Your company’s trade show exhibit is the focal point for any conference or event you’re attending, but it won’t be the only thing representing your business.  You and the rest of the staff will also get plenty of attention.  By understanding the dress code for any event, you can ensure you’ll be putting your best foot forward and impressing attendees.

Dress For The Trade Show Exhibit Event

Although most venues don’t have a formal dress code, they usually have fairly clear guidelines that attendees and exhibitors are expected to follow.  In most cases, casual clothes are frowned on; exceptions include sports themed events and recreational events such as boat shows.  For professional conferences (medical, legal, etc.) you should always dress as though it were an important day at the office.  If you’d wear a suit to meet your CEO, then a suit is best for a trade show booth.

Dress For The Venue

Make sure you check with the venue where your trade show exhibit and banner stands will be displayed.  There’s a huge difference between padded, carpeted flooring and a concrete convention hall.  The harder the floor, the more comfortable your shoes will need to be.  Women should avoid wearing sandals; they look too informal and toe and foot injuries are common in areas where there is a lot of wiring for dozens of trade show booths.

Wardrobe Details Are Important

Don’t forget that you’ll be working long hours on your feet at your trade show exhibit and dress accordingly.  You can dress professionally and still be comfortable if you keep a few things in mind:

1.  Your shoes will make or break your comfort when you’re on your feet for hours.  Women should avoid high heels; today there are gorgeous flats that will work with any business suit or dress you may wear.  Whatever you do, don’t wear new shoes or you’ll have aching, blistered feet before the end of the first day.

2.  Be aware of the norms in your industry and scale down or cover body art or piercings in order to avoid standing out as “inappropriate.”  In most cases, earrings are fine, but pierced noses and eyebrows can be viewed with disfavor in more conservative industries.  Remember, when working the booths and banner stands it’s about representing the company, not expressing your personal taste.

3.  You can wear jewelry in moderation.  The pieces should be classic and understated rather than loud and intrusive.  An armful of bangles is distracting and there’s already plenty of noise on the convention floor; you don’t want to have to compete with jangling jewelry to be heard.

4.  Polish your shoes!  This sounds simple, but there are executives who have admitted they check out the shoes of company reps.  Scuffed or neglected shoes say you aren’t interested in the details, which is a bad message no matter how awesome your trade show exhibit is.

5.  Working trade show booths means shaking a lot of hands, so be sure your hands look their best.  If possible, get a manicure a day or two before the event so your hands are well groomed.  Women should choose either a pale, neutral nail color or stick with a clear coat of polish.

6.  Take a small sewing kit with a needle, thread and a lint brush for quick clean-ups or repairs.

With all of these tips in mind, you’ll be sure to dress for success and have a great show!

Apparel is just one of the many things you need to talk about with your booth staff before a trade show.  For a deeper look at how to have the best team, read the Booth Staffing Guidebook.  Request your free copy of this 48-page workbook filled with articles, worksheets, and checklists by clicking here. 

Trade shows are used for the face-to-face marketing, networking, and selling and ultimately aim to build and/or solidify relationships.  What about before and after the show?  Along with traditional marketing techniques, begin thinking of how to incorporate social media tools to augment your tried and true pre-show promotion and post-show follow-up strategies.  These can work regardless if your company is B2C or B2B.  Trade show booth staffers may be using these tools everyday to network with customers, so let’s tap into social media to continue that conversation.

The wisdom of the 4 B’s

The 4 B’s is a practice that can be used by anyone and applies to all types of social media.  Mike Yoder, a dear friend and founder of the method, swears by it – and I humbly agree!  Here are some ideas to link the “Be’s” with the tools:

Be Interesting (Before the show)

What sets your company apart from the competition?  What’s your show theme or the critical brand message you’re trying to introduce?  How can you engage clients to get the message and want to connect with you?

Try participating in BoothTag at your next trade show and/or provide a QR code that links to a landing page of a contest instead of your website.  Take this idea, and spread your message before the show, using both traditional methods (email and snail mail) and non-traditional (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc).  Keep it simple, interesting, and have a little fun with it, but…

Be Relevant (at the show)

Not everyone buys into gamification and contests in a trade show exhibit, because it doesn’t always bring qualified leads.  However, when done correctly, you can create a contest that is relevant to your brand, theme and other trade show initiatives, which will result in attendee sign-ups that become qualified leads.

For example, say you’re a software integration firm at a trade show offering attendees a free assessment of their systems software, but since this is a common industry practice many people may not be enticed by this offer. However, create a compelling message and offer a free assessment via a fun contest, coupled with a favorable chance to win an iPad, and voila!! …you’ve now lowered engagement barriers, spawned brand/message recognition and paved the way to more qualified leads.

Keep in mind that a perfect “give-away” promotion is tied to a business need and a personal interest, and done through a positive, memorable experience.

Be Helpful (during and after the show)

This point reminds me of a TEDx presentation by Angela Maiers called, “You Matter.” The message here is that there is a power and a genius in act of caring for others.  Demonstrate that you get this and you aren’t just processing people through your booth.  Use your social media tools to thank them for spending time with you and to keep the spark you started at the show going long after it.

