How to make the most of your time at a trade show

They’re crowded and noisy, but trade shows offer plenty of ops to meet the media

The mosh pit that is the trade show floor is not the best environment for chatting up new media contacts and regaling them with your best pitch ideas—all while shouting yourself hoarse. Nevertheless, if your organization or client demands your presence at a key trade show, media outreach is what you must do.

“Persistence is everything,” says Stephani Simon, principal with LaBreche PR in Minneapolis, who prepares trade show strategies for her firm. “You have to frame the story in advance e-mails, you have to track people down and sometimes you wait outside of a meeting room to grab a reporter you need to talk to—and you follow up on all your promises.” Here are tips from trade show veterans on making the most of those precious seconds with the media.

Do your homework: It’s never too early to start contacting attending media prior to the show. “If you wait until you get to the trade show to try to make contact with the media, you’ll be in trouble,” warns Israel Kreps, CEO of Kreps/DeMaria PR in Coral Gables, Fla.