Perhaps that sounds an easy task, after all it's always far easier to spend money than to keep or save it and the same applies to spending the budget set aside for exhibiting at a trade show. However, there is method in the madness of ensuring that you just keep within the set trade show budget; under spend by too much and your budget gets reduced next time, overspend and you get in trouble for not being in control of the company's money.
It's difficult, but somehow as the team manager you have to get the figure just right. That is to say that you spend around 95 percent of the budget; give or take 1 percent either way. Only spending 90 percent is no good and exceeding 100 percent never goes down too well, even if it's only a couple of per cent.
However, if you take time to break down the cost of individual items associated with attending and exhibiting at the trade show, you will find that the majority of costs are fairly static and are well defined. For example, the cost of trade show rental space is set and so is the cost of the display booth. You can easily work out the cost of transportation and you can find out the cost of accommodation. Accepted, the cost of drinks and meals etc is variable, but you can make a reasonable estimate. You also know the cost of having brochures printed and leaflets printed. You also know how much the giveaways are going to cost.
Deduct all of the known expenses away from the allocated budget. This leaves you with a figure that can be applied to variable expenses, such as food and drinks. It will also leave you with an amount that can be spent on improving the display booth.
Depending on the amount you have available you can get improved banners, better graphics or even introduce a couple of competitions with a prize that eats in to the remainder of the budget. However, always remember not to exceed the budget.
By the time the day of the trade show begins you know exactly how much you have spent; practically down to the last cent. The rest of the budget now has to adequately cover those variable expenses that relate to food and drinks.
If you bring your team members into what you are trying to achieve you will find that they will willingly try to assist. After all they are going to want to attend the next trade show, so it's in their best interest to ensure that the right budget is set for next time and the correct amount of the budget is spent this time.
If you have your complete team on your side, everyone will work together. There will be no excesses and providing you calculated your budget fairly accurately there will still be enough money to ensure that you and your team can enjoy a few good meals and stay within budget.
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By L. Reaves for Exhibit Deal - http://www.exhibitdeal.com/ - they manufacture many of the displays you see on their website, and those they don't are sourced from the most reputable manufacturers and tested by our team.
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