Choosing the booth location at your next trade show is one of the most important decisions you will make in the planning process.

There are many factors that will impact what booth locations are available to you. Sponsors often get first pick, or they may even have booths reserved for sponsors to choose from. Sometimes your rank will be determined by a priority points system based on years of involvement, level of spend, etc. Sometimes the conference planner assigns booths based on first exhibitor that paid (an incentive to register and pay as soon as possible!).

Within each of these scenarios, there are always good-better-best location options for your booth. The size of your booth can also impact your location options. For the sake of this article, let’s only consider standard 10X10 booth spaces. Nothing fancy.

First, take a good look at the booth layout the coordinator provides you. Pay attention to main entrances, side entrances, food service areas, bathrooms, credit hour scanning stations, registration areas and all that jazz.

If you’ve been to this conference at this location in past years, think back to your experience. What did you think of your location? Do you remember if there were any particularly busy areas? Were there any obvious dead zones?

PRO TIP: when you’re at any trade show, take note of good booth location options for the future. Save these notes in a planning folder to reference next year.

In my experience, corner booths and booths near the front are safe bets. There are, however, a few other things to consider. A booth near the food tables or buffet will certainly have people around it, but those people might not have time (or a free hand) to chat with you – they’ve got food on their mind! Some exhibitors swear that being near the bathroom is a good tactic. This is a 50/50 gamble – it could be great with a bunch of traffic or it could get a little awkward.

If you are familiar with your industry, think about what companies are always busy or offer products or services that complement yours. Try to choose a booth near them. Some conferences offer an interactive booth layout where you can hover over or click on each booth and see what company has reserved that space. The Midwest Podiatry Conference and FPMA SAM conference both have this helpful tool.

PRO TIP: don’t go right next door to a busy exhibitor or the overflow traffic from their booth could block your booth.

Even if your budget leaves you with very few options and none of them are at the front of the hall or a corner booth – there are still some good spots, you just have to know where to look.

A booth at a far end (right or left side of the hall) may seem like a slow area but if you have a clear line of sight for meandering attendees and an attractive display – this could be a gold mine. Take a look at this booth layout.