Exhibiting at a trade show can provide great visibility to an enterprise if it is done correctly. IT staff are often a critical part of an enterprise's trade show exhibit staff.

• In larger businesses the IT staff may be involved in the configuration, setup, support and tear-down of the computer equipment used in the display.
• Smaller enterprises may also use IT staff to work the booth alongside product management, marketing and sales personal.

Once the IT staff is assigned responsibility for working with the exhibit staff, they need to be aware of the responsibilities and potential problems that they may encounter.

For a trade show booth that requires operational monitors, scanners, displays or computer equipment, there are certain areas where the IT staff should become involved as early as possible. The ability to actively exhibit the enterprise's products and services to the attendees may well depend on the correct operation of computing devices in the booth. The saying "what can go wrong will go wrong" applies doubly to public demonstrations of products.

The IT staff may have a wide range of responsibilities in regard to the enterprise exhibits. Some larger businesses...