Hubspot Inbound: 8 Lessons for Booth Management

I'll be honest. I have always been a little sour on trade shows and conferences. Attending is cool. Free stuff. After parties. Paying to exhibit? No thanks. "Just people trying to sell people who are literally trying to sell them," I thought. "Why spend $50K when you can invest that capital in trackable lead generation efforts?" Well, past self, you were horribly wrong.

This year demandDrive took the plunge and stationed itself at booth #40 at Inbound. We had a new rebrand to launch, people to meet, and chances to take. Big shoutout to Everlane Equity Partners - it's nice when you have a PE firm that walks the walk by making investments in helping their platforms grow. These booths ain't cheap.

I met so many interesting and amazing professionals that were genuinely interested in what demandDrive had to offer. They came from all over the globe and had real business challenges they wished to solve. Our entire team was swimming in high-quality leads from prospective clients and strategic partners. People asked me what sessions I thought were best, but I honestly spent 90% of my time at the booth for fear of missing that next level biz contact. The other 10% was spent on basic human necessities, excluding a great Hubspot partner meeting.

I did learn a few things about running a booth. Little nuggets of knowledge I am nuking in the microwave for social consumption. In the spirit of caring, here is some sharing on what to know if running a booth at Inbound.

Lesson 1: Don't Forget to Sit Down

This probably goes for most conferences. Imagine if existence was a standing desk mixed with many long walks. This is what it feels like running a booth. By the end of the conference it felt like my three day trip to Universal Studios: walking the length of the park to put my family's belongings into a locker... only to walk back across the park five minutes later when someone is cold and needs a coat again. In other words, DEAD LEGS! Don't forget to sit down from time to time, dummy (I am the dummy).

Lesson 2: Wear Comfortable Shoes

Dress sneakers may look cool, but damn... that concrete floor be unforgiving. Dress for comfort and not style. Some lucky few can do both. I cannot.

Lesson 3: Bring Some Snacks

Being on your feet and talking for hours will have you eventually running solely on adrenaline. Before you know it you may be light headed and needing quick sustenance. The food trucks parked outside had gargantuan lines. I found a simple snack bar with some chips, fruit and granola bars. I also found Fenway park prices for a simple snack.

I bought two mini (and I greatly emphasize the word mini) Nature Valley Granola bars that ended up being half dust. Most of my $12 "snack" just blew away with a gust of wind. I was inhaling the air around me for nutrition. The rest was spilling out all over the floor. I quickly tried to assess if the five second rule applied, but all the crumbs whisked away like tumbleweed. The next day I brought a banana and lots of energy bars - problem solved.

Lesson 4: Pickleball! Invest in Good Prizes.

The star of the show was our demandDrive pickle ball set. Not once, not twice, but at least 7-8 times, photographers came and literally just took pictures of our pickleball set. One was looking at the paddles like he was photographing a model: "yes... you're a bad paddle, you have been making so much noise on public tennis courts... the neighbors are complaining but you don't care, work it!" Another was taking video while moving to make their own Ken Burns effect. Hopefully the residual checks start pouring in soon.

When you are spending $1,500 on a ticket, people expect merch! Give the people what they want. Heated mugs. Mini Bluetooth speakers. Pads and pens. Fidgets. Tea and candle sets. T-shirts. A freakin' mini massage gun! My boy AJ Alonso went a little excessive with the gifts and it paid off.

Don't just take it from me! Thanks for the shout out Chris Clarke (awesome dude).

Lesson 5: For God's Sake, Don't Have Software Demos in Your Booth. Offer Fun!

This lesson we already had in the bag. We had games, fun, prizes, laughs. We had a legit virtual slot machine going to win our big prizes. Who doesn't like spinning a wheel?

We also had Funnel Feud! Even though we couldn't use our mic and buzzer (Inbound has rules?), it was still a blast and went surprisingly well.

No one on the earth wants to visit a booth with an Outlook-looking calendar on a big screen with confusing software UI. Do not invite people into a booth that looks like a cozy living room to show them spreadsheets. Not cool man.

Lesson 6: If You Want to Get Lost in the Crowd, Put the Words"AI" All Over Your Booth. Differentiate!

Soooo many booths. Soooo many mentions of AI. It made them all sound the same and blend together. But will people be interested in something if it doesn't have AI? Yes.

People will remember one thing about your company. Maybe two if you are lucky. If one of those things is AI... well, that may be the only thing that sticks. Tell a simple story that stands out.

AI is the future, but it is a tool. It will be everywhere and in everything. Touting AI is like using the word "online" 25 years ago. It is generic and meaningless to people when used without a purpose. (I'm a big believer in AI, by the way, I am just speaking in terms of marketing).

Lesson 7: Have Fun with Your Team and Bond!

Work teams are more separate than ever before. With many companies being hybrid or fully remote, the time to truly bond is few and far between. I genuinely had a great time with all my team members.

We had a set schedule to make sure the booth had coverage by a three person team at all times. Guess what? Everyone was there a majority of the time because they were enjoying themselves. We riffed off each other and made spontaneous introductions into conversations. Potential partners could tell without a shadow of a doubt that we were an actual team. That is the kind of agency you want to hire.

Be silly. When someone from CloseDr dresses up like Deadpool and holds up a sign, you have to act. I immediately asked our Director of Marketing Services, Roland Davin, to grab a few butter knives and jump in as Wolverine. All I heard was "absolutely." Fortunately we found metal serving tongs and the rest was history.

When it is quitting time, pick a fun event to crash as a team! We attended the Boston Pantheon event?put on by Apollo. From what I remember it was a great time.

Big thanks to everyone manning the booth including Lindsay Frey, Daniel Paul, AJ Alonzo, Torian Riley, Jon Hanman, Greg Cammarata, Roland Davin, Nicole Ciprich, Noah Burkholz & Maggie Jackson.

We also had fun in the endless hours of planning. Special shoutouts to Rebecca Schnopp, Chapin Bennett, Alex Ellison & Meg Hess for helping to plan and execute.

Lesson 8: Take Lead Meeting Notes ASAP!

I pride myself on having a very solid sales meeting memory. I forget many other things in my life, but I can remember what you hate about your CMS or what media channels you considered a massive fail. One thing I did not realize was the sheer volume of high-quality meetings I would actually have from this event. Turns out you cannot use your natural gifts for recall when you have 10 times the amount of information to process.

Fortunately the Inbound app allows you to quickly add notes for any contact that you Klik (when badges tap together, magic happens). Do it right away... I mean immediately after a conversation. These notes export to Excel with all your lead records, making follow ups a snap. I highly regret not doing this on day one. I gave myself hours of extra research time as a result.

See you at Inbound 2025 in San Fran!

All in all the event was a smash hit for demandDrive. I hope to see you all next year at the event. Of course Hubspot moves the event location from my backyard after my first booth hosting experience - such is life. In the meantime, if you need an agency that integrates sales, marketing & tech at a high level, give us a shout. My kids growing up on YouTube would slap me if I didn't tell you to please share to article if you found it of value.