Scaling Up Your Exhibition: What You Need to Know

What do we mean by ‘scaling up’? 

But first, what do we mean exactly when we talk about scaling up? As you’ll already know, exhibitions and trade shows are part and parcel to the business world; they’re a superb way of getting your name out there, attracting new customers, and engaging with them on a closer level. But, once you’ve gained a loyal following, the next step is to scale up and expand the reach of your exhibition. This is especially important for growing businesses, as scaling up your exhibition can help you grow. 

From a purely business perspective, scaling up is all about getting your organisation to a stage where you can encourage, allow for, and support growth. For exhibitions and trade shows, this growth is usually seen in increased attendance figures, an extended duration of the event, and/or including more participating vendors (along with other metrics). 

When to consider scaling up your exhibition 

As we said before, scaling up means accounting for growth when it’s appropriate. Before you can consider expanding your operation or the reach of your exhibition, you need to make sure you’re in a position to support the upswing in exhibition logistics and additional requirements needed to successfully scale up. 

This means that there is no hard and fast rule for when you should start scaling up your exhibitions. Instead, it’s an intensely individual process that will be unique to your business or organisation. But, some signs that you may want to consider scaling up your exhibitions are: 

• Regularly sold out smaller venues, with high demand for additional dates. 

• Significant business growth, with the capacity for more. 
• A noticeable gap in the market that you can fill with larger exhibitions or trade show events. 

If scaling up involves moving from attending exhibitions as a vendor, to hosting your own, learn everything you need to know about Launching an Exhibition with our top tips! 

Practical tips for scaling up your exhibition 

The jump from a small exhibition to a larger scale operation can be daunting. While you’ll come across many of the same considerations throughout the planning stages, there can still be significant obstacles and challenges you’ll need to overcome. To help prevent any surprises, we’ve picked out some practical tips to help you when scaling up your exhibition. 

Set exhibition goals 

Before you get distracted by the enhanced exhibition logistics that come with scaling up, we recommend taking a step back to set some goals for the event. By highlighting what you hope to achieve with a larger exhibition, you can prioritise certain aspects that will help you succeed. 

For example, say your primary goal is to increase the number of attendees at your exhibition or trade show. Setting reasonable and achievable targets will help you understand how you should focus your attention towards outreach and exhibition marketing. 

Alternatively, you may decide that the goal of hosting a larger exhibition is to create better connections with other businesses or members within the industry. With this as your target, you know that you’ll need your exhibition staff to concentrate on networking to build valuable links within your sector. 

Research your competitors 

Another aspect of setting goals is to look at how your competitors are working within the same sphere. This is a way for you to begin to understand larger industry trends, and what seems to be working well – which you can then apply to your own exhibition planning. 

Increase your marketing and sales allocation 

Understandably, hosting a larger exhibition or expo comes with a higher price tag. In fact, we’ll discuss budget allowances below. But one thing that you will need to consider when you’re scaling up is the increase of your marketing and sales allocation – both in regard to budget and strategy. 

If you’re committed to scaling up, one of the first things you’ll need to do is be willing to increase your marketing budget. A scaled up event means you need more footfall to make it worthwhile, so you need more spend within marketing to ensure more people know about your exhibition. To balance some of this expenditure, and provide a cushion within your budget, you might want to think about reaching out to more exhibition sponsors. Larger sponsors might be able to absorb some of the expenses whilst boosting the profile of your event to their own customer base. In return, they will be able to exhibit to your audience, or spread awareness of their own brand. 

You also need to allocate more resources to your marketing strategy. Putting more money into your marketing efforts will be redundant if you don’t have a solid strategy in place to reach the right audiences. So, we recommend creating a flexible but comprehensive plan for attendee engagement and audience acquisition to encourage more people to attend your event. 

Top tip: if you’re unsure how to expand your marketing strategy, you can get superb support from our Marketing Services team at Exhibition Centre Liverpool. With plenty of regional connections and experience, we can help you grow your exhibition marketing. 

Choose a venue that can grow with you 

A key part of any exhibition logistics and planning strategy is to decide on a venue. But, if you have plans to scale up in the near future, you may want to consider working with a venue that has the capacity to grow with you. Venues with flexibility are able to adapt their available space to make your exhibition look the best for your attendees – regardless of whether there are 100 or 1000.  

Take Exhibition Centre Liverpool for instance. We’re a state of the art Exhibition Venue that can be adapted and configured to meet the requirements of your event via: 

• Three halls (A, B & C), each measuring in at 2,700m2 that can be used separately or in a combination depending on your exhibition size. 

• An atrium running the full length of our building; with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Mersey allowing plenty of natural light – perfect for travelling between each area, or taking a short break. 
• An upper level provides the ideal opportunity for networking in a more relaxed atmosphere; or allows you to host smaller meetings in the eight flexible meeting rooms. 

Want to explore more? Take our Virtual Tour to get a feel for the venue before you visit. 

Pay attention to your exhibition budget 

In order to scale up in a sustainable way, you must be aware of your exhibition budget, and how to stretch it to get the results you want. Spend too much too soon, and you’ll struggle to meet the demands of the event. Hesitate on the big purchases, like venue hire, and you may find they’re booked for the times you want them. 

That’s why getting comfortable with, and making sure you know the limits of, your exhibition budget is a vital part of scaling up your exhibition. Large scale events require more money to be successful – it’s an inevitable fact of the industry. But, being prepared for this can help you manage your exhibition budget and still achieve the results you’re looking for. 

Consider the enhanced exhibition logistics 

We’ve always said you should start planning your exhibition well in advance of the anticipated date. This is even more important when you’re scaling up, because you need to prepare for more complicated exhibition logistics, like: 

• Increased labour requirements, both as part of set up/take down and staffing. 

• Additional equipment hire and/or transportation. 

• Extra IT, audio, and technological solutions. 
• Accounting for increased security and crowd management. 

Top tip: work with a venue who can help you with the enhanced exhibition logistical demands of your event. At Exhibition Centre Liverpool, we have a superb team offering expert In-House Services to support your exhibition planning. 

Choose Exhibition Centre Liverpool for your next event 

Whether you’re a small organisation looking to scale up your exhibition, or returning for another packed year of exhibition planning, the team here at Exhibition Centre Liverpool are here to help. Find out about Organising an Exhibition, or Contact Us for more information. 

Don’t forget to explore the Exhibition Centre Liverpool Content Hub either, where you can find plenty of how-to guides and industry information! 

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