I recently worked at ISE 2011 in Amsterdam - how fantastic to be involved in a thriving show.  The official figures quote an increase in traffic of 22% which really is quite amazing and so refreshing.  It was great to see some bright innovative stands as well - this blog is my take on the stand designs around the show.

There is still a lot of white, angular walling but white as shown on it’s extensive use in websites is still one of the most versatile colours to go with.  Most brands work well against white and indeed brand guidelines always cover that combination.  However I do feel it is a bit of a safe colour, one that is not going to offend the board and split the red haters from the red lovers.

Most stands seemed to be relatively simple with little excessive catering - no bad thing, given the cost and mess that result!

Carpets seems to have given way to harder flooring.  I’m not sure if this is due to the outrageous wastage that comes from using carpet for 3 days and then throwing it out or if it’s just a fashion thing.  Hard flooring may be easier to re-install at another show but it ultimately depends on planning a series of exhibitions so you get the most use out of your stand components.

Our stand had considerable under-floor padding to make it easier on the feet and legs.  This is an American led item where most stands over there will not build a platform as they’re allowed to run flat power cables underneath a thick pad. Personally I’m not sure if it helped my feet but I know most people who walked on the stand cooed with pleasure at the soft flooring.

Lighting rigs are being used more and more to give a much more gentle light wash to a stand.  They’ve always worked really well to accent particular signs and products but maybe now the price is coming down so the smaller stands can consider using it.

The last thing I noticed was the large number of angles - this is a much more cost effective solution, enabling a stand to be used in different configurations at a variety of tradeshows. However, it did seem quite harsh so maybe a few strategic rounded elements or non 90º corners would help make you stand out.

Do you love tradeshows?  Do you relish the chance to stand on a show floor for up to 10 hours and talk to strangers?  I fear not many do - it’s hard, tiring work and even the thought of a good night out won’t always get you through the day with enthusiasm.  However, if you’re not going to try to talk to the visitors, engage them and find out about their interests what is the point of you being there?

Walking around exhibitions I see stand after stand where their staff are just not performing and it really frustrates me - what a waste of time and money.  I do train people on how to make the most of their attendance but at the end of the day it is hard work and it can be hard to stay engaged and interested.  After all it’s also great to catch up with colleagues that you haven’t seen for a few weeks. However, I bring it back to ROI - what are you there for?  The company has spent a large amount of money on the exhibition presence and it’s now relying on you to fill the hopper with leads or promote the brand as best you can.  So what can you do to make the most of the opportunity?

The biggest thing that needs to happen is a shift in attitude.  Exhibitions aren’t an excuse to party all night and recuperate all day.  They are a chance for you to meet new people, to promote your company and make sales (either now or in the future).

So here’s a few tips on how to make the most of each day:
- Remember that you’re there for the company and you represent them in your every action (particularly if you’re wearing company branded clothing)
- Put a smile on your face and leave it there all day as a signal that you’re interested and ready to talk.
- Be interested in others.  Not everyone on the show floor is there for your company or product but who’s to say that they don’t know someone who is.  Think of exhibitions as a chance to find out more about people but if you’re busy have a company strategy for dealing with the time thieves.
- Think of it as networking.  You never know who you might need to call upon in your job - your current (or future) boss might be looking at you leaning on the counter and being rude to visitors.
- Stay on your feet.  If there are chairs on the stand, don’t use them without good reason.  Sitting down and watching the crowds go buy is a signal that you’re really not interested (plus it’s so much harder to get going again)
- Take two pairs of shoes so you can swap during the day or at least walk home in a different pair.
- Drink lots of water and take scheduled breaks.  It all helps you stay fresh and interested.

Lastly, talk to your boss or your stand manager about how they can help make this more useful to your particular role.  Make it a company issue so that you all agree that exhibitions are useful and then you can make the most of them.

Events are complex entities that require a varied team to pull together and work towards a common goal.  I love that motivation and that level of team work - there can be no shirking, the timeline is flexible but the deadline is not.  However, you can’t do it all yourself so who can you befriend to help you succeed.

