It is not an easy work to organize a successful exhibition in China and there are many steps should be considered. The following will introduce the information of organizing an exhibition in China.
It is not an easy work to organize a successful exhibition in China and there are many steps should be considered. The following will introduce the information of organizing an exhibition in China.
Steps in the preliminary planning of an exhibition should include: setting up of an Exhibition Planning Committee, accurate Budget Planning, selection of an appropriate site, negotiating agreements and contracts with all the necessary parties, sourcing exhibitors and/or speakers relevant to the theme of the exhibition.
The first and most logical step in exhibition planning is assembling a team of people who have the necessary skills and experience. Optimally these people should all be great team players, who can work responsibly and on their own initiative, whilst also carrying other people’s interests at heart. It is good practice to make the size of your planning committee relevant to the scale of your exhibition.
Once you have assembled your team, the next step is to appoint an exhibition coordinator. This role requires a great amount of responsibility, as most of the executive decisions will come down to the coordinator’s discretion. You will need somebody with good organizational skills, is a good communicator of ideas, has a great eye for detail and can function well under stressful situations. Depending on the size of your exhibition, it might be necessary for the coordinator to appoint administrative staff or a secretary to deal with the extra administrative and clerical tasks.
An exhibition budget should be prepared through a thoughtful process involving the sponsor, planning committee and coordinator. The coordinator should be in full control of the budget, for if payments are approved by someone other than the coordinator, it will be difficult to hold him/her accountable for expenditures. It is a listing of all anticipated expenses, funding sources and projected revenue. Part of preparing a conference budget requires compiling a split folio. This is a division of expenses which lists the charges covered by the conference master account and individual guest charges, if there are to be any.
One of the most important aspects in planning an exhibition is choosing a suitable venue. This should be arranged as early in the planning process as possible in order to avoid any last minute nightmares. Your site should be located as centrally as possible with regards to your target audience.
It is generally regarded good practice to enter into a formal contract agreement with the venue. The process of reaching this agreement may take time, but it will ensure that both parties will be protected against any unexpected changes in plan. It would be dreadful to be notified one week before the exhibition that you have been double booked because no formal documents were signed and the venue manager completely forgot about the conversation you had over the specified dates. It is also important to remember that negotiations should be handled professionally, as both parties want to gain maximum benefit from any arrangement.
Setting an appropriate theme for the show is very important, as it will eventually determine what image the public have of the exhibition. Choose one that is in line with the material you are exhibiting. An ‘under the sea’ experience will not bode well with potential invitees to a car show, but will perhaps draw more attention if used to market an exhibition on new children’s toys or a pet show.
Next in the planning process is finding potential exhibitors to take part in your show. Sending out personal invitations is probably the most effective way to go. You can also advertise your intention to hold an exhibition in the early planning months, but this needs to be done amongst the social or industry circles relevant to your kind of exhibition.
Publicity is of utmost importance in the planning of an exhibition. Use as many channels as are accessible to you. The internet is a very powerful marketing tool, and should be exploited to its maximum. Make sure you have an up to date website which is instantly identifiable with your theme and purpose. Furthermore, make use of show invites and advertisements, promotional gifts, flyers, brochures, visitor and press packs, staff badges, stand backdrops and signage, and internal documents and communications.
Once you have done all your preparation of advertising, budgeting and sourcing participants, it is time to plan the actual show and execute it. Planning of the show plays an important role, and should be coordinated carefully. You might plan certain talks or workshops to coincide with specific days of the exhibition. Changes are sometimes unavoidable, but make sure that if a change has to be made to the schedule, that it is well publicized.
Once the show is complete, conducting some kind of evaluation will be very valuable in giving you an idea of what can be improved on in future events. The most common type of evaluation is to create a survey form.