The Trade Show Checklist for Exhibitors
A trade show goes wrong in the weeks before the doors open, not on the floor. A missed insurance deadline, a crate that shipped late, a booth staffer who never saw the goals. It tends to land on one person, and most of it is avoidable with a plan and a date next to every task.
This trade show checklist breaks the work into four phases: 90 days out, 60 days out, 30 days out, and show week, plus the follow-up that decides whether the show paid for itself. It is built for exhibitors getting a booth ready. Save it, share it with your team, and check things off as you go.
Gathering your own documents, the insurance certificate, tax forms, floor plan, and order forms, and getting each in before its deadline is a project of its own. The rest of this checklist is the show itself.
90 Days Out: Goals, Space, and Budget
Lock in what cannot be changed later, and decide what success looks like before you spend a dollar on a booth.
- Set your top three objectives: lead count, qualified pipeline, brand awareness, or a product launch. Write them down.
- Define the KPIs under each objective so you can prove the result. Only 49 percent of exhibitors formally measure trade show ROI, and 77 percent of those who do report a positive return.
- Reserve your booth space and confirm size and location. A corner or near-entrance spot pulls 30 to 50 percent more foot traffic than a mid-aisle spot.
- Build the budget. Booth space runs about a third of the total, with exhibit design, travel, show services, and shipping making up most of the rest.
- Read the show manual end to end. First-time exhibitors often skip it; it holds the rules, deadlines, and order forms, and the rules vary by show and by country.
- Note every deadline from the manual in your calendar now: discount cutoffs, insurance, shipping target dates, and the EAC submission date.
- Decide your booth plan: rent, build, reuse, or a hybrid, and send RFPs to your booth, shipping, and AV vendors.
60 Days Out: Booth, Documents, and Promotion
Turn the plan into ordered, confirmed, paid-for reality. This is where the paperwork that controls move-in access gets handled.
- Finalize booth design and graphics. Make the main sign pass the ten-foot test: a passerby should know what you do in under two seconds.
- Order electrical, internet, furniture, and labor before the discount deadline. Advance ordering saves 20 to 40 percent versus on-site rates.
- Order your certificate of insurance. Most shows require a COI at least 30 days before move-in, naming the venue, organizer, and general contractor as additional insureds. Arriving without it is one of the most common reasons move-in access gets denied.
- Submit your EAC (Exhibitor Appointed Contractor) and COI paperwork through the show's exhibitor portal.
- Gather the documents the show asks of you: your logo, the certificate of insurance, the floor plan, signed agreements, order forms, tax forms (a W9 in the US), and lead-retrieval orders. Pulling these together before the deadline is a job of its own.
- Book travel and hotels for the booth team, padding arrival and departure so setup and teardown are not a sprint.
- Order marketing materials and giveaways: brochures, banners, and any demo hardware.
- Start pre-show outreach. Exhibitors who market before the show generate 46 percent more booth visits than those who rely on walk-up traffic. Post your booth number weekly and email your list a link to book a meeting.
30 Days Out: Logistics, Shipping, and Staff
Everything physical now has to move, and everyone on the team has to know the plan.
- Confirm inbound and outbound shipping. Inbound needs certified weight tickets; outbound needs a Material Handling Agreement for each destination.
- Ship to the advance warehouse if your show offers it. This can cut costs and guarantees your crates are there for move-in, and the window often opens about 30 days out.
- Record every order confirmation and tracking number in one place you can reach on site.
- Test every demo, screen, and piece of event tech now, not on show morning.
- Plan staffing. A common rule of thumb is one staffer per 100 square feet of booth.
- Run a booth team training session: the three questions every prospect asks, how to capture a lead in under 60 seconds, and when to hand a hot lead to a senior rep.
- Pre-write your post-show follow-up email so it is ready the moment the show closes.
- Pack the emergency kit: spare cables, a power strip, gaffer tape, zip ties, a sharpie, and a printed list of every vendor contact.
- Print your shipping and return labels in advance and bring them with you, so teardown does not wait on the service desk.
Show Week: Setup, Floor, and Leads
Now you execute the plan and protect the leads, because the leads are the whole point.
- Arrive early and walk your space to confirm every shipment and order arrived.
- Check in at the service desk to confirm your labor order, and confirm teardown labor while you are there.
- Do a full tech run-through at the end of setup day, not the morning of day one.
- Hold a pre-show staff meeting to review goals, booth roles, and the schedule.
- Keep staff standing, phones away, and rotate them every 30 minutes. Most attendees decide whether to stop at a booth in about 3 seconds.
- Capture every lead digitally with qualification notes, not a pile of business cards.
- Tally leads each evening and send the personalized follow-ups while the conversation is fresh.
- Label empty crates for teardown before they go to storage.
After the Show: Follow Up and Measure
The show generated the leads. The follow-up decides whether they become pipeline, and speed matters more than anything else here.
- Follow up with every qualified lead within 24 to 48 hours. An email sent within 24 hours gets a 48 percent open rate, versus 21 percent a week later. About 81 percent of trade show leads are never followed up at all, so doing this well puts you ahead of most of the floor.
- Hand-deliver your Material Handling Agreement to the service desk and confirm your carrier's pickup.
- Collect all final invoices from the service desk and vendors.
- Measure the show against the KPIs you set at 90 days out. Track show leads separately so you can report cost per lead; the industry benchmark is about $142 per lead.
- Run a short debrief and note what to change for next show.
How to Use This Trade Show Checklist
Treat the phase headers as deadlines, not suggestions. The tasks that quietly sink shows are the ones with a hard date: the COI, the shipping target, the discount cutoff. Put each on a calendar the day you read the show manual.
Frequently Asked Questions
What documents do exhibitors need before a trade show?
Most shows require a certificate of insurance naming the venue and organizer as additional insureds, an Exhibitor Appointed Contractor form if you use outside labor, and W9 or vendor paperwork. The COI is usually due at least 30 days before move-in, and showing up without it is a common reason move-in access is denied.
What is a Material Handling Agreement?
A Material Handling Agreement, or MHA, is the document you complete for outbound shipments at a show. Each destination needs its own MHA, and you hand it to the service desk when your crates are ready to leave rather than leaving it in the booth.
Running the show yourself and collecting these documents from every exhibitor? That is the part Submitto handles: one link, files renamed to your convention, and a live view of who has not sent theirs. Request beta access, self-serve, no sales call, no setup fee.
Sources
Built from the best trade-show resources, including: