I’ve seen the look on the faces of my clients, but there was no mirror handy yesterday during my meeting with Denise DiGrigoli. The expression resembles something close to Munch’s figure in The Scream. This time it was on my face.

She and I had  gotten  together to flesh out a trade show booth design and strategy. Denise, a co-owner of Troy Fine Art, is an expert in this field. Working with her, I knew I could streamline the process and quickly come up with a plan. The deadline for reserving an exhibitor booth for the Massachusetts Conference for Women is today. I had to act quickly.

Denise immediately understood why I’d want to shell out $800 to secure a corner space at this show. The organizers predict that 5000 professional women will attend the one-day event in order to hear two of my favorite icons–Gloria Steinem and Elizabeth Lesser–among other business leaders. A perfect match for my book and talents.

In our conversation, Denise helped me recognize the need to capture the passers-by quickly with provocative graphics, streaming video, high-quality collateral materials, an eye-catching blow-up of me speaking as well as a candy jar and high stools. Somewhere between streaming video and high-quality collateral materials I checked out. I have a couple of very cool trade show banners I thought could suffice, but I’m missing many of the important components for success.

“It usually requires six months to gear up for a trade show,” Denise wisely told me. “You may want to simply attend the show and scope it out for next year.”

I knew that. I have many clients who want to exhibit in the Stationery Show, Surtex and ICFF at the Javits Convention Center. I always recommend a scouting trip first. Then they can take the year ahead to figure out who they’re marketing to, what they want to emphasize and how to make that happen. Four weeks is not enough lead time to show up the way I would want to represent myself.

What a relief to shake hands with Denise, say ‘thank you very much for the clarity’ and tear up the exhibitor application.

I sent in my payment to be an attendee on the 9th. I feel so good.