Preparing for a Coffee Trade Summit: A Founder's Checklist

For the founder of a small or mid-sized origin coffee brand, a major international trade summit can feel like a single high-stakes opportunity: one trip, a handful of days, and a chance to make relationships that could shape the next year of the business. That pressure makes preparation disproportionately important, since a founder juggling sourcing, operations and everything else rarely has time to improvise a strong showing on the ground. This checklist lays out what to prepare before travel, organized by how far in advance each item should be handled.

Three months out: strategic decisions

At this stage, decide the format of participation, whether a full exhibition booth, a networking-focused delegation, or a hybrid approach, based on budget and the event's stated audience and theme. Decide on a small number of specific goals for the trip, such as identifying two potential distributors in a named target market, rather than a general intention to explore opportunities. If complimentary passes or a formal delegation channel exists through a national trade body or association, begin that process now, since these channels often involve limited allocations and lead time.

Two months out: documentation and materials

This is the point to run a proof density review, as described elsewhere, across the lots most likely to come up in conversation, and to close any obvious gaps in origin, process, harvest and cupping documentation. Prepare a short, specific one-page summary of the brand and its current offerings, avoiding generic language in favor of the kind of specific detail that supports quick evaluation. If samples will be brought or shipped, confirm freshness timing so the coffee tastes its best on the days it matters, not weeks before.

Six weeks out: identifying and contacting targets

Review published speaker lists, supporting organizations and any available attendee information to identify specific individuals or companies worth meeting. Reach out directly to request meetings, rather than waiting to make contact only on the show floor, since calendars at major events fill quickly and a request made in advance is far more likely to secure real time than an approach made in passing.

One month out: logistics and roles

Confirm travel, accommodation and, if applicable, booth logistics including shipping of materials and setup schedules. If more than one person is attending, assign clear roles: who leads specific meetings, who manages the booth if one exists, and who is responsible for follow-up notes after each conversation. Prepare a simple template for capturing what was discussed and agreed in each meeting, since memory alone is unreliable after a multi-day event full of similar conversations.

One week out: final checks

Reconfirm all scheduled meetings, since calendars shift in the final days before a large event. Print or otherwise prepare any physical materials, and check that digital materials, such as a proof density summary or origin fact sheet, are accessible without depending on an internet connection at the venue. Brief every attending team member on the trip's specific goals, so the whole delegation is working toward the same outcomes rather than pursuing individually interesting but unfocused conversations.

During the event: staying disciplined

It is easy for a multi-day event to become a blur of conversations, many interesting but few directly relevant to the stated goals. A useful discipline is a short daily review, even just fifteen minutes at the end of each day, to note which conversations produced concrete next steps and which target meetings are still outstanding, so the remaining days can be adjusted accordingly rather than drifting.

Immediately after: converting contacts into next steps

The value of a trade summit is realized after the event, not during it. Within a few days of returning, send specific follow-up messages referencing what was discussed in each meeting, rather than a generic thank-you, and propose a concrete next step, such as sending a sample, scheduling a call, or sharing further documentation. Contacts made at an event lose momentum quickly if follow-up is delayed by more than a week or two.

A month later: honest evaluation

Compare the outcomes against the goals set three months before travel. How many of the target meetings happened? How many produced a concrete next step? What was the actual cost per meaningful outcome? This evaluation should feed directly into planning for the next event, whether that means adjusting the format, the preparation timeline, or the criteria used to select which events are worth attending at all.

What experienced founders do differently

Founders who get consistent value from trade events tend to share a few habits: they set narrow, specific goals rather than broad ones, they invest disproportionate effort in pre-event outreach rather than hoping for productive chance encounters, and they treat every event as a data point in an ongoing process rather than a single make-or-break opportunity. This last point matters particularly for a founder feeling pressure to make one trip count for everything; a single event rarely transforms a business on its own, but a disciplined, repeated process of attending, learning and refining consistently does.

Budgeting time, not just money

Founders often budget carefully for the financial cost of attending an event but underestimate the time cost of proper preparation. Assembling proof density documentation, drafting outreach messages and reviewing speaker lists can easily take several full days spread across the weeks before travel. Blocking this time deliberately on a calendar, the same way travel dates are blocked, protects preparation from being squeezed out by the daily demands of running the business, which is exactly the failure mode that leaves a founder improvising once they are already on the ground.

Bottom line

Preparing for a major coffee trade summit is a multi-month process, not a task for the final week before travel. Working backward from the event date through strategic decisions, documentation, target outreach, logistics and final checks, and following through with disciplined post-event evaluation, gives a founder the best chance of converting a costly, time-limited opportunity into relationships that actually advance the business.