Getting to know your suppliers and working with them regularly can help you enormously. We’ve all been at an event and in need of some extra support. It may be that the client has requested a new meeting and needs an extra space to hold this, or it may be that you are shipping in an extra product and it absolutely has to arrive on time.  This is where you need to know who your friends are and who will go the extra mile to work with you.  It’s not about the companies that you’ve spent lots of money with, it’s about the people who care enough to listen and help you think outside the box.In my experience the best people for many situations are the practical, hands-on people and shippers are amongst the best.  I’ve worked with some for many many years and even though I now ship most of my equipment with different suppliers due to client requirements I  know that I can call many members of the team and they will at the very least, listen to my issue and offer some advice.  All of this, even if they won’t make a profit from the solution.  It’s this level of customer service that I value highly as it’s the level of service that I aim to give to my clients.AV teams are more of my favourite people onsite.  From making great travelling companions, to being great eyes and ears onsite and not to forget that they’re practical people who can explain technology clearly to onsite suppliers they have been invaluable.I could continue this role call but the basic premise is get to know your suppliers well.  They can get you out of many a hole and make events so much more fun.  So it’s back to that old adage - it’s who you know, not what you know. 

What is collaboration? To many it is working together with another company but is that collaboration or is it outsourcing?  When I’ve asked questions and commented on Linkedin it seems to me that most people just see collaboration as working with someone else irrespective of the payments.  I disagree - to be a real collaboration you need to pool ideas and share responsibility for a project.  It’s only when you can work at that level that real collaboration and great innovation happens.

Over the past few years I’ve dabbled at collaboration - I love the concept but have found that you need to identify the people you work with carefully and also know your own expectations and limitations.

The process of looking for collaborators is a great way to expand your network and get closer to like-minded people but do know what you want to get out of it or you could end up with lots of great meetings but little actual benefit.  By benefit I mean tangible opportunities.

I recently employed Kate of Passionate PA to cover a job for me - I was busy on another project and whilst I could manage the client and plan the event I couldn’t actually get out to the event. Kate  went out to Amsterdam on my behalf and managed the onsite logistics for me. Meanwhile, I handled a small event for her whilst she was in Amsterdam. It worked really well and we both got something out of it but I wouldn’t say it’s collaboration.  Our relationship was about networking, getting to know someone personally and outsourcing to our mutual benefit.

Collaboration is about working together towards a common goal. A group of colleagues from Business Xchange have got together to launch an online magazine called Whatify.  This is true collaboration - they’ve sat down, created the project, allocated roles and work together on a future that works of all of them.

So what do you need to collaborate?  Personally I think you need to be able to think outside the box, to be able to work slightly outside your comfort zone, and above all to know yourself and your limits. It’s a sharing of time, responsibility and profit.  It won’t suit everyone and you need to look carefully at the people you are thinking of collaborating with and go into it with an open mind.  It can create amazing things but it is a bit like a partnership so do go into it with your eyes open.

I haven’t found a project that I have time and ongoing motivation to join yet but I’m out there looking as I really do think that for small businesses it’s a great way to open your mind and your working life to new opportunities.

I’ve recently renewed my liability and indemnity insurance and once again the whole process filled me with horror.  It takes up a huge amount of time to fill in the forms (and I usually love forms!), then you have to estimate future turnover in an incredibly unstable market and what’s more guess how likely it is that someone will sue you and for how much.  All this, just because we’ve become an over cautious and legal-led society.

A large part of my role is based on doing things right - why take on a job for a client if you can’t do it properly?  I instinctively follow the rules and make sure that I comply but there is something about the insurance I have to take out that just leaves me cold.  As the owner of a small event management company with staff I had to spend an inordinate amount of time making sure that staff were taking acceptable risks and still I was responsible for their actions.

As such I had to develop company policies and procedures that would ensure that we did the best job we could whilst fitting into current Health & Safety law.  We started off by training all staff on Heath & Safety and drawing up Risk assessments.  We then created templates for all the essential forms and sat down and went through them so that they became an automatic easy part of the job and not an onerous chore.

Key to this was opening everyone’s eyes to the potential risk - what realistically might happen and what could we do to prevent it.  We had to consider the current laws relating to electricity in each relevant country and how we needed to apply them to our event?  Is there a better way to position the chairs so that we can maintain good access and yet get the maximum number of attendees in the room.

I no longer have staff and that brings both freedom and more challenges.  I always ask freelancers what insurance they have and make sure that they’re able to interpret my processes. These things take time and I still dislike that fact that society has gone that way but at least I know a lot more about the risks and can feel secure that my client’s needs are covered at each event.  