A person overlooked, a need unacknowledged, or a promise simply forgotten are all missed opportunities that could potentially create a negative impression on your brand and on you as a person. The Internet through social media has created a networked mobile society, a culture of immediacy, and an expectation of expedited follow up.  Fortunately, social media tools also provide the opportunity for you to respond accordingly and to continue the dialog with your new contacts over networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Be Yourself (always)

Self-explanatory, but let’s go over a couple main points. The beauty of social media is that it is a more informal communications medium where you can be yourself, just as you might at a cocktail party. It is not a promotional platform or dynamic infomercial.  It is about listening, sharing and caring.  Channel your inner-self and empathize with your clients and followers and you may be surprised how influential and powerful you really are.

Again, social media is a communication channel and a tool for marketing.  However, as with all communication channels, your success is wholly dependent on the quality of the dialog and the skillful use of the tools available.

In addition to using social media, enhance your trade show strategy by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page book reaveals the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy. 

1.  Everyone already knows who we are.

It may seem that way sometimes, that you’re so well known you don’t need to build awareness anymore.  But that high awareness level has to be invested in to be maintained – there are always new people just moving or hired into your market that have never heard of you before.  However, if you truly are universally known, then leverage that high awareness level and shift your exhibiting goals to generating leads and holding face-to-face meetings with clients.  Those are even better reasons to exhibit!

2.  Our clients love us.

Guess what – clients who love you will tell you that, but clients who don’t will tell someone else.  Maybe even your competitors who are at the show.  When your clients have problems with you, you can head off problems by meeting them face-to-face at your industry trade show and asking them, “How are we doing?  What can we do to improve?”  If you listen, and then act on what they tell you, then they really will love you.  And what better opportunity to cross-sell and upsell clients who do love you then at that rare time you can meet them face to face – at a trade show!

3.  We already have enough customers.

For the few that can honestly claim to have enough customers already, you have my admiration.  Just remember that nothing lasts forever.  There will always be turnover at your clients or among your salesforce, turning your loyal customer into a contested account.  Add to that the never-ending efforts by your competitors to dislodge you from your customers, and you have even more reason to keep seeking new clients.

4.  We know where the industry is going.

With the more competitive global economy, the speed of new product innovation has increased over that last two decades.  There is no better place to feel the seismic shifts in your industry than at a trade show – and especially in your own booth, where a parade of attendees asks you how you compare to the latest developments they are seeing down the aisles.  Keep your finger on the pulse by putting your feet inside your trade show booth.

5.  Our competitors can’t compare to us.

If your competitors can’t compare to you, then you should be at the show letting prospects know that.  Make your case with a trade show exhibit that clearly reveals your competitive advantages.   If you really are the best, but you are not there, remember that shopping attendees will compare the remaining vendors they do can see on the show floor.

6.  No one is shopping for our products right now.

There have been some drastic downturns in selected industries over the last few years.  But while that has reduced their flow of buyers, it hasn’t stopped the remaining buyers from attending – and shopping — at trade shows.  There are always buyers – so if you are the one who exhibits, you’ll be the one they meet when they go to the show.  Plus, when the industry rebounds, you’ll already be there, ready to welcome them – and their checkbook – into your trade show displays.

7.  We don’t have any new products.

When product life cycles were longer, companies timed their new product launches for their major industry trade shows.  Now, with shorter product life cycles and the rapid availability of product info via the internet, marketers don’t want to wait to launch their new products.  However, exhibitors still get tremendous value at trade shows from lead generation, increasing brand awareness, and building relationships.  And for most exhibitors, their year or two old products will likely be brand-spanking new to the vast majority of attendees they see in their booth.

8. We get enough leads already.

This is similar to #1, that everyone already knows who you are.  If you are getting enough leads already, you can shift your goals at the shows to go farther than just taking leads.  Take advantage of how the show acts as a central meeting place for your market.  So instead of flying all over the country or the world, you can set up meetings with clients, key prospects, and industry partners you want to build stronger alliances with.  You save time by meeting all these valuable people in one place.

If any of these 8 reasons have kept you from exhibiting at trade shows, perhaps now’s the time to reconsider.  Dust off that old exhibit, or perhaps even get a new trade show display, and get back into the show.

Still on the fence?  There are many more important reasons to exhibit at trade shows revealed in the 24-page white paper, The Value of Trade Shows.  Click here to request your free copy.

Shoot Photo & Video Footage While On-Site

Cover your booth as though it were a news story, electronic news gathering style. You can hire a professional or assign the task to someone on your staff. Getting great footage is an achievable goal, even if you’re not a professional camera operator. Perform some Internet research on how to shoot great photos and video.  Develop your shot list before you leave for the airport so you’re prepared to execute on-site.

Here are some suggested shots. Be sure your company logo, branding and signage is visible in every shot possible.

• “Establishing shot” of the venue from the outside
• The buzz, the crowds, the show floor from above
• Customer testimonials or interviews
• Product demonstrations
• People interacting and conversing inside your booth
• Beauty shots of your trade show booth

Next, Edit Your Video Clips

If you’re a do-it-yourself-er, the magic of Apple is all you need. With photos and HD video footage shot with an iPhone and edited in iMovie, you can be an independent filmmaker in no time. You can add titles, incorporate photos or images, and seamlessly edit footage from your event to create a great looking promotional or educational video.

