Public appearances are important for any business. This is because they allow you to actually show off your goods, your newest products and also connect with your audience. It’s also a good opportunity to attract new investors and also get a word in with the media to help you spread your products and designs.

However, not every entrepreneur is built for the limelight. Let’s face it, while it’s important to have good social skills as an entrepreneur, many are reclusive and sit in their offices working feverishly to grow their brand. Sadly, it’s still important to make a public appearance even if you don’t like the attention, and here are a couple of tips to help you make it a good one.

If you attend a trade show, follow these tips

Trade shows are fantastic places to get your products and services out there and also connect with your audience, but if you approach it the wrong way then you’re just going to waste your time and your effort. To help you out, here are a couple of golden tips to keep in mind when attending a trade show:

• Focus on networking with people, speak up and get business cards to help grow your contact list.
• Speaking of business cards, make sure you have some to give out.
• Prepare some kind of memorable gift for people that visit your booth. This could be something simple like a USB drive or a discount for your online store.
• Don’t skimp on your trade show displays. Always get high-quality prints, stands and other materials–they can be reused if you preserve them.
• Always have a demonstration ready for your product or service and never come empty-handed.

Follow these five tips and you’ll knock every trade show out of the park. If you ignore these points, then you’re just going to waste your time and nothing good will come out of your trade show appearance.

Work on improving your business communication skills

It should go without saying that you need to improve your business communication skills if you want to make better public appearances. Here are a couple of tips to get you started:

• Make sure you work on your appearance. You don’t need to be a model, but you shouldn’t turn up to a public event dressed in rags because you need to put on a good first impression.
• Learn to listen. Don’t always speak and butt-in to conversations.
• Work on remembering names. You’re going to meet a lot of people at events and many of them will be repeat visitors, especially media people and investors.

If you find it difficult to flex your social skills at a trade show then you may want to consider online courses to help you grow your skills. It’s a fantastic way to give your business a PR boost and you’ll learn plenty of ways to communicate more effectively with others.

Making a good public appearance is important for a number of reasons, so make sure you’re setting it as a priority instead of overlooking it.