I have spent many years of my working life travelling from city to city to manage events.  Many of my friends and colleagues think it’s hugely exciting - what  pity it is to shatter their ideas but travelling can get solitary and boring.

So, is a job that involves travelling, glamourous or onerous?  I personally think it is down to your attitude and the small moments of local culture that you can grab.  

I’ve been to events where I’ve been to a city for 36 hours and only seen the airport, and the hotel conference facilities.  Luckily I had some great people around me so we did have a good time as we built up, hosted and tore down that event.

Another time we went to Milan I made the effort to walk from my hotel to the venue - a chilly one mile of real life and stunning architecture.  Even better our local man took us out for the most exquisite dinner one evening and I experienced the very best of Italian food. I may have had to deal with explosive Italian characters all day but this sure made up for it.

So each event is different but it’s the few hours of eating that are often the joy.  Take time to find a local or to research in advance and try new foods.  I’ve recently started to really push my taste buds and deliberately choose food I wouldn’t normally eat - I’m not talking sheeps eye balls here - still not going to go that far into local culture.

Take joy in the people and the moments and make the most of your time - travelling may not become glamourous, the hotel rooms may all still look the same but at least you can come home richer in experiences.

Any events manager will tell you that being onsite at a large event is great fun and often full of challenges that need solving immediately.  

I love the immoveable deadline of an event - you have to plan from A to B. Even more challenging is the fact that B doesn’t move - you have to be ready. So you have to make sure that you’ve gone into all the possible outcomes and put a strategy in place to make it all go smoothly. Having said that, experienced Event Managers will all be able to tell you of the time they arrived onsite and had to deal with the unexpected.  We can’t always plan for every item but we can always make sure that any issue is dealt with promptly, effectively and with lots of good humour!

We were managing a client’s technical tradeshow presence in Lyon, France and their technician realised he hadn’t packed his specialised screwdriver which was essential to setup.  The show opened on Monday and it was Saturday evening.  Unfortunately, Saturday and Sunday’s were not  good shopping days in France and the screwdriver was not your typical B&Q purchase so buying one wasn’t an option. After a quick review of the exhibition layouts we took a tour of the halls and visited all our partners and competitors to beg and borrow.  Thankfully the exhibition community supported us - we knew many of the people onsite and one of them could loan us the screwdriver.  So with a little bit of logical thinking and some cheek we found the solution  - an event manager should never be afraid of asking for help!

On another large, VIP and Press launch we were in the office for a few hours before travelling up to the event when the venue called and said that they’d realised they couldn’t find the Emergency Exit signs they’d promised.  As a key part of the risk assessment and Health and Safety process we couldn’t compromise - we had to have them. As this event was an evening reception the signs needed to glow or be illuminated.  Much web-searching ensued and we found some at an online stationery store - wonderful!  As were were heading to London we could get a same day delivery.  We requested delivery to the venue and continued on our way.  As we approached London we decided to make sure that they were on their way and called the company.  They had no record of our order!  Mobile phones pulled out the whole team started to look for more suppliers in the area.  Thankfully we found a Travis Perkins who had some in stock so after a short detour we’d solved that problem.  They weren’t the best solution or the most design orientated but they worked and another crisis was averted.  Of course, to top it all - the original supplier did deliver the signs to our client that day so we ended up with twice as many as we needed!

Events always require some tangential thinking - they’re not always straight forward but they are great fun and really get your brain working!

Many office based people spend hours sitting behind a desk and so events can be a shock to the system.  They go from 8 hours of sitting down interspersed with trips to meetings and visit colleagues to 8 hours of being on your feet, having little food or water and quite a bit of stress.  No wonder your staff hate exhibitions and events!

As an in-house marketing manager I could have only 3 events a year.  The rest of the time was spent at my desk.  So I went from a relatively sedentary life to one where I was on my feet all day everyday walking, lifting, unpacking and generally using muscles that had been hiding for the past 4 months.  Thankfully I kept myself quite fit and so it wasn’t too difficult but in later years I did have staff who would put a back out or just get so stressed by events that afterwards they would need considerable time off.

I’ve since made sure that I’m always event-fit and that my staff are aware of the physical challenges.  Even if you’re not doing any manual labour, the sheer stress and pressure of the environment can take it’s toll.

