Many of you will find yourselves at these functions as either attendees or exhibitors. Although you are already aware of your primary goals, there are many secondary benefits of which you may not be taking full advantage.
Tips for attendees:
1) You ARE the target market. Get an itinerary early. Often there will be many things happening at the same time. This will allow you to schedule yourself to take advantage of those most pertinent to your situation
2) Make some time to get to know your colleagues and competitors. Considering the fact that businesses are evolving at a faster rate than ever before, networking is more important than it has ever been. Fresh ideas do not care who uses them and this is a great opportunity to harvest some from outside your usual loop.
3) Take time to something fun! Just because these are work related does not mean you can not enjoy them. Even if it's only for an hour or 2, having some fun will make the experience more memorable. The easier it is to recall the trip, the more likely you will also be reminded of those fresh ideas you harvested.
4) Keep your eyes open to new possibilities. For instance: lets say your company manufactures lighting. You can look for small sign companies that might benefit from having some of your products to add sizzle to their signs. You might have a line of lights that would work especially well in bars or restaurants. Why hope the building contractor offers your products instead of making it known to their management you possess a great option? YOU may know your product inside and out. If everyone who could benefit from it is not aware it exists, neither of you profit.
Tips and Tricks for Exhibitors:
1) Book your space as early as possible. Some of these shows are scheduled years in advance, others only a few months. Either way, you want as many people as possible to walk by your space. You are probably aware that location and foot traffic mean a lot in terms of meeting prospects and making sales.
Often the spaces nearest the entrances cost more. If you are constrained a bit by your budget, you can still get good traffic by planning ahead. So your budget prohibits you from getting those "prime" spaces? Try to book spaces closer to the food vendors, restrooms and loading docks. Those first 2 are self explanatory. There are always exits by the loading docks. Seasoned exhibitors will use these instead of the main entrances. So will smokers and people stepping outside to make phone calls. Convention centers are known for poor cell phone signals.
2) Less is more! Sizzle may get you attention, but product overload often keeps people walking by instead of stopping. Unless you're with a large company that can afford a lot of floor space, you'll do better focusing on 1 or 2 of your best products and letting those generate interest. You may have 300 things to offer but if your booth looks like it could become a major time suck, many people will not bother stopping. I see this all the time, great little companies trying so hard to make everything they offer known that they forget rule number 1: personal connections are where sales are made!
3) Take advantage of this opportunity to look for compatible companies. Everyone knows that restaurants need appliances, cookware, etc... Are those restaurants aware that your software makes scheduling and taxes easier to track? Or that you offer a low cost lighting alternative that will save them electricity costs while providing ambience? Those are just 2 examples, it's up to you to think outside the box and offer your products/services to companies that might not realize the benefits you offer.
4) Make sure you have adequate staff to man your booth. No matter your budget, just one extra person is a negligible investment when compared to the cost of booth space and a professional exhibit. Not only will this allow a chance for the occassional break, it will also give everyone a chance to wander around making contacts and getting new ideas. Everyone is different, a person who may have a predjudice against you may very well connect with someone else on your staff.
5) Pay attention to how you spend your money. You wouldn't believe how often I see companies wasting dollars trying to save dimes. This is my favorite example because it seems like such a small thing: The carpet on stone floors is held in place by double sided (Sticky on both) duct tape. There are 3 or 4 companies that produce it. One in particular cost a few dollars less a roll but because it uses a wax paper instead of plastic to protect one side, it takes a lot more time to peel. Now the company has saved 20 dollars on the tape. The extra time it takes us to peel it costs them 40 to 100 dollars on labor. The same is often true on carpet padding; companies wasting 3 to 5 times on labor costs to piece crappy pad together rather than replacing it. Labor can be very expensive, especially on a larger booth. Just because your staff can not assemble a 2 story structure doesn't mean they can't remove tables and chairs from containers and place them in position.
These are just the best tips you should keep in mind. Hopefully they will serve you well AND make you think of other ways you can get the most from your experience. If you have other tips or tricks of your own, please share them in the comment section.
