Trade Show White Papers by Peter C. Locascio

Trade Show Exhibiting 101

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 07:55:11 GMT

The Annual Convention with Trade Show

A national or international trade show often represents the assemblance of an entire industry on display under one roof of a convention center. The gathering is most likely an annual meeting or conference where members come to together to share information, learn what’s new and spend time discussing the past, present and future of their industry.

In addition to workshops, white paper presentations and educational seminars, most national and international trade shows also invite its industry’s vendors to rent booth space and create exhibits that present their industry-specific products and services.

To attending members, (attendees), the trade show floor and its exhibitors, represents an opportunity to visit the exhibition hall and see what’s new in the way of products and services that might benefit their everyday practices and business. Those experienced attendees will usually peruse the exhibit program in hand or online before the show to determine which exhibits they will want to visit first before walking the aisles.

In essence, the annual convention with supporting trade show brings together an entire industry where members and vendors share time and space exchanging news, information, products and services all focused on a three-day invigorated learning experience.

Exhibiting at the Annual Convention Trade Show

For those corporations who already service a particular industry and exhibit at their annual meetings, it might be beneficial to review the how’s and whys here with an eye for improvement. For those corporations considering exhibiting at a new trade show, we offer the following exhibiting basics as a general guide to maximize your exhibiting results.

First and foremost, it’s imperative that the products and services an exhibitor offers are relevant to attendees and that they are not at the end of their product life cycle. Research shows that most trade show attendees are interested in seeing and learning about new products on the trade show floor. If an exhibitor is presenting older, out-of-date products, there’s a good chance that a competitor a few booths away will more than adequately expose the issue and use it to more effectively present their newer product as a replacement.

The amount of booth space an exhibitor rents and stages an exhibit in, should be based on how much space is actually needed to adequately present, demonstrate and discuss the products and services with interested and targeted attendees. Consider the interaction between visiting prospects and both staffers as modified sales call on the exhibit floor.

The most effective exhibit, is one that clearly and quickly communicates the essence of what is being presented. It should be supported with images and graphics that, from the aisle, are easily read and understood by attendees. The more effective these non-verbal graphical communications are, the better the exhibit will function in allowing attendees to identify themselves as interested prospects.

Keeping in mind that only a fraction of a show’s total attendance might possibly become targeted prospects and customers, the exhibit should help screen those interested from those not at all interested, leaving space and creating more of a business meeting environment where quality discussions can occur.

For these reasons, staging any kind of “borrowed interest” activities will not deliver the quality sales leads needed to justify the cost of exhibiting. Even worse, the task of identifying quality sales leads and following up after the show will be arduous and generally unfruitful. After all, one wouldn’t consider bringing a wheel of fortune, card tricks, or game of chance to a one-on-one sales presentation and therefor shouldn’t think employing such activities at a trade show exhibit would be any more effective.

The trade show exhibit floor is not a circus or carnival. It is a serious business meeting environment where successful exhibitors effectively use it to present and demonstrate the value of their brand, people and business culture.

The Exhibit Presentation

The exhibit should be designed around the purpose intended to present and demonstrate products and services to those attendees who have an understanding of what’s being presented and have elected to enter or approach the exhibit and the staff selected to work the booth.

From this point, one can assume that the exhibit’s non-verbal communications (headline copy, graphics, photographs, signage, etc.) as seen from the aisle have inspired the prospect to want to learn more and approaches the exhibit to engage with someone clearly identified as a company representative to ask questions and learn more.

Booth Staff Function

The exhibitor’s booth staff must be well trained, attentive and easily identified to professionally represent the company, its products and services. A good first impression is critical in beginning the process of providing a targeted prospect with quality information while conducting flexible pre-scripted presentations. This important exchange should be viewed and appreciated as nothing less than a business meeting on the trade show floor, where commitments are made and delivered within weeks of the show closing. In many cases, new business and supporting current business can be positively facilitated by making and keeping promises made at a trade show.

Those less organized exhibitors will often fail at taking notes, coordinating and managing trade show leads, solving problems and effectively following up after the show by delivering what might have been promised on the show floor. All of which begs the question; Why exhibit at trade shows if you are incapable of servicing those attendees who visited your exhibit and sought more information in a timely manner after the show?

Managing Sales Leads

Establishing interview guidelines for those on booth duty, will result in effectively managing information gathered between prospects and booth staff. Assuming developing quality sales leads and shortening the selling process are primary exhibiting goals, the function of developing, sharing and managing trade show sales leads becomes one of the most important aspects of justifying the cost and complexity of trade show exhibiting.

Seamless Continuity

In search of trade show exhibiting excellence means your exhibit effectively communicated and welcomed prospects, your overall exhibit presentation provides a professional and comfortable environment, the booth staff performs efficiently in interviewing prospects, and all pertinent information gathered is recorded, documented, distributed and acted upon within a week of the close of show.

Additionally, all sales leads generated by the booth staff need to be integrated into an effective CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program, documenting what the prospects needed and being continually managed to avoid anything from falling through the cracks and disappointing anyone.

Your trade show exhibiting management, in addition to working the booth during the show, should report at the conclusion of the show in a post-show briefing memo what worked, what didn’t and what might need be done to improve the next shows.

Conclusion

Exhibiting at appropriate trade shows remains one of the most effective means of generating quality face to face sales leads within the marketing mix. It takes focus, imagination, discipline and common sense to maximize the effectiveness of trade show exhibiting. However, once excellence is attained this unique function can and will deliver unmatched effectiveness with outstanding sales promotional results.

Peter LoCascio

Founder

Trade Show Consultants

A Trade Show Exhibits Manager’s Keys for Success

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 08:57:00 GMT

Over the years as a trade show exhibiting consultant, I have been asked by many what my opinion was on what it takes to become successful at managing trade show exhibiting for corporations.

While it’s often difficult to assume what “success” means for someone else, I can share with you what it meant to me to be a successful corporate exhibits manager when I worked at Sperry UNIVAC, MEMOREX, and Beckman Instruments.

Additionally, as I climbed the corporate ladder, trade show exhibiting remained a primary focal point for me in the marketing and sales areas at Kawasaki, Tektronix and especially OrCAD Systems Corp, a bootstrapped startup where the challenge of keeping the doors open existed every day.

Finding the Path

Having grown up in the exhibit business helped me understand and appreciate many facets of the fascinating trade show industry.

As a boy sitting at the kitchen table, I listened to my (late) dad, Joe LoCascio as he explained his days’ work as a graphic artist at various exhibit houses in and around New York City. I was delighted when we got to see some of the exhibits, he worked on like the IBM Christmas display windows on Madison Avenue, in New York City.

Climbing the Ladder

During weekends and school holidays, I accompanied my dad to Exhibit Craft, Inc. in Long Island to work in the shop’s graphic and paint departments stretching silk screens, mixing paint, washing silk screens and generally doing any odd job given to me.

I loved it all and knew where I wanted to work forever.

After high school, I worked fulltime at ECI and was soon promoted to assistant production manager responsible for assisting purchasing, shipping and receiving and coordinating union support services for installation and dismantling crews at various trade show convention venues in Manhattan.

Acquiring a new Olivette Underwood account, I was again promoted to manage their 25 national trade shows, ensuring exhibit properties were always well maintained, shipped on schedule, serviced around the country and strategically stored to maximize time and resources.

When ECI was acquired and moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., I accepted a job at Stewart Sauter in South San Francisco. I was their liaison with exhibit houses needing more personal services for installation and dismantling their clients’ exhibits. I had relied on Stewart Sauter to handle any ECI-built exhibits in San Francisco and developed an excellent working relationship with them.

The massive Fall Joint Computer Conference came to Brooks Hall in San Francisco where I was assigned to work as a support person to Pittsburgh’s Gateway Exhibits. Their client, Sperry UNIVAC occupied a major booth at the entrance of the hall. Their 40’x40’ custom exhibit demanded our direct shop labor and personal services, which during the show proved to be a new opportunity for me.

At one point during the show, the Sperry UNIVAC’s advertising manager asked me if I might be interested in moving to Bluebell, Penn., and working in their corporate trade show exhibits department as their exhibit’s coordinator. I accepted the offer to move from the service side of the business to the client side and headed back east.

One year at Sperry UNIVAC opened another door for me when I noticed a MEMOREX advertisement in Adweek magazine seeking a first-time corporate trade show exhibits manager position in keeping with their rapid growth. Wanting to move up and get back to California, I interviewed and accepted their job offer.

MEMOREX went through some difficult financial times a few years later and I thought it might be a good time to try my hand at selling exhibits, so I accepted a sales job at Design Enterprises in Anaheim, Calif., where I successfully made my annual sales quota during the first six months.

Beckman Instruments in Fullerton, Calif., made contact through a former moving van vendor at MEMOREX. They were looking for a new corporate trade show exhibits manager to handle some 40 trade shows a year. Naturally, I interviewed and was offered the job. I accepted.

A Revelation

Beckman Instruments had seven divisions all requiring effective trade show management and they took trade show exhibiting very seriously. Their wide range of products in biomedical research, clinical applications, environmental, process control and electronic medical devices made exhibiting at trade shows a natural for positively influencing their sales and marketing processes.

Fortunately for me, the corporate staff included a vice president of sales, who saw the potential of improved management of their trade show exhibiting function. He challenged me to develop a program that effectively and efficiently supported his worldwide direct sales team and offered any support I needed to make it happen.

At my first Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, held at the old Atlantic City, N.J auditorium, he and I had an opportunity to climb the stairs and sit high above the exhibit floor to observe how our two 20’x40’ island exhibits were functioning. We watched some prospects enter our booth, walk around and all but be ignored by our untrained booth staff before walking out of our booth.

Reminded just how much this show alone cost Beckman Instruments in terms of renting the exhibit spaces, creating and shipping exhibit materials across the country, pulling employees out of the office and field, not to mention hotel and airfare costs, the vice present of sales sitting next to me nearly lost his cool composure seeing what was happening on the show floor.

“This has to and will improve starting right now.” He said.

Message sent. Message received.

Count On It.

There’s an old saying that if it can be counted, it can be managed.

Beckman’s financial, time and employee investment in this trade show can easily be counted. What can’t be easily counted is how much business was not being conducted on the show floor. Was it even worth exhibiting at the trade show unless serious improvements were made?

With the vice president of sales’ committed support, I began to first develop a baseline of defining why Beckman Instruments’ exhibits at trade shows and shared it with the various sales and marketing department heads to gain their support.

I quickly learned that philosophies between marketing and sales are vastly different in as much as marketing tends to be staffed with strategic thinkers, while the sales team is more immediate and tactically driven.

To better manage numbers, I had to rely on establishing new exhibiting goals and objectives for actually selling products and using that data on which to build a new trade show exhibiting program.

When the research was completed, both sales and marketing management agreed that;

Beckman’s average sale at that time was $20,000.
It usually took about four to six months to close a deal.
While magazine advertising effectively stimulated markets, Beckman’s sophisticated analytical instruments could not be easily demonstrated via the sales literature sent out. (This is not as much of an issue today thanks to the internet and company websites.)
Researchers who specify, use and influence the purchase Beckman’s products are often found difficult to visit especially when the field sales organization responds to their request for more detailed information.
Seeing Beckman’s analytical instruments function live is one of the best ways to demonstrate their ease of use, power and speed at providing answers.
Because of their size, weight and complexity, Beckman’s Instruments were not ideal for office or in-lab live demonstrations by the field sales team.
The sales team struggled with maintaining current prospect/client lists when about 30% of their contacts moved or changed jobs every year.
New prospects had to be continually added to the sales force’s CRM programs to maintain their sale numbers and stay competitive.
The expensive, but required process of using magazine space advertising to stimulate markets proved to be less effective, especially when weeks later a prospect didn’t remember asking for it and/or his/her lab wasn’t organized well enough to find it.
Training the field sales team on new or improved products was time consuming and very expensive in both the field and at the home office. The trade show could be used to train the sales force - saving time and money, since most all instruments on display were calibrated and could perform live analysis on the trade show floor.

Change for Good.

With this new trade show exhibiting goals and objectives document supported, it was time to implement major changes at the most important trade shows and use a trickle-down strategy to eventually improve all 40 shows.

The above is the first step to successfully establishing a baseline for what is to be expected. And the key to that, what makes it possible is considering trade show exhibiting as it relates to sales, because sales and the related time and expenses can be counted and managed.

Once the foundation has been established, what can the trade show exhibits manager do to fulfill these goals and objectives?

Take charge and be responsible for the planning and execution of the entire exhibiting function.
Consider exhibiting at trade shows more of a tactical selling function and report directly to a tactical vice president of sales and not necessarily marketing or advertising management.
Plan ahead to ensure all parties are on board with your program.
Work the booth for the entire show. Be seen managing all the complexities that trade show exhibiting presents.
Produce a pre-show briefing memo well before the event outlining the ins and outs of the show.
Become your company’s trade show exhibiting expert.
Stage a pre-show planning meeting the evening before a show opening where sales and marketing join to follow your lead in preparing for the show.
Support the selling and support efforts in the booth and help those on duty make the most of their time.
Get exhibitor’s badges in advance and distribute them to your people at the pre-show meeting so they don’t have to waste time waiting on line at the exhibitors’ registration desk.
Take notes of what works and what may need improving.
Create a post-show evaluation document outlining what worked and what needs to be done to improve the next trade show.
Develop a booth duty schedule allowing time for meals, rest, and competitive research.
Ensure that the sales lead management function in the booth is working properly and the sales leads are rated from cold to warm to hot.
Establish a booth command post where messages, schedules and overall exhibit management resides to service anyone who needs assistance.
Lead by example in the booth and remain as professional as possible at all times.
Encourage your top management to also work the booth side by side with the sales and marketing teams to build trust and share knowledge and experiences.
Arrange for all possible products and services in the booth to be demonstrated as proof of functionality and value.
Encourage booth personal to wear clothes clearly identifiable as your booth staff.
Keep the booth clean and functioning allowing sales and marketing to do their specific tasks while you support them.
Listen for new ideas to improve and/or problems and remain objective to suggestions.

When your company peers see you so dedicated, committed and capably in charge, they will give you their respect and continued support for how far you want to lead them in maximizing your trade show exhibiting effectiveness.

When done correctly, exhibiting at trade shows under your direct management could create more quality sales, shorten the selling cycle and impress prospects, customers, and sales and marketing associates - all under one roof of convention centers around the world.

Peter LoCascio

Founder

Trade Show Consultants

Responsibility and Accountability of a Corporate Trade Show Exhibits Manager

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 03:50:03 GMT

A client recently asked me to help them better define the duties and responsibilities of a trade show exhibits manager as part of their search to fill a newly created position within their sales and marketing departments.

To begin, I needed to know their answers to a few key questions that would serve as a solid foundation. From there, I could begin to fill in some of the blanks and, in the end, deliver to them what they needed.

In an effort for them to hire the right person for the job, I had to picture myself in the position and imagine how I might approach the job for the benefits of both the corporation and myself.

I also wanted to ensure that we were all working on the same page when it came to the job’s title, compensation, duties and responsibilities.

Here are some of the questions I asked:

Who would this position directly report to? This was key, because as I’ve stated many times, marketing and sales are very different. I believe marketing is more strategic and sales is more tactical in their approach to running a business. Marketing could approach exhibiting at trade shows differently than the sales department would, and that difference might lead to misunderstandings and make the job of the trade show exhibits manager job more difficult.
How many trade shows are on the schedule each year and where are they? Shows held domestically require one type of planning, while international shows require another level of planning and executional logistics to ensure success. Knowing this up front is important for someone in the role of trade show exhibits manager.
How are exhibiting budgets developed and what is included? For instance, is trade show travel and per diem for booth staff included? What exactly is charged to the trade show exhibit budget, and does the trade show manager have responsibility and authority to manage it all?
How active is top management in the early planning of trade show exhibiting and who decides how much exhibit space is needed? It’s incredibly helpful to know who is responsible for selecting the exhibit space, which company products or services are displayed and how much space is dedicated to each.
Is there a purchasing department representative assigned to work directly with the trade show exhibits manager to ensure that expenditures are managed according to approved corporate guidelines?
Are there key major trade shows the manager will be required to travel to and work the booth for the entire show, including setup and dismantling? Does the trade show exhibits manager have to attend all secondary shows or can he/she arrange to have the sales or marketing staff handle them?
Who decides who is selected to work the booth during the show? Who selects the booth captains, and how much authority does the trade show exhibits manager have to manage their performance?
Have the most important trade shows been effectively planned at least six months prior to a show, including all stakeholders, to ensure continuity of strategies, tactics and accurate expectations?
Are the exhibit materials stored on site or in a vendor’s warehouse? Is there a dedicated exhibit fabricator and service provider on contract? Is the company satisfied with their service and costs?
How are the exhibit materials and products shipped to and from trade show facilities? Is hall labor used to setup and dismantle the exhibit or does the exhibit provider include labor?
What kind of trade show exhibit inquiry/sales lead process is used to generate, qualify and manage leads during and after the show? Who is responsible for managing this function?
Who is responsible for making travel arrangements for company staff attending and working the trade show exhibit?
Is a corporate suite at a local hotel used as the company headquarters where staff can meet before, during and after the show to coordinate activities, gather intelligence and meet with key prospects and customers? Who is responsible for managing this function, and are the costs charged to the trade show exhibit budget?
Is a pre-show meeting planned the evening before the show to review exhibiting goals, objectives and booth layout while presenting product-specific marketing and sales details?
Is there a post-show report created and distributed to stakeholders covering what worked and what needs to be improved soon after each show? This information should set the stage for improving problem areas while maintaining and building on areas that worked well and should be implemented at the next shows.

One of the most important suggestions I made was that the trade show exhibits manager must assume both the responsibility and accountability for all aspects of exhibiting using the budget as a guideline. There should be no charges assigned to the trade show exhibiting budget without the manager’s knowledge and ability with authority to directly manage them.

A final important point is that both compensation and time management should allow for the trade show exhibits manager to stay at every major trade show to work the booth alongside sales, marketing, management and technical support for the duration of the show.

Allowing a trade show exhibits manager to assume total responsibility and accountability for successfully managing all aspects of trade show exhibiting will ensure that the person in the role is respected and valued as an important sales and marketing function.

Peter LoCascio

Founder

Trade Show Consultants

You Seldom Get a Second Chance to Make a Good First Impression

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

While many exhibitors understand the value of placing their best foot forward with regards to their trade show exhibit materials, many might do better to meet the challenges of maximizing their effectiveness by more adequately focusing on various important non-exhibit entities.

Far beyond the creatively painted and brightly illuminated exhibit materials placed on the trade show floor, there exist many additional aspects of trade show exhibiting that will often spell the difference between success and disappointment.

First and foremost, in considering what constitutes a successful trade shows exhibit presentation is the fact that on the show floor, people will want to do business with people and not with inanimate objects like exhibits, graphics, products or sales literature. The trade show environment is one of creating an opportunity for human contact and at which the exhibit merely creates an environment conducive for people to meet each other to conduct business.

The physical dynamics of trade show exhibiting are intensified and extremely more complex when compared to most any other forms of corporate business communications. This is for the most part due to the presence of the other exhibitors all competing for the attention, time and consideration of key show attendees, prospects and customers.

What, in reality, does the trade show attendee see when he/she approaches your exhibit? The perception could be the difference between entering Tiffany’s or a K-mart and it all depends on the total picture presented and perceived that indicates the kind of company you are, including its products, people and business policies.

A complete image of your company is presented the moment the attendee, prospect or customer notices and walks towards your exhibit on the show floor. Directly under the surface of the bright lights, flashing signs, product presentations and sales people wearing their best welcoming smiles the perception of the image of your company is created.

Within a few short minutes your total trade show exhibit presentation will begin to indicate to prospects and customers your corporate culture, philosophies and level of business dedication. The professionalism of your people, products and commitment to customer service will be expressed, evaluated and actively compared against every one of your competitors on the show floor.

In essence, who you are what you stand for and how you appear to do business is projected and vividly on display representing an image from the day your company was created to present time.

If your most important corporate trade show were a sporting event, it could compare to your own World Series, Super Bowl and World Cup all rolled into one three day tournament under one roof of a major convention center. The question is, are you prepared?

Your People

When was the last time you bought something from someone you didn’t like?

Nothing short of you’re “A” team should be invited to work your exhibit. Representing the company at important trade shows should be viewed as a privilege and an honor and not an unpleasant chore. Every member of the booth duty team should represent and project the image of the very best your company has to offer from all sides of the business including: top and middle management, sales, marketing, technical support and customer support services. In addition everyone invited should be assigned to work the booth and maintain adherence to the booth duty schedule and code of professional conduct during the entire show.

Products

When was the last time you bought a car that you didn’t first test drive?

All products on display should be serviced and working properly at all times and present prospects and customers with a complete appreciation of their important features, benefits and value. Product demonstrations and presentations should be short, factual and to the point while allowing adequate time for prospect and customer questions and answers.

Where ever possible, the prospect or customer should be encouraged to operate a product at a time following the verbal portion of the sales presentation to confirm stated benefits and value. It is also a good idea to have on hand side by side competitive analysis reports, trials results, customer endorsement statements and any sales support materials that will add to the over all value and credibility the products and or services provide.

Non-Product Benefits

How many times have you been pitched to purchase an extended warranty or service contract?

