Having exhibitors at your event can help attract attendees and cover costs. Organizations often seek the chance to exhibit at events in order to gain visibility and recognition in their industry. An event exhibitor prospectus helps secure a strong list of exhibitors for your event by offering your potential exhibitors a clear picture of the event, and how their organization would fit into it.
This article includes 15 Event Exhibitor Prospectus Examples drawn from hundreds of events, as well as a complete 5 Step Guide to help you get started writing and creating your next exhibitor prospectus.
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15 Exhibitor Prospectus Examples
1. ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition
This event exhibition prospectus example was created by the American Dental Education Association for their annual exhibition. The event attracts students and faculty from 78 different Dental Schools who attend to visit exhibitors of various dentistry products.
Highlights:
- This prospectus lists recent exhibitors to demonstrate what types of organizations have exhibited at the event and to highlight previous reputable exhibitors. It also lists attendee interests to show potential exhibitors what the event attendees will be looking for at the exhibition.
- The attendee demographics are included to provide the potential exhibitors with an understanding of who their audience would be.
- Providing a clear outline of the exhibition rates in the prospectus is critical. The ADEA chose to reward loyalty to members of the association by offering lower exhibition rates than for non-members. They also vary the exhibition rates based on when an organization signs up to incentivize early commitment to exhibiting.
2. Immunology 2019
Immunology 2019 was the annual meeting held for the American Association of Immunologists. The event hosted around 3,000 scientists from a variety of different career stages.
Highlights:
- This exhibitor prospectus includes the venue information and floor plan, as well as a link to an interactive floor map so potential exhibitors could get a feel for the environment. It also lists all of the exhibit dates and open times upfront.
- The whole exhibitor schedule is outlined on another page. Each exhibitor at this event would have a poster presentation, so the prospectus bolds the time slots for poster sessions to help potential exhibitors plan their schedules. This prospectus offers add-ons to exhibitor packages, such as meeting bag inserts and exhibitor workshops. These add-ons give potential exhibitors the opportunity to increase their ROI at the event.
- Lastly, the prospectus directly includes an exhibitor application for potential exhibitors to fill out their information, booth preferences, and payment. The application page also provides details on where it should be submitted to and the cancellation policy to ensure disclosure of the rules of exhibiting at the event.
3. APHA Annual Meeting & Expo
This event is run by the American Public Health Association where members, corporations, organizations, and government agencies gather to discuss issues related to public health.
Highlights:
- The first page of this prospectus is packed with information, including the exhibition schedule, a list of what is provided for exhibitors, and important references, such as the cancellation policy. Offering direct and detailed information on the first page ensures the potential exhibitors will know what to expect.
- The next page is designed to persuade the potential exhibitor to sign up. A detailed description of how exhibiting at this event is a good investment, such as explaining how booth traffic is generated, and listing opportunities to reach attendees helps convince potential exhibitors to participate.
- The following page displays the different exhibitor packages and upgrades. There are also testimonials from previous exhibitors to demonstrate why these packages are worthwhile.
- Lastly, the attendee demographics are provided to show potential exhibitors who will be there and how many people will be looking to purchase their product.
Download 15 Exhibitor Prospectus Examples
4. ASTRA Marketplace & Academy
This event was a toy and game trade show run by an organization called the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association. This trade show attracts different buyers who are looking to purchase toys and games from manufacturers to retail.
Highlights:
- The cover of this prospectus effectively displays exactly what the event is, the venue, city, dates, and pictures from previous years. This lets exhibitors know the high-level details right away.
- The next page lists what exhibitors gain from exhibiting at this event. It shows exhibit hall highlights, exhibition rates, and special options for first-time exhibitors.
- After, there are a few pages detailing the previous year’s exhibitors. This is provided to help the potential exhibitor with a rough idea of the number of exhibitors and what companies have exhibited previously, to help reduce any hesitation.
5. DIA Global Annual Meeting
This event exhibitor prospectus was created for a meeting run by the Drug Information Association, a global organization that connects professionals in the life sciences field. The annual meeting attracted over 7,000 attendees from around the world.
