The First Trade Show After Reopening Drew Bigger Crowds Than Expected

We tore down the booth on the afternoon of August 13th, and that night I counted business cards in the hotel. Three days, 216 cards. This was my first offline trade show since the pandemic.

August 11th to 13th, Pazhou, Guangzhou, a construction machinery expo. Our booth was nine square meters, standard shell scheme, RMB 16,800. I went in unsure — after three years online, did the offline playbook still work?

What We Prepared

No demo machines — the booth was too small, and crane fees in and out of the hall are steep. What we brought: two tablets, one laptop, 1,200 copies of literature, and 300 tote bags printed with our warehouse address.

The tablets held what we'd built over three years: the seventeen-point video inspection template, archive photos of more than four hundred machines sold, and the inventory list of 47 machines in stock. Xiao Wang turned the list into a QR code — scan it and it lands straight in your inbox.

Setup ran until 8:30 the night before opening. The lettering on the back wall went on crooked; I peeled it off and redid it three times.

Bigger Crowds Than Expected

By ten the first morning, the aisles were jammed. Three hours in, our 300 copies of literature were gone, and the office rushed over 400 more that afternoon.

More foreigners than I'd guessed. Rough count: of the visitors who stopped for a real conversation over the three days, domestic and overseas ran about sixty-forty. Among the overseas guests, Africa was still the main force, but Central Asian faces were clearly up, plus a wave from South America — Chile and Peru.

The booth next door sold parts, and by noon on day one their interpreter had lost her voice. He told me, "Never expected this. Really never." At the last show three years ago, he barely spoke ten sentences a day.

Sixty Percent New Faces

Back home I sorted the 216 cards one by one. Old customers or people we'd talked with online before: about eighty. The rest — over 60% — were all new.

The new customers shared a pattern: more of them run their own equipment rental companies, and more are local African dealers flipping used equipment. Exactly what Chen Guodong wrote in his industry piece back in March — the customer mix really changed over these three years. It wasn't an illusion.

Meeting old customers was simpler. Chidi came, we shook hands, he looked at machine photos for ten minutes, and said he'd come to Guangzhou next month to see the stock. Three years as online friends, first time in person. He's heavier than on video — said he gained ten jin at home during the two quarantine years.

The Online Playbook, Moved to the Booth

After customers watched the videos on the tablets, I demoed a live video inspection right there. Phone on a stand, aimed at a wheel loader in the Panyu warehouse, Lao Wang on the other end raising the mast, firing the engine, shooting the engine number. A crowd gathered.

A Peruvian customer watched for twenty minutes and asked, "You do this for every machine?" I told him, every machine since April 2020. He nodded, took a card, and on his way out came back to add me on WhatsApp.

This whole kit was drilled into us over the three pandemic years. On a show floor, it works ten times better than handing out flyers.

What We Closed

Honest numbers. Three deals signed on the spot: two used forklifts and one compact wheel loader, USD 94,000 in total. All new customers.

Eleven letters of intent, which I graded by heat and chased one by one within a week of teardown. As of today, two of the eleven have confirmed: one road roller, and four inverters with matching modules.

Booth fee, build-out, literature, travel: the trip cost RMB 62,000. Judging by closed deals and pipeline, breaking even is no problem.

Half the cards are entered. If you talked with me at the show, you'll hear from me this week. If you don't, send me one more message.