The Twist and Shout Guide to a Perfect Exhibition

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Assuming that your main objective is to generate qualified leads we need to first work out exactly how many of these leads are enough to justify the expense and manpower of the exhibition itself and make sure you’re getting a decent return on investment.

High visibility is key when it comes to promoting a brand but spreading yourself too thinly can cause its own set of problems. These range from not having enough time to promote your attendance at the exhibition or to effectively follow up leads, to exhibition fatigue for your staff.

A more effective strategy is to focus on a few, well chosen exhibitions and really make your attendance there count.

Quality over quantity

“We asked you to come up with a strong theme for the show, something that would attract, retain and entertain an audience.You did this with great style...’’

Chris Hayward, McAfeeabout The Big News Show, Infosec’08

What makes a perfect exhibition?As well as generating new leads and customers, you should also be looking to own the higher ground. The following questions are examples of the type of questions you should be asking before committing to an exhibition. The more points you accumulate, the more relevant the exhibition is for you.

3

What makes a perfect exhibition?

As well as generating new leads and customers, you should also be looking to own the higher ground. The following questions are examples of the type of questions you should be asking before committing to an exhibition. The more points you accumulate, the more relevant the exhibition is for you.

Question Yes (2 points) Maybe (1 Point) No (0 Points)

Can you own the thought leadershipspace by running an interactive seminar?

Is the event relevance to your current offering or message?

Is there proof that the event is growing,either in numbers or in reputation?

Is there a relevant target audience?

Is there good feedback from the previous year?

Do you have the right resources available forthe exhibition?

Does the event feel good value for money?

GRAND TOTAL:

Engaging the delegateOnce the exhibitions have been chosen we need to ensure the maximum number of target delegates attend the exhibition and speak to you. We do this by engaging the audience at the earliest possible stage. To effectively do this we need to create and sustain interest by creating a coherent thread that runs from the invitation process, to the event and also the follow up phase.

MessagingThe easiest way to do this is to have a message throughout the journey of the campaign. To cut through the noise generated by your competitors the message needs to be entertaining, thought provoking and stylish. It needs to be anticipated, relevant and personal, so that the recipient wants to find out more. There are endless ways to achieve this, but also plenty of opportunities to make mistakes, such as using overtly technical language, the hard sell and treating all your customers the same.

4.0

Integrating the message can be simple or in-depth as each individual project has different needs. The list below shows some of the options available:

• Branded invitation as start of journey. This could either simply let people know that you’re going to be at a certain event or incentivise them to attend.

• Quiz/competition – again this needs to be relevant and focussed on the delegates needs and could be as basic as a fill in card or an interactive quiz that will drive people to your stand.

• Media that says something relevant to your audience whilst tapping in to the thread of the overall message. This could be anything from a documentary style case study to a feature film.

Integration

‘’We wanted to create a buzz... putting across messages that are key to the themes of the conference but in a way that entertains, leaves people thinking and with a smile on their face.’’

David Hopkins, Siemens Enterprise Communications about Citizen Sally at SOCITM ‘08

• Buy in from stand representatives – incentivising them and making sure they are involved in the process.

• Game based interaction – links to alternative reality branding.

• Branded relevant collateral.

• Leverage from other events/other activities.

• Live actors and performers that will enhance and draw people to the stand.

• Flash mobbing and mass improvisation (for large exhibitions only).

• PR opportunities.

‘’Ultimately you achieved the goal we set you of attracting those crowds... we had more presentations than ever before and I thought you all worked tirelessly for the full three days and it really paid off”

Chris Hayward, McAfee about the Big News Show, Infosec ‘08

Getting the most from your staffThe most crucial resource at any exhibition is the stand staff themselves. However relevant the message or enticing the bait that gets the delegate to visit the stand, it is the staff that are ultimately responsible for building a rapport with the delegates, identifying and cultivating leads and initiating a reason for you to get in touch after the event.

It’s important that the staff keep motivated throughout the day to make sure they talk to as many potential clients as possible. This happens by involving them early in the creation of the exhibitions so they know exactly how the creative idea maps onto their goals.

Unfortunately a day off the road can be perceived as a bit of a waste of time, perhaps by your top sales people. Our goal should be to create an exhibition where that is not the case, and where your representatives care as much about the outcomes as you do.

We would suggest a short briefing before the exhibition so that everyone involved can discuss and ask any questions they might have, as this will ensure that we have a coherent strategy.

Citizen Sally and SiemensOur aim was simple - to promote Siemens technology offering to the public sector. To replace a formal PowerPoint presentation, we produced some genuine branded content in the form of ‘Citizen Sally – Power to the People’, a 40 minute live comedy drama that brought the real issues behind the technology to life. The play was presented at SOCITM 2008 in a slot – just before the closing speech - where traditionally attendances were low as delegates made their way home, making the need to make an impact even greater.

SOCITM’s President described Sally as “an innovative approach to presenting some of the key issues that local government is having to contend with’’. Delegate feedback gave a score of 7.5 out of 10 for relevance and quality; whilst 403 delegates visited the website, with 114 watching the videos. The website was launched two weeks before the play itself and contained a series of ‘homemade’ videos and blog; and plans are afoot to develop Sally into a fully fledged online sitcom.

Case Studies

At Infosec 2008, we created the ‘McAfee Big News Show’ to draw traffic to the Infosec stand and engage with the audience. Presented in the style of a spoof news show we incorporated live and pre-recorded footage to make McAfee the big story of the event. With a live anchorman, roving reporter, quizzes and interviews, we ensured there were multiple points of interest for the audience.

The key was to make the event relevant to the message rather than creating a draw to the stand that in no way directly linked to McAfee. The Big News Show integrated with the stand and allowed the stand employees to be guests within the framework of the show creating a cohesive feel to the whole event. We had to apologise to the other exhibitors for stealing their audiences and limelight for the first ten minutes of every hour throughout the event!

McAfee Big News Show

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