The trade show environment offers many opportunities to add and present important non-product benefits to prospects and customers in hopes of further stimulating shorter buying decisions.

Utilizing time limited, trade show special offers might include; special warranties and product updates, trial offers, trade show pricing discounts, special show financing programs, delivery and transportation discounts, extended service contracts or other selected trade in allowances.

The non-product trade show specials should be designed to move identified prospects closer to becoming customers as soon after the show as possible. Innovative and effective non-product benefit stimulation programs might also do well in winning business away from your competition an aisle away on the trade show floor.

24 Hours in a Day Effort

The future comes one day at a time.

Although the trade show might only be open for business 6- 8 hours a day, many successful exhibitors plan strategies designed to maximize every possible opportunity to meet prospects and customers before, during and after the show. Conducting business and fully utilizing the exhibitor’s available management horse power also attending the show could add tremendous advantage to individual sales and marketing efforts.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings with key prospects and customers can also be supplemented with a formal and private business suite designed to fully utilize the many opportunities available during the days of the show to spend quality time conducting business at the highest levels. The nearby hotel suite can also function as headquarters for the booth team as well as a meeting place for media, dealers, distributors and VIP customers.

Management's Role

Do as I say not as I do.

The old saying “Lead, follow, or get out of the way” resounds dramatically at trade shows more than any other business environment when it comes to management getting involved in the daily action of booth duty. There is no better way for management to invigorate, motivate and demonstrate their individual commitment and dedication to fellow employees, prospects and customers then by taking an active role in pulling booth duty at a trade show. Whatever the task, top management should meet the challenge of trade show exhibiting by setting the example in the booth and being available to support every business issue that might develop.

The “A” team should include top management who will dramatically and effectively add to the horse power required to out distance the competition and provide new prospects and existing customers with a greater sense of security, control and confidence in doing business with the company. A simple hand shake and agreement between your company President and a new prospect might be all that’s needed to close a new piece of business on the trade show floor.

Embrace the Challenge

The longest journey starts with the first step.

Now is the perfect time to meet the total trade show challenge by deciding to take every opportunity to present and demonstrate your corporation while focusing attention on every facet of your participation. Product, people and exhibit materials all should work together in maximizing your effectiveness while advancing the total trade show effort to attain new levels of success.

Conclusion

While I agree it’s not the World Series, I will submit however, that your most important trade show certainly can seem like it once you consider, visualize and embrace all the various unique business aspects the three day event has to offer and you decide to “leave it on the field” on your way to greater success and accomplishment.

Might It Be Time to Reconsider the Merits of the Virtual Trade Show?

Thu, 07 May 2020 00:06:10 GMT

For years, advances in technology have stimulated the imaginations of professional association management, trade show producers and exhibitors with the concept and possibilities of staging virtual conventions, meetings and trade shows.

As online data speeds increased, device capabilities advanced, and the world’s connectivity became a reality, the possibility questions were usually answered with some doubt, traditional thinking and a general lack of enthusiasm.

Complicated technology issues, connectivity application software confusion, device compatibility, appropriate content development and a general lack of knowledge all played a part in the idea quickly reverting to the axiom of “don’t fix it if it isn’t broken.”

There were way too many tried and true financial, social and common-sense human benefits supporting the convention, trade show, and meeting worlds to consider any new virtual concept that few saw as technically viable, socially acceptable and cost effective.

The idea of virtual annual conventions with technical paper presentations, workshops and lectures, supported by something of an inanimate trade show floor where exhibitors’ products and services were presented was far beyond the realm of possibility, reality and acceptance.

A professional association’s annual convention with trade show support is traditional, significant and historic. It’s where members within all segments of an industry gather together to learn and share the latest knowledge, technology and industry insights.

What could possibly disrupt such a time honored, viable, successful and valuable enterprise?

COVID-19

Without a cure or vaccine immediately available, and with most people reluctant to travel, professional associations now have to think about staging virtual events to maintain connectivity, communications and viability with their members. In many cases, the loss of their trade show exhibitors’ financial support will negatively impact their annual operating budgets.

Today, the internet, along with social media, meeting and face-to-face communications technologies can most likely facilitate the broadcast, live stream and/or re-play of seminars, workshops and technical paper presentations. Attendees register as usual, select their areas of interest to view and experience all the important aspects of the convention in the safe comfort of their home office.

But what about the virtual trade show portion of the annual meeting?

The exhibitor’s challenge is a bit more complicated.

While workshops, seminars and technical PowerPoint presentations are somewhat pre-planned and well-focused, the effective utilization of the virtual trade show requires the exhibitor to present products and services with more theatrical finesse to capture the attendees’ attention and interest.

As part of the pre-registration package an attendee receives, the trade show exhibitor listing includes a brief description of new products and services being exhibited. Next to each product listing there would be a link to a brief presentation of those products. That presentation needs to be informative, well done and engaging.

We as a society have been raised on Hollywood’s ability to show and tell us stories that compel, move and stir us. Their scripts are magnificently written, the cinematography is brilliant and actors convince us and dramatically lead us through their stories.

Anything produced by an exhibitor for a virtual trade show presentation has to be able to compete with what Hollywood has shown us over the past 60 years. If not, the results will be akin to trying to get strangers to watch your home movies taken with a 16-millimeter camera shown on a bed sheet taped to the living room wall. It won’t work.

Backed by creative audio and visuals, the exhibitor must also find new ways to engage a prospect face-to-face, if possible, in order to simulate the live exchange as it happens on the trade show floor. With questions and concerns answered, product features and benefits discussed and next steps established in developing a purchasing plan, the virtual trade show has viability.

Virtual trade show exhibitors can use the money and resources usually spent on in-person trade show expenses – booth design, shipping, drayage, travel and accommodations, to name just a few – to invest in producing leading edge theatrical product presentations that entertain, educate and motivate attendees to become new customers.

Once stimulated, responses should be in a person-to-person, two-way conversations using any technology that brings sales and prospects together. Finally, virtual trade show exhibitors will want to adjust their goals, strategies and tactics to maximize their exhibiting effectiveness while taking every opportunity to remain flexible, positive and committed to excellence.

General Douglas MacArthur once said, “There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.”

The COVID-19 pandemic might be the catalyst that forces the entire meeting, convention and trade show industries to seriously consider leaving the old ways and, out of necessity, adapting new ideas that move us forward.

Peter LoCascio, Founder

Trade Show Consultants

www.tradeshowconsultants.com

A Case for Effective Trade Show Giveaways

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 01:31:40 GMT

OrCAD Systems Corporation was a bootstrapped, non-funded startup in Hillsboro, Oregon, providing electronic design engineers with PC based CAE tools at a time when such design tools were mostly available only on higher powered expensive workstations.

The software was brilliant, effective and affordable. It enabled users to do their electronic design work on their own personal PCs and avoid the lines of designers at work waiting to use the limited number of more powerful workstations.

OrCAD rapidly grew by focusing on stimulation advertising campaigns in Electrical Engineering Times, a weekly news publication with a circulation of about 500,000. The company offered a free demonstration disk, 30-day money-back guarantee, free software updates for one year and free technical support, all at the affordable price of $495.00.

Competing high-end group design tool providers at first considered and tried to position the OrCAD, Schematic Design Tools (SDT) as something of a “Etch A Sketch” drawing toy until they realized that many individual designers were quietly buying and using SDT not their own more expensive design tools to create their designs.

OrCAD intentionally priced SDT at $495. because they knew the average Electronic Designer could spend up to $500. without needing to cut through too much red tape in the way of approvals up the chain of command.

While the company grew among early adaptors, it still suffered perceived credibility issues under the constant barrage of competitive pressure calling SDT an Etch A Sketch toy.

The decision was made to exhibit at the Design Automation Conference and Trade Show and to present OrCAD among the world’s premier CAE providers to gain exposure and respect. They presented and demonstrated that SDT was a powerful, affordable, PC-based design tool that was quietly making serious inroads into the industry.

But how would they accomplish these goals and avoid being buried on the trade show floor?

Question
How could they get DAC prospects to actually sit down and use SDT to see for themselves how intuitive, powerful and easy it was to create design?
Strategy
If they could motivate DAC prospects to want to try SDT in the booth, what would they need to take the time and challenge to do so?
Tactics
Take the OrCAD design challenge and win an official OrCAD embroidered golf shirt.

The 20’ x 20’ exhibit was designed with four PC work stations with printers for the DAC attendees to sit down and reproduce a simple PC board layout that was supervised by an OrCAD technical support representative.
The design would take about five minutes while the DAC attendee used SDT and experienced its simplicity and ease of use to use.
When the design was completed and approved by the OrCAD representative, the DAC attendee would complete the identification form at the bottom of the design, print his/her design and turn it in to get the OrCAD embroidered golf shirt.

Results

Over 250 golf shirts were given out to DAC attendees who took the challenge.
Many of the winners wore their winning shirts the days of the show.
The OrCAD sales organization generated a large number of quality sales leads for after-show follow-up.
SDT features of affordability, power, and simplicity were clearly and impressively demonstrated.
The OrCAD exhibit presentation and design challenge were the talk of the show.
Additional shirts were sold at cost to those who wanted them after the show closed.

Conclusion

Simply giving something away without earning the prospect’s contact information for after-show follow-up and further customer development is not utilizing the many opportunities trade show exhibiting present.

Strategically tying giveaways to directly and cleverly support your product’s features and benefits is much more challenging and important and like OrCAD, you’ll be able to enjoy the satisfaction of reaching your trade show goals and objectives.

Peter LoCascio, Founder

Trade Show Consultants

www.tradeshowconsultants.com

Modern Trade Show Exhibiting with Kaizen

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 02:56:00 GMT

Kaizen (改善) (excerpt from Wikipedia) is the Sino-Japanese word for improvement. In business, Kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, which cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain.

By improving standardized programs and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste. Kaizen was first practiced in Japanese businesses after World War II, influenced in part by American business and quality-management teachers, and most notably as part of the Toyota Way. It has since spread throughout the world and has been applied to environments outside business and productivity.

Chase perfection, catch excellence.

Exhibiting at trade shows is by its very nature a complicated and often daunting endeavor. Especially if perfection and excellence are keys to determining if the effort was a complete success or disappointing failure.

The myriad logistics associated with planning and executing a successful trade show exhibit program are varied, complicated and, demand focus, attention to detail, and a significant dedication from those charged with managing these challenging, expensive and time consuming events.

The very beauty of the trade show exhibiting function is based on the unique nature of the environment on the convention floor where the concept of Kaizen can be successfully applied. Because the trade show exhibit environment is a living experience, it can be studied, evaluated, modified and managed like few other marketing and sales functions.

With Kaizen , in mind, the trade show exhibit’s manager can use many tools available to build a program that chases perfection to catch excellence.

Trade show exhibiting excellence looks like managing a program that;

Establishes realistic exhibiting goals and objectives enthusiastically supported by all stake holders.
Plans and documents well in advance, strategies that support pre-established goals.
States and implements various creative tactics before, during and after the trade show that supports strategies, goals and objectives.
Avoids last-minute changes that cost time and money.
Demands others to get involved when it’s the trade show exhibit manager’s sole responsibility.
Delivers accurate ROI (return on investment) justification for trade show exhibiting.
Enjoys the talents of a professional trade show exhibit manager who is motivated by Kaizen and is recognized, supported, and compensated as the company’s trade show exhibit expert.

Keys to consider while initiating your Kaizen philosophy include;

First and foremost, commit yourself to being your company’s trade show exhibiting expert and be proud of your contribution in presenting your company and its people, products, and culture on the world’s stage.
Own the trade show exhibiting experience, while taking positive charge of planning, executing, and substantiating the value and ROI of exhibiting at trade shows.
Work the booth the entire show, demonstrating your serious commitment to excellence for all to see and admire.
Become a student of effective trade show exhibiting, learning as much as possible from experts and actual experiences.
Listen to comments, suggestions, questions, and complaints while demonstrating the attitude of Kaizen in that you will improve and are committed to it.
Observe your competitors and other interesting exhibitors on the show floor and learn from their exhibit presentations.
Take notes prior, during and after the show and include them in a post trade show analysis complete with your suggestions to improve at the next show.
Realize and communicate to stake holders that every trade show is a learning experience to build on as you are chasing perfection with the hopes of catching excellence.
Embrace the attitude of doing it, fixing it, and doing it again until you get it right.
Develop and distribute a pre-show briefing memo to stake holder’s months before a show outlining pertinent trade show details, logistics, goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics effectively establishing your high level of confidence, responsibility and authority.
Stage a pre-show meeting the night before the show opening where management gathers to review the trade show goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.
Stage after-show meetings each day to review the day’s events.
Develop an at-show questionnaire for your people to complete and hand to you with their comments so you can add them to your post-show evaluation.
Develop your own post-show report outlining people’s comments, what you thought worked, what didn’t, and what improvement will be made at the next show.
Take time to observe how your exhibit is functioning on the show floor.
Interview booth visitors to learn their opinions of their experience while in your booth.
Ensure that your after-show response packages are organized and ready to be provided to prospects.
Ensure that your CRM system is in place and able to respond to all requests for additional information and the effective tracking of sales leads is guaranteed.

Conclusion;

Committing yourself and your company’s trade show exhibiting program to Kaizen is a smart and logical way to build a successful program one piece at a time on a foundation of your actual live exhibit floor experiences. Establishing yourself as the trade show exhibiting expert and taking charge of all exhibiting aspects will afford you the respect and freedom you want to innovate, experiment and create new and exciting strategies and tactics to chase perfection and catch excellence.

Peter LoCascio, Founder
Trade Show Consultants
www.tradeshowconsultants.com

Return on Investment and Exhibiting at Trade Shows

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 18:02:03 GMT

Effective top management evaluates various marketing and sales support functions, along with their related expenditures in time and money, by asking middle management to justify each activity based on results.

While it’s often difficult to justify some activities, exhibiting at trade shows has lately been under more serious scrutiny, and establishing return on investment has become more challenging and critical than ever before.

The standard means of justifying the time, money and effort invested in exhibiting at trade shows should be directly related to increasing sales at high enough levels to support the overall investment.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Unless a trade show exhibitor has above average competitive products, has developed an accurate exhibiting plan of attack, and has in place tried and true methods to actually attract, connect and engage trade show targeted prospects, justification could remain elusive and top management could view trade show exhibiting as a waste of time and resources.

Thinking sales and attempting to shorten a selling cycle, while taking every opportunity to engage with targeted trade show attendee prospects, is a first step in creating a foundation on which ROI can rest. But the function of creating new sales doesn’t always have to stand alone in justifying the time and money invested in trade show exhibiting.

The trade show exhibit floor is a live and highly charged personal environment. Because of its very nature in both time and influence, it is also in many ways a totally unique experience that offers many more opportunities to add value to the ROI equation.

Consider these activities in addition to presenting and selling products as a means to better justify trade show exhibiting return on investment.

1. Prospects call on exhibitors. Live, highly identifiable targeted prospects and customers make sales calls on exhibitors seeking to learn about new products and services.

2. Time to spend. Trade show attendees have time to spend on the trade show exhibit floor visiting exhibitors of interest.

3. Exhibitors control the environment. The trade show exhibit can create an environment in which to effectively present and demonstrate products to well-defined, targeted prospects.

4. Show specials. Using an effective show special promotion can increase a prospect’s purchasing interest, shorten a sales cycle and clearly identify a prospect’s elevated level of buying interest.

5. Training. Three days of booth duty, surrounded by management, service, technical, sales, prospects and existing customers, with competition next door, provides valuable experience that can only be achieved on the trade show floor. Simply put, the experience is the ultimate in active, real-world training.

6. Client/ customer relations . In the booth, at meals or in a hospitality suite, large numbers of VIPs spend their time and money to call on you, not the other way around. Exhibiting also allows you to meet top management and secure lasting relationships.

7. Competitive analysis . In the booth next to you, the competition is available for research, dialog, and comparing industry notes.

8. Research. Do you want to know what prospects and customers think? Ask them as they visit your booth. Show them new product ideas and marketing concepts. Ask for their advice and opinions on how they would want you to improve your services.

9. Meet the press . Connecting with industry press at trade shows is a valuable way to spread the word about your company, products and services. One-on-one conversations between the media and your most senior executives, technical experts and leading research and development people can help spread your news. There are also opportunities to be a part of an editor’s show wrap-up report or become a reference for future articles.

10. Recruitment. Trade shows can be a rich resource for finding new talent. Interview that prospective special addition to your staff who may be attending the show to share his or her resume in search of new employment opportunities.

11. Presenting papers. Many trade shows have opportunities for exhibitors to present technical papers highlighting new products, systems, research, or application stories.

12. Workshop presentations. There are also trade shows that offer workshop and panel discussions for exhibitors to share stories, accomplishments or methods of performance.

13. Sponsorship opportunities. Being a name and title sponsor of a quality trade show activity can increase positive brand awareness and open doors for additional opportunities for positive exposure.

14. Firming association relationships. Exhibitors have the chance to firm up working relationships with sponsoring associations by advancing their company and people’s volunteering activities and serving on boards and selected committees.

15. Strategic alliance development. The trade show exhibit floor is a unique, prime location for like-minded entrepreneurs, associates, dealers, distributors and investors to gather while seeking new opportunities.

16. International Sales. Many domestic trade shows are attended by international representatives seeking to either add products to their offerings or provide products with possible synergism to an exhibitor’s existing product line.

17. Innovation. The trade show floor is an incubator for individual developers seeking associations with existing providers to further develop their product ideas.

18. Company involvement. What better environment than a trade show to let key employees experience firsthand how the business world works. Working a trade show booth can help many employees fully appreciate the key aspects that make a business function.

19. Getting out from behind the executive desk. A trade show is an excellent environment to share with vital top managers who need to get out of the office more and experience the many virtues of a face-to-face environment of a trade show booth.

20. Relationship building. Prospects, clients, managers, directors, employees, investors, associates, dealers, distributors, strategic alliances, inventors, the press and potential employees all attend trade shows and are available to exhibitors who can focus on in-person opportunities.

Trade show exhibiting return on investment starts by fully appreciating the many unique opportunities the trade show environment presents to every exhibitor. To maximize the opportunity and to make sure trade show exhibiting pays big dividends, exhibitors should first identify and acknowledge what is available, as suggested above, and then plan to capitalize on the many opportunities one at a time.

Effective pre-show planning must include every opportunity the trade show exhibit floor offers. Making the most of those opportunities will begin to guarantee a return on investment far beyond just thinking about the activity as a difficult sales promotion function that is challenging to justify.

Peter LoCascio

www.tradeshowconsultants.com

Invest Your Time and Gain Acceptance

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Fri, 19 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Effective trade show exhibiting management is not easy or glamorous, and while you might spend six months planning required logistics of exhibiting, once the show opens, all of your work becomes subjected to others’ opinions, suggestions and comments — and not all are always complimentary.

In a 1993 psychology paper and in his 2008 book, “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell claimed that it took roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. Mr. Gladwell's message — people aren't born geniuses; they get there through effort — was seized upon by popular culture.
Gladwell contended that it's "an extraordinarily consistent answer in an incredible number of fields . . . You need to have practiced, to have apprenticed, for 10,000 hours before you get good."

His examples included:

Bill Gates, who was able to start coding as a teen since he attended a progressive Seattle High School.
The Beatles, who played eight-hour gigs in German clubs long before they invaded America.

Those opportunities to practice early and often — along with precocious talent — allowed them to respectively invent software and modern rock and roll.

Managing your corporation’s trade show exhibiting program successfully has a lot to do with how you as a manager and expert are perceived by your associates and whether or not they trust you.

Building that critical trust depends on how you approach your job as Corporate Trade Show Exhibits Manager and if you provide opportunities to either be supported or sometimes criticized by management for your efforts.

While it might not take you 10,000 hours to gain mastery, support and adulation from your peers in the field of managing trade show exhibiting; here are 10 ways to begin the process.

Considering yourself an expert in the field of trade show exhibiting, wear that title proudly and commit yourself to learning as much as you can about your craft.
Demonstrate your personal commitment to trade show exhibiting by pulling booth duty for the entire show and being available to answer questions, taking notes and being responsive to suggestions, comments and criticism.
Produce a pre-show briefing memo outlining goals, objectives, strategies and tactics of the show. Distribute it at least four weeks before the event to allow time for response and modifications.
Stage a pre-show briefing meeting the evening before the show that includes management, sales and marketing to review the exhibit presentation, product details, show goals and objectives.
Organize booth duty schedules that provide your booth team members time to rest, eat and review the competition on the show floor while adhering to the rules and regulations that come with being selected to represent the corporation at this important event.
Work the booth side by side with sales, marketing and management to share experiences. Note ideas and suggestions presented to improve and defend policies and procedures already established while taking charge of the entire function.
Take notes of suggestions, comments and concerns to be responded to after the show.
Stage after-show daily reviews with key people to monitor how the exhibit is functioning while being flexible and ready to modify any activity the next day to improve the results.
Walk the show yourself and perhaps with your boss to review first your competition’s presentation and then other presentations that might influence your own future exhibit presentations.
Write and distribute a detailed post-show report documenting your experiences from working the booth, walking the floor, and as the total effort relates to the goals and objectives you helped establish for the show. In developing such an important document, you have opportunities to voice your own opinions on critical topics, suggest possible modifications for future improvements and, in essence, take charge of the overall management of the trade show exhibiting function.

