From booth to boom: How smart founders master trade shows in 2 seconds or less

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There are few places where thousands of people come together with the sole purpose of discovering new brands and products. Trade shows may not be top of mind for budding entrepreneurs, but these industry events can help supercharge a new business—providing built-in opportunities for networking, finding retail partners, gaining valuable feedback, conducting competitor research, and stoking your inspiration.

With thousands of trade shows taking place in the U.S. each year across industries and cities, there’s plenty of opportunity to be had. Shopify spoke with founders who’ve successfully navigated trade shows for their best advice on how new entrepreneurs can do the same.

Test drive trade shows before committing

Depending on your industry, you may have multiple trade shows to choose from. To keep costs in check, you’ll want to be strategic about where you allocate your resources. A booth can easily cost a few thousand dollars, and that’s not including money you might spend on products, décor, transportation, and other expenses. The flip side is that trade shows can lead to valuable business connections.

Debbie Wei Mullin, founder of Copper Cow Coffee, suggests testing the waters before making a commitment. One simple way to do that is to volunteer at a friend, colleague, or mentor’s booth.

“Whenever there’s emerging entrepreneurs who I’m kind of informally mentoring, they’ll come and just work the booth for a day, and it’s a great experience because you’re able to see exactly the kind of conversations we have,” she says on Shopify Masters. “What are the buyers? What are they asking? How do we run our booth?”

Morgan Cros, founder of umbrella brand Original Duckhead, also recommends going to trade shows as an attendee first to check out what competitors are doing, “see the lay of the land, where you would like to be positioned, and start small.”

Do your homework

Even if you don’t have the opportunity to get a sneak peek at a trade show, doing a little research can help you decide if it’s worth participating. When Jen Yu and Alex Penfold were launching the men’s skin care line Jaxon Lane, they opted for a smaller trade show—Indie Beauty Expo in Los Angeles—that allowed them to make more authentic connections with buyers.

“You just need to be targeted in your approach. Is this convention too big for my brand at this stage?” Yu says, adding that huge trade shows with thousands of vendors can be really overwhelming when you’re in startup mode.

Once you find the right trade show for your brand, you’ll also want to devote time to planning your presentation. “You want to do your homework before you exhibit at your first trade show,” says Lisa Watkins, cofounder of WanderFull. “It’s not something you should do at the last minute because it’s almost like a science fair project, right? You don’t want to be the kid that did it the night before.”

Watkins and her cofounder, Katie Hill, used trade shows to get their water bottle bag company off the ground. The first show they did, NY Now at the Javits Center in New York City, led to more than a hundred new retail accounts. Watkins recommends giving yourself a good two to three months to prepare, which includes asking the showrunner to provide photos of other booths that have been successful in the past.

Put thought into your booth

A trade show booth is more than just a space to display your products. It’s also an opportunity to make a knockout first impression and showcase what makes your business special. Nancy Twine, founder of the hair care brand Briogeo, suggests asking yourself how you can best represent your brand—and what you can do visually in the space to stand out.

“Getting really, really creative with your booth design and layout will really help to attract people and help to storytell your brand for you,” Twine says.

The good news, especially for smaller brands, is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to stand out. When Aloha Collection cofounders Heather Aiu and Rachael Leina’ala Soares brought their Hawaiian-inspired waterproof bags to the Magic trade show in Las Vegas, they decorated their booth with fake palm trees from Home Depot.

“We set them up, put some butcher paper down, got all of our samples, and then just crossed our fingers and said a prayer,” Soares says.

Their approach was simple but effective. The pair ended up spending $2,000 on their space—and getting a deposit of $30,000 and an order for 5,000 bags from their first distributor.

Be strategic about your location

Where your booth is located could make or break a trade show experience. Keith Eshelman, founder of the outdoor apparel and gear brand Parks Project, learned that firsthand when he was positioned right next to a coffee cart. That high-traffic location put him right in front of buyers, industry folks, and press contacts.

“We had a big, long line snaking in front of our booth, and it gave us a perfect opportunity to just pick people off and storytell,” Eshelman says. “I think what you’re up against in building a brand and communicating a mission to people is that they don’t have enough time in their lives. There’s a lot going on. And how do you capture somebody in the right moment? It turns out next to a coffee cart line is a perfect way to let people know why you exist.”

Every trade show is different. For some, it may be relatively easy to request and secure a prime location, but larger shows often use a point system when creating their event map. For example, exhibitors who have participated before or have invested in a bigger booth or sponsorships may have first dibs. Reach out to the show organizer to clarify how it works before committing.

Have your elevator pitch ready

It can be hard to stand out at a crowded trade show—and even harder to hold someone’s attention once you do. “We always say you have two seconds because they’re just walking past your booth,” says Wanderfull’s Watkins. “You have two seconds to make an impression and get them to stop in, to hear about your product. So how are you best going to do that?”

She suggests leading with why they need your product. When connecting with boutique owners and buyers of multichain stores, Watkins and Hill talked about how their customers would benefit from their water bottle bags.

Taylor Frankel, cofounder of beauty brand Nudestix, urges founders to remember their own leverage. “As much as you’re benefiting from a retailer bringing you into their stores, the retailers are all fighting to launch the new indie brand exclusively,” she says. In other words, you have a lot of value to bring to the table, and an engaged audience. Knowing your pitch inside and out, especially how your product stands out from the competition, can help you capture buyers’ attention.

Even with practice, delivering your pitch effortlessly for hours can be draining—so don’t forget to physically prepare. “Come very well hydrated and prepared to do a lot of talking, because I will tell you, working the trade show floor is probably one of the most exhausting things I’ve done in my life,” says Briogeo’s Twine. “There’s a lot of talking, a lot of interacting, but you have to bring the energy to everyone that you meet.”

Seek out sponsorships

Michelle K. Hanabusa, founder of the purpose-driven streetwear brand Uprisers, used strategic partnerships to help her fund an ambitious trade show booth in the brand’s early years—and forge a lasting collaboration.

When Uprisers was invited to showcase at ComplexCon, a convention for streetwear, pop culture, art, and innovation, Hanabusa wanted to set up her booth to mirror a Japanese convenience store, called Family Market—and stock the booth with products from other up-and-coming Asian-owned brands. Her friend gave her the idea to approach Panda Express with the idea, who loved it and ultimately sponsored the booth.

Uprisers went on to collaborate with Panda Express on a limited edition collection of clothes and accessories, and Hanabusa still hears positive feedback from brands she brought into Family Market. “There are some businesses still until this day, they’re like, ‘Hey, people have told me that they discovered us through ComplexCon.’ So, it was really cool to hear that,” she says.

Be patient

Attending trade shows can be a great way to plant seeds that blossom later down the line. Cofounders Laura Thompson and Connie Lo, the duo behind the beauty brand Three Ships, connected with a national buyer for Whole Foods while at a trade show—but it took a year for the retailer to extend an offer. In between, the cofounders tended to the relationship until things were ready to move forward.

“It was a gradual process,” Thompson says, adding that there’s no one path. “You have to go to trade shows, you have to network on LinkedIn, ask for intros from other people, even if it’s not your category buyer.”

Trade shows are also about building brand awareness and making a name for yourself within your industry, not just immediate sales. William Smolen, who was a beauty exec before founding the pet wellness brand WagWell, attended SuperZoo, a major pet industry trade show in Las Vegas, to help legitimize his new brand and showcase what made it different.

“We met a number of retailers and got incredible feedback, and ended up hiring our broker dealers from the trip and made a number of connections that I’m now following up to this day,” Smolen says.

This story was produced by Shopify and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.