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.  

We’ve already covered when to look at using a stand designer and how you find them but now you’ve got to sit down and write a detailed brief that covers the key facts about the client, their brand and their requirements.  This can be quite a tough job when you have all the information in your head but need to pull it together into a simple easy to understand format.  I’ve outlined below some key areas that I use - each section includes hard details but also some more personal feedback and obviously an open invitation to come back with questions.

Event Information

Facts:  When? Where? What exhibition? How much space you’ve booked? Stand number?

Hall Layout (with relevant entrances/features)

Stand Floor Layout (is there anything on there that you need to cover or make a feature ie a column)

Rules and Regulations for the hall incl. height restrictions.

Personal: Is the event up and coming with halls packed with Rolls Royces where the stand will really have to work hard to stand out?  Are there many other companies with similar products exhibiting?

Background Information

Facts: Name of client.  Why they’re attending?  Have they attended before?

Personal: Background on the event and the client presence at it.  Why is the client putting the stand design out to tender?  What do they expect out of a stand designer?

Stand Requirements

Facts:

Are you selling services or physical products? How do you sell these items? ie small demo areas for 5-10 persons or one to one briefings?

How many demo/sales areas do you need?  What product is on show?  Incl. dimensions and product literature and other relevant info ie it must be shown with a 42” Plasma fixed to the wall and a computer with at least the keyboard and mouse on a shelf.

Do you need a storage area? Do you need a meeting room? Do you require a relaxed coffee area?  If so, do you need water & waste or just an area to serve?

Do you need a raised floor to allow for extensive cabling to each area of the stand?

Personal: Do you have any past pictures of stands that can outline areas the client like or disliked?  What are the key issues that the client sees?

Branding

Facts:  Do you have branding guidelines that you can forward to the client?  I would recommend that a stand design reflects all other marketing and branding but there may be particular elements that the client wants to see.

Do send logo files and links to online marketing as well as brochures.  As much as you can to give the designer a feel for the clients brand.What colours are key?  Is the client after a black/dark design or  light, bright clean lines?

Personal:  What’s your instinct on what the client likes and dislikes?  Do they like creativity or are they more staid and formal?  How open will they be to new ideas?

Budget

Facts: How much do you have to spend?  You must give the designer a ball park figure so they know if they’re building a Jaguar or a Honda.Be clear about what this budget should include.  At this stage I wouldn’t expect a quote to include electrical installation,  AV and internet but I would expect to see a list of graphics, lighting, furniture and finishes.  Things can be fine tuned later on but you must make sure you’re comparing Apples and one quote/design includes AV hire and another doesn’t.

You know how when you’re reading about marketing, they’re always telling you to think about "What’s in it for me"?  I’ve tried to bear that in mind but haven’t always had it as my main focus. However, today I had a reality check that really made the message sink in.

Picture the scene:

Child at school looking out at the rain.  They know that they forgot to take a coat, let alone an umbrella to school - well, they’re just not cool!

So instead of a lovely refreshing 20 minute walk home they're feeling a little delicate and text me asking me to pick them up in the car.  Now, I’m a bit of a mean eco mum - I try not to drive the car un-necessarily and I’m happy walking in the rain (although I do usually have the right gear).  Hence I sent a simple text back - "Why???"

As I waited for the response I was intrigued to think about how they might respond - would it be the appeal to my better nature or would it be a more skilful (and maybe manipulative response)?

It suddenly occurred to me that if they replied "it’s raining and I’d love to spend some time with you" I’d probably have taken the car.  Why?  Because they know that I value the time I spend with them and they would have channelled directly into my mind and found the one reason why I might have gone.  They’d have found out my motivator - my “What’s in it for me?

It really brought it home to me that any marketing/communication we send out simply has to have that hook.  If you relate to your customers and tell them how you can solve the problem they have problem they have then they’re much more likely to buy from you.

In the meantime, I’m still awaiting a response to the text...the rain has stopped and I’m not really a mean mum (honest).  I would drive to get them - if it was raining really hard and their shoes had spontaneously combusted! Ha ha!

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.

I keep confessing to you all and I really have to stop this but then what value would a blog be if it didn’t reveal a little more about me and my thoughts each time?  That’s just my view though - I don’t feel I can write a regular blog without outlining my thoughts and values.  Many other people do write very plain, business like blogs and have enormous success with them.  I’m not aiming for a huge blog following but am still happy that it’s growing gradually.  So why do I do this?

Writing a blog each week can be a challenge - how to come up with ideas and how to allocate the time to post and promote it?  However, I’ve been surprised at the range of people who read it.  These range from local business people that I network with, to old clients who I’ve worked with for years and not forgetting the people I just don’t know but have found me via Twitter or SEO. So given that range of readers how do I make sure that I keep you all entertained, even if just for a 5 minute read?

I wonder how many people really have a good blog strategy and how many just write week after week?  My strategy - to keep my clients and prospects informed of my activity, my thoughts and my business values.  It’s the personal touch to my website that is hopefully, the inviting and more intimate element of my company.  But now I have these other followers should I focus solely on running a small business or go for hard core events tips? That’s my challenge -  to keep evolving the blog and keep you all interested - do let me know what you’d like to read.

So many companies outsource their social marketing to a specialist.  I’m sure this works really well to ensure it gets done and that it’s promoted effectively but is it really the right strategy for your company?  As a small business owner I’m very protective (over-protective?) of my brand and even when I employed staff I still had to oversee the use of the brand.  As such I just can’t see how anyone else could encapsulate and extoll the heart of Nutmeg.  For those that outsource I would really recommend that you use the agency as an alarm and a formatter but come up with the text, the message yourself.  Only the brand owner (be it company director or marketing manager) can really speak of the values of the brand so don’t give that away lightly.