Being considered the expert who mastered the title, duties and responsibilities of Corporate Trade Show Exhibits Manager will go a long way in transforming the tedium of being a reactionary tactical manager to a well-established master of a serious valued profession.

Reaching the title and respect that comes with being considered one who has mastered the art and science of exhibiting at trade shows can only improve compensation, status and cooperation when management is brought along to consider the enormous amount of time and money invested in exhibiting at trade shows.

Effective trade show exhibiting is a process that evolves over many shows and demands a manager who can build on past experiences to fine tune what worked while eliminating or modifying what didn’t. That process is what leads to mastering the field and your job as Trade Show Exhibits Manager.

Peter LoCascio
Founder and President
Trade Show Consultants
www.TradeShowConsultants.com
April 2017

See companion white paper: Thinking Your Career has Stalled as the Corporate Trade Show and Exhibits Manager?

What the Trump Campaign Taught Trade Show Exhibitors about Research

Thu, 18 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

While the Clinton campaign went about the more traditional tasks of evaluating past voter analytics, developing messaging and using research tools like focus groups and polling analysis to develop their positioning statements, Donald Trump was out in the field making human contact at hundreds of live events, learning firsthand what was on people’s minds and in their hearts.

The results of Clinton’s campaign development in the end was not really being in touch with the hearts and minds of voters, while the Trump campaign at every event gathered key research data that formed a foundation on which he built a campaign of consensus and momentum.

Like the Clinton campaign, marketers face a danger, in depending solely on focus groups and other tools when developing research, because people’s opinions often do not indicate how they actually feel about issues presented to them in such controlled theoretical environments.

Focus group research of this kind often ends up not developing many new ideas, but it is accepted in confirming most marketing concepts already established. In many cases, the data developed are flawed by pre-established concepts, and while people might share their ideas freely, they aren’t telling you the truth about how they really feel.

It reminds me of the typical responses to research among some executives. When research goes against their conventional ideas, management questions the techniques used, and when it agrees with what their conventional ideas are, management often says it is a waste of time and money.

Focus group members are often simply sharing their general opinions about something without making a commitment to their true beliefs until asked to take personal action, like purchasing something or, in this case, casting their vote.

At a focus group organized to determine the marketability of a new consumer product, it became evident that our panel was being polite but not totally truthful about how they perceived the products we were presenting. They were being paid, and most wanted to go along to get along. After one session of general acceptance, I suggested we go a step further by asking the members of the group if they would want to purchase the product at the end of the session. We then discovered an entirely new level of concern and consideration by asking them to make a personal financial commitment. Now their answers became much more valuable than the entire focus group exercise. Instead of asking for their opinions, we now asked them to make a purchase and the complexion of this research tool took on entirely new dimensions. As sales professionals well know, asking for the order opens new doors and serious dialog along the route to making a sale.

Another important factor in depending solely on focus group research is the limited number of paid people involved as compared to those found on the trade show exhibit floor. In three days at a trade show, hundreds of attendees can be questioned, polled and asked to purchase show only specially priced products to determine their honest personal product opinions. But how many exhibitors actually consider using the trade show exhibit environment to conduct such important primary research?

Exhibitors using the trade show activity as a research tool are seriously interested in hearing both positive and negative answers to show special purchasing questions. Those exchanges open discussions where objections can be stated, confirmed as accurate and be successfully addressed and overcome.

The trade show research technique transforms people’s safe opinions into serious purchasing considerations and promises to provide the exhibitor with honest answers. That, in turn, can lead to more solid marketing and sales strategies and tactics.

Donald Trump’s campaign was created and built on thousands of people’s personal feelings, while the Clinton campaign was created on a relatively small number of paid, uninvolved people’s opinions in focus groups.

Today’s marketing and sales executives cannot afford to go down the path of just listening to uninvolved people’s opinions to plan future business. As Trump’s campaign showed, it takes hundreds and thousands of people’s feelings gathered firsthand, largely at events and mass gatherings. A similar approach to trade shows and the exhibiting research that they can provide can spell the difference between success and failure.

Asking for the order will always provide challenging yet manageable information on which to build successful marketing and sales campaigns, especially when the prospect says no to your proposal. That’s the time when marketing and sales professionals earn their stripes by figuring out how to overcome those pesky objections and bring the sale to a close.

Conducting Press Tours at Trade Shows

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Wed, 10 May 2017 13:22:31 GMT

For years, multi-city press tours have been a key component in the process of introducing new products to the trade media. The concept of delivering the news in person to editors has endured even though nearly all aspects of today’s travel logistics and expenses have continued to increase in both difficulty and complexity.

The standard practice of utilizing a traveling press tour has included scheduling meetings at an editor’s home office where a supplier’s key product development and marketing experts would conduct a formal new product pitch. The somewhat formal presentation would highlight, among other issues, a new product’s unique features, its exclusive benefits, ease of operation, competitive analysis, pricing and outstanding customer value. The goal of the effort was performed with the hope of obtaining positive editorial coverage during the critical new product introduction (NPI) phase of bringing a new product to market.

Only by carefully considering and appreciating the uniqueness of the trade show environment can one begin to realize the many fantastic opportunities the medium offers the astute, motivated and intelligent manager. Once realized, accepted and acted upon, today’s trade show exhibits manager may simply have to better promote the medium to reach his/her financial and career goals.

Other objectives of the one-on-one presentation were to hopefully acquire the editor’s favorable support and, in turn coverage, of his/her findings in a future new product article, application story, product round up or at least a favorable mention in a future issue of the selected magazine.

In addition, the product marketing and public relations teams would hope to get a sense of the editor’s opinion and disposition towards allowing them to prepare their own new product feature or customer application story for publication with minimum editing. Ideas and concepts for a magazine cover or web page featured artwork or photography might also be discussed and offered at no charge to the magazine during the press tour sessions.

Domestic multi-city press tour schedules often can be grueling, time consuming and expensive. Plus, it only takes one editor to cancel a meeting at the last moment to throw the entire effort into turmoil and possibly affect the entire effort. This is especially true in those cases where products are large, difficult to handle, especially when transportation and set-up is a major undertaking.

There is little doubt that obtaining favorable press coverage when introducing a new product can be extremely beneficial to the overall success of a new product launch in the market place. However, there might be a better way to meet the press than hitting the road putting on dog and pony shows all over the country with participants feeling like members of a wandering minstrel show.

A Trade Show Press Suite Might Solve the Problem

According to Robert Galvin, President, Galvin & Associates, Public Relations, Portland, Oregon, “We have utilized the trade show press suite for many clients over the years and have found it to be much more effective, economical and successful than doing an on-the-road press tour.” Galvin continues, “The major reasons for the success of this kind of PR function is that most editors attending major trade shows have committed their limited time for show attendance and are there specifically to learn as much as possible about new products. By having editors individually meet key product developers and top management during a new product presentation within an exhibitor’s suite assures a better understanding of the product and consequently, better press coverage compared to just picking up a press kit in the press room,” Galvin adds.

If you things decide to organize a press suite at your next most important trade show, here are a few you’ll want to check into before setting this important public relations function in motion:

At least four months before your most important trade show, telephone or E-mail all those editors at various magazines that you suspect might be important to your new product introduction and inquire if they plan to attend the trade show.
Reserve a suite at a hotel as close to the convention center as possible where your press room will be located and send a personal invitation to each editor planning to attend the show.
Decorate and arrange your press suite to create an environment which presents your corporation, its products and people in the most professional manner possible.
Set-up personal meeting times using a simple day planner so each editor knows what time his/her appointment is and also offer transportation to and from the convention hall.
Arrange to have a receptionist in the suite to check meeting schedules, answer phone calls, coordinate company personnel and communicate with your transportation driver via a walkie talkie.
Rent a comfortable Mini-van complete with magnetic signs showing your corporate logo on the doors and provide the driver with a walkie talkie to effectively and quickly communicate with the suite to ensure accurate transportation coordination.
Have a company representative meet the visiting editors in the hotel lobby and escort him/her to the suite making the appropriate introductions.
Assemble new product press kits for distribution at the suite.
Prepare the new product presenter so he/she knows what to say and how positively react to an editor’s questions, comments and concerns.
Be prepared to demonstrate the product and show the editor how it works, what it does and what important advantages it offers customers.
Introduce the editor to key management at the suite in hopes of favorably supporting his/her desire to learn as much as possible about the company, its people, products, business and future plans.
One week prior to the trade show telephone, E-mail and/or send a note to all invited editors confirming their appointment time and day and provide each with the suite name and telephone number.
Offer a selection of non-alcoholic refreshments and an assortment of finger foods.
Coordinate transportation for editors with appointments from your exhibit on the trade show floor with your mini-van driver and establish appropriate convenient locations for pick up and return.
Have top management available and prepared in the suite to show support and open communications with editors for future contact regarding timely business and industry issues.
Ensure that the product people presenting the new products are well versed, brief with their remarks and very sensitive to simply answering presented questions.
Interview each editor before ending the sessions to determine if there are any additional topics needing to be discussed or information needing to be provided at a later date.
After the trade show contact each editor with a thank you note for their attendance and offer any additional support that might be needed in developing their post show or future stories.
Your Public Relations Manager should be your primary contact during all phases of staging a trade show press tour.
It should also be the responsibility of the Public Relations Manager to maintain timely contact with all visiting editors in an effort to build strong lasting relationships.

Conclusion

Making it easy and convenient for editors and product people to meet, discuss and experience new products is the first step in obtaining good media coverage. The trade show environment over the years has proven to be an excellent venue to introduce and highlight new products.

It only stands to reason that conducting a trade show press tour in a local hotel suite at a time and place where editors plan to be anyway would greatly improve the chances of obtaining excellent new product coverage, possible feature application stories or key product articles.

The trade show is the venue and your press suite is the vehicle that can deliver in three days what a press tour can’t in three months.

Are Trade Shows on the Sales or Marketing Side of the Aisle?

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Wed, 10 May 2017 13:18:07 GMT

I think you’ll agree that most sales and marketing people have very different personalities and depending on corporate culture, management styles and direction, the important functions they direct and manage can either work together in harmony or be very challenging especially for successful trade show exhibit planning and participation.

In many corporations, the trade show exhibit program is considered, managed and budgeted as a marketing support function and usually reports to either a marketing, marketing communications or advertising manager. Trade show exhibiting joins the advertising, public relations, sales promotion and sales support departments as a marketing activity and there in lies the potential for friction and general disagreements with a sales team’s needs, philosophies and performance mandate.

In his book the The Gamesman H. Maccoby, developed from his extensive research and interviews with corporate America, four types of organizational personalities: the craftsperson, the organizational person, the jungle fighter and the gamesman. His focus states that no one is purely of one type, but rather a mixture depending on the circumstances and challenges confronting each during the course of daily management responsibilities and business pressures.

The same can be said for the personalities of marketing and sales people when faced with challenges and every day business situations, however, there is a difference between the two and those dynamics often show themselves when faced with the tasks of trade show planning and successfully executing exhibit functions on the show floor.

Although the personality traits of each discipline may often blend with top management’s insistence on team cooperation and focus on overall company success, in reality, each person’s daily tasks and responsibilities tend to follow along department lines and philosophies. Simply stated, the marketing people do what they are directed to do and the sales people do what they directed to do.

Much of marketing’s personality is based on strategic thinking and planning. Tasks often include market research, competitive analysis, product introduction program development and the design of selected communications and advertising campaigns. Marketing communications, web development, direct mail, print advertising and public relations activities are all a part of the marketing department’s mix of duties and responsibilities.

According to Robert A. Grayson, author of the book Introduction to Marketing, “Marketing is a commercial process which attends and facilitates the movement of goods and services through the economy to enlarge and satisfy consumer needs consistent with the corporation’s fundamental objectives.” While Grayson goes on to list most of the functions and tools of the marketing mix, he does not list the actual face to face tactical selling function which is usually confined to and the sole responsibility of the sales team.

The early development of the corporate marketing function as we know it was accomplished at Procter and Gamble when in 1879 they introduced Ivory soap to the consumer masses. It wasn’t until the late 1920s that Proctor and Gamble’s concept of a brand management system began to take shape. This innovative marketing organization was officially created in 1931 and was based on competing brands managed by dedicated groups of marketing people. The new system provided more specialized consumer marketing strategies for each brand and Procter & Gamble's famous brand or product management system was born and copied today by many successful corporations.

Since then, Proctor and Gamble has successfully introduced main stays in the consumer world including: Crest toothpaste, Crisco cooking oil, Head and Shoulders shampoo and Old Spice after shave lotion to name a few.

While working at Memorex, management decided to enter the audio tape business which was then dominated by 3M and they cleverly hired a team of Proctor and Gamble marketing executives to head up the new consumer audio tape division. It didn’t take these experts long to develop the ingenious advertising campaign, “Is it live or Memorex? Reproduction so true it can shatter glass”, at Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago and within one year commandeered almost 14 % of the world wide audio tape business away from a dazed 3M Corporation.

That innovative program was an excellent example of successful consumer marketing directed by a team of professional marketers who knew how to develop and launch a new consumer product using the science of “pull through” marketing they learned so well at Proctor and Gamble.

In contrast to the extremely successful consumer audio tape division’s accomplishments against 3M, Memorex’s business to business divisions who were pitted against IBM and other computer mainframe manufacturers were struggling to survive. This untenable situation provided a poignant appreciation of the unique differences between consumer and business to business marketing effectiveness.

Consumer product marketing teams, like those developed by Proctor and Gamble, are the foundation of many of today’s successful corporations where consumers are driven by advertising to stocking retailers to purchase featured products. The activity of selling actually takes place in the executive offices of various retailers who are pitched to assign their valuable retail shelf space to heavily media supported new products.

Business to business marketing however, is quite different in the fact that few customer individuals are able to purchase capital products without formal authorization from their purchasing people and it often requires sales people making field sales calls to present, demonstrate, negotiate and earn a purchase order for the products they represent.

The personalities of sales and marketing people with regards to tactical trade show exhibiting are very unique and today’s exhibit manager might want to better understand the differences to appreciate their individual motivations, character traits and operational styles in an effort to foster excellent working relationships between the two.

Simply stated, marketing people tend to be more strategic, conservative and long term thinkers, while sales people are often considered more tactical, short term thinkers, action oriented and impatient with concepts that don’t promise deliver immediate sales results.

The selling function in many corporations is more immediate and tactical and many salespeople’s personalities are different from those working in the more strategic marketing areas. Most sales people enjoy the challenge and freedom associated with their ability to earn what they’re worth and often excel when matched against the competition.

Sales, however, has a major disadvantage of being judged, much like looking at the score board at a sporting event, where their sales can be viewed, measured and evaluated at almost any point in time and no matter how well they’ve done, their fame and fortune often only lasts as long as their last sale. “So, what have you sold for us today?” are simple words that usually send chills down a salespersons spine.

The marketing function is usually managed by strategic people who enjoy research, planning, developing and executing programs that are deemed to be well thought out and usually unfold over time; while sales are important, there are other quantitative, qualitative results and analysis that are viewed as equally important that might add to the research, development and success of future marketing programs.

I’ve worked on both sides of the sales and marketing aisle and found both to be challenging and rewarding. As a salesman in the field, I was motivated by learning the professional approach to successfully selling, meeting or exceeding my monthly sales targets and making as much money as I could while enjoying being responsible for managing my own time and resources.

The corporate marketing side of my experience calmed me down a bit and forced me to become more systematic and strategic and less anxious to sell more products faster. The corporate environment seemed to require me to become more sophisticated, less frantic and more professional where time was measured more in business quarters instead of weeks, months or days as was the case when I was a salesman in the field.

Also, while working in marketing, I appreciated not working in the pressure packed environment of sales and being asked by almost anyone in management, how my sales to target looked. How close I thought I’d come to making my sales numbers and/or how much business I expected to close within any given period of time.

Any sales team’s performance can be judged on a daily basis, whereas marketing has more time to adjust to market trends, purchasing cycles and various product issues. This dynamic often creates an environment of discomfort among sales and marketing people and in many cases exposes the underlying tension that exists between the two just below the surface.

For me, the many lessons learned while working in the sales and marketing departments of large corporations culminated when I was asked to join OrCAD Systems Corporation, a new start up Software Company where I assumed Vice President level responsibility for both sales and marketing.

I quickly found myself required to effectively blend the strategies of marketing with the tactics of sales and did so successfully by first attempting to sell product and then using whatever results learned to better identify and utilize various additional marketing support tools to pave the way to greater sales.

I began developing a mental outline for the “Bridging the Gap Between Trade Shows and Sales” presentation and realized that my opportunity to further study the FASEB exhibit from high above the show floor was a gift. I spent most of the rest of the show in the seats above the show floor observing, taking notes and building a comprehensive outline for my new exciting presentation.

In addition to watching our newly energized booth personnel (now personally led by our Vice President of Sales) interact with suspects, prospects and customers, I began to notice how the exhibit functioned in communicating and realized that long before the attendee entered the exhibit he/she would prefer to stand in the aisle to read our various signs.

OrCAD’s trade shows were focused on sales and generating quality sales leads. The leads were rated cold-warm-hot and were followed up on one week following the show. Each lead card distributed had hand written notes of the exchange and the rating identified by the interviewer indicated the level of buying interest. It was also known by the field sales team members that I would call leads at random soon after the show to confirm that they were contacted and satisfied with the way they were serviced.

Contrary to OrCAD’s trade show sales lead system, a client of mine first used a give-away promotion to build booth traffic and after hearing “I just wanted to win the drawing” from leads distributed after the show, the sales team didn’t waste their time following up on any of that show’s leads because the quality just wasn’t there and the promise of making a sale didn’t exist.

The trade show is a unique tactical, face to face sales event, staged for two or three days which presents an exhibitor with an entire market of suspects, prospects and customers considering the purchase of products and services. The success or failure of a company’s trade show effort is usually judged by how effectively the leads were generated, followed up on and new sales booked.

The Challenge

The challenge for many trade show managers is to create and foster a cooperative planning environment where the dynamics of tactical sales and strategic marketing personalities can work together to contribute their individual talents and perspectives in reaching for new levels of trade show sales success.

The Importance of the Post Trade Show Exhibit Evaluation

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Experienced exhibitors who believe in and practice the time tested, “do it, fix it, do it again until you get it right” attitude towards exhibiting will eventually iron out the various wrinkles that challenge the success of their trade show program. When accomplished, and those nagging little problems are solved for good, they can then afford themselves additional time to explore and experiment with more clever exhibit and product presentation innovations.

Before the book is closed on any given trade show exhibit presentation, it might do you and your company well to stop for a bit and evaluate how the show performed, what results were accomplished, what problems existed and what your recommendations are to improve the next show as well as the overall trade show exhibit program.

If you are your company’s exhibit manager or the person responsible for trade shows, your positive, constructive input should be more than enough to earn a leadership position for trade show exhibiting improvements for your management to acknowledge, consider and support in the future.

To make the job of producing the post show evaluation more effective than just your opinion, it is essential that a complete set of pre-show goals and objectives be established against which you can judge results. If no such goals and objectives were in place and agreed upon by management before the show, the completion of a major trade show is an excellent opportunity for you to recommend them.

Once your opinions and observations are organized, you’ll want to produce a document that states what trade show exhibit aspects worked, what didn’t work so well and what your ideas are to improve the next show’s exhibit performance. This document should be produced and distributed to all involved no more than 2 weeks after the show to refresh everyone’s memory and keep the list of action items current.

The details of the post trade show exhibit evaluation should include virtually all aspects of the trade show exhibit presentation including but not limited to: product presentation effectiveness, level of booth duty professionalism, efficient exhibit communications, level of technical and management support provided, hotel and transportation logistics, level of customer care, sales lead management and distribution, literature support operation, press relations, pre-show meeting details, and the exhibit’s overall operation from opening to closing.

One of the best ways to gather this important information is on the last day of the show to hand out a post-show evaluation form to all who worked the exhibit that asks them for their opinions, concerns and suggestions. This data should then be quickly summarized, evaluated and distributed within a week or so to management with your added recommendations to make the necessary improvements before the next show.

When you’ve compiled a complete evaluation of the show, a final evaluation should be sent, including a list of recommended changes you plan to immediately implement at the next show. It is also a good time to reconfirm your goal of making the trade show exhibit function one that is effective, efficient and accountable and you appreciate the help and support you’ve received.

By taking a leadership role and asking for honest input and reporting what facts you’ve discovered, the trade show function and your position as the trade show manager will enhance your ability to gradually improve the program and elevate your status and gain additional management support.

Because the trade show exhibit environment is so visual, highly charged and spontaneous, many people, especially top managers often voice opinions and strong feelings towards the physical aspects of the exhibit as it compares to the competition and other exhibitors on the show floor. However, it must be stressed that making band aid type changes on the trade show exhibit floor hours before the show opens or even during the show, is about 6 months too late to do anyone any good.

The reality of effective trade show exhibiting, you must politely proclaim, is that almost anything is possible and can be accomplished on the trade show exhibit floor. It just takes time, money, imagination, accurate direction and management’s dedicated support to make it happen.

The desired results of your post-trade show exhibit evaluation should be that management will better understand and appreciate the fact that early planning and accurate execution of goals and objectives will deliver the desired trade shows results. And, that you are the person capable of making it all happen with their support, cooperation, finances and adequate time.

