HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF A VISIT TO A FAIR

Nowadays fairs are multi-day, complex events where numerous players have significant roles. This gives designers, suppliers, visitors and even students unprecedented opportunities to meet, interact and learn, but can also cause confusion, a feeling of being overwhelmed and powerless and if one does not come prepared.

The best way to come prepared is to plan, and planning starts with deciding, according to ones ambitions, needs, but also budget, as fairs tend to take place in expensive cities in which few sleeping opportunities are contended by many different people, which trade shows are worth a visit in person and which ones are not. We will be listing Europe’s most important trade shows and the attributes that characterize them. It can be very useful to buy the tickets as soon as they go on sale and to download the official app most trade fairs offer. This allows to have an exact overview of all the participating exhibitors, side events like talks, presentations and panels and curated exhibitions that will take place during the fair.

Most trade shows are massive events which run for multiple days and it is necessary to go for more than one day to be able to have an overview of everything they offer. Smaller brands may decide to go for just one day arriving in the morning and staying until the same evening, but even if you do have the opportunity to stay longer and see more, an action plan is essential to making the most of your visit.

It can be very useful to have a list of all time sensitive events that one is interested in participating in and their exact location, this allows you to understand in which areas of the trade show you will be in which moment of the day and will allow you to plan your visit to the exhibitors closest to this area accordingly.

This brings us to the next point, having a complete overview of all the exhibitors is of paramount importance to maximize time; this will allow you to subdivide essential exhibitors, from ones that can be seen if there is a little time left. Use any spare time to visit the ones you didn’t have as much information but that may become potential suppliers, as these will require additional time. Knowing the exhibitors location by hall and stand allows to cluster exhibitors by local proximity saving precious footsteps. For your visits calculate at least 10 minutes minimum with each exhibitor, 30 minutes if you are looking and choosing fabrics, even more if you are also placing orders.

Finally, make sure you plan for food and drink breaks, considering that most restaurants and cafés inside the fair are usually overfilled at lunchtime with huge cues forming which are always a waste of time.

As we had mentioned all trade shows nowadays have curated exhibitions areas that feature current and upcoming trends, technologies & innovations, young designers and brands or other interesting themes. These curated exhibitions within the trade fair are well worth the visitors’ time and will give you a very good overview of the most interesting products by selected exhibitors focussing on a specific theme or subject.

If you have time try to attend one of the collateral events, this could be a talk or panel. These events are usually extremely cutting edge and great for asking specific questions to world experts and can be useful for networking, they will allow you to gain access to people who are already in the business and who could help you with your project

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