Highlights:
- This prospectus first provides an overview of the event, including some statistics, industry sectors, and tracks. A potential exhibitor can look at this and determine if this event is right for them.
- The second page provides an attendee demographics report featuring attendee employment characteristics to show the potential exhibitors who their audience would be.
- The next page underscores the event’s “International Audience,” listing each country the attendees travel from for the event to further highlight the broad audience. This page also describes the association’s member communities and the various responsibilities members have. The page also features testimonials from previous vendors and attendees at the event to emphasize the worldwide reach they could obtain by exhibiting at the event.
- Details about how to become an exhibitor are given along with the price, inclusions, benefits, and schedule. Another very useful component they include is an illustration of the different booth sizes. Showing this can help potential exhibitors visualize what they could do with their space at the event.
6. ASGCT Virtual Annual Meeting
This event exhibitor prospectus was from a fully online event hosted by the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. The ASGCT Virtual Annual Meeting featured an online exhibit hall where each exhibitor had a virtual booth.
Highlights:
- After the cover, a statistical recap of the previous year’s virtual meeting is provided to offer the potential exhibitor an understanding of how this virtual event will work.
- Next, the prospectus lists details on how to exhibit virtually, including the application process, tiers, price, and terms, in addition to exhibit dates and times.
- The following page is a table that outlines the features of each exhibitor tier available to clarify the differences in participating as a “Standard” and “Premium” exhibitor.
- Another section of the prospectus is a list of frequently asked questions. Including an FAQ might help potential exhibitors get answers to common questions and limit the number of questions the event organizer is answering in emails.
7. SHRM Annual Conference & Expo
This annual conference and expo held by the Society for Human Resource Management is the largest gathering of Human Resource professionals and Executives in business.
Highlights:
- The prospectus is introduced with a message from the director of the exhibits and sponsorships. The message details new additions to the conference and why it has a new location to clear up common questions from past exhibitors.
- Next, the prospectus lists statistics on the event’s attendees and visibility. The numbers on the left side are primarily social media statistics, and the numbers on the right side are statistics on the organizations that attendees are associated with. This is meant to give the potential exhibitor a good idea of the quantity and quality of who they’ll be reaching.
- The next page has instructions on how to get a booth as well as information about the exhibit sales team. Providing this contact information makes the process for potential exhibitors more straightforward in the case that questions arise.
- Finally, an exhibit space application is given. The application calls for the potential exhibitor to fill in their information, booth space preference, payment information, and lets them know where to send it. This makes the process of acquiring exhibitors smoother.
8. Small Business Expo
This event exhibitor prospectus was used for multiple different expos that were both in-person and virtual. The events are business-to-business trade shows that are dedicated to small businesses and business professionals.
Highlights:
- The page following the cover contains an extensive amount of information. It details the dates and locations of both live and virtual shows, as well as the many benefits that come with attending and exhibiting at the expos. Including a comprehensive list of important information, up front takes care of questions an exhibitor may have after looking at the cover page.
- Becoming an exhibitor also comes with sponsorship. Each exhibitor package includes a different set of features that increase visibility. The various features are outlined to convince potential exhibitors to exhibit.
- To maximize visibility, exhibitors can choose to add on different workshops and/or the main stage keynote as part of their package. Providing this option helps the organizer get more of a return while giving attendees more opportunities as an exhibitor.
- Later, the pricing of each exhibitor package is specified. Packages for regional, in-person shows cost less than national, virtual shows, as the latter event type would reach a larger audience. . On this page, the prospectus also includes add-ons, samples, and even a financing option to help exhibitors who may not be able to pay the full fee in one payment.
9. IMAT
International Materials Applications & Technologies was an annual meeting organized by ASM international. The event connects organizations from different market segments in the materials world to solve global materials challenges.
Highlights:
- The cover in this prospectus includes all of the most relevant information (i.e. name, organizations, dates, and location) The cover emphasizes the event theme with a design that aligns with a materials event.
- Following the cover page is a brief overview of the organization, the event, and the technical advisory board (this section lets exhibitors see who they’ll be working with.
- Later, some demographic information on the industries served and occupations of attendees are provided in a chart. . Below the pie chart visual is a description of the target audience and markets in order to give the potential exhibitor an idea of what attendees will be looking for.
