If our 2025 best financial events calendar is anything to go by, we are falling into expo season, hard and fast. While we see many events peppered throughout the year, the Northern Hemisphere’s spring and summer schedule is jam packed. If you and your team are participating in a forex expo this year, then we’ve got some great tips from the organisers themselves on how to make an impact. Whether you’re a forex broker, liquidity provider, fintech, payment processor or introducing broker, get out that pen you snaffled at the last summit and get ready to take notes on how to get the most from forex expos.
Budgeting and ROI for Forex Expo
Let’s kick off with the hard stuff. What’s it all going to cost and how are you going to convince management to spend it?
First off you have to answer the questions – ‘why are we attending’ and ‘what do we want to get from it’ – realistically. Are you attending an educational conference where you want to learn about industry trends? Will it be an opportunity to network with peers, competitors, possible future clients? Or are you going full-tilt with warship sized booth with flashing lights and lollipop stands?
Setting clear expectations with your stakeholders is important. Many times we have heard people bemoan how much their team spent on an expo and didn’t get a single client. Here’s a secret: Expo participation is not about getting clients – at least not in the immediate-term.
Putting together your expo budget
- Cost of attendance – entry tickets, team costs like flights, accommodation, food, taxis, insurance
- Booth costs – space rental, booth design and installation, furniture and AV rentals
- Merch – giveaways, business cards (physical and/or virtual), competition prizes, brochures
- Sponsorship – additional sponsor opportunities like expo bags, refreshment areas, opening parties
- Speaker costs – are you paying a speaker or trainer to present for you?
- Marketing costs – promotions leading up to and after the event (more on that later)
- Backups – for everything! People, cards, presentations…
Pro tip: Imagine every aspect that could go wrong and have a plan B. If you’re spending a lot of money to get there, then a simple technical fault with a mic or forgotten business cards can negatively impact your event.
Before exhibiting at a forex expo, companies must define why they’re there. Are you targeting traders? Looking for partners? Building brand awareness? The goal should shape everything, the booth setup, the giveaways, the talking points, and most importantly, the team on-site.
Dora Christofi, Head of Marketing, Finance Magnates
People, People, People
Unlike real estate where it’s all about location, expos are all about the people. So make sure you have the right people on your team in attendance. If it’s a forex trading summit with a lot of retail traders attending, ensure your best salespeople are there. Bring along an analyst or educator that can offer some training at your booth. If it’s a B2B forex expo and you’re a platform or liquidity provider, make sure your product people are present to answer the hard questions. Know what type of audience that event attracts and make sure your team has them covered. Hiring booth girls or stunt models might attract attention to your booth but is it the kind of attention that will sway investors? Don’t be tacky. Be strategic about the people and marketing representing your brand.
And speaking of your team, they represent your brand – at the expo, at the dinner and at the after party drinks.
One of the biggest mistakes is bringing staff who aren’t fully briefed. Everyone representing the brand should know the offering, understand the target audience, and be aligned on what success looks like at the event.
Dora Christofi, Head of Marketing, Finance Magnates
It’s tricky to get your brand seen when there are so many other brands (and competitors!) all vying for attention, so you really want to make sure your sponsorship spend is allocated in the right place. The truth is that you have to leverage your attendance to be seen in the crowd, no matter how little or much you spend. I’ve done virtual football booths, raffles giveaways, speaker slots … you name it, in attempt to be seen in the crowd. Having done all that (I’ve got the Been There Done That t’shirt) , I would say that my favourite and most effective mode of attendance (personally speaking), is to have a manned branded booth with some chairs and a table. We do this now with financialmarkets.media. We set up our meetings in advance with our important contacts (our friends at Contentworks are always on that list!) and use this time together sitting calmly in the eye of the storm, with a nice coffee, to talk about how we can do business together. “
Helen Astaniou, Publisher Relations Director at FinancialMarkets.media
Maximising Your Forex Expo Impact
What we see time and time again, are brokers spending huge amounts of money on sponsoring expos, having flashy booths and pricey giveaways. But they fail to leverage the opportunity for their marketing. Spend time looking at the speakers, reaching out to them and setting up meetings. Take some time to understand the floor plan so you’re not wandering aimlessly around for hours trying to find the seminar halls. And don’t forget about social media sharing before, during and after the event. Get your team to take photos and show a personal face to your brand.
A great example of strategic thinking came from an Asian broker at one of our Finance Magnates Summits. Their theme focused on trader wellbeing. They offered orthopaedic slippers and on-site massages only after attendees registered to open a trading account. It was innovative, relevant, and aligned directly with their lead generation strategy. Their booth had a steady flow of people throughout the event, a perfect mix of creativity and purpose.
Dora Christofi, Head of Marketing, Finance Magnates
Leveraging Your Forex Expo Spend
Think about any other type of marketing you can do to take advantage of your attendance. Will you run a competition? Will you conduct a forex training seminar. Whatever you do, think about a smart way to drag every last piece of press out of it. This includes:
- Landing pages
- Email outs
- Social media contests
- Press releases
- Video and photography
Not-my-first-rodeo tip: Are you giving away pens – great. Socks – very cool. Neat phone gadget – nice. Beautiful notebooks – every writer in the room will be your BFF. Think about who you want to attract with your giveaway and what they might appreciate. Whatever it is, make it quality. No one wants USB sticks, not even the tech guys.
Two other important points with giveaways:
- Make sure they’re branded and include key info like your website. People have a hard time remembering everyone they met during a hectic expo but they will wake up the next day and go through their goodies bag.
- Consider how you will get your merch to the venue – no one wants to carry 20 kilos of brochures and giveaways in their luggage.
- Factor in the climate. We can remember giving away branded chocolates on one very hot June expo. We won’t again.
Our branded coffee was a hit though!
Branded items that are both practical and sustainable tend to make a lasting impression. Reusable water bottles, books, and candles are usually well-received, far more useful than the standard flyers.
Qube Events
Business Cards
Just when we’re ready to move away from physical cards, they are having a renaissance. Virtual cards and QR codes may seem good in theory, but we’re seeing people going back to printed cards. Collecting cards is the fastest way to get people’s contacts. No needing to search through your apps to find the people you met. The physical act of exchanging cards has a personal element and makes remembering people easier.
Did You Know: In Japan, receive a business card with both hands while slightly bowing to show respect. Take a moment to carefully examine the card before putting it away, ideally in a card holder, not your pocket, to demonstrate appreciation.
Let’s Recap
An expo is a chance for your team to spend together out of the office. As well as working hard, it’s a time to wind down and show your human side. Here are some dos and don’ts for forex expo season:
DOs
✅ Do prepare well in advance– Professional videos and marketing materials take time to create.
✅ Do wear comfortable shoes – You’ll be walking miles around the expo halls.
✅ Do set mini-goals for each day – “Meet 5 new people,” “Find one new broker,” or “Collect the best notepad.”
✅ Do attend at least one workshop outside your usual niche – You never know where your next idea might come from.
✅ Do hit the networking events – Forex + drinks = friendships (and possibly future deals).
DON’Ts
❌ Don’t talk nonstop about your strategy – No one wants a TED Talk at 9 a.m.
❌ Don’t collect swag like a pirate – You’re not there to start a ballpoint pen museum.
❌ Don’t burn yourself out – Stay hydrated and take regular breaks during the event.
❌ Don’t forget to follow up – A card is cool; a LinkedIn message turns it into gold.
❌ Don’t misbehave– Have fun but don’t spoil the great impression you made by misbehaving at parties.
Attending an expo this year and need creative ideas to stand out? Speak to the Contentworks team to help you get the most from forex expos.