I always find it a challenge to explain what I do.  So many people have their own vision of event management that as soon as I mention those words the listener disappears into their memory and assumes that what I do is what they think I do.  They activate their human listening filter. From art galleries filling their spaces with exquisite works of art, to the organisers of music festivals dealing with crowd control and highly strung band members, event management covers many areas and I have to bring clarity to explain my own particular niches.  This presents it’s own challenges as I want to come up with a snappy description of my business - encompassing all I do whilst inspiring the listeners.

It’s not easy to describe what you do - in fact I’d even say that you can’t do this effectively whilst your listeners have their own minds. They take the words you utter and filter them through their own memories and values.  The end result is a mismatch based on prejudices (good and bad).  Hence we need to work really hard to describe our roles and business in the clearest terms possible.

The first role I had to describe was one of sales and marketing trainee at Access, the credit card company.  Just mention who you worked with and suddenly you were inundated with views, opinions and issues.  The sales and marketing trainee aspect just got ignored.  As far as everyone else was concerned I could help them resolve their credit card statement issues, despite the fact that I was actually involved in market research and sales training for the terminals (no wireless electronic equipment in those days!)

I then went on to work for a company called Atex who made proprietary newspaper equipment.  As part of the Kodak group I was astounded when some visitors to a focused industry exhibition came up to me and asked if I could process their film.  Nowhere on the stand did we mention film, cameras or anything photography related but the Kodak brand was so strong in their mind that a small 20cm logo had attracted their attention.  So not only do we need to watch our words but also think about how your image is perceived through the human filter.

We can’t change the human filter - we all have it built in.  It enables us to pick up conversations from afar when someone mentions our clients or our favourite films.  It does that amazing thing where, once we buy a car we suddenly see 100s of them on the roads.  As a result I’m striving to come up with an objective but interesting description for my business so that I can automatically appeal to the interested parties and make the non-interested at least think about how events can improve their bottom line.  It’s an ongoing process and a fascinating one but one which means that I always try to tune my filters effectively when I’m talking to clients and prospects.  I’ve got to hear their needs and be able to respond and I can’t do that if my human filters aren’t fine tuned.

As you probably know if you’ve been reading my blogs, I’m on a mission to get out and about and meet and chat to as many interesting business people as I can.  I’ve found over the past few months that if I plan carefully I’ve always come away with something useful.  It may not be a sales opportunity but it can be some clarity or business inspiration.  However, I also have to confess that I’ve rushed into a few meetings where I was unprepared and without focus and have really found that I lost much of the potential value.

It is essential to think about why you want to meet each person before you set up a meeting. I’m not advocating a full time seat reservation at Costa Coffee but focused meetings that meet one of your outlined needs.  These needs may not all be sales focussed but may be about building your contact list, or they may fulfil your desire to help and support the community.  So, don’t set up meetings with anyone but do make a list of your requirements and consider if each person can meet that in some way. If they don’t meet those requirements, is it really worth your time? One last thought before you scrap the meeting - do they know anyone who can help you?  People buy from people so maybe the more people you know the more you’ll sell?

As you know, I work on my own now so one of my needs is to meet up with kindred spirits and just talk about my plans for my business.  As a result I’ve been lucky enough to find a small group of ladies who meet up once a month and discuss our business progress.  It’s a great pleasure to meet with them, and it gives me a chance to talk about my current business issues and what’s sometimes better, I get to support their businesses and help them grow.

Even in such a friendly regular meeting I go along with a list of what I want to cover and get out of the meeting.  I set out my issues and goals and make sure I cover them.  Even for new contact meetings I suggest you do this.  Conversations do have a tendancy to wander so it’s great to have focus and something to return too.  If it’s a sales call, not only do you look prepared and interested in them but you’ve got an agenda that makes sure that you don’t leave without the information/tip/contract you need.

As a small business in tough times I’m looking at every opportunity to grow my business and find new avenues.  In the process I’ve spent some time getting trained up on government procurement processes, entering my details on their websites and looking at tenders.  It all looks very interesting and quite promising but is it worth the effort?

I have to confess that I hit a brick wall as I downloaded and started to complete a tender offer.  The level of information required and the time commitment I’d have to put in did seem excessive for the possibility of being included in a short list. It also goes against my core beliefs and ignores my strengths. Simply put, how can I get the quality of my service across in paper?  I can dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’.  I can make sure there are no errors and that my text is compelling but I truly don’t believe that I can sell my service without being in front of someone and explaining my way of doing business and show my passion and commitment.

The strange thing is - I’m a systems person - I love creating and managing systems and so I should love the objective simplicity of a form or two.  But there is something about the lack of personality, the dryness of it all that just made me give up and not take it any further.  

Personally I think you need to be committed to that way of working - it’s not something you can dabble at or do alongside another way of working.  Or of course, you could have extra staff and so allocate one person to tenders - getting them trained up on the processes and minutiae of the forms, so they know how to make you stand out.  As a one-woman company I simply don’t have the time to dedicate to it.  Having said that, if you complete these forms regularly then I’m sure they will become much easier and so the time taken up to complete them reduces.

Maybe it’s the mountain that is in front of me that puts me off - I certainly recognise the need to give equal objective opportunities to every supplier and maybe these forms do that. However, I’m not convinced when I see small businesses ruled out on the basis that their turnover is not high enough, even if they are planning to join together with associates to fulfil the project and have proven in the past that they are more than capable of managing the size of project.

No, all in all I think I’ll look for business elsewhere - after all, I want to do business with people, not with paperwork so I’m going to look for people who want to talk to me.