Conclusion

The post trade show exhibit evaluation is one of the most important tools you have to make known what’s needed to improve, advance and guide the future of your trade show program’s effectiveness.

The uniqueness and beauty of today’s trade show exhibit environment is that it is a live event where modifications, improvements and innovations can evolve and be immediately appreciated.

By effectively utilizing post trade show exhibit evaluations, you’ll stimulate the process of constructing a more intelligent, well respected and supported approach to exhibiting by solving acknowledged problems one at a time while enjoying management’s support and cooperation. .

10 Reasons Why Trade Show Exhibitors Often Fail to Justify Time and Expense Invested

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

1. Accurate timely planning and budgeting.

From selecting booth space, scheduling exhibit materials, developing effective product presentations, to arranging show logistics, transportation and show services, all trade show planning should be accomplished within a relaxed, well managed time frame or problems, cost over runs and frustration will take center stage and hamper the chances for a successful trade show experience.

2. Establishing clear goals and objectives.

Without a plan backed by management which includes goals, objectives, budgets and individual responsibilities, there is little chance that an exhibitor will find success on the trade show floor. Management must be provided appropriate opportunities to interact with the trade show planning function at a time when adjustments can be made without causing major budget or logistical problems. Making changes on the trade show floor is about 6 months too late to do anyone any good.

3. Utilizing appropriate exhibit space.

Too little space wastes selling opportunities. Too much space wastes money and resources. Determining the right size booth space and exhibit should be established by carefully analyzing what is needed to effectively present and demonstrate product, process sales leads, quietly confer with customers and operate the exhibit for the duration of the show. Considering each trade show contact in the context of making sales calls in the field is a good start in determining how much time, money and space is required to meet your established sales lead quantity and quality targets.

4. Effective exhibit design and production.

The exhibit should tell prospects who you are, where products are located and something about key products presented. The exhibit will not take the place of your sales, technical or management teams on booth duty, nor will it close any sales. Depending on the exhibit alone to ensure any measure of trade show success will only be disappointing. The exhibit should simply set the stage for people to do business with each other one at a time. While you want the exhibit to attract your targeted prospects to seek more detailed product information and invite them to visit with your booth personnel, it should also act as a visual communications screening tool that from the aisle permits your non-targeted prospects to walk on by.

5. Enlisting top management support before and during show.

There is no better environment for top management to demonstrate its commitment and experience to a business than on the floor of a trade show exhibit. Top management should be encouraged to lead by example and take the opportunity to work a booth side by side with the exhibit team adding credibility and substance to the overall exhibit presentation. Consider how impressed a prospect or customer would feel being introduced to the President of an exhibitor, who guarantees complete satisfaction, excellent after sale support and seals the commitment with his/her hand shake.

6. Selection, scheduling & training exhibit personnel.

Only top sales and technical people should be invited to represent the company at major trade shows. It should be viewed as a privilege and an honor to be asked to work an exhibit and have daily access to top management, important prospects and key customers. Having uninspired people work an exhibit sends the entirely wrong message to important prospects and customers. It’s far better for everyone to leave those types at home. A pre-show meeting provides marketing, sales, top management and the trade show manager an opportunity to present the exhibit team with pertinent product, corporate and strategic marketing information. Similar meetings at the end of each day will also aid in keeping the exhibit functioning properly and the shows goals and objectives on track.

7. Dynamic product presentation.

Simply placing product on the back wall or on a pedestal of your exhibit is not be enough to present its unique features and benefits in a fashion that compels a prospect to want to learn more. Whatever your imagination can develop to bring the product to life must contribute to further the selling process and deliver a prospect who is well informed and motivated to seriously consider owning your products.

8. Immediate prospect follow-up.

When a prospect commits to asking for more detailed information, the exhibitor should feel obligated to ensure that the information requested is delivered within 5 working days of the show, complete with follow-up confirming receipt and an offer for additional support. Not following up on the promise to send additional information not only demonstrates the lack of service the prospect might receive after the sale, but opens the door to your trade show competitor who did make good on the promise and will most likely stand a better chance of getting the business.

9. Lack of experienced trade show exhibit management.

The trade show environment demands exhibit managers who are dedicated, trained and well respected in the industry. The myriad of logistics, details and decisions associated with a single major trade show can only be successfully managed if the manager is supported, motivated and appreciated 365 days a year. The job is much too challenging for management to simply assign anyone the task of managing trade shows.

10. Conducting post show evaluation with recommendations.

If you failed to meet some of your goals at this years trade show, you’re doomed to fail again unless you completely evaluate what happened, why and what is needed to improve. A post show follow-up session with the same managers who attended the initial planning meeting is essential and should be staged within one week after the show. Soon after that meeting a document should be produced outlining what is needed and the process of improving the next show should begin at once.

In an effort to develop a new and improved trade show function, it’s best to first focus on the company’s most important show which usually attracts its share of management attention and then let the rest of the trade show schedule benefit from what is learned and supported.

Establishing a Trade Show Headquarters Command Post

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMT

One of the first and most important tasks military and civilian administrative experts need to accomplish when facing new and unusual challenges in the field, is to quickly and efficiently create a fully functional command post from which they can effectively communicate, direct and manage their resources.

Exhibiting at a major trade show and managing equally diverse company resources in a city away from the home office can be just as challenging, especially when one considers the amount of time and money trade show exhibiting consumes. One way to successfully accomplish managing important logistical and detail coordination efforts at a trade show is to create a command post in a near by hotel suite from which management can direct the action created in and around their exhibit at the convention center.

Over the years many corporations have created so called “hospitality suites” for entertaining invited prospects and customers, however, these pricy adventures in good will often became hard to manage and usually ended up creating more problems then they were worth. One major concern was in deciding who should and should not be admitted into the room especially when the news of a free hospitality suite spread like wild fire on the trade show floor.

In addition, the unmanaged and often irresponsible consumption of alcohol sometimes led employees, prospects, customers, competitors and suite crashers to act in manners directly opposed to the goals and objectives of the good natured hospitality suite idea and over the years the hospitality suite function has all but ceased to exist for many trade show exhibitors.

Corporate Headquarters Command Post

However, the unfavorable hospitality situation mentioned above can change dramatically when the suite is instead designed and managed to function solely as a private headquarters corporate command post. This modest innovation promises to deliver greater human resource utilization, expanded communications capabilities and increased overall value to the exhibitor. Here management can more effectively utilize the suite facility and various hotel provided services to direct and accomplish many more important trade show support functions such as:

Pre-Show Briefing Meeting Room
The night before the opening of the trade show, the headquarters suite would be the site of the pre-show briefing and motivational sales meeting where the entire team meets to review activities scheduled for the show and where various assignments to the staff are assigned. In addition to top management’s presentation and goal setting statements, marketing and product support would make formal presentations outlining the products on display and key presentation points the sales team will want to focus on. The Trade Show Exhibits Manager would outline various exhibit details logistics, boothmanship strategies and generally discuss how the booth will function during the entire show.
Public Relations Center
In addition to the trade show’s own public relations center where company press kits are provided for the press, the headquarters suite can also be utilized to stage pre-scheduled, one on one business sessions with selected media editors to meet with key corporate managers to review relevant corporate business issues. Individual media technical editors can also be scheduled to meet with selected product experts for one on one product presentations in hopes of gaining favorable mentions in post trade show round up articles or discuss opportunities to contract articles in future publication issues. In many cases, the relationship formed between technical editors and product development experts often develop into one in which both can communicate to assess industry trends for upcoming articles or magazine features.

The entire PR function should be coordinated, scheduled and managed by the corporate public relations manager and in some cases transportation might need to be arranged to comfortably and efficiently transport selected editors to and from the suite and convention center. There should be a selection of non-alcoholic liquid refreshments and perhaps a spread of sandwich meats and some fruit in the suite during the press meetings for the editors to enjoy while they meet with key people.
Rest and Relaxation Suite
At the end of each booth team’s scheduled time on booth duty, the headquarters suite would also function as a corporate gathering place to rest and relax and compare notes of the day’s activities on the show floor. Competitive analysis assignments can be reviewed while individual sales and marketing managers might make suggestions to either improve or supplement the booth function for maximum results. At the end of the day, the entire booth team should retire to the headquarters suite for a complete debriefing of the day’s booth activities, review key sales leads and discuss any issues that developed during the day that might require additional attention. The booth team would then be divided up with selected managers as hosts for dinner and preparation for the next day’s opportunities on the show floor. The Trade Show Exhibits manager can report on the general operation of the booth for that day and share any additional information regarding sales leads generated and the overall performance of the exhibit.
Horsepower to Spare Station
While in the booth, sales, marketing and/or management individuals should have the option of inviting selected VIP prospects and customers to meet in the headquarter suite at designated times to further advance business. The opportunity for top management to support the active selling function by being available to meet in the headquarters suite is an important advantage that can be central to the success in exhibiting at a trade show. It is often impossible for top management to meet individual key prospects and customers in the field; however, the trade show presents many opportunities to do so and should be actively acted upon.
Getting the Business Closing Room
The headquarters suite can also be used to conduct and close business within a professional and private corporate setting along with all the resources needed to make customers feel safe, secure and confident away from the cacophony of the trade show floor. The suite should be staffed full time by someone who would function as a scheduler/receptionist and ensure that it was adequately stocked with a complete assortment of contracts, pre-printed quote forms, legal support documents and whatever materials that might be deemed needed to close a deal and send the customer happily on his/her way. The headquarters suite could also be available to VIPs such as out of town dealers, international distributors and representatives needing a place to quietly conduct business, impress their prospects and customers, and enjoy a positive environment conducive to where they can rest and perhaps catch up on their jet lag or home office communication
Quality Customer Care Center
When a somewhat agitated customer shows up at your booth with a legitimate complaint and there is no way his/her issue can be successfully dealt with on the show floor without causing a negative situation, the headquarters command suite should be called into action. Transportation might need to be made available and the customer should be able to meet management in the suite who can solve his/her problem. Trying to deal with a negative situation like this in any other environment other than the headquarters command suite will only lead to additional problems especially in the exhibit and on the positively charged trade show floor.
Connecting the Dots Forum
With sales and product marketing people in physical and mental concert because of the focus a trade show demands, it would be difficult to find a better place then the headquarters suite for product marketing managers to conduct new and old product training reviews before everyone hits the exhibit floor. Within hours of the training sessions, the sales and product marketing concepts, ideas, strategies and tactics can be tested and evaluated in real time on the exhibit floor by simply sharing the information with prospects and customers. Each evening in the suite, findings can be presented, discussed, evaluated and modified and fine tuned until the information makes better sense and delivers the desired results.
Conclusion
The idea of creating a corporate headquarters command suite along with its many business functions as outlined above is yet another valuable creative tool to consider when taking the initiative to maximize your trade show exhibit effectiveness. There are 24 hours in each day to consider productive during a trade show and establishing a corporate headquarters command post is yet another way to maximize the time, money and personnel capital invested to make every hour count towards a successful trade show business venture.

A Trade Show Press Suite Might Solve the Problem

If you things decide to organize a press suite at your next most important trade show, here are a few you’ll want to check into before setting this important public relations function in motion:

At least four months before your most important trade show, telephone or E-mail all those editors at various magazines that you suspect might be important to your new product introduction and inquire if they plan to attend the trade show.
Reserve a suite at a hotel as close to the convention center as possible where your press room will be located and send a personal invitation to each editor planning to attend the show.
Decorate and arrange your press suite to create an environment which presents your corporation, its products and people in the most professional manner possible.
Set-up personal meeting times using a simple day planner so each editor knows what time his/her appointment is and also offer transportation to and from the convention hall.
Arrange to have a receptionist in the suite to check meeting schedules, answer phone calls, coordinate company personnel and communicate with your transportation driver via a walkie talkie.
Rent a comfortable Mini-van complete with magnetic signs showing your corporate logo on the doors and provide the driver with a walkie talkie to effectively and quickly communicate with the suite to ensure accurate transportation coordination.
Have a company representative meet the visiting editors in the hotel lobby and escort him/her to the suite making the appropriate introductions.
Assemble new product press kits for distribution at the suite.
Prepare the new product presenter so he/she knows what to say and how positively react to an editor’s questions, comments and concerns.
Be prepared to demonstrate the product and show the editor how it works, what it does and what important advantages it offers customers.
Introduce the editor to key management at the suite in hopes of favorably supporting his/her desire to learn as much as possible about the company, its people, products, business and future plans.
One week prior to the trade show telephone, E-mail and/or send a note to all invited editors confirming their appointment time and day and provide each with the suite name and telephone number.
Offer a selection of non-alcoholic refreshments and an assortment of finger foods.
Coordinate transportation for editors with appointments from your exhibit on the trade show floor with your mini-van driver and establish appropriate convenient locations for pick up and return.
Have top management available and prepared in the suite to show support and open communications with editors for future contact regarding timely business and industry issues.
Ensure that the product people presenting the new products are well versed, brief with their remarks and very sensitive to simply answering presented questions.
Interview each editor before ending the sessions to determine if there are any additional topics needing to be discussed or information needing to be provided at a later date.
After the trade show contact each editor with a thank you note for their attendance and offer any additional support that might be needed in developing their post show or future stories.
Your Public Relations Manager should be your primary contact during all phases of staging a trade show press tour.
It should also be the responsibility of the Public Relations Manager to maintain timely contact with all visiting editors in an effort to build strong lasting relationships.

Conclusion

The trade show is the venue and your press suite is the vehicle that can deliver in three days what a press tour can’t in three months.

Shopping for a New Exhibit

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

So it’s been decided that your old exhibit needs to be replaced and you are now responsible, as your corporation’s trade show exhibit manager, to handle the details and get the best exhibit money can buy. Before you charge out into the wide world of exhibit designers and producers, here are a few ideas you might want to consider to stay out of trouble.

Early on, get your purchasing department involved in the project to ensure that the finer aspects and details of spending your corporation’s hard earned money are handled properly. In addition, with the help of your purchasing department your exhibit provider will be more inclined to ensure that all items on the contract are properly understood and agreed upon so there should be no unforeseen additions or un-budged extra charges. The purchasing representative assigned to the trade show exhibits department can also advise you as to the best way to either purchase, lease or rent the exhibit based on various corporate tax and cash flow options that may exist at the time.

Start the process formally and get top management in on the planning at the early stages of the project to ensure complete understanding and compliance of the exhibit’s goals and objectives. Anyone in management who might be able to add, change or alter the design of the new exhibit should be involved in the beginning to avoid any last minute changes which will add to the price, construction time and frustration.

Document the new exhibit’s overall goals and objectives before the design phase begins. Identify the exhibit’s physical requirements like storage, customer services center, conference areas, product presentation logistics, signage limitations, electrical routing and basically anything special to your objectives that will need to be accommodated by the exhibit. Carefully research the physical limitations of the booth space you rented and make sure that there is nothing to hinder the placement or operation of your new exhibit on the show floor.
Realistically and conservatively determine what the exhibit will and will not be able to accomplish within the trade show environment. Keep in mind that the exhibit can only set the stage for real people presenting real products generating real sales leads that in the final analysis will determine whether the show was a success or failure.
Decide whether the new exhibit will need to be used in the same amount of booth space every time or if it will require a bit more flexibility to be used in other booth configurations. For instance, you might want a design a cubic content exhibit space that uses modular components that can then be used in a linear configuration for supporting smaller shows.
The selection of exhibit vendors should include both custom exhibit houses as well as those who provide pre-manufactured, off the shelf exhibit properties. There are benefits to asking both for designs and construction bids since they are equally experienced in most all aspects of the exhibit design and building process. Remember that you usually get what you pay for and that the joy of low price is often replaced with the misery of poor quality.
Inviting exhibit vendors in to provide designs and construction bids should only be conducted after goals and objectives are supported by the functional specifications of your exhibit and have been clearly documented and signed off by management. Ask each exhibit vendor for at least 5 references and contact each of them to obtain opinions of that vendor’s overall capability, attention to service, dependability, honesty and whether or not the reference would use them again.
If the first show is any major distance from home, you might consider having only the exhibit design purchased and then sending it to the trade show city for local exhibit vendors there to bid on. Their bids might also include exhibit transportation to and from the convention center, installation and dismantling and storage after the show. Having the same labor set up and dismantle the exhibit as those who built it promises to save you time and money. Those savings can be added to what you’ll gain on shipping the exhibit from home to the show and should more than pay for the design.
Have the bid winning exhibit provider’s management team come to your office to present you and your management with the plan and schedule for the new exhibit. In doing so establishing his/her firm as being more of an associate than a vendor to your business.
Maintain close control of the exhibit production schedule provided by the winning bidder, ensuring that your copy, graphics, product photographs, etc. are all approved and provided on time. You should plan on visiting the exhibit provider at key times during production to inspect progress and to discuss what might be needed to keep the project on schedule and within the budget.

Conclusion

Acquiring a new exhibit for most corporations is a major investment that should be carefully considered, planned and managed. No matter what the price or size, if the exhibit’s goals and objectives have not been firmly established and supported by management, there is little chance that the investment will be worth the effort. On the other hand, when an exhibit is designed and constructed to meets its goals and objectives, the value of the trade show can be maximized and should more then justify every dollar and hour spent on the trade show floor.

The Origin of “Bridging the Gap Between Trade Shows and Sales

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Years ago, when I was Beckman Instrument’s Corporate Manager of Trade Shows and Exhibits, one of the first critical challenges to my career arrived while we were exhibiting at Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). It was our most important show of the year, then staged at the Auditorium in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Our exhibit presentation was carefully created within two 20’x 40’ island exhibit booths complete with a full line of very sophisticated Bio-medical research instruments that were supported by a large competent staff of highly trained sales, marketing and technical support experts.

The price tag for this event alone was in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars -- it was viewed by our top corporate and divisional managers as one of year’s most important sales and marketing functions in this somewhat esoteric market.

It was also acknowledged that only through staging a successful FASEB exhibit effort would Beckman’s Bio-Medical Research business be able to increase its bottom line by generating enough quality sales leads resulting in increased sales and profits during the year that followed. It was estimated that about 10% of the total attending audience were key targeted prospects.

What made the FASEB trade show so valuable to Beckman Instruments and other suppliers to the Bio-medical research industry was the fact that their customers came to them: most sales teams found it almost impossible to actually get in and visit individual Bio-medical researchers in their laboratories where the scientists spend most of their time. Yet the typically private scientists would, however, attend the FASEB annual convention to share ideas, attend papers, workshops and technical seminars and then browse the exhibit hall to learn what was new in the way of promising products and services offered.

Only on the FASEB trade show exhibit floor was it possible for exhibitors to meet key research prospects and formally demonstrate their product’s features and capabilities. The positive environment was also conducive to sharing often complex product application knowledge with a receptive attendee who had time to spend and was motivated by his/her quest for new product knowledge to solve their pressing research challenges.

In the field, there were many problems associated with efforts to ship, setup and effectively demonstrate sensitive scientific instruments in the researcher’s laboratory. Many instruments were too large and difficult to accurately calibrate for them to perform with any guarantee of success. The FASEB show turned out to be the best way to effectively present and demonstrate the most sophisticated instruments to this highly select audience.

At 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning, after three solid days of set-up, the auditorium doors opened and the show was officially underway. After an hour or so when the booth was running smoothly, I went up into the seats that surrounded the exhibit floor to observe how our trade show exhibit presentation was functioning as viewed from this unique vantage point.

Of all the trade shows I’ve attended over the years, few had offered an opportunity for me to observe the entire exhibit function from such an opportunistic vantage point. It was an eye- opening experience and one I found necessary to share with the Vice President of Sales later in the day when I invited him to join me to also experience how his Beckman exhibit was functioning.

While sitting in the seats overlooking the Beckman exhibit below, we traced the steps and habits of various prospects as they walked the aisles, read the signs, entered our booth, and explored some of the instruments on display. We were shocked as we watched many visitors proceed to walk out of the booth without as much as a welcome or greeting from any of our booth personnel on duty.

After an hour of watching this situation unfold, the Vice President of Sales finally couldn’t take it any longer and all but ran down the stairs and into the exhibit to see what he could do to remedy what to us was a totally unacceptable situation.

The VP’s emotionally upsetting experience of observing our exhibit and realizing that we were virtually ignoring and turning away important prospects resulted in a mandatory emergency meeting that night, where he voiced his displeasure with the booth function and solicited input to quickly solve the problem.

The results of that dynamically charged session included immediate changes in the way the booth personnel functioned with regards to identifying, meeting, greeting and helping suspects, prospects and customers who entered the booth. In addition, the Vice President of Sales directed me to begin developing a comprehensive pre-show presentation that would prepare trade show booth personnel to better perform at all future Beckman trade shows.

The concept of “Bridging the Gap Between Trade Show and Sales” was born.

Being directed by and having the direct support of the Corporate Vice President of Sales and imagining that I could be a key part of initiating such dynamic changes in the way the corporation viewed and participated at trade shows was all inspiring and challenging for me.

I deduced that this was done in an attempt to avoid being approached by usually aggressive booth sales personnel before he/she was ready to initiate contact. However, the prospect would welcome contact and information after a particular product of interest was identified.

It seemed reasonable for me to think that if the exhibit’s signage could be modified to improve communications, it might do a much better job at helping screen attendees from the aisle and deliver more confident prospects seeking additional product specific information from our booth staff.

