1. Check the calendar of activities and calls. It should be noted that Sounds from Spain calls for proposals are published about three months in advance. Check the calendar of annual activities in the section calls (click on this link).
2. Select the fair or festival that best fits your profile. International fairs and festivals are key events for presenting music projects to an international audience and establishing valuable business contacts. But before participating, some factors such as profile, target audience, international track record or cost must be evaluated. See the export capsule on How to Select a Fair or Festival.
   
3. Download the call for the activity where the participation terms and conditions, the type of the activity and the Sounds from Spain organization that coordinates are included. Please note that each Sounds from Spain activity is organized by an organization that is part of the platform. This is important to know to whom to refer your questions and how to register.
4. Make the registration under the desired participation option following the procedure described in the call for applications. Generally, there are two types of participation:
   • COMPANY WITH A SHOWCASING BAND option. This participation modality is designed for those companies that want to present a band at the fair or festival. The selection of bands will be governed by the criteria of the host fair or festival itself from among those registered in the corresponding call for entries. Each company may include a maximum of two bands in its application to participate, but only one of them may be selected to participate with Sounds from Spain.
   • COMPANY WITHOUT A SHOWCASING BAND option. This participation modality is designed for those companies that do not want to present a band to participate with Sounds from Spain.
5. Once the selection has been made, ICEX or the organizing association will formally communicate to the companies their acceptance as part of the Sounds from Spain delegation under the corresponding participation option. From this moment onwards, the company will be given approximately three days to make its participation official.
6. Plan your trip and accommodation: don’t leave it to the last minute.
7. From this moment on, the Sounds from Spain entity in charge of the activity will start working on the organization of the activity, requesting the necessary information from the companies of the delegation with enough prep time.
8. At the same time, the company must initiate the planification to make the best out of its action. Among the most important preparation tasks, we highlight:

• • Explore the website/app of the fair/festival
  • Set realistic goals: the clearer you are about what you specifically want from a fair or festival, the more likely you are to achieve it. Examples of objectives:
    • ‘Meet and get contact information for 20 festival directors’.
    • ‘Meet 10 record label heads and give them my material.’
    • ‘Putting faces to names with the 20 people I already know in the global music industry.’
    • ‘Discover five artists I want to book this year at my festival’.
  • Scheduling meetings: the biggest mistake that less experienced conference attendees make is not having some meetings scheduled in advance. There are many panels to attend and trade show booths to visit, but if possible, try to schedule meetings in advance related to the business you hope to conduct.
    View the export capsule on Meetings
  • Prepare the materials. You can get a lot done in a meeting, but you may not have enough time to explain or demonstrate everything you need to. Here are some ideas about the material you can bring:

+ audiovisual material. It’s good to have something physical to hand out, something to remember. Today, people still deliver full CDs, but others bring download cards or flash drives.

+ postcards. Think about who your target audience is and prepare the postcard information for that audience. If you are an artist looking for festival bookings, include compelling information about the live tour, as well as highlights of your career. Also include which territories you expect to travel and when it is available (month and year). Include musical styles, country of origin, key web links and contact information. If you are an agent with a more extensive listing, include shorter reviews. Compelling photos will always attract people’s attention.