I had a series of meetings with some old colleagues and clients last week to talk through a business proposition I”m building.  It was fascinating meeting back up with people and exploring ideas and challenging expectations.  My proposal involves exhibitions and helping clients make the most of their attendance.  Interestingly, three of the meetings I’d set up were with people who no longer exhibited.  Was I crazy?  Why was I talking through a proposal around exhibitions with people who didn’t value them?  Essentially, I trust them all as business people with valuable opinions and I needed to question and explore this idea from all angles. It was time well spent although to hear the strong ‘anti-exhibition’ beliefs of one client was a little disconcerting.  However, my equally strong belief that there is a place for exhibitions held sway but led to some more interesting angles.

My colleague's position was essentially that exhibitions are dead - they no longer have a place in today’s social media connected society.  I do agree that people are connecting in ways we’d never have thought possible only 5-10 years ago and that this ability to see/hear people and products across continents has changed the need for one space where everyone gathers.  However, is there any other forum where you can really touch, see, hear, smell and taste?  You can’t do all of that over the internet.

I did hear a story of a company who gave private and personalised viewings of their stand at NAB for those that couldn’t make the actual show.  That’s a great way to add to your audience but I don’t see how it could replace the benefits you get from visiting.  Yes, travel is getting much more expensive (and more complex with all the security issues) but how much more valuable is it to look someone/something in the ‘eye’ and build a relationship?  How much more valuable is it to touch and play with a product the same day that you touch and play with it’s competitor?

I’ll keep revisiting this topic as it’s one that fascinates me and one that I think needs exploration - exhibitions can’t stay as they are, they do need to evolve but I still maintain that there is a need and a value in having and attending them.  

Technology is moving so fast nowadays it's interesting to see how it impacts on the way you deal with your trade show leads. You do deal with your trades how leads don't you? A few companies I've known simply put them in a drawer or leave them as a single excel spreadsheet with NO actions.  OK, so leads may not be your primary objective for attending but surely you recognise that they could still be a gold mine.  Add these to your CRM system and you begin to build a better a picture of your clients from interest to purchase, and you are able to contact them with suitable offers in the future.

Bar Code Scanners

So do you invest in a bar code scanner at the trade show?  On the positive side, they allow you to do a quick scan to get key data which can be beneficial when you're overloaded with visitors or when you simply want to log everyone in and out of a theatre or demo session.  On the downside they're not cheap, and you’re reliant on the visitor entering correct data. How many times have you opened up the database to find a batch of half filled information and a tick in the box saying - do not contact.? 

Most standard exhibition lead scanning systems aren’t tailored to your needs.  Some will allow a simple adjustment to log answers to a few questions but they're not ideal.  How many times have you been to a tradeshow where you have to wait whilst the staff repeatedly try to scan and edit your data?  It’s not the best way to build a rapport with your visitors.

So could you develop your own system?  I've worked with companies who have had proprietary systems developed - these allowed immediate synchronization with their own CRM system and of course, personalised and specific questions.  A great solution but it’s not a cheap option for everyone.  With so many CRM systems in the Cloud  nowadays I’m sure there are solutions out there to allow you to use your iPad or iPhone to import directly.  Any system has to be quick and allow good sales staff to hone in on the key data they need and record this seamlessly.  I’m not sure we’re there yet.  Pen and Paper/Business Cards still have their role.

Quality vs Quantity

You do also have to think about how much time you want your sales staff entering leads.  Are you after quality leads or just a quantity of new contacts to deal with later?  Tradeshows are a big investment so it’s up to you to plan your objectives and analyse whether or not your team can divide and conquer - having a couple of people filtering visitors and passing on promising ones to other sales people. 

An alternative is to get bar code scanner data sent back to base each night for review and adding on to the CRM system.  Good office staff can refer back and make sure that immediate follow up is sent out.

Inbound Marketing

A more promising solution for new leads/contacts is to get them to log onto your website and enter their own data.  You may have to develop your Social Media systems around this but with a dedicated landing page on your website with an unrepeatable offer you could have a QR code on your stand literature or even the stand itself.  This way you’re starting a relationship and not just gathering data.

There are many solutions but as long as you have a plan which you follow through, exhibitions are a goldmine of contacts.

Once again it was a real pleasure to work at ISE. It's the 3rd year I've been to this AV and Systems Integration tradeshow and I'm interested in the way it's growing, the quality of the exhibitors and the sheer number of visitors.  This year they surpassed expectations and increased visitor numbers by 17% to 40,869.  Pretty impressive figures for a very cold week at the end of January.

This year I was working with a client in the Residential systems area in Hall 1. They had a good presence and made full use of their space and surrounding areas.  But more of that in the next post, for now I want to concentrate on the positive ways that ISE attracted visitors to their show. 

Organisers can no longer assume that they’ll automatically get the footfall they, and their exhibitors need.  They need to engage their audience and really work to pull them in - not just to register but to actually turn up.