- Lastly, the prospectus includes an extensive list of products and services that should be exhibited at the event to catch the eye of potential exhibitors who sell or provide anything on the list and create a sense of urgency for them to sign up.
10. Photo LA
This event exhibitor prospectus was created for a photography show in Los Angeles. The event is hosted for photographers to gain exposure and learn from others in the photography industry.
Highlights:
- To attract exhibitors, this prospectus starts by highlighting the attendee numbers, as having around 5,000 collectors, curators, and consultants at the event are convincing to a prospective exhibitor that registering would lead to a strong ROI.
- A whole page of this prospectus is dedicated to a testimonial from a previous exhibitor. This strategy of highlighting past positive experiences emphasizes how exhibitors can gain new business and buyers so that photographers feel optimistic about exhibiting.
- The next page describes the partnerships of Photo LA to highlight their event as one that exhibitors, organizations, and people want to associate with.
- The prospectus concludes with information about what has been featured in past programs, what past programs, like special panels, lectures, and tours. This is included to show that the event attracts reputable stakeholders in the photography community.
11. ILTA 2021
This exhibitor prospectus is from the International Operating Conference and Trade Show. The event was organized and run by the International Liquid Terminals Association For reference, liquid terminals are above-ground storage tank facilities.
Highlights:
- Similar to most of the other examples, the cover of this prospectus includes the date, location, event name, organization, and an attractive design to catch the eye of prospective exhibitors and provide preliminary information.
- The first page provides a detailed background on the city, the venue, and the industry benefits of exhibiting. To further persuade the potential exhibitor, positive post-event survey results from the last event are shown.
- The middle section of the prospectus is a page promoting extra perks that come with the booth and positive testimonials from other exhibitors at this event. This exhibition prospectus effectively lays out the benefits right away to maintain the attention of potential exhibitors.
- The final page provides an overview of the event’s attendees, detailed with their positions, survey responses, testimonials, and global reach to show the potential exhibitor how extensive of an audience they will be able to reach.
12. PowerUp
This was an event called PowerUp for the COMMON Community in Atlanta, Georgia. The event is held for entrepreneurs, consultants, and other business professionals who attend to network and accelerate their business projects.
Highlights:
- The cover of this prospectus is simple, with a visually appealing and simple design and the relevant information clearly outlined.
- On the page following the cover, the exhibit packages and pricing information are outlined. In this prospectus, there are three exhibitor package options, each priced differently to offer higher-paying exhibitors exclusive benefits.
- The next page lists additional benefits in order to emphasize the range of experiences exhibitors will have access to at the event.
- Furthermore, the floor plan of the event venue and the exhibit schedule are displayed to show the potential exhibitors where their booth would be located and when they could plan to set up.
13. NASP Annual Convention
This upcoming convention will be hosted by the National Association of School Psychologists, where companies will be exhibiting their products and services to administrators, consultants, graduate students, practitioners, researchers, and trainers.
Highlights:
- The cover page of this convention’s prospectus displays relevant event information in an attractive and professional design to build initial trust with prospective exhibitors.
- The second page provides a highly detailed set of information to ensure each exhibitor will find everything they need to know as a future exhibitor at the event.
- The third page is a detailed, color-coded floor plan of the venue including labels to show the potential exhibitor where they may be located during the event.
- The final page details rules and regulations to establish transparency about how the event and exhibition will operate.
14. ARVC Outdoor Hospitality Conference & Expo
This conference exhibitor prospectus is from an event run by the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds.
Highlights:
- The first page of content outlines a description of the event and the organization, along with benefits to exhibiting and relevant contact information. This page of information is necessary to give prospective exhibitors a clear picture of the event and make them interested in exhibiting.
- Shown next are some statistics on the buyers that are typically hosted at the event. Offering data on the buyers lets the potential exhibitor get an idea of who might be buying their products or services.
- Since the ARVC is an association, the prospectus offers different prices for members and non-members, as well as earlier and later signups. This page also includes relevant dates and outlines what exhibitors can expect to receive when they signup in order to motivate exhibitors to register earlier so they can fill all available booth slots.
