sharing a trade show booth

Does anyone know how to go about getting a product included in someone else’s trade show booth? I have a small computer accessory product, and would like to get it and an accompanying information/contact display in front of buyers - I don’t have to be there myself. Has anyone heard of this being done, or of any companies that make it their business to pool together numerous products from separate designers/companies. Would it be unheard of to propose this to an exhibitor, or against trade show rules?

We do it all the time in both directions. Since we are always showing home theater products TV makers often ask us to use their TVs in our demo rooms. Vice versa we often place our product in our partners booth. At a recent trade show we had a product in a Google booth, another product in a Dolby booth, speakers in multiple receiver maker booths, and in a few distributors. I recommend finding someone in event marketing or sales at the company you want to partner with.

It depends on the show, moreover the show provider, and what their regulations are.

Typically it is against the rules for exhibitors to “sub-lease” room within their space to other companies for blatant promos, or for exhibitors to allow other companies to represent themselves within their space. The exception to this is if a parent company decides to highlight their portfolio of brands or sub-groups/companies.

It is not in a show’s best interest to allow paying exhibitors to let non-paying exhibitors in the door with their product.

Yo’s example is a bit different, it is not uncommon for a company to display products that they don’t manufacture, however this is usually in the context of a setting. Like for example a company may want to display/demo their product, which is a component of a system that is typically made up of a variety of other company’s products. Another example would be more of a setting, like a living room, the exhibiting company might make some sort of smart home product, but they need to include other company’s products to set the stage and demo their own product.

I agree with Yo that you sho9uld approach the other companies’ event marketing folks to discuss integrating your product into their displays, however you likely won’t be allowed to have anything more than your product there, no signage, graphics, or digital content that promotes it. Their exhibit staff can explain what it is to attendees, but they technically can’t promote it or gather leads for you, however, if you are exhibiting at the same show they can direct attendees to your booth.

Is there a reason you wouldn’t just exhibit the product yourself? There’s tons of options for exhibiting.

Have you seen the cost of trade show booths? Some shows are $6,000 or more.

Someone should start a website to find folks looking to share booths together.

Or start a consortium organization whose members can share a booth. As a consortium, it’s unlikely any event company would prevent them from sharing the items of its constituent members.

I’ve seen the costs of a couple thousand booths, but the exhibit itself is a fraction of the cost you can expect to pay to actually exhibit, there’s travel expenses, exhibit space costs, set-up, dismantle, shipping, drayage, etc. There’s ways to minimize these expenses, but I agree it can get quite expensive, especially if you are a start-up with a limited marketing budget.

The consortium idea is used in the industry, the most typical example I’ve seen are international pavilions hosted by the companies’ home countries. So for example at IMTS in Chicago there might be a “Home Country Pavilion”, which is basically a larger space carved into smaller inline spaces that exhibitors from their home country would be allowed to sub-lease, presumably at a reduced cost subsidized by their home country’s government. I’ve also seen this done by academic institutions, agricultural organizations, etc. Depending on your product/service there might be an organization you could partner with who does pavilion exhibiting at a show.

Is there a specific show that you are wanting to target?