SoftBaugh has released an article on trade show skills. Trade shows are often overlooked by many small businesses, or approached with unreasonable expectations by others. Trade shows can run the gamut between inexpensive $100 or less booths at gun shows or local hobby shows, all the way up to many thousands of dollars for booths and accessories at industry events. Some exhibitors, such as those at home shows, will spend upwards of six figures on their displays, even building little kitchen, living room or deck mock-ups on site.

You don’t have to commit that kind of money to get a lot out of a trade show, though. You can even get a lot out of them by just scoping them out as an attendee, as long as you don’t make a nuisance of yourself by trying to be a crypto-vendor on the cheap. There are also a lot of options these days for getting high-quality banners and handouts printed relatively inexpensively for when you do set up a booth.

Unfortunately for our Trump Week in Review series, we’ve been at two separate trade shows on the past two Fridays (the week-a-versary of the inauguration). I’m really hoping to get back in the saddle for that this week, given all that has been going on in the world. I’m also way behind on answering emails, getting posts up on all sites (including a fun Old School Tech project that jumped on our faces yesterday like a baby Alien), and meatspace followup everywhere. I suppose that in itself is a good indicator for business perking up all over.