Those who know how to attract a partner will be busy entertaining visitors, chatting up their stuff, and wowing the crowd. The busy ones will have attracted visitors to their booths, with great incentives and rewards. How do you give a prospect something to look forward to, when he visits your booth?

You do it by motivating them to put your booth on their "must see" list. When you combine all your marketing tools into a single, themed focus for your booth, you create an irresistible attraction.

Start with your theme for the show. It could be a sport, such as football, or fishing. It could be a game, or a maze. If the show itself has a theme, try to tie your theme in with the show's theme. This will improve your prospect's focus on your presentation, and help embed your company's name in his mind.

Then, use related graphics and language on all your trade show materials and communications. (Use it consistently with both pre-show, and show time materials.)

Let's say you decide on a Fishing theme: "Fishing for Gold!" The activity at your booth could be for visitors to "fish" for a gold coin in the bottom of a container. The bottom, filled with fake "gold" coins, (like those foil-wrapped chocolate ones,) could also contain a few "special coins" redeemable for the Grand Prize: a real gold coin. What a treasure for the lucky few!

Your copy materials would carry out the fishing theme by saying, "You don't need to fish around anymore when looking for top quality parts." Or, "When you hook up with our packaging options, you'll know you've finally caught the big one!"

If you're a minerals company, you could use, "Mining for Gold!" rather than 'fishing.' Then you'd say in your copy, "You know you've hit the Mother Lode when you use our high quality minerals."

The idea, here, is the same as creating a "brand." You want quick, easy, memorable images for your prospects to ponder, as they wander the trade show floors, looking for someone to help them. Use this theme to build interest and curiosity.

Once you have a theme, find give-away items that work with the theme. Think outside the box of pens, calendars and key chains, for an incentive to visitors. Make sure that what you choose has inherent value, on its own, and is useful or sensible, in some way. The greater the perceived "value" of your give-away gift, the more people you'll drive to your booth. You'll discover the rewards of doing something different.

When you make the trade show experience attractive to potential clients, your company will be remembered and talked about, for a long time after the show is over.