When you’re looking to snag the best talent, you can’t show up for a job fair unprepared. You wouldn’t start an interview—never mind a hundred—without doing some pre-game work, right? Get a head start with these top tips to find talent at a job fair.

Determine your recruitment goals

Think about your industry, your current hiring needs, and the types of candidates you’d like to attract. Knowing this makes it easier to choose a job fair that will be worth your investment. To showcase your brand and increase your reach, you can attend or even host an industry-specific job fair. If you’re hiring entry-level or intern positions, set your eyes on college job fairs. If you’re after candidates with a military affiliation, look at veterans’ job fairs.

Select your recruitment team

Choose a broad but solid representation. You’ll want to consider some members of HR, who handle hiring in their day-to-day tasks. They know what they’re doing! They can talk with candidates, gather resumes and contact information, and even coordinate interviews. You’ll also want to consider bringing hiring managers. If they’re filling a position in their department, they can answers questions about the opening or even evaluate candidates on the spot. Also think about any other team members worth including—teammates who embody your company’s culture and values, who are generally charismatic, or who might connect with the target audience.

Prep your marketing materials

You need booth banners, brochures, business cards, event advertising… Succinctly, you need to develop a lot of marketing proofs. So work with your affiliated designers on eye-catching and informative designs that will work for your target audience. A few weeks before the event, post the ads to your company’s career website and social media pages. And if you’re thinking about event giveaways—especially great at colleges—ditch the throwaway pens and stickers and spring for something useful, like custom socks, mini hand sanitizers, or power banks.

Map out your questions

You’ll be moving quickly at the job fair, so prep your script in advance. Ask role-specific questions for your open positions, such as whether candidates have experience with the necessary software or processes. Ask questions about interests and career goals to gauge a long-term fit with the company. You can also ask questions about your company to find out who has done their homework.

Manage your candidates

Arrive to the job fair early to set up. From there, focus on speaking to as many candidates as possible. Everyone deserves a shot, and a wider pool improves your chances of finding top talent. But you’ll also want to keep interviews short and structured to give everyone a chance. Collect resumes and encourage candidates to apply on the career website, but also take notes; this time will move fast, so faces and conversations may blur together. Finally, let candidates know what’s next: tell qualified candidates when they might hear from you, and tell other candidates that you’ll keep them in mind when a suitable position opens up.

Set a follow-up strategy

Once you sort through your materials, reach out to the most qualified candidates before someone else does. Coordinate the next steps, including an application, call screening, or in-person interview.

Measure success

Debrief your team. Was this job fair successful for your overall recruitment effort? What worked well and what could be improved? How many impressions were made, and how many high-potential candidates were discovered? Save these notes to compare with the actual hiring outcomes. How many job fair candidates were interviewed? How many were hired? What was the total time-to-hire? This data will help you gauge whether job fairs are a good resource in your company’s recruitment strategy.