Delivering the latest trends in technology, showcasing the brightest minds in the world of Computer Science, and promoting white glove technical support personalities are just a few of the brilliant facades of Information Technology (IT) trade shows. There's no shortage of different industry subsets and competition, so any exhibit needs to both draw attention and deliver on promises. Before entering the live, exposed world of trade show presentations, here are a few techniques that can make sure your presenters and products/services are ready to stand up against hype expectations, scrutiny, and competition.

Practice Demonstrations Prior To Exhibition

A malfunctioning exhibit is something that allows a bit of cringing entertainment for trade show guests every year in every industry. Nothing is perfect and there's sure to be mistakes in any presentation, but a completely faulty presentation does far more to damage a brand than any great presentation can do to save it.

Organizing practice sessions for your company or organization's demonstration is a lot more than just rehearsal. In addition to presenters knowing their lines and being prepared to answer unconventional questions, the product or service itself needs to be working. This can be an issue when testing in-house, since a lot of fixes and changes done on company property can't be done at an exhibit in many cases.

When a prototype fails, inexperienced, but otherwise intelligent, technology professionals may not realize this. It's all too easy for someone to go into autopilot and pull some changes from a server, or perform some sort of fix from files and equipment that are only available at home base. These facts can be completely forgotten on the exhibit floor, so be sure to inspect the actions of everyone working on the system no matter how small the change.

Converting Failure Into Flexibility

There's a proper way to perform repairs as well, and a malfunction can be added to the presentation. Although a few scoffs may happen when a prototype fails or a vital feature stops the presentation from happening, being able to quickly fix the issue can shed some positive reality on the situation.

Everything fails, and if your product is simply to troubleshoot, it can provide some positive feedback and comfort about the product. The world of IT is full of buggy, malfunctioning, and often poorly designed systems, so your system that can be fixed in an understandable way can be seen as a feature.

Before failure happens, consider performing maintenance during the trade show. Spin the session as an intentional showcase of how troubleshooting should be done, and be sure to make it look organized so that people walking in on the middle of maintenance won't think they're walking into a train wreck.

This kind of warning needs to be overt. A sign that clearly states "Reliable Troubleshooting Tools And Helpful Staff" as an experienced technician performs and explains the maintenance is a great way to bring maintenance into the picture. 

Do not attempt new things or try to delve deeper into unplanned features unless you have more than one prototype available, as the experiment can still be perceived as failure by guests walking in on the middle of the demonstration. Speak with a trade show exhibit rental representative to discuss exhibit location, amenities, planning an open area for troubleshooting, and signage opportunities.