Show Organizers: 4 Sure Ways to Keep Exhibitors Coming Back

When we hear from show managers about their biggest event challenges the recurring theme is: How to grow attendance, Getting More Exhibitors, Getting Attendees, Building Event Traffic, Attracting larger number of quality attendees.

It is all about attendance.

1. Make Sure Newbies Know the Basics: As a show organizer, your goal is to have exhibitors return each year. Get new exhibitors off on the right foot.  Some may know the ropes, but don’t assume that they all do. Here are a few of the basics.

Signage: Make certain exhibitors’ signage makes it clear what they are selling. Seems like a given, right? You would be amazed how many companies assume attendees know who they are and what they do. When attendees cruise down an aisle, exhibitors have only a few seconds to engage them.

Up-Beat and Interactive: There should be no physical barrier between exhibit staff and attendees. Nix the six-foot table that cuts off access. Stand, don’t sit. Smile and be welcoming.

Business-like Atmosphere: Having fun is part of the typical trade show experience, but exhibits should appear business-like. An exhibit isn’t a place for making phone calls, snacking or looking unprofessional. During show hours an exhibit should never be without a staff member.

2. Introduce Exhibitors Each Another:  This is something that many show organizers overlook.  As an exhibitor, I would welcome the opportunity to be personally introduced to other exhibitors within my industry. Exhibitors who do not compete can be an exceptionally good source of leads and references.

3. Make It Easy For Exhibitors to Retrieve and Follow Up On Leads: One of the most important elements for retaining exhibitors is sales leads. If exhibitors get qualified leads, they will return. The primary goal of most exhibitors is to collect qualified leads.

Quality over quantity is a concept we all understand, but do not always embrace. Yes, we may feel satisfaction knowing we have more of something, but in the end, more can just mean, well, more useless junk.  While traffic is important, face it, most trade show attendees are not interested in the all of the products at any given show.  An exhibitor is not trying to appeal to everyone at your event, just those with the need for and the ability to buy its products.

It is vital for exhibitors to identify quality leads. Help them. They need to be able to contact interested attendees. If you fail to encode contact (email and phone) information on your badges, you will alienate exhibitors. Another essential is demographic information, such as the attendee’s buying interests and level of decision-making authority.

Without more background on your attendees, what your exhibitors are doing amounts to nothing more than a blind date.

4. Make It a Show to Remember: A successful show continues to generate buzz even after it has ended. One creative way to stand out and leave a lasting impression is to produce and circulate a video collage of all the exhibits at the show.  Not only is it creative and fun, but it is a great technique for capturing the attention of attendees and exhibitors. It is also a catchy way for people to remember your event. Let’s face it; everyone loves to see their faces on the big screen!

Top 3 QR Code Mistakes People Make at Tradeshows

There are so many great uses of QR Codes, especially at tradeshows. They connect the physical world with the virtual.

Here are 3 of the worst QR code mistakes:

1. Using it in an email. Hint: At this point the recipients are already connected to the web! QR codes link people to the web, if they are used on a website or an email they are pointless and just for show.

2. Not sending people to a mobile optimized page, or worse, just your homepage.

3. Not having a lead capture form on the designated landing page.

Here is a hysterically funny video about bad QR code behavior, you will laugh out loud. We promise.

5 Innovative Ways To Be Remembered At Your Next Tradeshow

1. Tell a Story- From the time we were little kids we learned through the stories we were told. Nothing has changed.  Share with your attendees a story that illustrates how and why your company can make a difference. You are now showing, rather than telling. Some call this is a “case study”.  I call it a story.  We all love stories.

2. Show Credibility- Be the person others turn to for newest and effective business tips. You become the trusted source to whom people turn to learn about critical information. People will want to buy from a company they know is highly credible and an expert in its field. This will generate buzz about your company.

3. Keep it Simple- Walter Isaacson’s biography, “Steve Jobs”, notes Jobs constant recognition of Leonardo Da Vinci’s words, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Bombarding attendees with an overload of information about your product or service will provoke disengagement.  Think back to when you were in school.  When a teacher or professor taught a class, she would break the overall subject into various sub- divisions. From there you would focus on one theme at a time.  This is true with exhibits. Focus on one main theme and then work your entire presentation around it. This will be more inviting and far less intimidating for attendees. It makes things simple, clear and to the point, and in turn helps you sell more. Focus on only a couple products or services and discuss 3 main points.

