StartupCafe

This week, we’re very lucky to have Alex Ogilvie – a well-known figure around the University – as a guest blogger. Having been on “best exhibition stand” judging panels, we thought Alex would be perfectly placed to offer up tips to anyone exhibiting at the upcoming EIE 10 event on 12th May. You can check out Alex’s business at Webwise Business, and the Objective Associates blog that he runs.

1995 was the first time we ever exhibited at a conference/trade show. A bit of a disaster really – completely unprepared – we must have looked like the Beverly Hillbillies. Strangely though we won a huge order on the back of the show – which just goes to show, that sometimes it’s all about turning up rather than having the best football boots.

Trade shows don’t guarantee new or indeed any business, but if you’re a virgin exhibitionist how do you get the most out of a trade show? Shows come in all shapes and sizes so do a bit of research first – nonetheless here are some things that we have done over the years to try and get a return:

1. Always have someone on the stand – it’s unprofessional and looks like you couldn’t care less if the stand is unmanned. So think ahead about how many people you need, you’ll need to cover lunch as well as coping with when you want to nip to the loo or attend an interesting workshop/presentation from a competitor (and yes, you DO have competitors).

2. An A4 piece of paper with the Slogan “Stand out from your competitors” printed from a mono laser jet is being ironic – not selling your services. And yes I did actually see this at a trade show, and no they weren’t being ironic. Get a proper display stand if budgets will allow – either a pull-up or a pop-up – anything from £500 to £6,000 should cover it. Hmm…. no budget, well get some decent colour posters made up to cover the back wall of the stand. Two or Three in the same style will be fine and won’t break the bank.

3. Lighting – trade show room lighting is actually very dull so you’ll need lights to highlight your stand. Electricity supplied to an exhibition stand can seem outrageously expensive – because… well it is. But without electricity you can’t run your PC/MAC/Hoover/Electric Toothbrush and you certainly wont be able to shine a light on yourself. (And take plenty of extension leads and adaptors).

4. Always have something to give away on the stand – but that doesn’t mean a 12 page glossy brochure that is destined for the bin. Branded pens are my favourite – they never go out of fashion. Yeah, I know, not exactly original – but folk will always take a pen and some folk will only come to your stand for the pens. Branded Mugs are good – but a pain in the handle to lug around. Pens!

5. Always have plenty of Business Cards (ideally printed on both sides – with a bullet summary of what you do on the reverse). And always get a business card from that special someone who has taken the time to chat. If they don’t have one then ask them to fill in a contact info form. You can buy some postcard sized blank cards and print them on your laser jet with Name, Email, Phone – cheap, professional and effective – folks will fill them in if asked. And try and discipline yourself to keep a note of what you spoke to them about so that you can follow up later. Trust me you won’t remember otherwise (sorry to all those folks that I have no clue about what we spoke about).

6. High heels and short skirts are all very well for some, but agree on a dress code with your colleagues. Are we wearing heels, suits or are we doing the Chino’s and Polo thing. If you are wearing suits then that’s fine – but try and ensure that your colleague’s suit actually fits him and that it doesn’t look like he is nipping out to the “dancing” at any moment. As for the ladies – I know better than to provide dress code advice for ladies – so go as you please… and no… your bum doesn’t look big in that.

7. Competitions are worth doing – they are an inexpensive way of gathering business cards. Yes, it is totally unfocussed, but you will have spent a fortune getting to the show so get as many cards back as you can. The typical thing to give away seems to be a Bottle of Whisky… hmmm. Why not something else – suit yourself, but something of value – if it’s a techy show then something techy. We gave away a couple of iPods recently – very cost effective and very popular.

8. If someone visits your stand and seems genuinely interested then get the diary out and get something in it. If you don’t then when you try and contact them the following week they’ll be out, busy, dead, never existed or a poltergeist – so get a date in the diary. But remember most visitors to shows are exactly that – visitors. They came because they were interested – not necessarily to get the cheque book out. In fact most business at trade shows is done between exhibitors – most trade shows bring together the exhibitors who ARE the supply chain so that shouldn’t be a surprise… doh!

9. Don’t bore your captive visitor. Offer them a chair, they are probably desperate for a seat and have painfully sore feet. Ask them what they do – people love talking about themselves (present company excluded of course). If you find out what they do and with whom then you can figure out if you have anything that they could be interested in. Exhibiting at trade shows is about the visitor – NOT about you.

10. Have something that they can pick up. By all means have a running demo or presentation on a PC – but don’t bore them with an endless demo walkthrough of your fantastic software (sorry to all the folks that I have done that to in the past). Have something they can pick up – a postcard summary of what you do is better than nothing but if you have a physical box or touchy/feely product make sure it’s there. Let them pick it up and look at it and wonder in amazement as to how your elves could possibly have made it. It’s about visitor engagement NOT about lecturing.

11. However, by now I am sure that you are bored reading this so here are some other things to do: Pre arrange meetings, invite customers & prospects, visit other stands (even the competitors), present at seminars, run a workshop, streak through the keynote, unplug you competitors demo, all fairly obvious things.

12. Ok I lied… one final thing that applies to all marketing material not just the trade show stuff – talk about the client in your copy not about you.

i.e. improve your sales with product x designed to ensure you see improved quality/functionality/performance for your growth/sales hungry business. Beat your competition with a new service that only you can offer etc. etc.

That is much better than: We are a brilliant business and we sell a great product and we have been in business for ages and we have a great team and we are nice and cuddly and we won an award once and and and – you get the idea.

If you remember nothing from this then at least remember this: trade shows and conferences are about the visitor NOT about you – unless of course your visitor is an investment hungry VC type, in which case take them hostage, tie them to the chair and beg them to invest a couple of million quid. At least that way they’ll remember you… though you might also get arrested.