​. This is something we’ll need to keep in our back pocket for a future blog post.

Stay tuned for more insights and tips on effective PR strategies for tech and audio companies on Golden State PR’s blog. Thanks for sticking around. Hope you crush your day today and HIRE ME to do your product launch PR, you probably won't regret it.