How to write a post-show report

1–10 days

build days, the basis of the logistics notes

Stand types

The one-page rule

Long reports are written in good faith and never read. A twenty-page file waits on the desk of the person who has to decide, and nobody opens it when the next fair is planned. One page goes into the meeting, gets argued over and produces a decision.

The way to shorten it is to separate: the report is for the decision, the appendices are for the evidence. The record list, the photographs, the invoice breakdown and the visitor tally live in separate files, referenced but not included.

The first line should be a single sentence: did this fair meet its target, and if not, why. The rest of the page supports that sentence. The unit price published on our costs page is the reference point for the stand item on the cost line.

One page does not mean losing the judgement. The judgement stays; its supporting detail moves to the appendix. What makes a report get read is not writing less but putting the decision-relevant part first.

The structure

1. Target and result. The number written before the show beside the number achieved. Two columns, no commentary.
2. Record summary. Conversation count, spread of qualification, product group and country breakdown.
3. Observations. Recurring questions, the product that drew interest, what changed among competitors, an unexpected market.
4. Stand and logistics. What worked, what was too tight, what ran late, which cost overran.
5. Decisions. Return next year or not, floor area, position preference and three things to fix.

The fifth section matters most and is missing from most reports. Without written decisions the report is an archive document rather than a plan.

The first section is harder than it looks. Writing the result beside the target requires the target to have been written before the show. Where it was not, section one stays empty and the report starts at section two, which leaves you with a summary rather than a measurement.

Do not overdo the breakdowns. Country, product group and qualification grade are enough for most companies; finer cuts make the table unreadable and shift the argument onto method.

Who gets it, and when

Write it within the first week after the show. Wait two and the detail is gone, leaving general sentences. It should be written by someone who was on the floor; a report compiled from a distance cannot carry the observations section.

The distribution list has four addresses: sales, marketing, management and the stand builder. The fourth is usually skipped. Unless the builder hears which part of the stand was too tight and which detail fought back on site, the second stand is a copy of the first.

The report is updated rather than closed. Where the sales cycle is long, the records that turned into quotes and orders emerge over months, so add a line to the same file at two months and again at six. If the stand is a reusable type, the cost line is also divided across fairs in those updates.

The report has an archival job too. Lay three years of them side by side and you see at a glance which fair is rising and which is falling. That series tells you something no individual report can.

Who should write the report?

The project owner who was on the floor. Sales and marketing contribute their sections, but one hand should assemble the report.

Should we still write it when the numbers are poor?

Especially then. A company that does not write down why the result was weak returns to the same fair with the same setup a year later.