Encouraging exhibitors to market the event for them

The organisers engaged with the exhibitors on a personal level.  Even with 825 exhibitors at the event, every time I phoned to speak to sales or admin I was treated like a friend and colleague. I accept that my client has been part of the association and exhibited at ISE for years but they're not a major exhibitor, so it was good to know that I had the organiser’s ear when I needed it.  This was just the start of building a relationship that engaged the exhibitors and really them become part of the exhibition.  I really think this is key to how exhibitions should move forward - it’s about working together to promote your investments.

Marketing Plan

I’m sure the organisers had a comprehensive marketing plan to draw in visitors, both directly and via their exhibitors.  However, this is my take on the elements that I saw and felt were effective.

Exhibitor Newsletters: regular information to exhibitors outlining key information and deadlines.  It’s easy to forget deadlines when you’re caught up in many events or marketing projects so these newsletters were a bonus for many exhibitors.

Visitor Newsletters: this one was sent to registered visitors and previous attendees.  These newsletters built in frequency as the show approached but didn’t seem to push the “TOO MUCH” button.  Exhibitors could sign up for advertising slots on the newsletter and submit their press releases for inclusion.

Pre-show Magazine:  another opportunity for exhibitors to promote themselves via PR and advertising as the organisers produced and sent out this valuable and informative magazine.

Show Daily:  I’m never sure how useful these are as I see so many littering the bins but they’re always popular with exhibitors keen to get their latest information in and encourage people to visit their stand on the day.

Partners: A series of key partners built a good sponsorship marketing campaign enabling the partners to promote the event, their presence at it and show how important they feel the event is.

Customer Tickets: exhibitors could download free branded entrance tickets for their customers.  The exhibitors show goodwill by sharing these, help save the client some effort and money as well as using them as the basis for their own marketing campaign.

Banners and Logos: These were readily available, again enabling the client to incorporate the exhibition into all their current marketing plans.

Mark your Diary:  How simple!  A button on the home page of the show website which automatically put the dates into your diary - with one click the date is marked.

Connecting on LinkedIn: some of the key staff connected with their exhibitor contacts enabling them to be visible on their contacts profiles.

Show guide app:  This app was downloadable onto Smart Phones and enabled visitors (and exhibitors) to get basic info, find exhibitors and plan meetings.

Twitter: if there was one weak area then it might be Twitter.  I had to work hard to find their Twitter feed and they only had around 800 followers.  Twitter is a great way to communicate with your fans.

So when should you start your event and which day is best? Over the years I’ve heard many different event managers comment on this, all with gusto and most with experience to back up their decision.  At the end of the day it depends on your audience and your topic - are you aiming for business or consumer and is it something that people want to make time for in their busy days or would they rather team it up with some drinks and make an evening of it?  The questions (as ever) are never ending but here’s some thoughts to help you decide.

- I’ve found that people like Monday mornings to decompress from the weekend and get their thoughts in order for the week.  Hence Monday’s may not get the best attendance.

- Similarly, Fridays are either frantically full of the work that hasn’t yet been finished or is the wind down day.  Catching up on emails and work in the office so you can leave for the weekend with a clean conscience.  

- So let’s aim for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Being a pragmatist these may already be booked up for travel and meetings so get your invites out early to book these slots.

Should we now go for morning, afternoon or evening?  

- Evenings are great if you want people to network or be sociable - I concede that some are happy to do this on company time but a lot of people will be focused purely on their job during the day and so evenings, give them the option of a learning/networking opportunity with the possibility of a a free drink or canapé thrown in.

- Afternoons have never been particularly successful for my clients.  The audience fills up the morning with work and then it’s hard to justify/find the time to leave for an event.  Something always seems to come up be it traffic, bad weather, another meeting, a shortened deadline - small things can tip the scales to prevent attendance.  Do you want to risk it?

- Mornings are often the best option as people go into automatic pilot, check their diary and head to the first appointment - your event!  OK, traffic can affect timings but you can plan around that.  The crucial thing is that something else hasn’t managed to squeeze it’s way into the diary that day.

And don’t forget to look up bank holidays, any strike action due, election days, school holidays and annual national holidays ie some European companies effectively shutting down in August. It’s a complex business working out the best time and date to hold your event.  The best advice is to research your potential audience and find out how they plan their week.  Fit that research into knowledge about the local calendar and you should be able to make a rational and effective decision which gives you the best chance to get your audience to attend.

Technology is moving on fast nowadays.  After all we can now talk to our phones and ask them to find a suitable meeting time, then email or text the people to invite them.  The only trouble is, we now seem happy to talk to a phone but not to actually contact the person and talk to them about the meeting.  OK, that’s taking it to extremes but I’ve had a few instances recently where I’ve been invited to meetings and yet not one person has tried to speak to me.  Hence - I haven’t gone along.

As a person I want to be engaged, encouraged and spoken to - emails just don’t always fit the bill.  So here’s 3 circumstances that may just make people think about how they invite people to events and meetings.

