What to bring to a trade show in India: an exhibitor’s checklist
Most stall problems on day one are small and avoidable: a missing exhibitor badge, a sample left at the factory, a phone at five per cent by lunch. This checklist is organised by what you need, not by what looks impressive. Pack it once, keep the box, and reuse it at the next show.
Paperwork and passes: the things that stop you at the gate.
Every organiser publishes an exhibitor manual. Read it once, early, and note the deadlines for badges, contractor passes, power and furniture orders, and the move-in and move-out timings. Venues such as Bharat Mandapam, India Expo Centre & Mart in Greater Noida, BIEC in Bengaluru and the Bombay Exhibition Centre each have their own rules for vehicles, loading bays and timings.
Keep one folder, on paper and on your phone, that any team member can open. If the person who booked the stall is stuck in traffic, someone else should still be able to get the stall open.
- Stall allotment letter and the organiser’s payment receipts.
- Exhibitor badges for each person, or the confirmation needed to collect them.
- Contractor and vehicle passes for your stall builder and deliveries.
- Your company’s GSTIN and billing details, in case the organiser or a buyer asks.
- Delivery challans or e-way bills for goods you are moving, where they apply.
- Phone numbers for the organiser’s exhibitor desk and your stall contractor.
Products and samples: bring what you can talk about.
Bring the products you most want to sell, not everything you make. A crowded stall makes it harder for a buyer to see what you are known for. For large machines or full ranges, a well-made product video or a few photos on a tablet often does more than a cramped display.
Label every sample with the same name and code that appears in your catalogue and price list. When a buyer points at something, anyone on your team should be able to find its details in seconds.
Decide in advance whether you will sell or give away samples at the stall, and who can approve it. It is easier to say no politely when the rule is already agreed.
- Display samples, each labelled with its catalogue code.
- Spare samples or swatches for serious buyers, and a way to record who took one.
- A product video or photos for anything too large to bring.
- Packing material and tape to send everything back safely.
Print and display: less paper, clearer signs.
Print what helps a visitor decide to stop: your name, what you make and one clear reason to talk to you. Visitors read signs from the aisle, so a short line in large type works better than a paragraph.
A thick printed catalogue is expensive, heavy and often left behind in a hotel room. Many exhibitors now print a smaller number for key meetings and share the full catalogue as a link. If you use a booth QR, print it large, with a line that says what it opens, and test it from where visitors will stand.
- Main stall sign or fascia text, checked for spelling against the organiser’s form.
- A booth QR sign that says what it opens, plus a short web link under it.
- A few printed catalogues or price lists for meetings, if you use them.
- Your own visiting cards, with a WhatsApp number your team actually answers.
- Prices in rupees, with a clear note on whether GST is included.
Power, phones and the internet: plan for the hall, not the office.
Exhibition halls can have weak mobile signal once thousands of people arrive, and venue Wi-Fi is not always reliable. Test your catalogue link and anything else you plan to show on mobile data before the show, and keep key videos downloaded on the device.
Check how much electrical load you booked for the stall and what the organiser allows. Lights, a screen and a few chargers add up, and a tripped connection on a busy afternoon is hard to fix quickly.
- Chargers and power banks for every phone and tablet, charged the night before.
- An extension board with a surge protector, if the venue rules permit.
- A screen or tablet with product videos saved offline.
- A second mobile network on at least one phone, in case one is weak in the hall.
- Your catalogue link, tested from WhatsApp on an Android and an iPhone.
The team: who does what, and what they carry.
Agree on roles before the doors open: who greets, who explains the products, who handles price questions and who captures every contact. When everyone does everything, contacts get lost between conversations.
Give each person the same short brief: what you are launching, which buyers you most want to meet, how to capture a lead and what to promise. A buyer should hear the same answer about lead times from anyone at the stall.
- A rota with breaks, so the stall is never empty at peak times.
- A one-page brief for the team, covering products, prices and the promises they can make.
- One agreed way to capture leads, so nothing is split across personal phones.
- Water, snacks, basic medicines and comfortable shoes. Show days are long.
- Pens, a notebook, scissors, cable ties, double-sided tape and a small toolkit.
The night before: one last check.
Lay everything out in one place and tick it off against this list. Then do one complete run of your lead capture: a colleague plays the buyer, you take their details, share the catalogue and check the contact reached the right place.
Pack a small “day box” that comes to the stall every morning with chargers, the document folder, stationery and spare visiting cards. Everything else can stay in storage.
- Documents folder, on paper and on a shared phone folder.
- Samples labelled and packed, with spares.
- QR sign and catalogue link tested on mobile data.
- All devices charged, videos downloaded.
- Team brief shared and roles agreed.
Pack for the problems that actually happen: a missing pass, a flat phone, a sample nobody can find in the catalogue. Keep the list, add what you missed this time, and the next show starts easier.