- An exhibitor list is given of last year’s event to further build trust with potential exhibitors that might be hesitant about exhibiting.
15. Convenience Distribution Marketplace
This event was held for manufacturers, suppliers of convenience store items, and providers or industry solutions to network with one another and sell to buyers.
Highlights:
- Similar to the previous examples, the cover of this prospectus includes relevant event information like the date, location, venue, event name. The background photo depicts the venue to give exhibitors a visual of where they will get to attend the event.
- This prospectus outlines the different exhibitor categories for this event and emphasizes the connections that can be made with distributors. They also inserted an exhibitor testimonial to further convince potential exhibitors.
- A floor plan is provided to show prospective exhibitors where they can plan to set up their booth.
- The last page of the prospectus includes instructions on how to secure an exhibit space. It also displays important dates and details, along with additional promotional opportunities that will help the event increase its return and help the exhibitors increase their visibility.
Download 15 Exhibitor Prospectus Examples
How to Create an Event Exhibitor Prospectus – 5 Steps
Now that we’ve taken a look at various exhibitor prospectus examples, it’s time to talk about what exactly goes into crafting one for your event.
An event exhibitor prospectus or proposal contains a summary of the event, an outline of the exhibition opportunities that are available at the event, and an explanation for why these opportunities are beneficial. Like a sponsorship proposal, an event exhibitor prospectus can be for one or multiple events.
Of course, no two events are exactly alike, so each exhibitor prospectus should be unique to the event. Whether the prospectus offers an exhibition space at a trade show, conference, meeting, photo/art show, whether it is in-person or online, and whether it covers one or multiple events impacts how the prospectus is crafted. The following list will go over general guidelines for creating an event exhibitor prospectus. It’s important to note that every case is different, so your process of creating a prospectus does not have to be constrained to these practices.
It’s likely that potential exhibitors will start by skimming the prospectus, so it’s critical to make sure it has a pleasing design and clearly outlined information. It is essential to show why the exhibition opportunity is worth it and why your organization should be trusted.
A quick tip: Find someone with at least a basic level of graphic design experience to make sure your prospectus has a good visual appeal. . While some events choose to feature the proposal directly on their website, most event exhibitor proposals are generated as a PDF to make it universal and easily printable for exhibitors.
1. Create an eye-catching cover
The prospectus’s cover is your first chance to catch the attention of a potential exhibitor, so creating a visually appealing design is most critical for this page.
The items that should definitely be included on the cover are the event name, the organization that hosts the event, city/location, venue, and event dates. If the event is virtual or if the prospectus is for multiple events, viewers of the prospectus should be able to see this on the cover page. . Make sure all of this information is clearly displayed on the cover so exhibitors can see it right away.
Here are some great examples of exhibitor prospectus cover pages: ASTRA Marketplace and Academy, PowerUp, NASP Annual Convention.
2. Include information about the organization and the event
To gain trust from exhibitors, the event exhibitor proposal must contain information about the organization hosting the event. For example, an association might want to include a section about the organization’s history, goals, members, etc. . Don’t refrain from including any positive and relevant information about your organization, as it is important for potential exhibitors to trust you. A good example of this is Convenience Distribution Marketplace’s prospectus
What is the event about? What is the goal of the event? What is the format of the event? What kind of activities/sessions will be on the schedule? Most importantly, what are the benefits of exhibiting? These are all questions a potential exhibitor will be wondering, so make sure they can find the answers in your prospectus. SHRM’s proposal does a great job outlining event details.
Highlighting exhibitors from a previous event in the prospectus will help build a positive reputation for the exhibition and increase demand. Of course, it’s up to you to decide how many you would like to list and how many details you will include. . One option is to implement a list of every single past exhibitor or narrow down a list of your most distinguished past exhibitors.
It is strongly recommended that you include an exhibitor schedule so that potential exhibitors can check their calendars, start to plan out their time, know when they’ll be setting up, and how long they’ll exhibit for. A great example of an exhibitor schedule can be found in the American Association of Immunologists’ prospectus.
Including a section in your prospectus that outlines a comprehensive overview of your event and your organization will help generate demand for exhibitor booths.