It was also a startling revelation for me to consider that while the exhibit had to communicate to our targeted prospects (which we often estimated at about 10% of the total attendance) so they could decide to enter the booth, it also had to effectively communicate to keep about 90% of our non-targeted attendees away from entering the booth and taking up the booth team’s limited valuable time.

One of the key elements in creating “Bridging the Gap Between Trade Show and Sales” was to offer a common sense approach to exhibiting and providing booth personnel with simple concepts for them to embrace.

Improving exhibit signage to function better in screening attendees and delivering key prospects from the aisles to the exhibit and waiting sales team hit the mark. The results of this simple concept was integrated into the presentation suggesting that our booth personnel can now relax and allow the exhibit to do the initial screening of attendees while delivering a prospect who knew which exhibit, product category and exact product he/she was most interested in learning more about.

The exhibit’s new graphic presentation, as seen from the aisle, successfully communicated who we were, which product category was under a color coded sub-heading, the product’s name, its features and benefits, the actual product on display and finally who the prospect could talk to for more information.

This innovation alone helped future Beckman trade show booth duty personnel feel more in control, confident and useful because they were now in a position to help screened prospects obtain the important information they needed to make important buying decisions.

Another segment of the “Bridging the Gap Between Trade Show and Sales” presentation focused on the verbal portion of the exhibit presentation and included how the booth personnel should meet, greet and present products of interest while taking care to acquire as much information as possible for effective and timely post show follow-up.

“Bridging the Gap Between Trade Shows and Sales” has continued to evolve over the years and is now in a flexible PowerPoint format, which lends itself to individual customization for any exhibitor who finds the need to further advance the trade show function as it relates to sales.

According to Therese Solimeno, Smart Dame Event Marketing, San Luis Obispo, CA, “I witnessed first-hand how the “Bridging the Gap Between Trade Shows and Sales” presentation advanced Beckman’s trade show program and have since employed those techniques with clients like Microsoft. Now that the presentation is available for individual exhibitor customization, I recommend it to all of my clients to use as a tool to improve their trade show results.”

While the experience at Beckman Instruments advanced my career in ways I could not have imagined, much of my success would not have been possible without the fiery commitment of the Corporate Vice President of Sales and the inspiration we gained high above the Atlantic City Auditorium exhibit floor at FASEB those many years ago.

From Trade Show Exhibits Vendor to Client to Consultant

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

My trade show exhibit experience began at an early age around the dinner table. My father, Joseph LoCascio, would come home every night with fascinating stories about designing and building displays and exhibits at various New York City exhibit houses where he worked as graphic artist.

When the projects he worked on were completed he would take the family into New York City and show us the results of his artistic handiwork, which often included IBM’s Madison Avenue window displays, Crane’s display of new bathroom/kitchen fixtures, Allied Chemical’s lobby displays, and various displays at the New York Stock Exchange and the World Trade Center. Many other exhibits of his would be on display at trade shows at the New York Coliseum, Waldorf Astoria, or the New York Hilton.

My admiration for my father’s artistic talents started when I would be invited to join him for his local freelance work on weekends. I’d help him load the car with his art supplies and then watch in amazement as he laid out and hand-lettered a bank’s new window sign in gold leaf, or a company’s name on a truck door, or a new sign for a local church.

The exhibit building business was cyclical, and there were times when work was scarce and some shop workers had to be laid off for a few weeks. Other times there was too much work, which called for hiring more people and working overtime and weekends to complete exhibits.

My chance to work with my father at Exhibit Craft, Inc. in Long Island City, came when the shop was on a full-time work schedule, including weekends, to complete multiple exhibits in time for the National Hardware Show in Chicago.

I jumped at his offer and was excited to not only be making $1.50 an hour at the age of 14, but also to get to work with my father and begin learning the exhibit building business from the ground up. My work that first weekend — and many others that followed — included cleaning silk screens and squeegees, resurfacing art tables with new paper, sweeping the floor, carefully peeling frisketed graphic panels, and mixing paints.

I knew right then and there that the exhibit business was where I wanted to spend my career. During high school and after military service I worked at Exhibit Craft, Inc. working my way up the ladder, which included Silk Screen Production, Assistant Production Manager, Shipping and Receiving Clerk, and Assistant to the Purchasing Manager.

A major career transition came when ECI won the new Olivetti Underwood account and needed an account executive to manage their multiple product exhibits for more than 40 trade shows per year. I applied, interviewed, and got the job. To my amazement, I soon found myself in planning meetings at Olivetti’s corporate headquarters at 1 Park Avenue in New York City.

At 22, I was enjoying a dream job, learning the ins and outs of being an exhibit account executive and looking to the future when, unsuspectingly, ECI was sold to IVEL, which is today a part of Exhibit Group. IVEL then moved the ECI plant to Brooklyn, New York. For me, it was unreasonable to work in and travel to Brooklyn as I still enjoyed living an almost carefree and independent lifestyle at my parents' home in Bergenfield, New Jersey, where I grew up. But if moving out for a job was a necessity, I thought moving to California might be a much better choice.

With an eye for adventure, travel, and an urge to start fresh, I sent a resume out to Stewart Sauter, an exhibit builder and show decorator in San Francisco. I was hired after a great interview. I had contracted Stewart Sauter many times in the past to set up and dismantle Olivetti Underwood’s exhibits and had established an excellent working relationship with Mr. Tony Panacci, who I would work for. My job was supervising the setup, servicing, and dismantling of all exhibits sent to Stewart Sauter from exhibit houses from throughout the country.

My tenure in San Francisco was short-lived, however, because while setting up exhibits at the Fall Joint Computer Conference at Brooks Hall, I met Mr. Del Kennedy, Advertising Manager at UNIVAC Division of Sperry Rand. He ended up offering me a job as their Corporate Trade Show Exhibits Coordinator in Bluebell, Pennsylvania.

Getting the opportunity to jump from the vendor side of the business to the client side was a dream I had developed as I watched the entire staff at Exhibit Craft organize and clean up the shop in preparation for one of its client’s visits. One day I said to myself, “Someday I want to be the client."

UNIVAC built and sold computers. Their trade show exhibit philosophy was to use live theatrical presentations, developed by the highly talented Hardman and Associates from Pittsburgh, PA, to show just what computers could do. Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, creators of the cult film “Night of the Living Dead," developed scripts, scenery, and AV materials, and hired and trained actors and a complete professional production crew to effectively present UNIVAC’s computer presentations. We staged the presentations on an hourly schedule in a theater with seating for about 60 visitors. When the presentation ended, the doors would open and visitors would walk through a display area where salespeople, managers and technical support professionals made personal product presentations, answered questions, and filled out sales lead forms for additional information or sales calls.

UNIVAC’s marketing experts understood early on that in reality a computer was just a machine and that it was the power of its various software applications that made the most sense to booth visitors. In the often cacophonous trade show exhibit environment, getting attention and making prospects and customers comfortable while sharing complicated and often esoteric information required total control of the exhibit environment.

A year later I accepted a job with Memorex (which stood for Memory and Excellence) in Santa Clara, California, as their Corporate Manager of Trade Shows and Exhibits. This included supporting their Video Tape, Computer Media, Office Products, and Computer Peripheral business units. Soon after arriving, Memorex decided to launch new audiotape products and I began working on their introduction at The Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.

The marketing strategy for this important first trade show exhibit was to facilitate a dynamic live demonstration presenting the audible differences between new Memorex cassettes and what was then on the market. We needed to show prospects how Memorex cassettes would outperform recorded music when compared to reel-to-reel 3M and BASF audiotape, which at the time dominated the worldwide audiotape market.

We created the exhibit as a theater with seating for about 50 prospects. We equipped it with a state-of-the-art sound system, including high-quality cassette and reel-to-reel tape players and excellent full-range speakers with Dolby sound. The advertising campaign, “Is it Live or is it Memorex?” created by the Leo Burnett Advertising agency in Chicago, was prominently displayed along with supporting literature and sample cassettes. The presentation was very successful and Memorex went on to become a dominant force in the consumer electronics industry.

I was then offered a position as Vice President of Sales for Bill McCann’s Exhibit Design, Inc. located in Palo Alto, California. I viewed the opportunity as a means to perhaps own a piece of my own business. We were successfully pioneering the exhibit leasing segment of the industry until Mr. McCann fell dangerously ill after only 6 months. The business had to be suspended until he fully recovered, years later.

I moved south to Irvine, California, and began selling exhibits for Design Enterprises, Inc., an excellent small exhibit house based in Anaheim that did most of the excellent display work on the new Queen Mary docked in Long Beach. I enjoyed selling and servicing clients, but when the opportunity arose for me to again wear the hat of a client; I jumped at the chance to apply for a Trade Show Manager’s position at the corporate offices of Beckman Instruments in Fullerton, California.

Beckman Instruments, a world leader in the manufacturing of highly sophisticated analytical instruments for medical clinics, biomedical research, and industrial applications, was dedicated and committed to fully utilizing trade show exhibits to effectively further the sales and marketing of products.

Two major factors prevailed in Beckman’s commitment to maximize their trade show exhibits investments. First, it was difficult to go deep into various highly secure medical research facilities to meet face to face with prospective customers. And by design, such customers remained somewhat aloof and averse to meeting sales people. These important people would attend major medical research conventions to give papers, attend seminars and workshops, and walk the exhibit floor aisles to see what was new from industry that might help them solve their research challenges.

The second factor pertained to the size, fragility, and complexity of Beckman’s scientific, industrial, and biomedical instruments. They simply could not be easily transported, calibrated, set-up and utilized to make effective field sales calls.

The trade show exhibit environment provided Beckman’s field service engineers with the ability to install and calibrate completely functional analytical instruments, which in turn gave the sales team on booth duty the ability to effectively demonstrate to prospects exactly how an instrument performed. This added credibility to the sales presentation and in many cases advanced the purchasing cycle farther down the road in a much shorter amount of time and at less expense.

Beckman’s management team demanded accountability from every dollar invested in their trade show exhibits, and it was my charter to either earn their respect or watch the function lose support and eventually all but disappear from their marketing/sales budget — with me along with it.

Years later I found myself being offered a position as Vice President of Marketing and Sales with OrCAD Systems, a boot-strapped startup in the CAE software business in Hillsboro, Oregon. I took the job and used my years of trade show exhibiting experience to help the company succeed.

At OrCAD we used trade shows to initially do product feature and pricing research and to set up a network of distributors to stock and re-sell product both domestically and internationally. Trade show exhibits provided me with the opportunity to stand in our booth for three days and ask questions, float new marketing and sales ideas, and present and sell products to a wide range of prospects. Our field sales and support representatives were trained, supported, and motivated by watching our corporate experts work the booth and answer prospects' questions while solving customers' problems.

After OrCAD was sold, went public and eventually swallowed up by a major competitor, I created www.tradeshowconsultants.com to share my experiences and to help my clients maximize their trade show exhibit programs and ultimately enjoy being on the client side of the exhibit business. Peter LoCascio now works with worldwide exhibitors who are committed to maximizing their trade show effectiveness and bridging the gap between trade shows and sales.

Developing a New Exhibit, Design Strategy

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Situational Analysis

Your company, which is located in any town USA, plans to exhibit at its most important annual trade show that this year that is being staged at Chicago’s McCormick Place. You have reserved a 20’x 30’ booth space and you now have less than six months to get a new custom exhibit built for the show. The general average exhibit construction budget has been estimated and it’s time for you to go out and begin the process of negotiating the purchase a new custom cubic content exhibit to debut at your company’s newest products at the most important trade show of the year.

Typical Strategy

Contact a few (2 or 3) local exhibit builders; ask each to come in to your office to make individual capability presentations. These presentations will consist of their corporate philosophy, samples of their work and any case histories they have showing how they solved other client’s exhibiting goals and objectives.
Before leaving, each will provide you with a list of references you’ll want to call and ask among other questions, if they would again do business with this particular exhibit builder in the future.

Typical Tactics

You’ve contacted all the references and selected only two exhibit builders you and your management feel will do the best job.
Creative input sessions begin outlining what your company wants, needs and expects, and the exhibit builders begins the design process which they often say is included in their service.
A few weeks later both exhibit builders come back with design concepts and rough construction estimates and schedule for you to consider. Builder #2 is selected and the project officially begins by asking your purchasing people to issue a purchase order covering all the specific details and production schedule.
The production schedule leaves ample time to construct the exhibit, preview it, pack it in its shipping cases and transport it to Chicago’s McCormick Place in enough time to make the first day of straight time installation.

Typical Cost Analysis

The cost of the exhibit design and construction.
Shipping cases if the exhibit is being shipped over the road common carrier to Chicago which will have to go into drayage since it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when the truck will arrive in Chicago and be allowed to unload at McCormick Place.
No shipping cases are needed if the exhibit is to be blanket or paper wrapped and loaded into a van and delivered direct to McCormick Place the morning of setup.
Labor to receive the exhibit and deliver it to your booth.
Labor to unpack and install the exhibit.
Labor to dismantle the exhibit at show close and either repack it into shipping cases or load it into the van for the ride back to your offices for storage.

Non-Typical Strategy

Your new exhibit will have to be designed and detailed first before anything can be constructed. Just like building a new house, it’s the architect that is first hired to gather all your input who will then provide you with designs and detailed construction plans for your approval before a nail is pounded or a piece of lumber purchased.

Non-Typical Tactics

In addition to looking for exhibit builders to design and construct your new exhibit, you also find an exhibit design only firm capable of designing an exhibit based on your specific requirements in the very same fashion an architect designs and details a new house.
The exhibit designer, for a quoted fee, will gather all your information, develop sketches and various treatments and narrow your ideas to the point where he/she will be able to fine tune a design that is both acceptable and within budget.
Once the exhibit design is completed and approved, you now have a vehicle that virtually any qualified exhibit builder in the country could use to develop a construction quote and time table to successfully complete the work.
Since your show is in Chicago, you’ll want 2 or 3 capable exhibit builders there to also bid on the construction and while their at it, also give you a bid on transporting the exhibit from their shop to McCormick place, setting it up, dismantling it after the show and returning it to their shop for temporary storage.

Non-Typical Cost Analysis

With your new exhibit being built in Chicago you’ll save on shipping to and from your local area which in itself would more than likely pay for your exhibit designer’s charges and expenses.
Your local Chicago based exhibit builder should enjoy excellent working relationships with the various unions which will save you time, money and problems.
Having the same labor setting up and dismantling your new exhibit by those who build it will save you time, money and problems.
Having the local exhibit builder’s foreman on site for any additional services will eliminate any problems you would experience if the new exhibit was built somewhere other than Chicago.
The local exhibit builder should be asked to deduct in their construction bid any sales commissions or design fees from your exhibit since it was sent directly to their estimating department and did not go through their sales or design departments.
After the Chicago show, your exhibit could be stored in the Chicago exhibit builder’s facility until your next show at which time they could get it out, touch it up and get it on its way.

In the early 1970s, Mr. Bill McCann, Founder of Exhibit Design, Inc. was one of the pioneers in the concept of designing exhibits to meet his client’s needs first and than sending it out for construction bids in the city where the first show was held. The idea is still as practical and smart in today’s competitive business environment as it was then. This time proven system is done all the time in the commercial and residential building industry. So when you consider the cost savings associated with shipping, labor and the elimination of at show problems during installation and dismantling, it’s easy to see why more and more exhibitors are considering designing first.

I had the privilege of working with the late Bill McCann at Exhibit Design, Inc. in San Francisco as his Vice President of Sales and Marketing and experienced first hand how many of our clients saved time, money and eliminated many problems by designing their new exhibit first and then going out to bid in the trade show’s city for construction, transportation to and from the show plus the qualified labor required for installation, dismantling and emergency show services.

Conclusion

In many cases, multiple bids on exhibit construction from designs provided by your custom exhibit designer will vary as much as 50-75% depending on how busy an exhibit builder is, other exhibits they have going into the same show or how interested they are in adding a new account to their roster. Exhibiting in major US cities like Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, and Anaheim is challenging enough without adding the extra complexities and potential problems of shipping in a brand new exhibit built by an outside organization with little big trade show city experience. In most cases, the results will cost you time, money and add to the frustrations trade shows have a way of delivering.

Managing Trade Show Sales Leads

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Sun, 01 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

The person in a corporation who has the job title of Corporate Trade Show Exhibits Manager is most likely viewed and hopefully appreciated by fellow workers and management as a Jack or Jill of all trades and a wearer of many hats. While under the pressure and critical deadlines of the trade show opening day comes through and gets the job done.

The Jacks and Jills who manage trade show exhibits are acutely aware of the skill and knowledge it takes to plan execute and manage a seamless trade show event. The position’s potential is rich with many additional opportunities to prosper, advance and, if desired, climb the corporate ladder.

Here is an in depth look at those who manage the corporate trade show exhibit function and might feel that they are in need of establishing a loftier vantage point from which to see their future and the future of trade shows in their corporation.

In order to maximize the effective management of the trade show sales lead generating process, it’s first beneficial to understand two marketing communications processes that deal with the development of a customer.

The first process is called the “Purchasing Cycle.” This process identifies six phases of how a customer is developed when graduating from being an unknown to suspect to prospect to customer to user and finally and endorser.

Purchasing cycle: Unknowns - Suspects - Prospects – Customers – Users - Endorsers.

At any selected trade show, the successful exhibitor assumes that a percentage of the total attendance will be their targeted prospects. These people, who at the time are unknown by the exhibitor will be interested in learning more about products and services presented for purchasing consideration.

This exhibitor also understands that suspects are developed into prospects when the unknown attendee shows interest in the company and its products by entering the exhibit and seeking someone to speak with about the product’s features, benefits and value.

The challenge of a physical trade show exhibit is to systematically screen attendees to allow quality prospects to identify themselves while non-targeted suspects to walk on by the exhibit. You do not want non-prospects to waste the valuable time of the booth duty team because the exhibit failed to communicate.

The goal of the trade show should be to generate quality sales leads not useless inquiries that the sales team will not follow up. Forget about the cleaver gimmicks designed to fill the booth with people, its quality not quantity that will make the most dollars and sense to your management and sales and marketing booth duty teams who are asked to support the trade show exhibit program. In addition, remember that exhibits don’t sell product, people do.

Outside sales people are required to transform prospects into customers by often making field sales calls, product presentations and developing or following up on inquiries generated by marketing communications. Sales people will also want to tout a user’s positive experience with the product and encourage them to become active product endorsers. Positive endorsements by satisfied customers/users can greatly enhance the acceptability of product among other suspects and prospects especially at a trade show.

The second process in developing a customer at a trade show understands that a sale is made when a product’s value exceeds its cost and that product value is supported by features while its features are supported by the benefits the product provides the customer.

Product’s Features – Benefits – Value – Price – Purchase - Endorsement

The trade show exhibit presentation succeeds when a form of the above purchasing cycle is employed using both the exhibit and those selected to work the booth to effectively transform attendees that are unknown and suspects into qualified prospects. This is accomplished by allowing the aisle to be seen as neutral territory and one in which attendees are free to travel.

The exhibit’s visual presentation should simply communicate from the aisle: who the exhibitor is, where products are located, simple product features and benefits and clearly identify who to talk with to acquire more detailed information. Assuming that only a small percentage of the total attendance are the exhibitors true prospects, one of the most important jobs the exhibit has is to screen non-prospects from entering the booth.

As an example, an exhibitor at a trade show expects a total attendance of 5,000, yet only 10% or 500 are targeted as important prospects able to purchase in the next 3-6 months. The exhibit must communicate to keep 4,500 non prospects in the aisles and not wasting the time of the booth duty team.

As an experiment, at the next trade show you attend, watch attendees as they walk the aisles and you’ll see them read an exhibit much like they read a printed advertisement. From the top where the ad’s headline is, is the company name. Further down will be product heading with features and benefits and perhaps a graphic image used to convey a theme. The exhibit must also successfully communicate from the aisle as the advertisement in a magazine does or confusion will occur and the targeted prospect will fail to appear.

Once the exhibit does its job of separating and qualifying unknowns and suspects and delivering quality prospects to the booth, the sales and marketing team on duty should be confident that they are meeting real prospects. Any other types of booth visitors should be immediately handed over to the appropriate exhibit support people and not allowed to waste the valuable and limited time of the sales people on booth duty.

Once a prospect arrives at the exhibit, the process of developing a quality sales lead begins with the sales person going through a series of questions to qualify need, budgets and procurement timing. All this information must be clearly documented and saved to be later transferred after the show to the appropriate sales person whose territory the prospect resides in for immediate follow- up and closure.

Because of the technical and management support the exhibitor has available on the show floor the sales team should try to take the sale as far as possible including working up a special trade show quote for the prospect to take home for further consideration.

At the end of each day, all sales leads should be reviewed and actions decided upon in an effort to respond as quickly and completely as possible to a prospect’s request for more detailed information. Knowing that the competition was also asked for additional support materials at the trade show makes it even more necessary to follow up on what was promised.

From a field sales person’s perspective, a quality sales lead generated at a trade show should be viewed as the most highly qualified selling opportunity he/she will receive from the corporate marketing communications/advertising programs. Considering the prospect had time to spend at the exhibit viewing real working products and receiving expert support from management and technicians on booth duty, the prospect should be close to making a purchasing decision.

