As discussed last week, we are now delving into more detailed info regarding budget – complete with a budget worksheet to help you in your Tradeshow endeavors. Last year I gave myself a budget of $10,000 for the show after talking to many previous exhibitors. It felt like a conservative number and average number to get going. In the end I came in at just under 10k. This year I’m going about things differently. I’m weighing in what pieces will be a long term investment vs. annual investment and then budgeting accordingly.

I’m going to pull the main expenses from last week’s post and dive into suggested ways of setting your budget based off of these elements.

Booth Fee This is, for me, the place to start with my budget. Whether you are sharing a booth or going with an 8×10 (first years) or maybe you feel daring and want to splurge on a corner booth or 10×12 – your booth size will help map out the rest of your pricing expenditures. The reason I use this as a gauge is because as your business and product offering grow, so will your booth size. By starting small, you should also be realistic in understanding that you don’t want to go overboard in other areas especially as a first year exhibitor. Put your DIY skills to work so the final bill isn’t sticker shock that you will be paying off in three-years time. In the budget worksheet I’m allotting 35% of my total expenses to my booth fee. The running total this year is roughly $2,600. I’m going with another 8×10′ booth but am upgrading to a corner booth which is a +$400 charge up from last year. This puts my estimated budget at $7,500. While this is an annual expense, it usually is one of the biggest expenses.

Booth Expense Booth walls, lighting and more have been designated 15% – $1125 – the reason this gets less than travel is because a lot of these expenses can either be cut after your first year because of the reusable nature of this Tradeshow expense, but also because you can continue to allot the same amount year after year and “improve on the booth” – like remodeling. Hopefully you can build a base booth and then make tweaks from year to year that will help keep this expense not one of your most expensive ones. This will need to include walls, lighting, electrical, flooring and installation hardware to start with.

Booth Furnishings While this may be the most exciting part of Tradeshow prep, it is also the easiest to break the budget on. Who doesn’t love decorating?! Again, like the booth expense above, this category can be built on year after year. So ultimately it gets a smaller budget – 6% or roughly $450. It should include shelving or product display, and seating. Desks, tables, consoles etc. are optional that you can use if you feel it necessary. This is a good place to rent equipment as well – specifically the big ticket items of you don’t want to spend a fortune shipping it out.

Shipping When shipping you will need to consider a few things – will you need a lift gate on the truck, will you require a forklift, will the pickup be at a residential location, will it be on ground level for easy access (it better be), do you live rural or close to a major city (or in one) so that you have access to a shipping terminal, have you calculated the weight of your booth correctly, and are you shipping one way or round trip? All of these things will add or subtract to your freight quote. Since I am very rural, need a forklift, have a residential pickup, and no close access to a shipping terminal I need to budget more for shipping. I’m putting in 9% or roughly $675 for shipping. Last year’s booth was estimated at $585 one way at 500 lbs. I shipped wood walls, it came out being 715 lbs. and a total of $900ish. For me it is more economical to ship and reuse, and store on site.

Travel Whether you live near or far from convention land there are ways to save on travel if you are smart. For me, I’ve allotted 20% of my budget to travel. I get my flights for free with cardmember miles and just need to pay for food and lodging. 20% = $1500 in my budget which hopefully will cover hotel/apt. and food. If you can stay with friends, more power to you! NYC is not cheap!

Unions The one advantage to being a small booth exhibitor is that you sort of get “forgotten” about – which means you can save here if you have a low-budget booth. I don’t want to get the union police all up in my hair so if you are looking to save in this department then email me and I’ll share some Tradeshow budget secrets with you that I learned last year! On another note, I highly recommend getting a PAR-CAN lamp (mega wattage) for your booth. This has to be done by union workers and is $320 if ordered by the April deadline. On-site ordering will cost you an extra $100 for the light PLUS an hourly installation fee. Don’t skimp out on a Parcan. I was in the low lighting area and still so glad I did it! Budget? 5% = $375.

Promotional Material As stated last week, your “throw-away” promo pieces should be budgeted every year, which includes promo material. I’ve allotted 8% or roughly $600 for this category. It will go fast once you price in postage so this should be an area where you not only showcase your creative genius but also utilize your paper resources to make the most out of the stuff you have on hand. Promo pieces to include in the budget should be direct-mail pre-show promos (and postage), press kits for the media that introduce your business to them, post-show mailers, catalogs, line sheets, giveaways, business cards and product samples.

