It takes more than the bright lights, big-city atmosphere to drive visitors to your tradeshow booth and turn them into qualified leads. Sure, you can design it to resemble a Vegas show or Hollywood glam night, but do you really want to be remembered as being all sizzle and no steak? However, with careful planning and lots of energy, you can make people flock to your booth for all of the right reasons. Below are 20 tips to help you get started.

Generate Pre-Show Buzz

Before you ever set foot in your tradeshow booth, it's critical to alert both potential and current customers about your presence and business. That means generating pre-tradeshow buzz through advance notification. Here are five easy ways to spread the word:

• Write a press release designed to elicit attention from your industry trade press.
• Send notification of a first-night cocktail meet-and-greet, which requires invitees to pick up their invitations at your booth.
• Develop a two-part promotion, in which the first half is mailed and the second half must be picked up at the booth.
• Mail customers personalized invitations asking them to join you at your booth.
• Promote your tradeshow presence through your website, blog and e-mail blasts.

Create the Right Atmosphere

As you plan your booth, consider the message you want to convey and how you can do it in an inviting manner. The purpose of attending a tradeshow is to attract attendees that are likely to turn into long-term customers. So, as you design your space, consider what your customers will be most interested in seeing. Step into their shoes, and base your decisions on how the attendees will benefit.

• Entice attendees by placing your product at eye-level further back in the booth.
• Keep your area clean and organized so that information is easy to find.
• Don't overstock your booth; make it look like your products are in high demand.
• Use well-placed signage to provide key information about your products and company.
• Use booth colors that correlate with the company colors.
• Select graphics that are bold and interesting.
• Hang displays that can be viewed anywhere on the floor.

Engage Your Visitors

Make sure your tradeshow staff is well-prepared, trained and educated on your product so that they can answer questions and gather vital information about prospective customers. In addition, your staff needs to be warm, friendly and engaging so that customers feel comfortable and welcomed.

• Select your booth staff wisely.
• Train your booth staff in advance of the tradeshow.
• Consider having a booth dress rehearsal.
• Use interactive tradeshow presentations to engage visitors.

Select Giveaways Wisely

Giveaways shouldn't be the only reason that attendees come to your booth. If you're flooded by people looking for that great item their friend snagged, but not really interested in your product or what you have to say, you're doing yourself and your company a disservice.

Also, you don't need to spend lots of money on giveaways. Remember: The best items are small - they travel well on the trip home - and useful - they're more likely to be kept around. Keep in mind that the purpose of giveaways is for your customers to be reminded of you daily.

• Choose literature and giveaways that are easy to carry.
• Provide giveaways that attendees will use in their offices frequently.
• Make sure giveaways truly reflect the purpose of your organization.
• Give away something unique to your company (i.e., pen in the shape of your product).

The basic idea is that you want your booth to be the one that attendees flock to for information and great products. And, with a little advance planning, you can make your booth the tradeshow hotspot.