Case 1: I was invited to meet up with a new employee at a supplier.  I don’t use the supplier regularly but am willing to stay in touch.  However, I have now been sent 3 group emails inviting myself and other clients to contact them to set up a meeting.  This seems so lazy to me and as I’m not valuable enough to the supplier to warrant a phone call I’m just not going to use them any more.  

Case 2: A venue finding client wanted to host a small seminar in London and they had met a collection of potential attendees.  This seminar did incur a small cost but the Return on Investment on attending was huge - so it should have been an easy sell.  However, the client refused to call the interested parties and get them to sign up.  They were trying to be more subtle and didn’t want to appear to pressurise people. Emails are great but they can be ignored (see Case 1!).  If you really want to get people to sign up you need to do more than just blast them with social media.  Try the old-fashioned picking up of the phone - especially for a small event where you have already got agreement of interest.  It may take more time but I am sure it will get you the sign ups you need.

Case 3: I was invited to visit a local venue recently - the emailed flyer was once again sent to a large group of recipients. Emails such as these are almost junk to me - with so many arriving they have to stand out to get my attention.  So I didn’t pick up on the first email but was surprised to receive another mail, marked urgent, which asked why I hadn’t responded and was I attending.  Again, it’s not a venue that was essential to my business so I put the email to one side to consider and a few days received another mail, once again demanding I let them know if I was attending.  I can’t believe that this small venue had invited more than 100 people so wouldn’t it have been so much more impressive to call me and invite me personally.  I’m not someone who goes to the opening of an envelope but I am someone who has serious business clients who might use the venue.  Group emails may get you some numbers but do they actually get you the quality atttendees that you need?So this may all seem like a rant but hopefully  you can all see that each scenario would have been so much better by the organiser knowing their mailing list, what motivates and engages them and then making sure that they use a variety of communication, especially a phone call to encourage attendance.  Please PICK UP THE PHONE!

I’m considering launching my own events and thought I’d share some of the questions that have been running through my head.  It’s not an exhaustive list of things to consider but a broad sweep just for starters and it may help trigger some inspiration or encourage you to put aside some time to work on these issues.

• • Who’s your audience?
• • No, really.  Who is your audience?  What do they look like?  How do they behave?  What inspires and motivates them?
• •  Is this a paid for event?  Will this encourage attendance or put people off?
• •  If it’s paid for, how can you create real value for the audience.  It’s not just about telling people about your product but about inspiring them.
• •  Why would your audience attend?  Education, personal growth, fun?
• •  What does your audience want to leave with?  Inspiration/ideas/news/products?
• •  How can you get them to turn up, even if they pre-register?
• •  What experience can you give them?
• •  How long will they stay at the event?  How can you extend this?
• •  How can you build a relationship with your audience before, during and after the event?

I’ve written before about attendance at events - the good news when some exhibitions are showing great increases in visitor numbers but also those companies that assume people will turn up without putting in any effort.  It’s the difference between the two that interests me - is it the topic that draws the audience or is it the marketing programme surrounding it?

Good topics inevitably draw people to look at an event but they won’t always get people to attend, especially if there is no call to action.  Why should they attend? What are they going to get out of attendance?  What’s in it for me needs to be very clear.

With most people inundated with information nowadays, we need to make sure that we get our events in front of the potential visitors as much as we can.  Repeating the same event invite is frustrating and will turn off your audience so it’s time to think outside the box.  How can you build a relationship with your audience and give them some information or benefit for free?  

Social media is a great help with this but it is not the panacea that some think.  Not everyone is up to date on Twitter or has the the time to read your fabulous blogs.  So you need to spread your marketing over a range of activities.  

Make sure that you have a good list to start with - don’t use the 5 year old company database that you used last time.  If it’s 5 years old probably best to tear it up and start again.  The time it would take to clear out the deadwood means it would be cheaper to buy in a specific lead database targeted at your customers.  Can you work with other media, affiliate companies and publishers to do joint promotions? But do make sure that any agreement on sharing data allows you to continue to promote the event after the initial contact.  

Once you’ve got a good database work out why this group should attend your event.  Is it chargeable?  In which case, you have to make the registration and payment process as easy as possible so you don’t loose people on the way - once a person is turned off, it’s very hard to get them back on your side.

Think about building a relationship.  Think about how you’re going to tease and encourage more interaction from your potential audience.  What do they need and how is your event going to provide that?  If it’s a small tight-knit community you’re after - can you afford to send some direct mail with a unique angle?  I’m not talking about the calendar with your brand on it but something relevant and useful to the audience that will open their eyes to your event.  If you’re after sheer numbers - as exhibition organisers often are then it’s about getting the message out as far and wide and making sure you have enough avenues for each type of visitor to engage with you.

Lastly, don’t forget it doesn’t all end once they’ve signed up - you then need to get them to the door.  Work especially hard at reminders and making their visit as easy and comfortable as possible.  Give your visitors no excuse not to turn up!