Hi. I've rented a booth at a bridal show for the first time and was wondering what I should bring besides business cards, a price list, and dvd player/monitor. Any suggestions? I've never been to one of these and have no idea what a wedding videographer's booth should look like.

Bring demo DVDs

You don’t need to go passing them out willy nilly, but give them to the truly interested or those price shopping for others.

Do you have a sign? I had one made up, it’s nice to have a backdrop that says what you do.

At my last show I brought (and wore) my wireless lapel mic and had my camera set up on a tripod behind me, it was extra work but I was able to explain how the wireless mics work, what they pick up, and whatnot and that was a good speaking point (the attention to audio) then I hyped up my camera a bit and related it all to the demo DVDs showing.

Also I dont know if this is feasable for you, but it works wonders for me; A lot of the competition I have seen show their dvds or (tapes!) on these 13-17 inch low res TV sets. and they just dont look good on them.

I brought two of my flatscreen/panel computer monitors and my computer with dual video output, (I cant afford an expensive HDTV, but this does the same thing with just a little more work.) I pointed them im opposing angles so even if someone was standing infront of one watching there was another to see, and they look a Lot better than a standard-def small TV set. Just an idea, dont know if you would have what you need handy to do that

Bring your calendar, check _every_ date's availability; it makes it look like your more in demand.

I liked having some specials, maybe a $100-200 off coupon they can sign up to win (then a month later everyone wins $25 off and a new price sheet. (Everyone at a show has a contest or a special, its a good way to get people's names and also get them to stop for a while, so you can pitch at them)

But most importantly get involved, I cant believe how many people bought a booth and just sat at it, Halfway through my last show my voice was going, so I walked out from behind my booth and started talking to people as they passed by, It got a lot more people to my booth who would have otherwise walked by and at times I was giving my pitch to 3 or 4 brides at a time.

Goodluck

Light your booth. My wife and I recently attended a couple of bridal shows to get ideas for our own booth next fall and we found that the booths that had lights (mostly still photogs) stood out the most. Now their lights were showcasing their photos, but I'd bet that some light on your banner/sign would look great. So would some gelled light splashed against the wall behind your booth. We're going to try it out this fall...it certainly can't hurt.