Conclusion

The exhibit at the trade show should graphically stimulate, inform and separate unknowns and suspects and function to deliver qualified prospects to the booth team. The sales team must convert prospects to customers using real products, technical and management support and develop quality sales leads that can be immediately followed up on by the local sales person.

The sales lead sent to the field should accurately recount the prospect’s experience at the trade show exhibit as delineated by the person on booth duty and allow the local sales person to pick up the sales call where it left off completing the selling process.

When one considers the actual time and cost of making sales calls in the field, the trade show sales lead, when completely understood, managed properly and maximized, can be far and away the most efficient, effective and economical marketing and sales tool for generating sales in less time at less cost than any other form of sales support.

Trade Show Exhibiting During Challenging Economic Times

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

There is no doubt that the current financial meltdown has caused a serious need for marketing and sales functions in most corporations to be reevaluated, modified, and readjusted.

Most all tactics within a firm's marketing mix will need to be evaluated to determine which are the most effective in stimulating sales and closing business.

Trade show exhibiting is one of the most expensive and time consuming activities in the marketing/sales mix, and it often finds itself on the top of the list of the cost- cutting chopping block.

Because trade show exhibiting expenses include the immediate outlay of cash for exhibit space, exhibit materials, shipping, labor, transportation, travel, hotel expenses and daily expenses for those who work the booth, it is often easy to see where accounting-driven corporate management seeking to save money might decide that trade show exhibiting during tough financial times is just not worth it. Before that important decision is made, however, consider just how your presence — or absence — at important trade shows affects your business. Trying to save a few dollars today could compromise business tomorrow.

Consider this: If you drop out of a trade show that you have exhibited in before, what will your competitors say to your prospects and customers about your absence? The fact that you are not on the exhibit floor will provide your competitors with an excellent opportunity to simply and effectively cast doubt about your financial health and, more importantly, your ability to continue to sell and service your products. The exchange between your prospects and customers with your competitor could sound something like this: "Gee, I don’t know where they are. Maybe they're in serious financial difficulty and can't afford to exhibit. But not to worry, because we're here and ready to serve your every need.”

So before your company decides to drop out of any trade show, here are a few suggestions that will keep your customers, prospects, and competitors on the same page and make the most of the opportunities available to you on the show floor.

Reduce the size of your exhibit space

As long as you are on the exhibit floor, your people are available to conduct business as usual. If a question arises about the size of your booth — if in fact it is smaller compared to previous years — you can simply say that serving prospects' and customers' needs during these challenging economic times is more important than having a fancy exhibit.

Use simple exhibit materials

Today’s lightweight, easy-to-set-up-and- dismantle exhibit materials provide the cost-conscious exhibitor with many opportunities to cut costs and maintain an excellent trade shows presence. When compared to custom exhibits, modular exhibit materials offer dramatic cost savings and provide a simple backdrop for creating a professional exhibit environment from which to conduct business.

Rent Exhibit Materials

Research local vendors to find an exhibit builder who will rent you an exhibit, including labor to transport it to and from the show and installation and dismantling services — all for one quoted price. Product could be shipped to the exhibit house and all materials could be delivered to the show for installation by workers who know the hall and what it takes to get in and out with few problems.

Man the Booth with Local People

Instead of flying people from all over the country into the show city, try to man the booth with local sales, service, and/or office personnel. This will not only save money, but it will also give selected people an opportunity to represent the company in the exciting and often educational environment that trade shows offer.

Consider National Shows More on a Local Basis

When money is tight, you can expect fewer prospects and customers to travel long distances to attend a trade show. But as an exhibitor, you'll likely see more local attendees, so adjust your goals and objectives to maximize those opportunities.

Show Special Non-Product Benefit Offerings

While product is king, there are many non-product offerings that add value to a sale during tough economic times. Discounted or free extended warranties, free technical support, free product updates, a 30-day money-back guarantee, generous low-interest payment plans, free shipping, innovative trade-in allowances, lease option to own programs, and discounted service contracts are but a few ideas to add value to an exhibitor’s trade show presentation.

Immediate and Effective Sales Lead Follow-Up

New business is tough to get, so every opportunity an exhibitor has to favorably impress a prospect/customer and obtain the sale is magnified. Now is the time to focus on providing excellent after- show customer service. Sales lead management is critical in responding to a prospect’s request for more product/service information, and the exhibitor who can effectively meet the challenges will get the sale.

The Press

The trade and consumer press will continue to attend trade shows seeking news, new products, and stories associated with the industry and exhibitors. Successful exhibitors always have complete press kits to hand out, and they always pre-arrange interviews with editors attending the show to foster post-show coverage, ensuring that their products, services and news are accurately reported.

Conclusion

Tough economic times can't last forever. Those exhibitors who now focus on servicing prospect and customer needs while adjusting their trade show exhibit programs to meet new economic challenges will survive. And not only that: they'll also emerge stronger and more successful than those who fail to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thinking Your Career has Stalled as the Corporate Trade Show and Exhibits Manager?

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

For instance, where else but on the trade show exhibit floor in only three days is it possible for you to:

Work side by side with your sales people.
Meet and help prospects.
Meet and help customers.
Work side by side with your top management.
Meet the press.
Learn more about your products first hand.
Witness the various selling techniques of your best sales people.
Work side by side with the technical support people.
Evaluate the competition.
Be accountable for the entire exhibit operation.
Be responsible for all details and logistics before, during and after the show.
Demonstrate your capabilities in a challenging environment.
Work the booth, manage resources and solve problems.
Keep the entire effort focused and moving ahead.
Build respect for your talents and accomplishments.
Stage and manage the pre-show and post show meetings.
Represent the corporation to vendors, suppliers and show services.
Spend quality time off show hours with top management.
Conduct product, people and/or exhibit research.
File a post show evaluation with recommendations for improvement.
Schedule and manage booth duty rosters.
Keep the exhibit clean, organized and fully operational at all times.
Build good relations with show management.
Develop good working relations with local trade unions.
Manage and be responsible for post-show sales lead processing and prospect follow-up.
Be exposed to competitors, industry experts and the media.
Become known as “The Trade Show Expert.”
Consult, manage and help support international trade show efforts.
Position the trade show function on the top of marketing and sales activities.
Function as the Vice President of Trade Show Marketing and Sales.

Unlike any other job in your corporation, the trade show exhibits manager’s position offers the opportunity to demonstrate advanced skill and management effectiveness. Your results directed decision making excellence, will always impress the toughest critic and help pave the way for advancement, better wages and more responsibilities.

Be both encouraged and motivated to lead the trade show exhibit management function in your company. Turn it into a spectator sport to be admired and respected by everyone who has the opportunity to work with you. When that is accomplished, the top management with who you’ve spent countless hours working side by side at the trade show exhibit will endeavor to find ways to reward, acknowledge and promote you. They’ll know that if you can make the trials and tribulations associated with trade show exhibits look easy and successful, there are many more tasks in the company that could benefit from your management abilities.

Unlike many other functions in the sales, marketing and advertising fields, the trade show is alive, living, flexible and dynamic so it can adjust immediately to the needs and wants of an entire industry. It’s not something like advertising that you design once, print or publish for better or worse as is. The trade show environment is as dynamic as the people who work the booth, attend the show and interact on human levels connecting the desire to learn with the opportunities to teach. And when the show is over, it’s over. The results are clear, justifiable and relative to the generation of leads and making sales, not other somewhat obscure measurement devices or studies that have little immediate influence on selling product today.

In the final analysis, being your company’s trade show manager is almost better than being its President or CEO (except for the big bucks). That’s because your reign authority is viewed for only three days of a trade show and you get to shape and witness how your company is perceived, respected and treated in an environment that represents and entire industry under one roof. And best of all, the event is over and done with and its results are immediate and clear for all to see. The show either reached its goals or failed in some fashion that with improved planning can be fixed the next time around.

There are very few people in your corporation who will not support your quest in making trade shows more accountable, successful and a better contributor to the bottom line. There are also very few people in your corporation who want your job, (it is way too tough), so it’s entirely up to you to take charge and make great things happen.

If you find the need to further justify the time and money invested in trade show exhibits, simply consult with your VP of Sales and compare the cost and effectiveness of a single sales call in the field against a sales call made at a trade show and you’ll find more than enough data to support your position.

It is a major challenge for a corporation’s marketing and sales managers to want to attack the many opportunities today’s trade show offer. It takes a confident trade show exhibits manager to take that challenge and lead the charge towards more accountability, planning and improved results as it relates to selling product to better support the effort.

So before you tire of the travel, politics and hassles of being your corporation’s trade show exhibit manager, consider the above for a moment and then ask the question: What other job in the world could I have that afforded me the opportunity to experience business in it purest form, under one roof of a convention center, for only three days while giving me daily access to top management, important prospects, key customers, sales, marketing and technical professionals alike?

Answer: The oldest form of selling the world has known since the ancient bazaar in the village square: Today’s trade show.

Selecting the Right (or Wrong) People for Booth Duty

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Who in your company is best suited to successfully work your next exhibit at a major trade show?

That seemingly innocuous question has created interesting problems, challenges and much discussion when one considers that in the final analysis, the success or failure of an entire trade show investment will most likely rest on the shoulders of the people selected to work the exhibit. Therefore, it’s reasonable to consider, that reaching your trade show exhibiting goals will most likely depend on the people selected to work the booth.

That being the case, how would you answer the following questions?

How do you begin selecting the right people?
How do you know they are the right people?
What kinds of trade show booth duty people are better than others? Who in your company is best suited to do the job successfully?
Who is (or should be) responsible for selecting booth duty team members? How and when do you train exhibit booth workers?

We all have witnessed many different personality types of people who, for whatever reasons, were selected to work a trade show exhibit. Some were great while others probably should have stayed home. Here is a somewhat entertaining look at a few of the more interesting personality types I’m sure we all have observed at one show or another over the years.

See if you recognize any of these characters:

The know it all

Here is the person who has worked trade show exhibits in the past and firmly believes in his/her ability to fully understand everything there is to know about the exhibit, products and attendees. While taking direction is virtually impossible, this person spends most of the time lecturing anyone willing to listen.

Do as I say, not as I do

Words alone are this person’s bread and butter and will usually always talk a great game. However, when it comes time to working in a booth in a consistent manner, this person can’t hold up and often finds any excuse to take breaks and ends up being gone for most of his/her shift.

I am the technical guru

Prospects and customers can’t hold a candle to this person’s superior technical knowledge and he/she takes almost every opportunity to tell any suspect, prospect or customer about it. Technical arguments are standard practice when anyone disagrees with this guru’s opinion and his/her presence in the booth only spells “headaches” for anyone attempting to calm him/her down and be a little more socially congenial.

To shy to speak

You’ve seen this person in a booth doing anything possible to get away from meeting prospects and customers in a face to face situation. Nothing amiss or devious about this individual, however, his/her introverted personality just does not lend itself to being on the front line at a trade show.

Purchasing cycle: Unknowns - Suspects - Prospects – Customers – Users - Endorsers.

All smiles

The ultimate “Top Gun” sales person is always ready, willing and able to attempt to close every suspect, prospect or general visitor who nears the booth. Usually talks more than listens and literally ends up driving potential new business to the competition.

I'm the boss

Let it be known that the boss is in the house! One can usually spot him/her holding court in the middle of the trade show exhibit while projecting the image of being an executive who might be a little too important to pull booth duty and work side by side with every day worker bees.

The inventor

Somewhere lost in space is the technical person who developed some of the products on display and all he/she really wants to do is quietly go back to the office and get back to work solving more technical problems. Field sales people have been often heard to declare: “I’ve got sales targets to meet in my territory with only a few days left in the quarter to close some business and here I am standing in the middle of McCormick Place, Chicago playing booth tag with strangers I have no interest in meeting. Who’s going to compensate me when I miss my sales target and bonus I’ve worked so hard for all year to earn?”

Jokes and good times galore

They usually stand in small groups off the beaten path telling jokes, assorted funny stories and comment on any unusual person(s) that might walk by. Work! Are you kidding? We haven’t seen these guys together since last years show and it’s time to catch up and have some fun while away from home and the office.

Man, do I have a headache

This unfortunate soul probably looks like he/she spent the night curled up in some corner wondering what time it was and how many hours until it was time to stand booth duty. For some unknown reason, out of town trade show time is “let’s get a little crazy” time and it usually shows the morning after much to almost everyone’s disappointment.

Eat drink and be miserable

At 25 years old, it might be possible to go out after the show, have a few drinks, a big meal and get to bed and get about 5 hours of sleep and then show up at the exhibit the next day in pretty good shape. Over 25 years old and it’s highly unlikely that this activity will continue to support a future of meeting promotional goals and salary increases, especially on the trade show floor where it’s almost impossible to hide from management’s critical eye.

The exhibit’s visual presentation should simply communicate from the aisle: who the exhibitor is, where products are located, simple product features and benefits and clearly identify who to talk with to acquire more detailed information. Assuming that only a small percentage of the total attendance are the exhibitors true prospects, one of the most important jobs the exhibit has is to screen non-prospects from entering the booth.

The Don Juan

Wedding ring hidden away somewhere, generously splashed with the newest body wash and feeling 21 years old again, this individual is away from the spouse, kids and home and ready to party. We’ve all seen individuals like this and it’s also a known fact that their unacceptable behavior is not in the best interests of the corporate trade show exhibit effort.

A bit out of shape

Effectively and responsibly manning a trade show booth for three days is hard, demanding work that tests the boundaries of both the mind and body. If the booth staff is out of shape, tired or hung over, prospects and customers will know it and most likely politely walk away disappointed and with them any chance of meeting most pre-show goals.

The “Trade Show Coach”, Susan Friedmann, ( www.thetradeshowcoach.com ) says:
“The 5 most important individual characteristics the trade show manager should seek out in selecting booth duty people are,”

People who want to be there – i.e. they like meeting new people, building relationships, like to travel, etc.
Appreciate the importance and power of tradeshows and are willing to work hard to achieve company and personal goals and objectives.
Have great questioning skills and are able to probe visitors for essential/quality information that’s critical for the follow-up process.
Superlative listeners – have the ability to listen more than they talk (tough skill for salespeople)!
Can think on their feet and can adapt their presentation/demonstration to meet the visitor’s needs.

Conclusion

We’re entirely confident that almost everyone reading this can add to our list of entertaining unusual trade show characters seen working exhibits, but as much fun as it is to match the above types with actual people we might know, that’s not the objective of this article.

What is the objective of the article is to get people thinking more seriously about who might be best suited and who in the company should or should not be asked to work your next major trade show exhibit presentation.

Consider the following:

Required in every person selected to work your trade show exhibit should be dedication, commitment, professionalism and sincerity. In addition, these special people should at all times exemplify the highest level of integrity and honesty your company stands for in the marketplace.
Booth people should know the products and services offered and are able to present this information in a confident and careful manner while asking intelligent questions and listening to the answers provided.
The entire booth staff should be selected and viewed as the company’s most professional, well trained and sensitive employees who set excellent examples whenever and wherever they are asked to serve the best interests of the company on a 24-7 basis. You seldom get a second chance to make a first good impression.
Try to look at all departments in your company to discover outstanding trade show booth duty candidates including: customer support, technical support, administration, manufacturing, engineering, research and development and of course sales, marketing and executive management.

So when it’s time to assemble your next trade show exhibit booth duty schedule, take care in selecting the right people with the right stuff to ensure that the critical “people” portion of your trade show exhibit is as strong as the rest of your effort and you’ll have a much better chance meeting the goals and objectives set for the entire effort.

Trade Show Exhibit Check List

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Office Supplies

Appointment/scheduler
Associate’s business cards
Business cards
Calculator
Letterhead sheets of paper
Marking pens
Note pads
Packing tape
Paper clips
Pens
Scotch tape
Stapler & staples
Telephone message pads
Tissues
Wastebaskets
Windex
Writing tablets
409 Cleaner

Personal Items

Advil / Aspirin / Tylenol
Bottled water
Breath mints
Cell phone and charger
Cell phones switched to vibrate while on booth duty
Checkbook
Comfortable shoes
Credit cards
Energy/protein bars
Lap/palm top with charger
Make sure your office knows where you are
Personal notebook
Protein/energy drinks
Press kit with news releases
Printed list of show specials
Sales lead rating system
Sales lead management
Sales literature including your name, address, phone, web site, & E-mail
Show special discount coupons
Show special order forms
Visitor sign-up mailing list sheet, cards, or computer

Exhibit Support

Broom and dust pan
Dust Buster vacuum
Extension cords
Extra exhibit light bulbs
First aid kit
Hand cleaner
Paper towels
Power outlet strips
Rags
Surge protectors
Tool kit
Vacuum cleaner

Sales Support

Booth duty product guide
Booth duty roster w/cell phone numbers
Booth duty work schedule
Credit card purchasing forms
Credit/lead card-imprinting machines
Current price lists
Custom name badges for booth personnel
Identifiable clothes for booth personnel

Miscellaneous

Booth space contract
Distribute trade show briefing memo 3 weeks before the show.
Master calendar of events
Obtain exhibitor badges in advance to save time
Post-show-shipping instructions
Show’s goals and objectives document
Shipping labels
Show services forms
Stage pre-show briefing meeting and invite top management to participate

Peter’s Top 10 List for Successful Trade Show Exhibiting

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Think sales and making personal sales calls on the trade show floor

There are few functions in business as exact and dynamic as personal selling. An organization’s sales team lives and dies by the results of its efforts, which cannot be easily fudged, finessed, or faked. A salesperson obtains the orders required and either makes sales targets or doesn’t. By thinking sales and positively affecting the selling process as a trade show goal, the exhibitor is setting realistic expectations that reside more in the area of an exact science. Armed with an understanding that the selling function has many phases, the trade show can shorten the existing selling cycle by delivering qualified prospects to your exhibit sooner than later and establishing a positive environment where sales and prospects will meet face to face to solve problems, add value, and influence the purchase of your products.

Plan Early

At least six months before a trade show, present goals and objectives in a pre-show memo distributed to all involved. This overview should include a list of products being presented, show service details and logistics, display guidelines, appearance, and operation. It should also include input from sales, management, and marketing departments. In addition, the pre-show meeting time and location, as well as a booth duty roster, should all be in place weeks before anyone departs for the trade show.

Target Your Audience

Based on prior business, sales, and trade show attendance experience, establish realistic goals and objectives by asking how many attendees are likely to purchase products like yours in the next 6 months. Use that number to determine your exhibit space requirements, budgets, and operational demands. The trade show will deliver everyone from attendees who have no interest in your products and services to those ready to purchase immediately. By setting realistic targeted attendee profiles, you’ll be more likely to attract, meet, and discuss products with a high level of pre-qualified prospects and customers.

Select The Right Space

In most cases, you're not able to visit an exhibit hall in advance of a show. As a result, it's important to study the floor plan provided by show management to determine where your exhibit will function best with as little interference as possible. In some cases you might want to contact the convention facility directly to obtain a more detailed floor plan that could show columns, elevators, food service areas, low ceilings, floor obstructions etc. to avoid being surprised when you get to the show. Other exhibitors are also important to consider because some might have loud AV programs or other distractions that will negatively affect your ability to conduct business effectively.

Design An Exhibit That Communicates From The Aisle

Your exhibit’s signs and graphics should function much like magazine advertisements. The headline and body copy should be seen from the aisle and effectively communicate product benefits that encourage targeted prospects to enter the booth and want to talk with someone. An unorthodox way of looking at this important exhibit function is to consider that the exhibit must communicate well enough from the aisle to keep 4,500 non targeted attendees out of the booth while facilitating face-to-face meetings with the targeted suspects and helping achieve your sales goals and objectives.

Select The Proper People To Work The Booth

Not everyone is well suited to effectively and positively stand booth duty and perform the duties required during all scheduled hours of the show. Those selected to work the booth must have complete knowledge of product features, benefits, and value and be comfortable to present and demonstrate them within the often chaotic trade show environment. The pre-show meeting the night before the show is an ideal opportunity for marketing, management, and sales to review the salient value of all products on display. Staging a booth team meeting each evening at show close also creates an opportunity for everyone to compare exhibit performance notes, review sales leads, make adjustments to improve display and booth function aspects, and generally prepare for the next day’s opportunities.

Generate Quality Sales Leads

Every screened visitor to the booth has an interest on some level. At the end of the show, sales lead cards or forms are worth their weight in gold, assuming they are filled out correctly and completely. Every person on booth duty should be well versed in asking the right questions and be able to carefully record a prospect’s answers, concerns, and expectations and rate each on a scale of cold, warm, or hot. When the show is over, an excellent sales lead card used by the local salesperson can make a quality impression hard to match. The follow-up salesperson should thank the prospect for visiting the company's exhibit and refer to the lead card to discuss details and offer whatever might be needed to satisfy the prospect and close the sale.

Prepare Follow-Up Materials In Advance

Weeks before traveling to a trade show, define, prepare, and assemble literature response kits to effectively respond to a booth visitor’s interest. It is also imperative to have a management system in place that identifies and notifies the local salespeople of what material was sent — and when — to facilitate a timely follow-up. It is totally inconceivable to spend tens of thousands of dollars exhibiting at a trade show and not have an effective follow-up system in place to deliver information to every exhibit visitor a week or two after the show. Equally important is making contact with a visitor to confirm receipt of the information and offering any additional materials that might prove helpful.

