What to Bring to a Trade Show – 44 Must Haves

January 4, 2022

UPDATED 2/25/2025

My favorite list of all time is my Mexico packing list. I’m forever sharing it with friends and family for beach vacations. While trade show packing isn’t nearly as glamorous (or bulky – packing kids’ life jackets takes up A LOT of room), knowing what to bring is essential to a lasting booth set up and overall experience. Nothing’s better than loaning out your supplies to booth neighbors. Saving the day is a great way to make friends.

Banner hanging supplies, fasteners and adhesives

1. Duct tape, medium weight flexible wire, heavy duty fishing line, bungee cords – pick your poison. But bring more than one. You need to be ready for any hanging occasion. You never really know what the set up will be and what you’ll be provided with to hang your signage when you get there and you don’t want any unexpected sign avalanches later.
2. Scissors – with all those things you’ll need some way to cut them and make them useful. If you bring wire a pair of wire snippers or fingernail clippers wouldn’t hurt, don’t want to ruin your scissors.
3. Strong clips or clamps – not chip clips but the ones photographers use something like this:
   
4. Safety Pins – because you never know how curtains and tablecloths are going to behave.
5. Rubber Bands – Don’t lose all those business cards you just collected.
6. Paper clips – You can bend paper clips and use them for the most unconventional purposes.
7. Stapler – Ok, maybe for papers you can just a paper clip but bring the stapler too.  The stapler can come in handy to tack all sorts of unsuspecting things together.
8. Straight Pins – Just in case the safety pins don’t work.
9. Zip Ties – These help keep computer wires looking nice.

To stay organized

10. Photos of Your Assembled Booth – Enlist the help of your colleagues when setting up and use photos as a guide to remember where everything belongs.
11. Bowl – to save the business cards you gather. Pro Tip: write any take-aways from the conversation on the back of the card so you’ll remember who’s who.
12. Notebook – you need something to take notes in from sessions AND keep track of all your leads!
13. Highlighters & pens – you’ll want to take great notes at session and highlight your action items to make them easy to find.
14. A few baggies – for odds and ends you pick up at the conference so you can easily bring them home and not get them all mixed up with your supplies
15. A rolling box – a heavy duty plastic one to keep all this stuff in so you don’t have to carry a heavy tote.
16. Sharpies – Great for marking boxes and making last minute signs.

Power players

17. Phone and computer chargers
18. Power bank – just in case you need to charge your phone or tablet when away from an outlet.
19. Power strip
20. Extension cords – so you can put your electronics wherever you want!
21. TV – if your TV usually hangs on a wall you’ll need to dig out it’s legs for the occasion.
22. Laptop – and make sure you have all the connectors to connect it to your TV if you plan on showing videos or slideshows stored on your laptop.
23. Jump drive – save any presentations, videos or slideshows for the conference on a jump drive just in case your computer crashes or there’s not internet available to stream them from the web.
24. Appropriate Cords to Connect Computer to TV/Monitor – It’s so frustrating when you have put in all the work to have a great presentation and you can’t show it to anyone because your HDMI cord is in your living room 20 miles away.

For the table

25. Table cloth – because heaven knows what they’ll provide and you could spill coffee on the one they provide anyway. So a backup never hurts.
26. Paper towels – speaking of that coffee spill you need something to mop it up quick.
27. Hot dog roasting stick – just kidding! You could always fashion one out of the wire you brought to hand your banners if you really need one.
28. Trash bag – because people WILL leave trash at your booth
29. Business cards & holders – don’t just lay them out on the table, display them with pride!
30. Printed marketing materials & stands – keep your brochures and booklets organized with holders and stands for easy retrieval and curb appeal.
31. Giveaways & displays – whatever your freebies are make sure you have them well displayed. Bring cups for pens, a cake stand for tumblers or other small items, get creative! You want your booth to be organized, not an adult version of your kids’ play room after a rainy day. Pick something that makes sense for your goals, just don’t give it away for free and be sure to fend off the adult trick-or-treaters.
32. Clipboard – highway patrolmen and waitstaff use these for a reason. They make you look official and are darn handy for people completing forms or just taking notes.

Just for you

33. Name Tags – Everyone wants to know your name as well as what company you are with
34. Snacks – if you’re a person who can’t go long between meals or has dietary restrictions bring your own food to be on the safe side. We always throw in protein bars, trail mix and apples.
35. Hand Sanitizer – You are going to shake hundreds of hands today, sanitize before you eat that snack.
36. Ibuprofen – because you’re on your feet all day and sometimes you’re achy even just a few hours in.
37. Water bottle – you’ll need something to take that ibuprofen with and you won’t need it nearly as bad if you stay hydrated.
38. Gum – to combat bad breath from those onions at lunch
39. Tissues – just a small pack will do, with all the temperature change from outside to in running noses are a common plight. Plus then you’ll have a place to safely dispose of that gum!
40. Bandaids – well maybe 4 or 5 bandaids, and get the good ones so when you have blisters on your feet you can patch up your tootsies and get back to work!
41. Comfortable shoes – so you could skip the bandaids and just make sure you wear shoes and socks that don’t suck. This is not the time to try out those new boots or make a fashion statement with 5” heels – comfort wins!
42. Backup shirt – or maybe a vest, especially if you’re accident prone. I can’t seem to get through a morning in a white shirt without some type of stain. So maybe just don’t wear white. Either way, it’s a thought.
43. Stain treatment sick – think Tide wipes. If you stain your clothes or your tablecloth it’s going to be a hot minute before you can put it in the washer. Tide makes individually packaged wipes for transportable stain fighting power!
44. Deodorant, makeup, hairspray – hey, sometimes you’ve got to freshen up when you’re on your feet for 12 hours. You know what you need! 

Now you know exactly what you need to bring to your next trade show. If you have anything to add that you’ve found handy from years of trade show packing, let us know and get ready to save the day with your superhero packing skills. Your booth neighbors won’t know what to do without you!