Attending a trade show like SEMA or KnowledgeFest is always a lot of fun, and we usually go with the best of intentions: find new products, pick up new business ideas, and meet the service providers who can help our businesses grow. But too often those things fall by the wayside once we get there — and fade away in the rear-view mirror after the show. Here’s how to make sure you get real value out of your next show.

Plan ahead: get your pre-show plan on paper

This takes about 25 minutes:

Grab a pad and paper (or your iPad and Apple Pencil), set a timer for 10 minutes, and jot down everything that comes to mind about what you need to improve or add to your business. Don’t worry about order — just get the ideas out of your head and onto the page.
Review that list and highlight the top 5 items that will really move your sales, process, or profit forward. It could be a new product category, a new system or piece of software, or renegotiating with a current supplier.
Take a fresh sheet and put your top 5 on a new page with space for notes under each. List who’s killing it in that category, who’s leading it, who’s up and coming, and who’s using it. Write down the 3 questions you most need answered about each topic.
Now you have a targeted plan — who to talk to and what to ask. Reach out and book meeting times with those people at the show, and take your paper with you.

Let AI do the heavy lifting

The planning above used to be all on you. In 2026, a few free or cheap AI tools can do a lot of the work — before, during, and after the show:

Build the plan faster. Open an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) and tell it your shop’s size, your goals, and the show you’re attending. Ask it to draft your top-5 improvement list and the questions to ask each vendor. Edit from there — it beats a blank page.
Capture every idea, hands-free. Walking the floor, use your phone’s voice memo or an AI note app to record ideas the second they hit — “ask about the new amp line,” “grab that booth’s tint-film pricing.” Don’t trust your memory until the flight home.
Record the conversations (with permission). Vendor and booth conversations are gold and easy to forget. Record them on your phone, then drop the audio into an AI transcription tool (many are free) to get a clean summary and a to-do list out of each chat.
Turn business cards and photos into follow-ups. Snap a photo of every card, booth, or product sheet. An AI assistant can read them and build your contact and follow-up list so nothing gets lost in a pocket.

Post-show: book the time now

We all know what happens after a show — life and business. The best intentions get swallowed up by a pile of emails, client requests, and jobs that piled up while you were away. So put the plan in place before you even go:

Block 30 minutes on your calendar (yes, actually put it on there now) each day for a week after the show — one day for each of your 5 topics. During that time you’ll:
1. Review the topic. What did you learn? Is it a priority? What will it take to implement, and who needs to be involved? (Feed your voice notes and transcripts to an AI assistant and ask it to summarize what you found and recommend next steps.)
2. Send a follow-up note to whoever you met with. Thank them and ask for any other ideas or information. Suggest a time for a follow-up call if it makes sense.
3. If the item passes the test and you’re going to implement it, add time blocks on your calendar over the next few weeks so you can actually move it from plan to reality.

Let me know if this was helpful, or if you’d like a hand working through it — email me at tony@12v.biz any time.

Enjoy the show, and remember to drink lots of water (and less booze). 🙂

Photo by The Ride Academy on Unsplash.