Your Essential Guide to Trade Show Planning for 2025
Google’s good at what they do. There’s probably a reason you’re here now.
You’ve got a trade show coming up in 2025 and you still haven’t planned for it.
(Or at the very least, you haven’t finished planning for it.)
Look no further than the guide below. We queried our best people from around the organization and dug into some of our more recent experience in 2024 to help you get the jump on your 2025 trade show.
Benchmarking
One of the most common mistakes we see takes place before the wheels ever set in motion: a failure to recap. Before you start planning for your 2025 trade show, look back at your 2024 results (and if you didn’t have anything on your 2024 docket, look back to whatever exhibition is most recent).
Honesty is everything. Like sit-ups and midnight snacking, ignoring the realities means you’re only cheating one person: yourself.
What worked? What didn’t? What went better than expected? What went worse?
Once you’ve finished cataloging your own performance, it’s time to look outside of your organization. See what your competitors did. See where companies outside of your industry succeeded, and what you can borrow.
Once you’ve got a good idea of where you were in the past and where you want to be, start pinpointing some benchmarks for 2025. There are any number of categories that can help you code your trade show success, so make sure you pick the most relevant ones—and don’t let yourself off the hook. Your social media metrics, for example, may belie your actual leads. Here’s a few tangible ideas to get your started:
ROI
The simplest way of thinking about things is expenses vs. revenue, and while you should never lose sight of it, there’s likely more nuance to what you’re trying to accomplish. Work on creating an ROI measuring stick for your 2025 trade show that incorporates things like man-hours, travel budgets and even softer sciences like warm leads and one-on-one engagement.
Day of performance
Are you measuring leads? Sales? Foot traffic? Decide on the hard-and-fast metrics you want to keep tabs on, and have a plan before you head into next year.
Brand awareness
Find the best ways to measure things like your online mentions, email open rates and even LinkedIn connections. As always, we can help point you in the right direction.
Budgeting
When it comes to your 2025 trade show budget, know one thing: size matters.
…but not like you’re thinking.
Bigger doesn’t mean better. Smaller doesn’t mean less memorable. An effective trade show booth is the size it should be, not the size you want it to be.
What do we mean by that? Simple: Make the best use of every square inch of your exhibit. Every nook and cranny should carry a purpose, so you’re not stuck with 50 square feet of awkward space—or alternatively, clamoring for an additional 50 square feet to jerry-rig a homemade product display or banner stand.
Floor space itself can range from $5,000 to $45,000 depending on the show and the size of your booth, so you’ll want to get it right the first time.
On top of that, it’s pivotal to think about your booth as a component of a wider effort. Considering a trade show as a discrete event can make the dollar signs feel bigger than they really are. If your exhibit is serving a greater purpose—say, as a key cog of your year’s overall marketing campaign—it’s easier to put the figures in perspective.
Talk with us about sizing and budgeting your booth for the long haul.
Trend mapping
With technology and marketing tools becoming more user-friendly and attainable than ever before, the rates of change in trade show trends are at an all-time high. That said, it’s still well worth your time to anticipate where they’re headed.
In 2025, we’re expecting even lighter, simpler, cleaner displays that feature more demos and fewer gizmos. Long and short: gimmicks are out, function is in.
Focus on streamlining your tech and interactive elements. Invest in the most useful applications of the bunch: larger screens, LED wall screens, touch screens, augmented reality and AI demos all come to mind.
Scheduling
Spring and fall often harbor some of the most highly attended trade shows for one simple reason: Those are the easiest times to travel for most professionals. No competing summer vacations, fewer holidays checkering the calendar.
We advise our clients to think seasonally, but don’t take this rule of thumb as the end-all-be-all. There’re plenty of expos in the summer and winter that could make sense for your brand—just make sure you’ve got your timing down pat before you put down a deposit.
To our mind, down pat means creating a mini schedule for every show. We’ve written everything here in the context of a single trade show for 2025, but the reality is that you might sign up for multiple. Try blocking out a six-month schedule for each, minding the necessary overlap.
At six months out, consider your big picture strategy and design focus.
At three months out, start nailing down your production, content needs and marketing requirements.
At one month out, send another reminder to your contact list, get your take-homes in place and make sure you have a solid team in place to work the event.
Our 12-month strategy guide can help you fine-tune the finer points.
Messaging
Another hiccup we see all too often with trade show marketing is its relationship with a brand’s overall communications. When your company is scoping its communication strategy for the year, make absolutely sure to include your trade show in the conversation.
That doesn’t just mean using the same tagline across the board.
Consider what new initiatives you’re unveiling, what products you’re focusing on and where your priorities are shifting. Who are you talking to? What’s your offer? Why should anyone care?
You might be surprised how many brands register for a trade show without ever considering those three questions. When the day arrives, these same brands are left wondering why exactly they’re there, leaving ample opportunity on the table.
The easiest way to get your ducks in a row is to establish exactly what you’re communicating about your brand throughout the year. Build a thesis statement. Create a comms plan. Hypothesize how it’ll work across a number of executions—your trade show included.
Once you know what you’re saying, much of the rest will solve itself.