Call them secrets, call them tricks of the trade or call them no-brainers. The fact remains a successful trade show is right within any planner’s reach.

It’s the little things and the big things. The day of, the days before and the days after. Most of what you need to know comes from intuition, but with the mammoth task ahead, it helps to have a cheat sheet. 

1. Know your budget.

Notice, that doesn’t say “estimate a budget” or even “build a budget.” Know your budget. The back of the napkin is a good place to get started, but you can only get across the finish line with a hard number. 

Think about contingencies, potholes, best and worst case scenarios. Have your go-to contractors kept their prices steady? Have you tallied up the per diems? Food? Travel? Transit? Get a number in mind before you start signing any dotted lines, and know that not everything is a one-to-one comparison: Last year’s number may not square up with this year’s, depending on any number of variable costs.

2. Pick the right partner(s).

Struggling to build that budget? We know someone who can help. Have a trade show budget in place, but don’t know where to get started? On it.

It’s critical to choose your trade show partner early on to help you calibrate your planning process. A great partner will take a good deal of the planning off your plate, find the right showcase for your product and connect you with more of the right people to make your vision a reality. 

3. Lock in your schedule.

Anyone who’s been to a trade show knows its beautiful chaos. From the moment you walk through the convention hall’s doors, it’s a mad dash to the finish. 

We recommend you block out your schedule to the minute to ensure everything runs as smoothly as possible. That goes for the obvious: setup, teardown, meal breaks—and the not as obvious: Pit stops at competitor booths, potential troubleshooting and general time to wander.

It may seem like overkill, but tightening your schedule will give you even more freedom to break it: There’s no better feeling than a few minutes saved and another few earned. Use your agenda as a baseline, and see where you can exceed expectations.

4. Simplify your goals.

With any big event, it’s easy to bet the house: More leads. New markets. Greater awareness.

While the motivations are admirable, we highly recommend that our clients pick a primary goal to chase after. Splitting yourself across four different missions won’t award them more than 25% of your best, especially with only a day or two to make your best impression. Pick your highest or most attainable aspiration and set your sights there.

Keep the secondary goals in mind, of course, and consider them the frosting on the cake. Nice to have, but only with the batter beneath.

5. Get your people.

Chances are, you know exactly who you want in your corner for your next event. The people who best represent your brand—whether they’re back office folks, top earners or great presenters—tend to make themselves known.

Trust your gut on this one, and make sure everyone knows where they need to be and when they need to be there. The right person still needs the right direction, and you can’t simply expect them to show up and turn on. Give your team tasks and objectives that’ll help you reach your greater goal from the point above and let them do what they do best.