Friday, September 12, 2008

Show planning is like moving

I recently purchased a home and I found that I'll need my trade show planning skills to help me execute this move.

It seems there are a lot of similarities between show planning and move planning:

1. Make a master list
2. Pay attention to and adhere to deadlines
3. Watch your budget

Make a master list. The ubiquitous "to-do" list is useful just about anytime you have to accomplish numerous tasks. Make the list and assign deadlines, then order the list in date order. Which leads us to...

Pay attention and adhere to deadlines. "It has to be on the truck on (date)" applies most definitely to moving as well as trade shows. If you're not ready to load out, have a contingency plan (another truck, backup plans). But be sure to not grow your costs too much, because....

You have to watch your budget. Costs can grow if you're not careful. Missing deadlines, ordering things not in the plan, forgetting to add an item to the list or adding it late.

Lesson learned: no detail is too small in moving or trade show planning.

TTSG

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