Conduct Post-Show Evaluation

Gathering comments and feedback about the planning and executing of trade show exhibits will allow you to build on past show experiences and take gradual steps to maximize future show effectiveness and success. The building blocks for a professionally managed trade show exhibit program are found on the floor of every trade show in which you exhibit. It is critical that experience be positively encouraged in order to overcome challenges and maximize opportunities while maintaining firm continuity over the development of the entire program. The best way to accomplish this is for the trade show exhibits manager to be completely immersed in the function and to experience all aspects of planning, executing, and managing the entire effort, including physically manning the booth and being available during most hours of a show.

Conclusion

The myriad complexities and variables associated with successful trade show exhibiting require a careful, committed, and contemplative focus in order for this expensive and time consuming activity to evolve into a well-managed, justifiable promotional function. The many lessons, experiences, and opportunities learned by exhibiting provide the exhibitor with a means to establish and build upon a platform where over time, problems are omitted, planning excels, and desired results are assured. Those who can justify trade show exhibiting as a way to reduce sales time and costs while increasing the number of qualified customers and prospects should take every opportunity available to build and support a robust trade show program.

Is a Live Trade Show A/V Presentation in Your Exhibiting Future?

Sat, 01 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

While most trade show exhibits highlight individual product presentations, there are times when an exhibitor might do well to stage a live presentation/demonstration to better present, explain and demonstrate its products and services in the often confusing trade show environment.

The idea of staging a live product presentation/demonstration is not at all new. Many corporations over the years have successfully used the live medium to communicate complicated product information to large audiences. There are many products and services whose features, benefits and sometimes complex applications might be more easily and effectively communicated by staging a live presentation/demonstration type show, rather than trying to rely solely on individual face to face sales in an exhibitor’s booth.

Studies show that sight is the most used human sense and that 75% of all environmental stimuli are received through visual reception compared to 38% from audio messages. According to a recent University of California at Los Angeles study, 55% percent of what an audience learns comes directly from the visual messages.

A Wharton Research Center study has also shown that the retention rate of verbal only presentations is approximately 10%. However, when you combine visual messages with verbal communication, you increase the retention rate to nearly 50%. And a cleaver use of audio, visual with an added feature of a light entertainment factor promises to increase retention even more dramatically.

A primary objective in deciding to embark on presenting a live presentation/demonstration at a trade show should be to have enough time and environmental control to cleverly and clearly communicate and deliver your information to more prospects and customers at one time than you could with the standard form using individual booth duty personnel. There are many advantages and opportunities to be gained by designing, developing and presenting a live product or business presentation at any given trade show.

According to Kristin Veach, VP of Marketing, Live Marketing, Inc. (kveach@livemarketing.com, ( http://www.livemarketing.com/ ) there are 5 important reasons to consider producing and presenting a live presentation/demonstration at your next important trade show.

Maximize Your Visibility

A live presentation serves as a magnet to draw your target audience—prospects, existing customers, strategic partners, consultants, investors and the press—providing many opportunities to retain key customers, reinforce a company’s branding and positioning, introduce new products and services, and generate qualified sales leads.

1. Effectively Communicate Your Message

A significant portion of a salesperson’s time at a show is usually spent presenting a company’s products, services or solutions one-on-one with prospects. A live presentation uses the most effective communications techniques to achieve impact, understanding, and memorability to deliver that message to as many people as possible. Attendees learn more in less time, and key prospects will more likely stay in the booth longer to discuss their needs with booth staff at a higher level. As a result, the sales team is freed to directly address prospects’ applications, answer specific questions, and discuss the next step in the process of making and closing deals.

2. Engage the Most Qualified Prospects

A live presentation attracts, educates, qualifies, and connects potential buyers with booth staff. After the presentation, “tire kickers” usually leave, while key prospects are identified so sales staff can focus their attention on those attendees having a committed buying interest. The sales team benefits by talking with a constant flow of informed and pre-qualified prospects, motivated to take the next step.

3. Increase Memorability

On the tradeshow floor, surveys have shown that live theatrical presentations and demonstrations are the single most powerful factor in increasing brand and product memorability. 69% of attendees rated live presentation strategies (product demonstrations and stage/theatre presentations) as a factor in influencing memorability, compared to 64% for product interest and 51% for a well-known company. (Source: Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), “Most Remembered Exhibits: An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Exhibit Recall,” MCRR 5040.)

5. Built-In Follow-Up Mechanism

A live presentation contains a built-in mechanism to educate and motivate attendees and prospects to take further action—from initiating a follow-up conversation, to participating in a hands-on test drive, to taking action on messages heard in the event. In addition, you’ll want to evaluate the following to help you decide if there’s a live presentation/demonstration in your trade show future by considering:

When your products and/or services are too complicated and difficult to explain in the short time frame of a trade show booth visit, a live audio/visual presentation/demonstration can offer an opportunity to present more in depth, technical and essential product information to get your message across the first time and every time there after.
When your corporate public relations strategy wants to expose most all trade show attendees to new product developments, financial and corporate advancement information or industry wide business developments and they also want to provide an opportunity for informal two way communications.
When you need a totally controlled environment from which to communicate complicated, detailed information to your prospects, customers, employees, dealers and/or distributors on a more selective basis.
When you want to combine light entertainment with your product or corporate business communications to better get your message across in a more professional theatrical type fashion.
When it’s time for your corporation to take a different route to trade show exhibiting and you just want to try something new, exciting, creative, memorable and fun to out distance the competition.

Once you decide to design, produce and stage a professional presentation/demonstration you’ll want to ensure that the people you hire are experienced and totally capable of guiding you and your management staff through the various stages of show development.

Your exhibit will need to be designed and constructed just like a modern theater including comfortable seating, proper ventilation, adequate sound system, proper staging allowing for front or rear screen projection and appropriate lighting. You’ll want to make sure that all rules and regulations of the trade show convention center are met before design and construction of your theater begins.

Before you begin the process of vendor selection, you’ll also want to create a document outlining your goals and objectives of the exhibit and live presentation/demonstration to ensure that everyone in your company is on the same page and that there will be no surprises. This important document will also be used to guide the vendors you select and provide them with a solid foundation on which to develop their proposals, plans, budgets and creative treatment documents.

The program material should be written, visually supported and produced to entertain, educate and inspire your audience while the key information messages are communicated, demonstrated and effectively presented. It is reasonable to design and create the presentation/demonstration to last between 15 and 20 minutes as long as it is cleaver, informative and rather fast paced. The finished presentation should be performed as written and produced time after time leaving little chance for mistakes, omissions or improvising.

Most trade show attendees seem to welcome an opportunity to sit down in a comfortable theater environment and be entertained instead of being asked to stand in an aisle or noisy booth while a dry sales pitch is presented by various levels of competent sales/marketing and or technical people.

It is also my experience to notice that most attendees will simply walk by most forms of canned audio/visual presentations being indiscriminately presented with the inexperienced exhibitor’s hopes of “grabbing” prospects and customers in the aisle.

Your overall live presentation goals and objectives can be accomplished by combining modern audio and visual technologies with creative entertainment techniques that promises to add a new and exciting dimension to your trade show exhibit program.

When tied to effective at show promotional activities and pre-show advertising and communications, your trade show live presentation/demonstration will become a must see on the show floor and be remembered by all who experience it.

After all, there’s no business like (trade) show business.

An Interview with Peter Locascio of Trade Show Consultants

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

We recently had a chance to interview Peter LoCascio of Trade Show Consultants. Peter has extensive experience in the trade show industry, and we’re sure that the information he shared with us during the interview will give you a unique and insightful perspective on exhibiting. For more information on Peter and the services his company offers, visit his website here.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you formed Trade Show Consultants?

My dad, Joe LoCascio (1912-1988), was a graphic artist in and around New York City and an early pioneer in what today is known as the exhibit business. Starting at the age of 13, I worked weekends and school holidays with my dad at Exhibit Craft, Inc. in Long Island City, N.Y. doing whatever I was asked in any department that needed me. I eventually graduated through the ranks to manage 40 trade shows a year for Olivetti Underwood. Leaving ECI and moving to the client side of the business, I held positions as Corporate Trade Show Exhibits Manager for Sperry UNIVAC, Memorex, and Beckman Instruments.

I created Trade Show Consultants more than 35 years ago to develop strategic and tactical sales and marketing programs for trade show exhibitors, creating a finely tuned culture of service, customer support, and effective sales management. Many of the policies and procedures created to make the most of trade show exhibiting are imprinted on an exhibitor’s service culture and continue to be employed long after the close of the trade show.

Can you tell us about the type of clients that you work with? Sizes? Industries?

Over the years, Trade Show Consultants has worked with clients from boot-strapped start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations in virtually every industry. The common denominator has always been to help maximize trade show exhibiting results and increase the effectiveness of exhibiting as it relates to pre-determined sales and marketing goals and objectives.

What are the types of services do you offer to these clients?

Trade Show Consultants assumes strategic and tactical duties for clients who might or might not have a full-time trade show exhibits manager on staff. Services include developing goals and objectives, developing exhibit design parameters and managing construction, show services management, transportation logistics, product presentation strategies and tactics, booth personnel training, sales lead qualification procedures, sales lead follow-up management, post-show evaluation and reporting.

What is your process when you start working with a new client who wants to improve upon their existing trade show program?

Usually a new client feels that something is lacking in their trade show exhibiting, especially when they see the competition doing a better job on the show floor. Often it’s when a new product introduction absolutely needs to be successful at a major trade show that a client needs additional support. The initial input meeting usually covers an exhibitor’s perceived problems, historical review, future opportunities and establishing clear trade show exhibiting goals and objectives. The documentation of a working plan, budget and schedule, including agreed upon goals and objectives, establishes the foundation on which the trade show strategy and tactics will rest. It also helps begin to develop a master plan which encompasses all participating support activities that will be required to ensure success. An overall project timetable of action items distributed after the initial input session, followed by weekly status meetings and documented meeting minutes, help to keep the planning and tactical issues on schedule.

For people looking to have a new trade show exhibit designed, what tips or pieces of advice would you offer?

Early on, get your purchasing department involved in the project to ensure that the finer aspects and details of spending your corporation’s hard-earned money are handled properly.

Keep in mind that the exhibit can only set the stage for real people presenting real products generating quality sales leads that in the final analysis will determine whether the show was a success or failure.

Start the process formally and get top management in on the planning at the early stages of the project to ensure complete understanding and compliance of the exhibit’s goals and objectives. Anyone in management who might be able to add, change or alter the design of the new exhibit should be involved in the beginning to avoid any last-minute changes that will add to the price, construction time and frustration.

Document the new exhibit’s overall goals and objectives before the design phase begins. Identify the exhibit’s physical requirements like storage, customer services center, conference areas, product presentation logistics, signage limitations, electrical routing and basically anything special to your objectives that will need to be accommodated by the exhibit. Carefully research the physical limitations of the booth space you rented and make sure that there is nothing in the exhibit hall to hinder the placement or operation of your new exhibit on the show floor.

Decide whether the new exhibit will need to be used in the same amount of booth space every time or if it will require a bit more flexibility to be used in other booth configurations. For instance, you might want a design for a cubic content exhibit space that uses modular components that can then be used in a linear configuration for supporting smaller shows.

Ensure that the exhibit builder provides detailed set-up and packing prints to minimize hall labor’s time and expenses while trying to figure out how to set up and dismantle the exhibit and to avoid damage during transportation.

For companies that are exhibiting but generating very few sales or clients from the trade shows, what type of advice would you give them? What are some basic things that they can focus on to get a better return on their investment?

Generating quality sales leads starts with an exhibit that communicates important non-verbal communications to attendees while they walk the aisles. Much like the headline and body copy in magazine space advertising, exhibit signage must communicate clearly and accurately from the neutral territory of aisle who the exhibitor is, what are they presenting and where the products can be seen.

It is hard to grasp the fact that if an exhibitor’s goal is to attract 10% of trade show prospects at a show that draws 5,000 attendees, the exhibit must essentially keep 4,500 non-prospects from entering and allow only the very important 500 prospects to effectively identify the exhibitor, its products and enter the booth to obtain additional information and start the selling process.

Once a targeted prospect enters the exhibit, trained, well-identified booth staffers should be equipped to ask questions, give realistic answers, seek additional technical and management support, demonstrate a product while explaining its features, benefits and value and documenting the prospect’s reaction and next step requirements.

While it is tempting to stage something of a three-ring trade show exhibit circus with hundreds of attendees packing the exhibit because of some borrowed interest gimmick, don’t expect to generate many quality serious sales leads that a sales person will follow-up after the show.

Are there any trends you notice in the trade show industry? Any major changes or shifts that people should be on the lookout for?

Attendance at many trade shows is down considerably, which means only high-level quality managers with specific purchasing objectives are traveling to national shows. They represent serious prospects that cannot be ignored.

Many exhibitors have dropped out of trade shows. In many cases, the competitors still on the exhibit floor will try to bury the no-show by casting their absence in a less-than-flattering light. Your competitors will take every opportunity to take away your existing and future business. They might suggest to customers and prospects that perhaps the no-shows are in financial trouble and that it might be unwise to risk doing business with a company that’s got one foot in the grave. So really, exhibitors who have at least competitive products should not drop out of any trade shows that their prospects or customers attend. Reduce space, use simpler rental exhibit materials, and staff the booth with local people, cut expenses wherever you can but do not drop out of any trade show where your competitors, prospects and customers attend.

What are your thoughts on Virtual Trade Shows? Do you think they are worth the time and effort to participate in?

I expect virtual trade shows might be used in limited applications, especially when products or services become off-the-shelf commodity items. They will not, however, take the place of a trade show sponsored by a professional association in conjunction with their national or international annual meeting where exhibitors present and demonstrate new products and services that add to the education and knowledge of their attendees.

I can’t imagine any national professional organizations in Medicine, Dental, Science, Electronics, Green Technology, Business, Law, Military, Food, Banking & Finance, Agriculture, Automotive, etc. abandoning its trade show activity. It is too integral a part of the education that members gain every time they attend their annual conference and step on the trade show floor to see and experience new products and services specific to their industry.

Any last words for the Exhibit Edge readers and clients?

Today’s trade show is still the equivalent of the ancient town square marketplace, where goods, services and money changed hands. Those corporations who embrace the fact that exhibiting is a selling function and plan accordingly will successfully use trade shows as a means of presenting and demonstrating products to a highly selective audience of key prospects. There is no other face-to-face selling function I know of that is as efficient, economical and effective as exhibiting at correctly targeted trade shows.

My web site www.tradeshowconsultants.com under the “Articles” banner offers 21 informative articles covering a myriad of important trade show exhibiting topics I have experienced firsthand that many of today’s trade show exhibit managers use as important reference and guidance tools.

It’s Time to Go Back to Business Basics

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”— Sam Walton, Wal-Mart

Today’s challenging global economy is forcing many corporate marketing and sales professionals to go back to basics in an effort to re-evaluate how they conduct their daily business and search for areas demanding improvement. Many are finding that the strategies and tactics employed during the past decades of active growth are no longer as effective in generating sales and new customers.

In many ways the past economic expansion has created a somewhat passive, order-taking culture compared to yesteryear, when marketing and sales functions were pro-active, innovative, and driven by the desire to outperform the competition. The goal was always to keep existing customers happy and to win every sale from any new business opportunity.

Some might argue that yesterday’s marketing and sales strategies and tactics are indeed ancient history and will not apply in today’s business world and all the clever electronic technologies that support it. On the contrary, I say, because in the final analysis, a product or service is sold or purchased only when its value exceeds its cost.

I firmly believe after almost 40 years of hands-on sales and marketing experience, that it has been and will forever be the challenge of marketing and sales professionals to quickly, cleverly, and clearly establish a product’s value in the eyes, minds, and hearts of customers in order to capture a sale and retain business.

As long as a product or service is at least competitive when compared to all others in the marketplace, value should be successfully supported by presenting first the benefits it delivers. Those benefits are in turn supported by its unique and matching features, all of which is supported by a corporate culture based on service.

There are many old truths that will be key to business, marketing, and sales success in this new emerging economy. Most have to deal with acquiring an acute focus on effectively stimulating targeted prospects, quickly and efficiently responding to their questions and concerns, and striving for excellence in closing sales and providing outstanding service before, during, and long after the sale is made.

Each of us has experienced in our daily consumer lives many levels of service. For the most part we all would rather do business with people and businesses we like, respect, and who in turn like and respect us by delivering what they sell and standing behind it.

The order-taking philosophy of the last few decades of business has created an environment where the answers to the following questions can no longer sustain a successful business of tomorrow:

When was the last time you bought something from someone you didn’t like? • Have you ever gone back to do business with a company or sales person that failed to deliver what was sold or promised? • How many times have you terminated a phone call after waiting on hold too long? • How often have you been disappointed by poor, lackadaisical service? • When was the last time you got to talk to a live telephone receptionist instead of a recording? • How many times have you terminated a telephone call because you didn’t know or remember the extension of the person you wanted to talk with? • When was the last time the cable/satellite installer came to your home on time? • How often have you been impressed by a sales or service person’s positive and helpful attitude? • How often have you not understood the voice of an outsourced telephone technical support representative?

Without going any farther, it’s easy to see why some businesses are laying off their workforce, going bankrupt, or even closing their doors. It isn’t rocket science to realize that something has gone awry. Common sense tells us that treating others the same way we wish to be respected and treated has merit and will be required to succeed in the future.

In many cases technology in this new economy has turned the tables on our ability to conduct business on a professional, person-to-person level. While emails, text messages, web sites, the Internet, faxes, cell phones, laptops, and pagers are cool and indeed might be sophisticated technologies, they all tend to take us farther away from face-to-face encounters with prospects and customers instead of bringing us closer together.

The new economic paradigm will demand that businesses go back to the time-honored basics of focused customer service. Those include establishing personal and professional connections with prospects and customers, and delivering more value from the entire corporation than expected.

Adjusting to the many new challenges facing today’s business environment starts with top management placing prospects’ and customers’ needs, wants, and demands at the top of their to- do list.

The tremendous dynamics created on the trade show floor exist because competition in most cases is only a few feet away, the show lasts only a few days, and because prospects are calling on sales, technical support, managers, and executives. Since you seldom get a second chance to make a good first impression, an effectively executed trade show can dramatically shorten sales times and increase selling effectiveness like no other discipline in today’s marketing mix.

Conclusion

Under the roof of a convention center, a corporation sets up a trade show exhibit complete with graphics, lights, carpet, signage, products, and staff. Whether realizing it or not, the exhibitor is presenting a complete image of that organization and its culture from the first day it was incorporated to the moment a prospect enters the booth.

Today’s economy should be more than enough to stimulate every top management team to use more creative customer service solutions and get back to the basics of common-sense business wisdom — wisdom that succeeded in the past and created countless thriving industries supported by satisfied customers.

The Pre-Show Briefing Meeting

Fri, 01 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

It’s the most important trade show of the year; your exhibit is completely installed, touched up, wiped down and vacuumed. Your products are working correctly and their support materials are in place and well organized. The stage is set for your selected performers from sales, marketing, technical support and management to add the all important “human element” of trade show exhibiting to consummate this very expensive and time consuming investment. The exhibit is ready for the trade show challenge, but are your people ready?

It’s the night before the show opening and in a local hotel suite the pre-show briefing meeting is ready to begin. The objectives of the meeting are to draw focus to the uniqueness of the trade show environment, review key issues with the products on display and encourage and motivate those selected for booth duty to maximize the many sales, service, support and customer relations opportunities that the show promises to deliver.

There are two teams of booth personnel comprised of sales, marketing, technical support and management each lead by a booth captain who is responsible for scheduling, booth assignments and the overall people management on the trade show floor. Two shifts of booth teams will work the exhibit while the Exhibits Manager sees to it that the entire effort runs smoothly and efficiently at all times.

A pocket booth duty roster and product guide has been produced that lists all the products on display with a brief review of their features, benefits, pricing and competitive analysis. It also lists meeting schedules, key phone numbers and any show information deemed important.

The suite is set-up as a kind of company command head quarters ready room where the entire exhibit support team will meet each day to relax, compare notes, review the day’s business on the show floor, share and discuss sales leads and organize various sales and marketing activities. It will also serve as a meeting place for invited editors, key prospects and important customers to meet with the company’s technology and top management experts to review new products, business issues, old and new opportunities.

The pre-show meeting begins with the company President making opening remarks relating to the time and money it costs to exhibit at the show, why each of the exhibit team has been selected to represent the company and the overall goals and objectives of maximizing the returns on this trade show investment. It is also important to announce that management will be working the booth along side sales, marketing and support to ensure that customers and prospects appreciate the company’s total commitment to service before, during and after the sale.

The Exhibits Manager then displays a complete layout of the exhibit and reviews the schedule of related events and various details pertaining to how the booth will function, who to look to for help and the dos and don’ts of working the exhibit. In addition, a complete trade show exhibit floor plan is presented showing where various competitors and services are located. Also at this time the sales lead gathering and processing system in use at this particular trade show is reviewed and demonstrated to ensure that all sales leads are completed and managed properly.

A presentation like: “Bridging the Gap Between Trade Shows and Sales” sets the stage for booth personnel to understand the differences between selling in the field and selling at trade shows. It also demonstrates that the exhibit will function in a non-verbal graphic fashion that delivers prospects seeking additional product information and it is then that the important “human element” of selling begins.

