Don’t Do This At A Trade Show
My colleague and I once went to a trade show as exhibitors for the Toronto Public Library. We set up our booth next to someone who was selling fabulous puppets. On my lunch break, I went over to the puppet booth and played with a few. I will never forget the nasty look the merchant gave me! At the time I honestly could not understand why – wasn't everybody else picking them up and playing with them too?
Much later on, I was glancing through a new book in our department about trade shows. There I discovered to my embarrassment that trade show etiquette frowns upon exhibitors even entering the booths of other exhibitors, let alone playing with their merchandise! The Association for Exhibit & Event Professional's website has a section that explains why, and which also looks at some other exhibitor no-no's.
About.com also has a list of basic etiquette guidelines for booth staffers to follow while at a trade show. And of course the library has many good books on the topic of trade shows. Click on the book covers to find out more about each book, and where it is located in the library.
Before your next trade show event, bone up on "what's done" and what's not!
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