I have visited and taken part in hundreds of exhibitions and trade fairs. I have read articles and books in my early days on how to have a successful expo as an exhibitor. There are sets of rules for pre, during, and post expo.
I am not going to write another guide on how to exhibit successfully. I want to stress out the most common and costly mistakes during the events, with some of them sounding unbelievable but nevertheless happening.
Every time I visit an expo, I see the same mistakes happening again and again. Don't forget that expos are an expensive "hobby" and such mistakes are of high cost.
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The inner circle of doom: A bunch of employees of the exhibitor, talk with each other, having attendees want to talk to them but find it difficult, resulting to leave.
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The barrier of fire: Having physical obstacles, and not allowing attendees to enter the booth easily, such as huge machines or tables or fancy designs.
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The great feast: Employees having lunch at the booth!!! Yes, a common practice. Who the hell will interrupt them in order to start talking business?
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The fish smells worse at the head (greek proverb): All the above happening, not by the employees, but by the owners of the company, UNBELIEVABLE.
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The show off: Using models or incompetent personnel to attract attendees, just like we are the waterfront of a certain tourist resort and restaurants attract customers by hassling them.
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The wrong mix: Choosing unqualified employees to represent a company. As a result, people socialize instead of networking, are impolite, do not speak proper English, etc.
There are plenty more of course, but they are the most common and significant. Eliminate them asap and make the money invested worth. Let me know of other ones that you notice.