Toy train events are a lot of fun. They allow you to see how other people set up their train tracks, to talk with other collectors and to find the pieces that will complete your collection. They are also a great place to display your train collection and to sell you collectibles. However, before you can impress event goers with your train collection and demonstration you need to know how to prepare your exhibit.

Exhibitor’s Materials

The first step that you need to take when preparing for a toy train exhibit is to read through the exhibitor’s materials authored by the event’s host. This information will tell you how much space you have, what is allowed and what power will be available. You will need to develop your exhibit around these limitations.

Designing Your Exhibit

After you know the parameters that you have to work within, your next step is to decide how to put together your exhibit. The design of your exhibit will need to reflect the purpose of your exhibit. The purpose of your exhibit is going to influence how your layout is designed and what elements of your layout are spotlighted. Graph paper can be very helpful during the design phase. Try to sketch your design to scale to make it easier to set up your exhibit.

Set Up Your Exhibit At Home

After you have an exhibit design in hand you will next want to set it up at your home in the garage or living room. This will allow you the opportunity to tweak your design and to practice the set up. Make sure that you use the same space limitations and power source limitations with your home set up as you will have at the event. You will also want to practice taking down and packing up your exhibit.

Practicing Your Demonstration

Another thing that you will want to practice is your demonstration. If you are at the exhibit just to show off your layout then practice running a few different runs and practice demonstrating various features of your layout. If you are at the exhibit to sell items, then you will want to develop a pitch for your items that include the history and value of the pieces you are trying to sell.

Final Check Before Leaving the House

Before you leave your house on the day of the exhibit set-up make sure you have everything that you need including power cords, tape, modeling clay, spare batteries and other backup items. To help you keep track of everything that you need create a check list that you can use to not only pack up your toy train demonstration, but you can also use it to set up your demonstration.

When packing up your toy train exhibit make sure that you have all of your toy train cars and vehicles and accessories.