3. Give the exhibitor an idea of who they’ll be selling to and where their booth will be
It is crucial for exhibitors to get an idea of who will be visiting their booths at the event and looking to purchase their products or services. You should consider including the following information about your attendees in the prospectus: where they’re from, what organizations they work for, how many of them typically buy a product, and what their role is. More or less demographic information can be included based on the event and the available data. A great example of an attendee demographics section is in the ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition prospectus.
It can also be a good idea to include survey results from past attendees and/or exhibitors. . Leveraging positive survey data from previous exhibitions can help convince prospective companies to exhibit at your event. Two prospectuses that do this well are ARVC’s and ILTA’s.
Featuring testimonials from past attendees and/or exhibitors is another trust-building strategy that will help a potential exhibitor feel more excited about the opportunity to exhibit at your event. To get an idea of how to include attendee testimonials, check out ILTA’s prospectus. PhotoLA and APHA have great examples of exhibitor testimonials.
It is also very important to offer exhibitors a look into the environment of the event. For in-person events, including a floor plan of the exhibition booth hall and any relevant areas of the venue. Giving the prospective exhibitors a floor map of the booth options allows them to visualize the exhibition and think about where they might want their booth to be. The NASP and CDM exhibitor prospectuses do this well. The DIA prospectus demonstrates how you can include a scaled map of booth sizes as well. If the event is online, it’s important to show the potential exhibitor an example of how the online exhibitor booth will look. A good example of this is the ASGCT prospectus.
4. Detail the available opportunities and the price of exhibiting
Pricing is a crucial feature to securing exhibitors at your event. The pricing information is a critical factor for exhibitors when deciding whether or not they will exhibit at your event. Don’t be too nervous about this, as the rest of your exhibitor prospectus should justify the booth costs, but do take some time to consider the best way to lay out your pricing.
Events may offer multiple exhibitor booth sizes and packages. If you plan to offer various package options, displaying pricing in a table format is an effective way to highlight the different features and benefits of each exhibitor tier. (Ex. ASGCT’s and SBE’s exhibitor proposals). No matter what, you should clearly describe exactly what comes with the purchase of an exhibitor booth.
It is also common to offer a lower rate to early bird exhibitor registrants. Incentivizing exhibitors to purchase their booth early will create urgency for prospective companies and help fill up your booth slots well ahead of the event date. ARVC does this in their prospectus. (Note: Corner booths are usually more expensive than standard, non-corner booths)
For events organized by associations, it’s a common practice to offer association members a discounted price for a booth. This is a great way to reward the loyalty of members of your association while demonstrating the benefits of becoming a member to other potential exhibitors. (Ex. ARVC and ADEA)
To further increase your revenue from the exhibition, you can offer exhibitor add-ons or sponsorship opportunities to potential exhibitors as well. These can enhance the exhibitor’s booth space and/or increase their visibility. Two examples of events that do this are Immunology and SBE.
5. Conclude with contact information, rules and regulations, and potentially a booking form.
At the end of the prospectus, you will definitely need to provide contact information to secure exhibitor booth purchases. Including a booking form or application allows them to immediately fill out their company information, top exhibitor booth preferences, which type of booth they would like to purchase, and select add-ons (if applicable). It also is beneficial to directly include payment information in this form, so you can process the transaction right away. (Refer to the prospectus for Immunology 2019)
The rules and regulations of exhibiting, booth information, and the cancellation/refund policy should be included towards the end of the prospectus This is the fine print that exhibitors need to be familiar with to secure an exhibition booth confidently.
Conclusion
Drafting an effective event exhibitor prospectus requires a great amount of time and consideration. Referencing exemplary prospectuses from other events, like the ones we’ve included in this article, can help guide the process of creating your own. Eventually, you’ll have a great event exhibitor prospectus template that is unique to your event.
Unfortunately, this is not the only task you have to complete when securing exhibitors. Marketing your exhibition opportunities and following up with leads will be quite important as well. To further excite potential exhibitors, you could consider using Whova’s event management platform, which offers an interactive floor map to make finding exhibitors at your event easier, and a virtual exhibit hall where exhibitors can capture leads, display promotions, and message attendees. Request your demo today!