Guaranteed to let you down

Technology, that is.

Beware of having anything on your trade show stand that needs to be switched on. It will always go wrong.

For example, one exhibitor at a recent show we attended had a very ambitious set up, Twenty laptops for visitors to engage with while the demonstrator talked them through setting up a web-site. Within three minutes of a half-hour session, it all went horribly and hopelessly wrong. Embarassed techies scurried around, bemused participants threw up their hands and the poor demonstrator was reduced to mumbling stuff like, "It's all really very simple." "Let's look at this screen shot of what should be happening." "Get me out of here!" That last was not actually vocalised but his body language spoke volumes.

Face it. No-one needs to work through your latest piece of super-software, to actually work your mechanical digger, to knit a sweater on your sexy kit. It's YOU who is so in love with the damn stuff that you can't resist showing it off.

What your qualified visitor needs to know is that it WORKS. And that they can see it in action, play with it and do all the other stuff your on-stand demo has failed to deliver some other time and place.

So tuck away your ego and concentrate on doing what works, not what looked exciting at that meeting with your 'creative' team.