4. Create an Experiential Brand Experience- Provide demos and allow attendees to share an experience with your brand. People will be more inclined to remember an experience rather than a sales pitch.  Put your products in the hands of potential customers. If selling a service, provide demos. This may be an obvious suggestion, but for some reason, many overlook it. Interact with your attendees and give them a reason to not want, but need what you are offering.

5. Have Fun- Tradeshows are all about face- to- face interaction and networking with existing customers, prospective customers and important industry leaders. Be proactive and attentive to the people with whom you speak. Transmit a fun, energetic vibe that will attract others to your booth. Educate people by sharing with them how your product or service will make their life that much easier and business that much more successful. Tradeshows enable you to check out the latest trends buzzing in your industry. This demonstrates that you are an innovative company and ultimately a credible source.

iLeads Love from the MRA Services’ Ultimate Conference Blog

Last week the MRA Services’ Ultimate Conference Blog wrote a post, “QR codes for lower cost lead retrieval? Who is leading the way?” Rebecca Stewart authored a great post about QR use for tradeshows.

We at Bartizan’s are huge fans of QR codes. QR codes simplify attendee and exhibitor connections and speed up the sales cycle at your event. We use QR codes for lots of event services including lead retrieval. It’s easy for show managers to produce badges using QR codes, no special printers are required. This makes it an ideal solution for smaller, budget-strapped shows that want to appeal to their tech savvy exhibitors and attendees.

Would you like an almost free means of digital lead exchange for your meetings? Or inexpensive electronic ticketing using mobile phones? Or a means of providing paragraphs of information and/or web links to your attendees without the use of paper?

If so, then using QR codes at your tradeshow may soon be the answer for you.

QR Codes connect our physical and digital worlds. When you drive people to your website they get one step closer to doing business with you.

A New Way to Increase Quality Booth Traffic for Your Exhibitors

If you run a tradeshow or conference, the primary purpose is likely to be attendee education in the form of sessions, but exhibitors can play a significant role in educating attendees, as well.

Of course, let’s not forget that primarily exhibitors help defray a substantial portion of the expenses incurred in having an event. As an event organizer, retaining exhibitors is an important goal.

What keeps exhibitors happy and keeps them coming back? Attendees. And attendees want education that has take-home value.

Let’s consider how we can get attendees and exhibitors engaged with one another in a meaningful way. “Stamp my card” so I can qualify for a prize drawing is not a meaningful way. “Give me a pen” is not a meaningful way. “Hi, I see you are from Sheboygan”, is not a meaningful way.

Not every attendee and every exhibitor have a mutuality of interests, but certainly there should be some combination of attendees and exhibitors that result in positive conversation. Should this be left to chance or is there some way that you, as an event organizer, can nurture the possibilities?

Here’s an idea worth trying, we call it:  The Attendee Ambassador Project

It works like this.

First, survey your attendees prior to your event the following questions:

1) Which of the exhibiting companies have they done business?
2) Which companies delivered the goods?
3) What are the attendees’ major challenges?
4) If they could go home having achieved just one thing, what would that be?

Armed with this information, ask a number of attendees to become “Ambassadors”. Give the ambassadors some perks, in return for which they will be asked to escort other attendees, perhaps some already known to them, to visit exhibitors on the show floor in small groups of 4 to 8 people. Ideally, they would visit exhibitors with whom the ambassador has done business.

Impress upon the exhibitors that the visitors should be welcomed as they would if they visited their offices. No hard sell, but more like, “Here’s what we do at National Widget. Let me take you on a “tour”. Perhaps we can address some of your issues or maybe you can suggest services that we should consider offering.”

This would address the issue of quality leads, as opposed to quantity of leads. It would not preclude attendees visiting exhibitors on their own, but as an exhibitor, I would be delighted to host even a half-dozen such groups. More? That would be better yet. That’s my take. Tell me, what do you think of the idea?

Bartizan Connects Promotes Employees

Today Bartizan announced the following promotions and title changes:

Scott Dengrove to director event services, Michael O’Sullivan to manager event sales and Evelyn Campagna to assistant controller.

When Scott Dengrove and his team of specially trained technicians are on the show floor for lead retrieval, badge printing or networking computers, you can rest assured the “show will go on”.

Dengrove has a multitude of other responsibilities at Bartizan. He is a product support specialist and assists our customers when they have a question about our terminals or software. He also conducts training seminars for distributors. A software engineer himself, Dengrove also assists the technical department by testing our various software offerings, acts as our Webmaster and is happy to help add graphics and design to our many marketing pieces.