Each product marketing manager is then invited to present his/her products that are on display covering the important features, benefits and competitive advantages. Knowing that the competition might be in the next booth, product, service, pricing and delivery details must be able to stand firm as savvy prospects will often compare claims in a matter of minutes to support their purchasing recommendations and decisions.

The end of the meeting again brings up the company President who closes the session by encouraging all to do their best and make the most of this selling opportunity. It’s noted that the company will see and meet more prospects in the next three days of the show than it will most likely see in six months in the field.

Once the meeting ends, the entire group makes its way to the convention center to preview the exhibit first hand and to familiarize themselves with individual product presentation stations, literature distribution function, storage availability and the sales lead processing system, etc.

A meal roster and schedule has been developed for this trade show that includes all members of the booth duty team and provides opportunities for management to reinforce good team spirit by spending quality time sharing ideas and experiences during available breakfast, lunch and or dinner hours.

Conclusion

Trade shows always create a myriad of sights, sounds and emotions. Often travel, out of town food and generally being away from home confuses the senses to a greater degree. The one factor that remains is the business of business somehow always finds its way to the trade show floor. And even though you might have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an exhibit, the fact remains people sell products to people and therefore staging a pre-show meeting should always be an important part of your trade show program if you expect to maximize your return on the time and money invested.

Which Should You Buy, a New off the Shelf Modular or Custom Exhibit?

Sun, 01 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The corporate decision to purchase a new trade show exhibit usually comes down to considering the various advantages of both custom designed or off the shelf module properties tailored to the individual exhibitor’s needs.

Both exhibit alternatives have their unique features and benefits and while shopping for a new exhibit can be challenging, it’s worth taking the time to thoroughly research both alternatives.

The following ideas promise to save you time, money and a few headaches along the way when deciding whether it will be off the shelf or custom for your new trade show exhibit program. Your options depend greatly on your trade show needs, budgets, corporate philosophy, and planned utilization and where the trade show function falls within your company.

First and foremost in deciding the kind of new trade show exhibit you’ll need is to obtain a general consensus within your company by getting others involved in the decision making process. By staging a simple project input meeting you’ll be able to acquire opinions and suggestions from sales, marketing, purchasing and management as to their ideas, concerns and requirements.

A brief presentation outlining the differences between custom exhibits designed and constructed by an exhibit builder and an off the shelf modular provider will help to set the stage for active discussion and effective evaluation. It would also help to show photographs of the many different styles and types of exhibit materials along with their associated costs to further explain and demonstrate the value of each.

It is also helpful to develop a document of analysis explaining what type of exhibit properties have been used in the past along with any comments gathered over time regarding problems, advantages and reasons why a new exhibit is needed.

Once it is felt that the ground work has been firmly established and you have a general agreement that indeed a new exhibit is needed, the following steps should be taken to begin the process.

Carefully evaluate the number and type of trade shows in which the new exhibit will be designed to be used. If your entire trade show schedule uses the same size booth space at every show, say a 20’x 20’or larger space, more weight could go to the custom exhibit selection. If your trade show schedule includes a mixture of cubic content and linear booth spaces, the off the shelf modular exhibit might work better.
If your trade show program is only managed from the corporation and the exhibit materials are never sent out to support dealers, distributors and regional sales representatives, the custom exhibit will be easier to manage, schedule and maintain. If your trade show exhibits on the other hand are sent around the world supporting dealers, distributors and sales representatives, the off the shelf modular exhibit will be easier to up date, transport, set-up, dismantle and manage.
If you have a combination of both types of trade show exhibit usage, it is possible for a custom exhibit to be used to accommodate both, however it is much more likely that the modular off the shelf exhibit might work better simply because of its modular design, flexibility of exhibit properties and ease of transporting.
The custom exhibit will provide you with a unique look and feel. When designed to meet your specific needs it could be used in many unique ways the off the shelf modular exhibit can’t easily accommodate. In most cases, multi-story exhibits, theaters, displays that creatively incorporate live or dynamic A/V product presentations and those that require quiet and private conference or closing rooms are often difficult to achieve with the off the shelf modular exhibit properties.
Show services are also a major consideration in deciding which exhibit type to purchase. In most cases the custom exhibit will need to be set-up and dismantled by union labor with supervision by either you or a representative from the exhibit builder. The modular exhibit materials can most often be set-up and dismantled by your own people in a fraction of the time and cost.
Transportation to and from the trade show is another major cost and logistical consideration you’ll want to review. Often a custom exhibit will either require expensive and often heavy shipping cases or need to be transported blanket wrapped or padded by a moving van. The modular off the shelf exhibit usually comes with its own light weight shipping cases that can easily and more inexpensively use ground or air freight transportation. However, if your company displays larger equipment that also requires air ride van transportation, then transportation for the custom exhibit materials becomes a simple matter of scheduling, available space and the cost of van transportation.
Construction time and cost will also need to be considered since custom exhibits take longer to build and off the shelf modular exhibits are for the most part available within days while their graphics might take a week longer.

According to Mr. Roger Bergeson, President of Skyline Displays, Oregon, “Here are a few major reasons our clients favor our type of modular exhibits for their trade shows.”

Light weight.
More configurable.
Ease of changing signage and graphics.
Less drayage and transportation expense.
More mobile.
Overall less expensive to purchase, own and use.
Skyline Display’s network of factory trained dealers who will service an exhibit’s needs in virtually every major convention city around the world.

According to Mr. Tim Patterson, VP Sales and Marketing at Interpretive Exhibits, Inc. a custom exhibit builder in Salem, Oregon, “The primary reasons our clients will design and build a custom exhibit are:”

The exhibitor wants to look unlike any other exhibitor on the show floor.
A custom designed exhibit can creatively incorporate the exhibitor’s unique corporate/brand strategy and personality.
Complex product presentations can be imaginatively integrated into the exhibit design theme without structural limitations.
The exhibit’s physical structural integrity will hold up to a big show’s traffic and product presentation demands.
Exhibit materials available are varied and offer greater design creativity and flexibility.
The ‘look and feel’ of the exhibit and its support functions can evolve and improve from show to show as experience demands.
A custom designed exhibit can offer creative originality, effective product integration while projecting a strong and innovative corporate position.

Conclusion

Once you feel confident about knowing what you know and what you don’t know about buying a new trade show exhibit, you might want to invite local experts like Roger Bergeson and Tim Patterson to come in and present their views and philosophies in support of both the custom/off the shelf exhibit alternatives.

After seeing photographs of both types of exhibits along with actual construction, transportation and show services cost estimates, you and your team will be in a much better position to decide which route to take in maximizing your trade show exhibit investment and purchasing a new exhibit that best serves your trade show needs, objectives and budget.

A Trade Show Exhibit’s Kaleidoscope of Impressions

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

As attendees walk the aisles of a major trade show, their senses experience the entire good- humored environment — until they happen to notice a particular exhibit of interest. Then their focus narrows and their demeanor becomes a bit more serious.

Research over the years has indicated that most trade show attendees are interested in learning what new products or services might be found in the various exhibits on the trade show floor. Of foremost interest are any products or services that might directly influence their ability to improve their personal or organization’s future effectiveness.

Accent lighting
Background music
Bold photography
Color-coordinated custom floor coverings
Concealed storage
Corporate colors
Custom furniture
Customer service desk
Effective product presentations

Extraordinary graphics
Literature distribution center
Live product demonstrations
Materials and textures
Moving signage
Private conference rooms
Sales lead processing center
Presentation theater

Of course, great care must be taken in deciding how large or small an exhibit needs to be based on how many prospects an exhibitor expects to meet and qualify during a trade show. This is first accomplished by confirming the number of hours the show is open and then ensuring that the exhibit is large enough for the appropriate number of booth personnel to provide quality exchange of information with prospects.

A prospect who enters a booth from the neutral territory of the aisle expects a logical progression of information that conforms to his/her desire to learn more about the exhibitor’s products and services.

In addition to being attracted to displayed products and being able to read various product details, features, and benefits up close, it should only be a matter of seconds before the prospect is officially welcomed. Booth staffers should be experts who are ready, willing, and able to ask questions and provide accurate answers while uncovering the prospect’s needs, requirements, and opinions.

At this point, another crucial Kaleidoscope of Impressions begins to form in the prospect’s mind. It centers on his/her reaction to the booth representatives:

Ability to make eye contact
Appearance
Behavior
Character
Confidence
Culture
Empathy
Experience

Listening skills
Mannerisms
Personality
Product knowledge
Professionalism
Speech
Trustworthiness
Understanding

While the prospect and booth person communicate, the prospect is forming impressions that relate directly to his/her decision-making principles, which we all use in determining value. We also begin developing thoughts as to whether or not we might do business with this type of person who represents this corporation’s culture.

Whatever is discussed during the exchange, all details and facts provided by the exhibitor must be substantiated, true, and if at all possible supported by a member of executive management or senior technical staff who can then guarantee the prospect of the company’s commitment to dependability, quality, and reliability.

The product presentation Kaleidoscope of Impressions includes visual appreciation of the product’s design, ease of use, performance capabilities, quality of construction, and how value is supported by the product’s benefits and features. An effective product presentation with live demonstration establishes in the prospect’s mind a direct anticipation of potentially owning and utilizing the product in the future.

The image of top management will also add an important dimension in the mind of the prospect because he/she will view executive management as a cornerstone of the corporation’s commitment to living up to what’s being presented, sold, and serviced. A personal commitment from the top brass goes a long way in making the right impressions and securing beneficial, long-lasting customer relations.

When the attendee leaves the exhibitor’s booth after this kind of well-coordinated experience, he/she should be in a better position to either make a buying decision or share with colleagues this new knowledge, all of which should result in a solid purchasing recommendation.

The remaining important tasks required to complete the trade show exhibit’s Kaleidoscope of Impressions is to get the requested literature, quotes, and support documentation — with a cover letter — out to qualified prospects within one week of the show. It’s also important to build a trade show prospect database of sales leads for a planned telephone follow-up.

One of the most dynamic aspects of trade show exhibiting, and one that is often the most challenging for an exhibitor to fully comprehend and prepare for, is that as soon as a prospect walks out of your exhibit, he/she has the ability to walk right into your competitor’s booth and form a completely different Kaleidoscope of Impressions. Hopefully those impressions aren’t nearly as effective or as convincing as yours.

Conclusion

Attendees create a total Kaleidoscope of Impressions in their minds while they walk the aisles of a trade show. Your exhibit presents your company, complete with its products, people, culture, philosophies, commitment, history, and future from the first day it was incorporated to tomorrow when it opens for another day of business.

As a result, every trade show exhibitor should be encouraged to explore all opportunities in the quest to create a successful and complete Kaleidoscope of Impressions that positively influences and earns the business from prospects and customers alike.

Peter LoCascio, President of Trade Show Consultants, has successfully developed strategic and tactical sales and marketing programs for trade show exhibitors to add value to products and services while creating a finely tuned culture of service, customer support, and effective sales management. Many of the policies and procedures created to make the most of trade show exhibiting are imprinted on an exhibitor’s service culture and continue to be employed long after the close of the trade show.

The Importance of the Post Trade Show Exhibit Evaluation

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

While it’s quite natural to want to immediately close the book soon after a major trade show ends, it is also somewhat natural for trade show exhibit professionals to want to learn and improve things by evaluating and fixing the problems they might have experienced during the show.

Experienced exhibitors who believe in and practice the time tested, “do it, fix it, do it again until you get it right” attitude towards exhibiting will eventually iron out the various wrinkles that challenge the success of their trade show program. When accomplished, and those nagging little problems are solved for good, they can then afford themselves additional time to explore and experiment with more clever exhibit and product presentation innovations.

Before the book is closed on any given trade show exhibit presentation, it might do you and your company well to stop for a bit and evaluate how the show performed, what results were accomplished, what problems existed and what your recommendations are to improve the next show as well as the overall trade show exhibit program.

If you are your company’s exhibit manager or the person responsible for trade shows, your positive, constructive input should be more than enough to earn a leadership position for trade show exhibiting improvements for your management to acknowledge, consider and support in the future.

To make the job of producing the post show evaluation more effective than just your opinion, it is essential that a complete set of pre-show goals and objectives be established against which you can judge results. If no such goals and objectives were in place and agreed upon by management before the show, the completion of a major trade show is an excellent opportunity for you to recommend them.

Once your opinions and observations are organized, you’ll want to produce a document that states what trade show exhibit aspects worked, what didn’t work so well and what your ideas are to improve the next show’s exhibit performance. This document should be produced and distributed to all involved no more than 2 weeks after the show to refresh everyone’s memory and keep the list of action items current.

The details of the post trade show exhibit evaluation should include virtually all aspects of the trade show exhibit presentation including but not limited to: product presentation effectiveness, level of booth duty professionalism, efficient exhibit communications, level of technical and management support provided, hotel and transportation logistics, level of customer care, sales lead management and distribution, literature support operation, press relations, pre-show meeting details, and the exhibit’s overall operation from opening to closing.

One of the best ways to gather this important information is on the last day of the show to hand out a post-show evaluation form to all who worked the exhibit that asks them for their opinions, concerns and suggestions. This data should then be quickly summarized, evaluated and distributed within a week or so to management with your added recommendations to make the necessary improvements before the next show.

When you’ve compiled a complete evaluation of the show, a final evaluation should be sent, including a list of recommended changes you plan to immediately implement at the next show. It is also a good time to reconfirm your goal of making the trade show exhibit function one that is effective, efficient and accountable and you appreciate the help and support you’ve received.

By taking a leadership role and asking for honest input and reporting what facts you’ve discovered, the trade show function and your position as the trade show manager will enhance your ability to gradually improve the program and elevate your status and gain additional management support.

Because the trade show exhibit environment is so visual, highly charged and spontaneous, many people, especially top managers often voice opinions and strong feelings towards the physical aspects of the exhibit as it compares to the competition and other exhibitors on the show floor. However, it must be stressed that making band aid type changes on the trade show exhibit floor hours before the show opens or even during the show, is about 6 months too late to do anyone any good.

The reality of effective trade show exhibiting, you must politely proclaim, is that almost anything is possible and can be accomplished on the trade show exhibit floor. It just takes time, money, imagination, accurate direction and management’s dedicated support to make it happen.

The desired results of your post-trade show exhibit evaluation should be that management will better understand and appreciate the fact that early planning and accurate execution of goals and objectives will deliver the desired trade shows results. And, that you are the person capable of making it all happen with their support, cooperation, finances and adequate time.

Conclusion

The post trade show exhibit evaluation is one of the most important tools you have to make known what’s needed to improve, advance and guide the future of your trade show program’s effectiveness.

The uniqueness and beauty of today’s trade show exhibit environment is that it is a live event where modifications, improvements and innovations can evolve and be immediately appreciated.

By effectively utilizing post trade show exhibit evaluations, you’ll stimulate the process of constructing a more intelligent, well respected and supported approach to exhibiting by solving acknowledged problems one at a time while enjoying management’s support and cooperation. .

Essence of Message

justin@justinswebdesign.com (Peter Locascio) — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The trade show exhibit floor is often a collection of sights, sounds, cultures, textures, and emotions experienced as an attendee navigates the carpeted aisles lined with exhibitors in search of knowledge, confirmation and motivation.

Although trade show attendance overall has declined over the past few years, the fact remains that those who are selected to travel to an event by their cost conscious organizations represent a higher level of decision maker with a more focused search of important specific information.

The time and money efficiencies offered an attendee at a trade show in researching, identifying, and discussing real solutions to real problems are far above any other form of requesting, evaluating and acquiring required product and service information.

Along with an organization’s more careful selection of their trade show attendees, the professionals chosen will often come to the event with detailed assignments and specific goals to research, inquire, and understand critical new products and services.

Additionally, after products and services are identified and tentatively accepted, these super trade show attendees will also want to meet an exhibitor’s management team in attendance to begin the process of building strong relationships and gaining personal commitments that promise to maintain a high level of quality customer support should they decide to purchase.

Exhibitors’ Challenge

In order to become more successful in today’s competitive economic trade show environment, an exhibitor should be prepared to refocus efforts, attention, and energies to more effectively and efficiently attract, communicate and engage today’s new trade show super attendee.

Identify Your Targeted Prospect

The process of improving your trade show exhibiting results begins with identifying and understanding your targeted attendee. How many will attend the show? What specifically will they want to see? What should they learn about your products and services? And who is best qualified in your organization to answer their questions and begin the sales process?

A key to success is to attempt to simplify your product and service messages for quick and direct communications and avoid too many diverse messages that will in the end confuse prospects. Multi-divisional corporate exhibitors often compromise their trade show effectiveness by trying to present too many product messages at one time only to lose out to their competitors who present single, powerful more complete messages directed at only targeted super attendees. It might be beneficial for multi-divisional corporate exhibitors to purchase separate exhibit booth spaces for each of their divisions, which adds the ability to better focus on their key products while simplifying their presentation to prospects.

Pre-show Communications

As super attendees plan to travel to a selected trade show, they usually take time to evaluate and select those listed activities of interest to attend in an effort to maximize their time and resources that add value to their experience. Any form of communications available to an exhibitor to announce, invite or communicate the benefits of visiting their exhibit, workshops, product presentations, seminars, or social events, should be researched and implemented early enough that super attendees can add them to their schedule as a must-attend activity. Continuity of communications is important for maintaining visual and content synergy from invitations through after-show follow-up, including all other forms of marketing/advertising and sales support materials that present unified supporting impressions to ensure the success of the campaign.

Exhibit on the Show Floor

The enormity of the importance of your exhibit presentation on the trade show floor cannot be overlooked or minimized because it clearly and dramatically demonstrates who you are, what you stand for, and what kind of corporate culture you represent. Virtually all of a super attendee’s senses are stimulated by your entire exhibit presentation and a real image is created in the mind of a super attendee that will influence his/her decision making process. Comparing Tiffany and Wal-Mart, Mercedes and Kia, diamonds and rhinestones, first class and economy, begins to explain how image and first impressions play a major role in a prospect’s process of developing value and commitment to purchase. In order for the trade show exhibit to successfully perform in reaching a pre-show objective of communicating from the aisle the essence of your message, its design must incorporate bold graphics displayed at heights not blocked by people visiting the booth or standing in the aisle.

The essence of the message as seen from the aisle should conform to the pre-show communications campaign. It also needs to invite interested super attendees to enter the exhibit

where they should be immediately welcomed and greeted by trained professionals assigned to booth duty. Product presentations should be intelligent and informative and lead prospects to pre-determined conclusions similar to highly trained sales procedures used by the most successful sales organizations. Next -step activities should be documented with support systems in place to deliver whatever is promised or expected within an accelerated time frame that maintains positive pressure on the selling process.

The Buck Stops Here

President Truman’s desk sign clearly stated that he was in charge and accountable for decisions made by his White House. The same today applies more than ever to a trade show exhibitor’s top executive managers pulling booth duty and demonstrating a firm commitment to leadership and excellence. A firm handshake with a super attendee from a president confirming the details of a successful product presentation by one of the professionals on duty might be all that’s needed to capture a sale and keep it from going to a competitor just a few feet away on the exhibit floor. Ted Turner’s “Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way” exemplifies how today’s top management can in three days of manning their booth at a trade show so clearly demonstrate a commitment to the business, its prospects and customers and all those who work with and around him/her. Management can say whatever they want, whenever they want, but as we all know, actions speak louder than words. It is a president who rolls up his/her sleeves and learns to support the business on the ground, who dives into the trade show exhibit trenches, that earns respect and admiration.

Marketing or Sales

Where the trade show exhibit function lies and who it reports to in a corporation often determines how effective and accurate the function can be evaluated, supported and gradually improved to achieve maximum desired results.

If the trade show exhibit department is within the sales support function and reports directly to a vice president of sales or sales manager, it has an opportunity to flourish as an important and effective sales producing tool because of its tactical nature and short duration of focused activity. In most cases, a trade show lasts for three days and provides immediate matter-of-fact results. Additionally, a trade show exhibit presentation is live and flexible and during the course of a show, modifications to improve overall performance and results can be easily made.

As long as the highly tactical sales function in a corporation is judged daily on sales performance, the well-managed and highly supportive trade show function that can identify, stimulate and convert new prospects to customers in the shortest amount of time will always find a home in the sales support department.

Unlike the tactical sales function, there are many trade show exhibit departments that are a part of the advertising or public relations functions within a marketing department that uses the trade show exhibit as more of a strategic communications tool for developing new markets, products, competitive analysis and establishing more long-range strategic plans as compared to sales.

The trade show exhibit function can and will do almost anything asked of it, whether strategically or tactically or both, because it represents in most cases an entire, worldwide industry with most all of its components under the roof of a convention center for only three days.

Conclusion

The trade show exhibit function has been an integral part of the world’s industry and business complex since the industrial revolution that began in England in 1750. Even before that, its extraordinary heritage goes back to the earliest of times when local merchants set up their tents and tables in the center of ancient market places to sell their handmade wares, farmed produce and traded commodities. With determination, courage, and creativity, today’s trade show exhibit programs can and will succeed. The Internet’s social media and web site marketing, public relations schemes, and provocative and clever advertising programs can also add to a trade show exhibit’s ability to deliver real and measurable results.

With the above stimulation programs, products and services that are at least competitive, professionally trained and motivated booth personnel, effectively designed and managed exhibit presentations, and an executive management team ready and able to lead by example, the future of trade show exhibiting is as bright and promising as ever.