London trade shows: Olympia and ExCeL, what is on this autumn, and how to get in free

The trade show is the most underrated free resource available to a small business in Britain. One day walking stands replaces a month of cold emails: suppliers, distributors, wholesale prices, competitors and customers are all in one hall and have come specifically to talk. Here is where it happens in London, what is on this autumn, and how to get in for nothing.

The two main venues

Olympia London — Kensington, in the west. A Victorian exhibition complex opened in 1886; the Grand Hall sits under its glazed arch, with the National Hall and West Hall alongside. The site is being rebuilt into a quarter with theatres, hotels and a music venue, but the exhibitions run on regardless. Getting there: Kensington (Olympia) station on the Overground and District line, plus buses. The scale is manageable: a single day is genuinely enough to see everything and talk to people.

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ExCeL London — the Royal Docks, in the east. A different order of magnitude: a kilometre of hall along the water, the country's largest exhibitions and international congresses. Easiest by Elizabeth line to Custom House, about twenty minutes from the centre, with the DLR alongside. Plan a full day and comfortable shoes.

What is on this autumn

September

Top Drawer, Olympia, 13–15 September — gifts, design, homeware and retail products. The obvious entry point for anyone selling retail or planning to.

Speciality & Fine Food Fair and Speciality Chocolate Fair, Olympia, 15–16 September — fine food, small producers, everything for cafés and independent shops.

Casual Dining, Commercial Kitchen, lunch!, London Packaging Week, Natural & Organic Products Europe, ExCeL, 16–17 September — a rare case of five sector shows running in one building on one badge: food service, kitchen equipment, packaging and organics.

Ecommerce Expo and Technology for Marketing, ExCeL, 23–24 September — online retail and marketing. Useful to anyone selling online, marketplace sellers included.

Big Data LDN, Olympia, 23–24 September — data and analytics, entirely free, with a large conference programme.

International Security Expo and International Cyber Expo, Olympia, 29–30 September — physical security and cyber security in one place.

Café Business Expo, Coffee Shop Innovation, Trade Drinks Expo, Hospitality Tech, Restaurant & Bar Tech Live, Hotel & Resort Innovation, Drone Expo, ExCeL, 29–30 September — another large cluster, this time coffee shops, bars, hotels and the kit behind them.

October

Professional Beauty London and Salon International, ExCeL, 4–5 October — the two biggest shows in beauty and hairdressing, together.

Independent Hotel Show, Olympia, 5–6 October — small and boutique hotels.

Brand Licensing Europe, ExCeL, 6–8 October — brand and character licensing.

Decorex International, Olympia, 11–14 October — high-end interior design.

IP Expo Europe, ExCeL, 15–16 October — enterprise IT.

Diabetes & Cardiovascular Professional Care, Olympia, 20–21 October — for medical professionals.

MCM Comic Con London, ExCeL, 23–25 October — not business but the country's largest pop-culture festival; if you sell anything adjacent, the crowd is instructive.

November

Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia, from 2 November, one week — fine art and antiques.

World Travel Market, ExCeL, 3–5 November — Britain's principal travel trade show and one of the largest in the world.

Luxury Travel Fair, Olympia, 5–8 November — the upper end of travel.

The Business Show, ExCeL, 11–12 November — the single most useful show for micro-businesses and the self-employed: franchises, accounting, banks, marketing, hundreds of free seminars. If you go to one show this year, this is probably it.

London Build Expo, Olympia, 25–26 November — construction: contractors, materials, tenders. Free entry.

Cake and Bake Show, Olympia, 26–29 November — a consumer show, but for a baker it is a shop window and a market at once.

Dates are drawn from the venue calendars and trade directories; check the show's own site before travelling, because things move.

How to get in free

The key fact: almost every B2B exhibition is free to trade visitors who register in advance. Paying is what happens to people who turn up unregistered on the day — that is deliberate policy, not an exception.

• Register a week or two ahead. Look for "Visitor registration" or "Get your free ticket" on the show's site. The badge arrives by email as a QR code.
• You need a trade connection. The form asks for company, job title and sector. Your own business, self-employed status or an intention to start one is a perfectly good answer; there is no need to invent a corporation.
• Bring business cards. Card exchange is still live practice at shows, and a stand will remember you by the card.
• Seminars are free too, but the popular ones need separate advance booking — the seats go.
• The last hour of the last day is when samples and stand material tend to be given away rather than carried home.

Getting the most out of the day

Download the floor plan and exhibitor list beforehand and mark the ten or fifteen stands you are actually going for. Walking the aisles in order is pointless: at a large show it is physically impossible to see everything.

Ask precise questions. "Tell me about yourselves" gets you a brochure; "what is your minimum order and do you deliver in London" gets you a price and the name of someone who decides.

Ask about the show offer — terms available only during the exhibition. Almost everyone has one and almost nobody volunteers it.

And write on the card what you agreed. After three days ten stands blur into one, and an email that opens "we spoke on your stand about minimum order quantities" gets read far more readily than an anonymous enquiry.