The average podiatry conference costs about $3,000 to exhibit at – and that’s just the cost of the booth. Let’s take a closer look at the total investment:

• Flight $300
• Hotel $200 per night X 3 nights = $600
• Misc Transportation (Uber, rental car, etc) $100
• Per diem varies but let’s say it’s $55 per day X 3 days = $165
• Oh, did you need electricity? That’s another $150
• Shipping of materials $300 (on the very low side; I’ve seen it cost thousands to ship booth materials)
• Depending on the conference, you may also be on the hook for a table, chairs, trash can (to the tune of $60 for the trash can alone), and carpet.

That’s a total of $4,615+++, assuming you only sent one sales rep. And that’s not including the cost of any other type of sponsorship, lunch workshop, or display and marketing materials: tablecloth, booth display, samples, literature, promo items…

Breaking that down further

It’s costing you (or your boss) at least $4615 to go to the conference. The exhibit hall breaks make up a total of 7.5 hours (morning & afternoon break plus lunch for 3 days). Doing some quick math, that’s $615 and some change PER HOUR for you to be exhibiting there.

It’s a lot of money. How are you making the most of it?

Hopefully you are slammed with customers and writing orders for every minute you’re there. But let’s be real – there’s going to be some down time.

Oh – I’m going to go ahead and call out those of you who sit in a chair at your booth and scroll your phone (not working or emailing or anything productive), waiting for someone to come up and interrupt you and ask you to take their mega order. Ya, that’s not going to work for long.

Here’s a few ways to maximize the time you spend exhibiting at a conference:

1. Be actively engaged during break times. Stand, smile, make eye contact with those that are walking by. Say “Hi”.
2. When you do have the opportunity to speak to someone, remember what your sales skills have taught you. This article is not Sales 101 so that part is on you to figure out.
3. Get there as soon as the exhibit hall opens (or a bit early) and stay until it closes. Every. Day.
4. Be sure to attend any cocktail hours or welcome receptions that are open to exhibitors.
5. When there is no traffic in the exhibit hall, make use of the time by making connections with those around you. But don’t wander too far from your booth just in case someone comes looking for you!
6. Spend some time reading through the conference program. Look at the topics that are being presented, as well as faculty names. If you see someone you recognize, make a goal to connect with them while you’re there.
7. Browse the sponsor listings and advertisements in the program. See something that catches your eye? Make a note of it for the next seminar so you can jump on that ad spot or sponsorship. (Floor decals, escalator runners…)
8. Pay attention to vendors that offer a similar product to yours. Don’t pay too much attention to the competition but a little “market research” never hurt anyone.
9. Bring along some work or a special project to complete while lectures are going on and there’s no one in the exhibit hall. Just be sure to pick something that you can easily put down and pick back up again.

Hopefully you have found this breakdown to be enlightening. We all have days when we don’t feel “on” or want to stand up and engage all day at a booth but think about these numbers and what’s at stake next time you feel like that. There’s only a certain number of times where the excuse “It was a terrible show” will cover for you.

The information provided by Clover Conferences, LLC or Ann Dosen on www.cloverconferences.com or via email is for general informational purposes only. All information is provided in good faith, however, we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information we provide. Basically, we are not responsible if you take our advice and it doesn’t go well for you.