You may not be able to keep up the New Year fitness campaign up all year so do make sure that you do the following:
• wear comfortable shoes, preferably take two pairs.  One set to walk to the event and one set to wear there.
• when at the event keep a bottle of water handy and keep drinking.  It’s amazing how much better you feel when you’re hydrated.
• the after event parties are great but if you have to go back for a second day they can be exhausting.  I love a good party but do keep it in perspective - you’re there to work the exhibition stand and the after event socialising is an added bonus.

One last thing - don’t forget to smile, all the time.  You may be exhausted at the end of a long day but the visitor who’s just walked up still wants to be treated the same as the first one you saw.

Firstly Happy New Year - I’m not sure that on the 20th Jan I really should still be saying that but as we’ve not spoken since December I feel it’s still appropriate.

So how have your first week’s back at work been?  The first week is always a bit surreal as you transition from family-man and/or party animal back into efficient business person.  These can often be my most productive weeks as I’m raring to go and have a great focus to really move forward this year.  I also start every new year with renewed optimism.  It’s like turning the page on last year’s challenges and opening  up a bright new clean sheet.  I do have my moments but generally I'm an optimist.  I really started out this year with the best of hopes - the recession was on it’s way and businesses were starting to hire/source/employ again. With that in mind it felt like a real slap across the face to have all these business pundits telling me that 2011 was going to be a tough year again.  So what do you do?

As an optimist and with a New Year I’m ready to take on new challenges, learn new skills and generally make a hugely positive impact on my business this year.  But with the constant barrage of negativity from the media is that so easy?

I do think that to some degree we were talked into this recession.  No doubt there was a lot of underhand activity that caused problems but would we all really have stopped spending if the media hadn’t been repeating over and over again the problems?  Frankly it was depressing, no wonder businesses started to pull budgets and not look forward but look to maintaining the status quo.

As a business we all know that the last things we should cut are marketing and training but they are still often the first things to be cut. It’s easy - they’re seen as costs and the return on investment is often cloaked in mystery.  How can you say that that major sale came as a result of a certain tradeshow?  Yes, you had a great presence and got lots of press material, and yes, your staff showed their team around the stand and did full product demonstrations but when the deal is done 3 months down the line the tradeshow (and hence marketing) will rarely get the glory.

So I’m going to walk the walk and talk the talk this year.  I’m starting off the year with a new marketing programme.  I’m investing in the future of my business by making sure that I contact all my ongoing prospects and clients in as many creative ways as I can come up with.  I’m also going to stop listening to the news radio when I get up and instead bounce out of bed with some great music.  Let’s start the year, and each day on a positive note and prove the pundits wrong!

Here we go again - it’s Christmas time and once again we’re planning for holidays.  The cards are sent (and I do think real cards are essential - a jokey email just doesn’t show your appreciation the way a hand-written card does), the holidays are booked but how is your business going to manage throughout the holidays? I love Christmas but I just can’t get as excited as I used to (I don’t even wake at 5am anymore!)  Running a business suddenly turns Christmas into an excuse to party to another time when I have to plan around an obstacle.

For the past few years I’ve had stands to plan and manage for tradeshows in January and February.  This means that those immoveable event deadlines are even more tricky.  I need to plan around staff, customer and supplier holidays, not just the various European or American bank holidays but also the extra time off taken or offered by companies.  Once again communication is key to this and I make sure that I have all deadlines clearly entered into my calendars and even add in key personnel holidays too.  As ever, I give myself (and my clients) some extra time.  There is no point setting a deadline for myself that gives me no time to negotiate / question / understand.

I recommend that you get as many key decisions made and actioned pre-Christmas so that you’re not left trying to call a supplier on 27th December.  I also suggest that you print out a copy of the show deadlines -highlight key dates but enter financial or contract based ones into your diary and make sure you set an alarm for it.  There is no excuse for a missed deadline and you never want to go back to a client and say the price has gone up because you forgot to send the form in on time.

Once you’ve done all you can, had the Christmas parties and eaten the office mince pies I suggest you take time out of the business.  Real time out.  Relax, enjoy the season and let your brain tick away in the background.  It never ceases to amaze me on how much more efficient I am after a short break, and how many difficult decisions suddenly seem clearer when I get back to the office.

So focus on those deadlines now and have a great Christmas next week!

See you in 2011.