What are some good ways to utilize social media during a trade show?

Likely as not, the convention center your trade show is in will have only limited wireless service accessibility. So I'm thinking that another way to use social media during a trade show is "in reverse" -- by offering a free WiFi hot spot at your booth for attendees to "Stop by, hear our pitch, give us your contact info, get a pass code, and then check your email, send some tweets, tell a friend, and enjoy your day, etc."

Whadeya think?!

I agree with Eric and Barry (excellent advice from both). Adding to Eric's, you can also add checkins from Facebook (just like foursquare, though not nearly as popular yet). But a special page on Facebook would be a good idea. It could include all contests, news, photos, updates (etc.) that you are running from all social media sites (Twitter, foursquare, etc.).

One contest, for example, could be for booth visitors to snap and upload a photo -- say of themselves with your company's mascot, or a booth worker (or you) -- to that Facebook page. Then you could have either a random drawing from all entries or decide to pick the photo with the most "likes."

But do consider a wifi hot spot, as bandwidth gets tight when so many smartphones are active.

Hope this all helps!
-Tom

A few things I like to do include:

1. Like the sponsors facebook and event page. Scan who else is coming and try to engage in dialog on those platforms. Don't try to sell, Try to make new and expand existing relationships.

2. RSVP to the event on LinkedIn. You can scan others that have RSVP'd and grow your relationships.

3. Get active on Twitter and grow your connections with those actively using the event hashtag. Often times, events host a tweet up. Go to this because those that are there are usually pretty influential.

4. Instead of giving away trinkets at your booth, try giving away an e-book or something that demonstrates thought leadership. It's better to promote that value than a drawing or minor give-away.

Tradeshow participants are moving from a push to a pull style of buying. You need to be social and build trust without doing push marketing. Social media success is highly contingent on being helpful without expectation of anything in return.

Great question and great answers! Working in both the trade show industry and as the social media/marketing manager, I have had first-hand experience in using social media tools to increase traffic to your trade show booth. To touch up on what has already been said:
1. Using hash tags is a must to connect with people who are either in your industry or are planning on attending the event. Effective hash tags would include the name of your event and industry-related keywords. For example, when the owners of company were planning on attending Exhibitor Trade Show, I used #EXHIBITOR2011 prior to the event to talk to other exhibitors and get their booth numbers in order to stop by.

2. Let your followers and fans know your booth number, the location of your booth, and any other details they need to know. They may be more inclined to stop by your trade show booth if they know they'll get a free gift. Post what trade show giveaways or drawings you plan on having at your booth.

3. Create a sense of urgency. For example, "The first 50 people will get a free gift" or "Stop by before 11:00 to get our giveaway product."

4. Bring a video camera and take videos of your display and interview the staff. Post this video while at the show and remember to use specific keywords to make it easy to find these videos.

Through both the Internet and mobile apps, it is much easier to promote our trade show displays in a much larger audience. Take advantage of this by promoting your booth before, during, and event after the show to gain customers and build your networking community.

I attended a trade show recently where one of the booths conducted a treasure hunt using QR codes, FB /FQ checkins, and YouTube videos.

You had 6 things to check off your list as having had completed, and when you finished, you were entered into a mobile subscription drawing for a prize.

The treasure hunt was included in the ad for the company in the program guide.
Great non-traditional use of ad space!

The items included:
1. Find "Dave" at Booth 123 and get the secret code to unlock the treasure map
Dave, of course, is one of the guys manning the booth starting the treasure hunt.
The secret code was a QR code that users scanned to find out what the next clue was..

2. Head on over to ABC Classroom at 2pm and listen for the clue for the next step
(This is the seminar given by the company conducting the treasure hunt).
If you started the treasure hunt after the seminar was offered, you were given a free pass to move on to the next step.

3. Go to the FB page and watch a video about [whatever] and figure out where to head next.

4. The previous video drives you to a complimentary product/partner's booth.. and you get another QR code there taking you to the next step.

etc.

You get the idea...

When you get to the end, you scan another QR code, entering you into the drawing to win a prize. This is the mobile subscription piece (you could do email newsletter subscription too) that requires you to enter the mobile subscription campaign, and that system randomly picks a winner. You can have an on-the-spot random winner selected, mroe than one random winners selected, or randomly pick the winner after the event is over and create post-show buzz.