How to Prep for an Event as an Exhibitor (Without the Last-Minute Chaos)

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Exhibiting at major events seems straightforward — until you've actually done it. 

The first time, you assume things will just work out. But there are hidden pitfalls everywhere. Therefore, most exhibitors waste 80% of their time at events. How to be in the winning 20%? 

Read on to learn from our experience preparing for Mobile World Congress 2025.

Heading to MWC 2025? 

Drop by Hall 7, Booth #7F4 to explore XME.digital’s enterprise integration middleware platform and Stella #5, our self-service builder designed for connectivity providers. 

Meet our team, see it in action, and let’s discuss how we can help you streamline operations.

The Exhibitor's Checklist: What to Do Before You Go

1. Define the Game Plan (Before You Even Register)

Before committing, align internally on why you're exhibiting. Are you there for brand awareness? Lead generation? Partnerships? Fundraising? These answers dictate everything from your messaging to your choice of booth size.

Once the decision is made, lock in the basics:

✅ Booth size & location

✅ Who's attending from your team

✅ What exactly you'll be showcasing

✅ Budget breakdown (trust me, unexpected costs WILL come up)

Our experience

At this stage, we never overcomplicate. Regular syncs and discussions allow our team to make sure everyone agrees on the goals and budget right from the start. Then we can start moving full speed ahead.

2. Map Out the Communication & Content Strategy

If no one knows you're coming, you've already lost.

You're competing for attention with hundreds, if not thousands, of other companies. Put the event's hashtag into LinkedIn's search bar and see for yourself. So, if no one knows you're there, you'll waste the opportunity.

What needs to be done:

📌 Social media & blog updates announcing your participation

📌 Email outreach to clients and prospects

📌 Content for the booth (presentations, demos, case studies)

📌 Sales enablement materials (one-pagers, QR codes to digital assets)

Our experience

For MWC 2025, we decided to make our content accessible for XME.digital delegates and booth visitors. So, each person interested can scan a QR code and instantly access key information. It allows our team members to have everything needed for meaningful conversations at their fingertips and our visitors to get all the information about our products and activities.  

3. Build the Right Team of Delegates & Give Them a Real Role

Sending the wrong people is a disaster waiting to happen. Your booth team should NOT just be random employees who are "available." To achieve your goals at a big event like MWC, you need a mix of:

✔ People who can sell (not just explain the product)

✔ People who know the industry (so conversations aren't surface-level)

✔ People who actually want to be there (trust me, it shows)

Our experience

We always create a team of delegates following these principles. Once it is set, our task is to get them involved in the prep process as much as possible. They contribute to the messaging and materials because they'll actually use them. If you ignore it, your colleagues will nod along during training and forget everything when the event starts.

4. Nail Down Lead Generation (Before You Step On-Site)

The best exhibitors start generating leads weeks before the event. The worst is waiting for foot traffic.

What we do now in terms of lead generation campaign:

📌 Pre-event awareness – Personalized messages to key prospects

📌 On-site engagement – QR codes, live demos, and scheduled meetings

📌 Post-event follow-up – Structured outreach sequence (not just a "nice to meet you" email)

Our experience

And one more thing — networking. Each of our delegates has a strong network in the telecom industry, built over decades of experience. We make the most of this by encouraging them to connect with their contacts, letting them know we'll be at the event, and suggesting a quick coffee chat. More often than not, this leads to new opportunities — even when we least expect it.

5. Logistics: The Silent Killer of Event Prep

Here's what will ruin your event: a last-minute hotel cancellation, a lost badge, or your booth materials stuck in customs. These disasters are preventable — if you plan for them.

Here's everything that can go wrong (and how to prevent it):

❌ Last-minute ticket purchases = insane costs. We usually book early and advise you to do the same.

❌ Hotel cancellations = panic mode. A few weeks ago, we had one. It taught us to make double-confirm reservations.

❌ Forgetting to register team members = lost time. Triple-check badge access and make sure everyone is registered and ready to represent your company.

5 Essentials We've Learned the Hard Way

1. A Decision-Maker and a Project Owner Are Not the Same Person (And That's Okay)

We used to think one person could handle it all. Wrong. There are two distinct roles in event prep:

• The Decision-Maker – The person who has the final say and sets the priorities and budget.

• The Project Owner – The one who makes sure things actually get done.

These roles don't always overlap, and if you don't define them early, you end up with last-minute confusion, missed deadlines, and a lot of finger-pointing. Once we separated these roles, everything started running smoother.

2. Engage the Delegates in the Prep Process

If your team isn't actively involved in the prep, they won't take ownership of their role at the event. We used to prepare all the materials ourselves — slides, talking points, networking lists — and hand them over. Sometimes, however, they struggled to align with the delegates' vision. Scrolling through materials mid-flight or in a taxi often meant last-minute changes and unnecessary stress for both the delegates and the marketing team.

To prevent this, we work closely with delegates throughout the preparation process. Each delegate has a clear role — whether it's preparing a presentation, engaging their network, or mastering key talking points. When they're part of the process, they take it seriously, feel more invested, and handle materials and lead-generating activities with confidence.

3. Google Won't Tell You Everything

No matter how much research you do, some things only come from experience — or from people who've done it before. Earlier, we relied purely on our own assumptions. Then, we started talking to experienced exhibitors, and they pointed out things we would've never known.

For example, we thought modifying our booth (like adding extra posters or QR codes) was restricted. It turns out it's not — as long as you return it to its original state. The key is to preserve the stand's structure (double-sided tape will do the trick).

This is just one of many hacks that expand our capabilities and refine our approach, thanks to our experienced partners and colleagues. Without asking around, we wouldn't have even considered it.

4. Build a Relationship with Organizers (They Can Save You When Things Go Wrong)

At some point, something will go wrong. That's a guarantee. Maybe it's a deadline you didn't realize was critical. Maybe it's a last-minute change you have to make. If you only reach out to the organizers when there's a crisis, you're already at a disadvantage.

We learned this when we needed to brand an extra wall. It had a different deadline we hadn't factored in. By the time we figured it out, we were dangerously close to missing the window. The only reason we managed to get an extension is that one of our team members had built a relationship with the event organizers early on. Because of that connection, they gave us an extra week. Without it, we would've been out of luck.

5. 'Cheat' Your Team When It Comes to Deadlines

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."

Parkinson's law

When a task has a long deadline, people unconsciously stretch the time needed to complete it, often postponing real effort until urgency kicks in. This happens because:

• Humans are poor at estimating how long tasks actually take (a cognitive bias called the planning fallacy).

• Without immediate pressure, tasks are perceived as less urgent, making them easier to delay.

How do you handle this when preparing to exhibit at events like MWC 2025?

Whatever the official deadline is, set your internal deadline one week earlier.

We cut things too close at one event, thinking we had just enough time. Then, of course, things didn't go as planned. Last-minute approvals, unexpected delays, and slow responses from vendors piled up.

Now, we establish an in-house deadline a week ahead of the official one. That way, when things go sideways (because they always do), we still have breathing room to fix them. 

Final Thought: Make Every Move Count

Exhibiting at a major event is about showing up prepared. We've learned that small details can make or break the experience. A missed deadline, an unprepared delegate, or assuming things will "work themselves out" can turn months of planning into chaos. So, make decisions early, involve the right people, and build relationships before you need them. No matter how much effort you put in, make sure you put it in the right places; only in this case, you complete the project successfully.