When you participate in a trade show in a big city such as Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, or San Francisco, you may have noticed the city usually rolls out the red carpet for exhibitors. After all, trade show management, exhibitors, and attendees stimulate the local economy, spending money at hotels, eating at local restaurants, buying souvenirs from local vendors, hiring cabs—opening their wallets in general.

Although the trade show itself boosts the local economy, what about the charitable needs of the community? Have you ever thought to do more?
According to Eve Schmitt, CMP, Executive Vice President of Cappa & Graham, a leader in the trade show event and meeting production industry, philanthropic-minded companies make an impact by creating goodwill when they reach out to the local community. In fact, philanthropy can become the most substantial component of a particular trade show booth or trade show event.

Because of this, savvy trade show marketers and event-marketing experts focus on ways trade show event proceeds, goods, and services can help local charities. An example of this type of thinking is the American Dental Association’s trade show in San Francisco, where exhibitors give out toothpaste, floss, toothbrushes, and more to trade show attendees. When the event is over, leftover supplies are donated to homeless shelters in San Francisco. The American Dental Association has arranged in advance all the logistics for the donations to go to the shelters. It’s a great way to build goodwill in the community.

Another way to contribute is to ask your celebrity keynote speaker to donate their speaking fee to a favorite charity. If they agree, you can arrange for the monies to go directly to their favorite charitable foundation. By doing this, the compensation funds will be free of income tax due to the nonprofit status of the foundation.

Many cities do their part to be good citizens as they support these events in their community. Moscone Center in San Francisco won a state award for recycling and is a leader in the “green meeting” trend. The show management uses less paper, recycle bins, compacters for paper and cardboard, and offers post-trade-show graphics to art schools for their reuse. Everything on the trade show floor is recyclable, from the drapes to the carpets.

When planning a trade show display experience or trade show event, ask yourself how you can contribute to the local needs of the community. Giving back is always good business.

This is true wherever you have an exhibit, whether it be at the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, the Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the Santa Clara Convention Center, or the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.

Next time you plan a trade show exhibit, challenge your marketing and sales teams to find ways to contribute to the local needs of the community where you will be exhibiting. By making a philanthropic plan, you’ll contribute goodwill to a community, reaching far beyond the trade show floor.