Michael O’Sullivan joined Bartizan in March 2011. In his role as Manager of Event Sales, Michael supervises Bartizan’s registration services, and assists with new business efforts.

O’Sullivan brings to client engagements an insider’s perspective with more than twenty five years of operations, sales and marketing experience.

Combined with seventeen plus years of extensive convention and tradeshow registration industry experience and operations knowledge, Michael is also very familiar with the issues faced by event organizers at all stages of the process.

With a degree in accounting from Westchester Business Institute, White Plains, NY College, Bronx, NY, Evelyn Campagna’s career took a bit of a different turn when she joined Bartizan in 1990. At different times, she’s been committed to different areas, including customer service, manufacturing and accounting. With the completion of her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, she has found a home as the manager of the Accounting department.

With her all-round professionalism and pleasing phone manner, Campagna keeps our accounts current and our customers happy.

Follow Up Matters: The Million Dollar Lead

It was the mid-70s. There were five companies manufacturing credit card imprinter machines, those once ubiquitous manually operated devices that were used at point of sale to record credit card transactions. Two companies were members of the Fortune 500. One was a Fortune 1000 company. Of the remaining two, one had been in the business of manufacturing these devices for a half-dozen years, run by an experienced executive.. The  remaining firm was a two-year old start-up. The two Fortune 500 companies made the best equipment. The startup’s equipment, not surprisingly, was at the other end of the quality spectrum.

A distributor based  in New Zealand contacted each of the five manufacturers. The distributor had a client that required 5,000 imprinters. Each manufacturer was asked to quote on the order. Which of the five got the order? What was the deciding factor?

The order turned out to be only the first of hundreds that followed. Sales mounted into 8 figures. What at first looked like a nice order turned into very substantial business. Who got the order and the resulting business? If you guessed the startup, you are correct. The surprising thing is why they got the order.

Several years after the first order, the startup’s CEO was in Wellington, New Zealland having lunch with the distributor’s managing director.  By now their relationship was quite good, so the CEO decided to broach the subject. The answer he got was not what he expected. “Tell me, why did you choose us rather than one of our competitors?”, he asked. He expected to hear, “You offered the best price”, or perhaps, “You offered the best terms.”

Instead, as the managing director peered over the lip of his  upraised glass, the CEO  heard, “You answered”. Amazingly, not one of the other four manufacturers had bothered to respond. The startup won the order, and all the that followed, by default.

The lessons learned from this:   Leads are precious. Follow-up matters. A single lead can be worth  millions.

The above is a true story. I know. I was the CEO.

7 Easy Ways to Attract the Right Traffic to Your Tradeshow Booth

Attract the right traffic to your booth – before the show. Here are a few easy ways:

1. Offer incentives like special show pricing, access to exclusive research or information, or an in-booth gift.
2. Send eBlasts to the preshow mailing list inviting them to your booth.
3. Announce incentives on your website, the event Facebook page, blogs, twitter page and LinkedIn groups.
4. Release a free press release about your participation at the show. There are plenty of free press release distribution sites like freepressrelease.com.
5. Use direct mail in a creative way.
6. Your salespeople should contact local prospects to set up appointments and see if they are attending your industry show.
7. Qualify the recipient with your copy: For example: “Announcing an easy new accounting package for small businesses.” this way only those interested will stop by, weeding out tire kickers. Your booth signage should be laser focused as well.

Bonus idea: Print up stickers with your booth number and the name, date, and city of the tradeshow. In the months before the event, affix the stickers to all kinds of communications invoices, letters, packages, whatever you can think of. Provide each salesperson with a batch of stickers, too.

iLeads Listed as One of the Top 10 Free iPhone and iPad Meetings Apps of 2011

What a great way to start the year! Our cloud-based lead retrieval app, iLeads has made the top ten  list of the year’s best trade-show apps. For the full list, click here. Show organizers can save money by using mobile apps at events.

Mobile meeting apps have proven to be effective tools in increasing productivity and providing greater mobility.

Start saving money and increasing attendee and exhibitor satisfaction sign up for a demo of our services.

How to Keep Event Attendees Coming Back

Key to increasing attendance at your tradeshow is understanding why people attend your show in the first place. You need to understand why attending your show would benefit your potential audience.

This sounds simple, but it’s something many associations take for granted. It’s worth reviewing your value proposition today  – people have so many more options available to them.

Host a brainstorming 20 minute meeting with a few key team members, make sure everyone knows your meeting topic in advance and is prepared with 2-3 points to contribute.