With a full slate of industry trade shows coming up over the next few months, it’s important to know that the time and investment you’re putting into events will be worth your while. So, sorry folks: that means late nights partying with industry friends and then sleeping through the showroom floor is probably not the best strategy.

Well, maybe you can have a little fun. After all, even showing up to the event in the first place is a good start for making trade shows work for you.

“Shows, especially for small business, are the best way to get products in front of multiple buyers and have a captive audience, at least for a few minutes,” Andy Yochum, owner of Boardwalk Food Co., told Florida’s Business Observer.

But you want to do better than just showing up, right? You want a trade show to get you business and make you money. A captive audience is great, but if you really want to maximize your time at an event, follow these tips.

1.    Know Your Goal. This will take some advance preparation. You must know why you’re going to the shows to start. Is your goal to make new connections? Find new products? Drum up some new business? Once you decide on what you want to accomplish, research who’s going to the events and plan your route through the showrooms. Set appointments and, if you can’t do that, come prepared with a list of the people you want to meet and the reasons you want to meet them.

“At the first few trade shows I networked, I made the mistake of not setting specific goals for each meeting and often found myself waffling when I was concluding the meeting,” Jeff Kear, owner of Planning Pod, told ASI.

Don’t make the same mistake. Be prepared. And it doesn’t hurt to spy a bit on the attendees before hitting the exhibit floors. If you browse their social media, you’ll be much more informed about who they are and what makes them tick — and that much closer to making a business deal.

2.    Network Your Heart Out. Don’t get caught up in just visiting exhibits or hanging out with your industry pals. Use trade shows as an opportunity to network. The chances are there: social events, keynotes, planned parties and workshops. All you need to do is step up your networking game. Boca Terry, an A-rated SAGE distributor, suggests attending the smartest events for your business. Meaning, the events where the networking potential has the highest power. And please, bring plenty of business cards. You don’t want to be the one left writing your phone number and website on a cocktail napkin because you were less prepared than your competition.

3.    Have a Dazzling Display. If you’re exhibiting instead of shopping, you’ll want to have a display that draws everybody’s eyes. No more tables with random branded products strewn across them to show the breadth of your business. Get creative. How about a competition for buyers where the leaderboard is displayed, or a special feature just for your booth that people want, such as having a caricature artist or even a fortuneteller who focuses on business futures. The goal is to get people there and get them to stay and interact with your products. If you do this right, before they know it, they’ve had an entire conversation about your offerings.

4.    Don’t Drop the Ball. According to Entrepreneur, you’ll want to make a checklist (mental or written both work) to follow when contacting people after you get home from the show. Don’t just email everyone whose business card you brought home to say it was nice to meet them. Instead, include something relevant to the business, be it more information or answers to questions about product you discussed, or even just some interesting industry news.

“With trade shows, you can see, ‘How many leads have I gotten? How many customers have I closed from those leads?’” Asif Khan, CEO of Caremerge told Entrepreneur. “This is pure, back-of-the-envelope ROI that you can track.”

And don’t forget promotional product giveaways. It’s our business, right? Let Idea Custom Solutions help prepare for the show with custom designed business cards, marketing materials and logo design perfection.