The Orange County Chamber of Commerce Expo is on Wednesday, and I thought this would be a good time to tell you a few things you should do and not do in order to get the most out of your experience. This is only for booth exhibitors, and can be used for any other trade show.

1. Although it's nice to have a great looking booth, it's not only about how visually appealing it is. It's about engaging your targeted prospective customer in a way that they know what you offer. Keep in mind that there will be many other booths, and visitors need to know what you offer by simply glancing at your signage as they walk by. If you're like me and have a descriptive company name, A&E Advertising and Web Design, you're half way there because your sign says what you do. However, if your company's name is ACME & Widgets, Inc., odds are that people will not have a clue. Ensure to have proper signage to at least tell your target market what you do, so that they will want to approach you.

2. In order to generate profitable leads, offer an incentive appropriate to your product or service. In other words, if you offer massage therapy services, don't offer a free TV or iPad. The names you generate from people entering your raffle will mean nothing to you when following up with them because they were only interested in the prize, and NOT your product or service. Instead, offer to win a free massage gift certificate, or something along those lines.

3. Dress appropriate to your industry. Suit and tie? Jacket with no tie? Business casual? Slacks and Polo? Whichever you choose, ensure that it is appropriate to your audience. People really do judge a book by it's cover in most cases, so why not dress to impress.

4. Don't eat at your booth. If you need to eat, take a break away from the booth. The last thing you need, is an interested prospective customer that has to wait for you to swallow, clean your hands, and get ready to speak. Not the best first impression.

5. Don't leave your booth unattended unless you have absolutely no choice in the matter. You don't want to chance that one time when you leave your booth unattended and that perfect client that you've always wanted to speak with, stops by looking for you...and you weren't there. Besides, it looks bad to have an unattended booth.

6. Push your table towards the back of the booth. This automatically gives your prospect an open invitation to enter your area and ask questions. This also avoids a mental barrier between you and your prospect. Unfortunately, many exhibitors like to have that table as a barrier because it's a security thing. However, having the table between you two, will create a barrier that will keep your prospect from bonding with you. If you must keep the table pushed forward, then step outside of your booth and engage your prospective customer on the same side of the booth. They will appreciate you for it.

7. Offer a one day expo incentive. I only offer discounted services about 3 times per year. The EXPO is one of those times. I like to make offers such as 50% off web design services, or product discount services, or workshop discounts, etc. You get my drift. I like to offer these discounts for two reasons. The first reason is that I like to encourage potential customers to seek me out that day. The second reason is because I like to reward people that take decisive action. This year for instance, I will offer a normally priced $1,995 web development package for only $995, and throwing in another $1,100 worth of free bonuses like free advertising for a full year on hvBiz.com and some of my marketing products to name a few. Be aware however, that if you're offering a service, you must limit your offer to certain amount of customers. Otherwise you may give away the farm and not be able to service your customers properly. This offer can then backfire on you.

There are many other do's and don'ts when it comes to trade shows, and perhaps I'll add to this list tomorrow. For now, try and see how many of these you can implement so that you get the most out of this and other trade shows in the future.