Signage Even with the advent of home printers and vinyl lettering your business name needs to reflect quality and professionalism. You can either add this to your booth expense budget if you are doing pre-printed or MannyStone foam walls, or take care of this on your end. Just make sure it rocks. Since I had awesome signage made from Oslo Press last year, I’ll be reusing that and allotting less this year (2%) for just the small stuff – vinyl, totaling a budgeted amount of $150.

With all that said, start breaking down your budget and keep track in the attached budget Tradeshow worksheet. Keep it where it is visible so you don’t lose sight of the end goal (which hopefully is to make money)!

There is no easy way around a tradeshow and the best protection you can have is to prepare with a budget for the show. Otherwise, before you know it you’ll be throwing money left and right at anything and everything.

In breaking down a tradeshow you have your major purchases, supporting purchases and minor purchases. The show you are exhibiting at will determine your focus and spending power for each area. By setting aside a total dollar amount and then breaking it down by importance and percentage you will be more confident in sticking to your budget and not feeling overwhelmed at the large amount of cash you are going to throw down. This post is going to outline a budget for attending the show. New product develemt and cost will be broken down in a second post that is more related with your business plan and marketing for the show.

Starting off with the big ticket items for NSS:
Booth Fee This is at the top of my list because while it might not be the most expensive thing on the list, it is the first thing you pay for, and you must pay via cash/check – no credit cards for this one. For a small business I find this important to note because cash on hand is more variable and you don’t want to be caught ready to launch new product and no booth space to show it at!

Booth Expense Your NSS booth fee pretty much covers your “land” on the tradeshow floor. Think of it like this: you buy the land then build the house. Your booth fee is “buying the land” and your booth expense is “building the house”. Everything budgeted in your booth expense will be the house building portion of your budget. Including but not limited to: walls, hardware, electrical, flooring and aesthetic.

Booth Furnishings Your booth, once the house is built, now needs to be filled. No one will walk into an empty booth. Have you ever toured a home show and thought “Wow, everything is so perfect!” that is because the homes are shown fully furnished. It makes them more buyable and more welcoming. Having a place to seat your buyers (even though they most likely won’t sit) is enticing to sore tradeshow feet. Don’t underestimate the power of a welcoming interior.

Shipping When building your booth consider transportation. Even if you store onsite from year to year you have to get it out there in the first place. You will be hating life if you don’t work that into the process. After all, a 130 lb. average woman is going to have a hard time hanging sheet metal by herself with chicken arms. Consider booth construction in your shipping. More compact shipments are cheaper to ship. Lighter weighted walls make for a less expensive freight quote. Broken backs cost money too. 

Travel Whether you live next to the convention center or on the opposite side of the country you will want to make sure that you have budgeted in gas/flights, hotel and food – eating out for every meal can get expensive!

Unions Like it or not, most tradeshows use them. It helps with liability and trying to coordinate and schedule a couple thousand booths in one convention center. I include this in the budget because depending on your contract, you will be most likely required to hire the union for some of your setup. NSS specific rules include no standing on chairs, hanging lighting in the amount of 7+ lights, electrical, hanging hard walls (most people can get around this) and anything that requires the use of power tools. If you want catered food, you are supposed to hire the union. If you wand special foam walls you are encouraged to hire the union. Be aware of Freeman’s cost (NSS’ official contracted labor union) when you start planning so you can be aware of the costs associated with it when deciding what to hire out.

Promotional Material While your product should be budgeted with your business plan, all your promo pieces pertaining to promoting your business at the show should be included in this budget. Chances are that you won’t get the exact same booth number year after year so this will be a “throw-away” expense that should be budgeted each time you do a tradeshow. Promo pieces to include in the budget should be direct-mail pre-show promos (and postage), press kits for the media that introduce your business to them, post-show mailers, catalogs, line sheets, giveaways, business cards and product samples.

Signage Even though this is at the bottom of the list, it gets it’s own mention because without great signage and a visable booth number, all that hard work promoting your business pre-show will have been fruitless. Don’t overlook the most important element of your booth – your business name should be front and center as well as easily recognizable.

With all that said, start thinking about these big ticket items first and then come back next week for the breakdown with a budget worksheet to help you get started!