Upload to the Internet

Once your video is produced, you’ll want to upload the file to your favorite social media sites (and of course, your website.)  Don’t be stingy, upload everywhere — like Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Veoh and Blip.tv to name a few.

Share, Promote, Extend, Leverage

Your video is online. Let the games begin!

• Publish a press release….link to your video
• Write a blog post….link to your video
• Post status updates on LinkedIn and Facebook….link to your video
• Send an email or newsletter to your database….link to your video
• Apply a QR code to business cards and trade show graphics….link to your video
• Distribute the link to your sales team to share with prospects & customers

The Bottom Line

The name of the game is to keep your audience engaged. Creating fast-moving, interesting content is a great way to extend your event, post after post after post.

Find more effective strategies used by exhibitors by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page guide has almost 100 tips for trade show marketers to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy.

Custom Modular vs. Traditional Hard Wall Exhibits

By shipping a 20′ x 30′ custom modular exhibit (rather than a 20′ x 30′ traditional hard wall custom exhibit) to just one show reduces the amount of CO2 going into the atmosphere by nearly 2 times its own weight.  That one-show carbon emission reduction is larger than if you switched from your regular, gas guzzler to a hybrid car for an entire year.  Over this exhibit’s lifetime, shipping that same 20′ x 30′ custom modular to 3 shows a year for 5 years will reduce 62,299 pounds (or 27 times the exhibit’s weight) the amount of carbon emissions, from entering into our atmosphere.

It’s easy to make a difference, long term as well as immediate.  For example, you’ll also notice “green” savings as a result of reduced shipping charges.  Good for your budget.  Good for your business.  Good for all.

Thinking Green?  Go Rental!

For the greatest overall savings a custom modular rental may be the perfect green fit for your exhibiting program.  Both of the exhibit designs below are custom rentals.  Many rental depots are stocked with inventory and located at major venue sites.  The carbon emissions savings coupled with greatly reduced transportation costs will be a big step towards maximum impact, increased ROI, reduced expenses.

Reducing costs for you and reducing harmful emissions for the planet are great benefits of a green trade show display.  Making the up front investment in a sharply designed custom modular exhibit that provides quality and looks will help you rule the trade show floor and make it worth every penny.

Read more about how exhibitors are switching to lighter weight custom modular exhibits because they help lower operating costs and provide greater flexibility in The Trend To Custom Modular white paper.  Click here to request your free copy. 

For Lerner, an experienced brand manager, the objective was clear: Attract distributors by making a big impression, while emphasizing the most salient aspects of the brand.

“Our packaging is a real differentiator, so it was important to present our brand in a way that reinforced the can as the hero,” says the Chicagoland entrepreneur.

Mission accomplished

Lerner admits that parting with precious start-up funds wasn’t easy, but once he decided to take the leap, he did it right.  “Initially, I had planned on a very minimal budget,” he explains.  “But I decided to invest in a trade show display that will last for years and deliver the punch I was looking for.  The result is a great trade show exhibit that makes a big impression.”

Lerner and his team were able to land The Vitiman Shoppe, a relationship that will prove to be quite valuable.  The leading nutritional products retailer has more than 400 stores in 37 states, and recently invited Lerner to exhibit at a private corporate event attended by store managers from across the nation.

Exhibit locally, distribute globally

Importers from around the world attend Natural Products Expo West in search of exciting innovations such as Solixir.  While international distribution deals may still be pending, Lerner acknowledges that exposure is key.  “We were able to get Solixir in front of several foreign importers at once – a feat that’s difficult and costly to accomplish other ways.”

The future is bright

With wins as noteable as Whole Foods and The Vitamin Shoppe, Lerner and his colleagues have a promising future ahead.  And, according to Lerner, trade shows will continue to help drive their success.  “We’ve done Natural Products Expo twice since launch,” he says, “and we plan to be there every year going forward!”

Find more reasons to exhibit at trade shows by reading The Value Of Trade Shows white paper.  This special report reveals how exhibitors and attendees find significant value in trade shows, and expect to for many years ahead!  Click here to request your free copy. 

The Value Of People, Product, and Promotions in Attracting Visitors To Trade Show Booths

Attendees gave their primary reasons for visiting trade show displays, and when the answers are grouped, you can see that people, product, and promotions are key in getting attendees into your exhibit:

Source: Marketech, Inc.

Product:  The number one reason given to enter a trade show booth was to obtain product information (32%).  Add product demo (11%) and you get to 43% of booth visitors interested in product.  So being ready to help attendees to learn about your products is paramount.

Promotion:  There are several reasons for visiting a booth that can be grouped under promotion:  Giveaway (17%), in booth activity (11%), refreshments / hospitality (8%), ad / promotion (5%), and invitation (1%).  Those add up to 42% of respondents.   So consider this – does your promotion budget equal 42% of your trade show budget?  Probably less – so promotions are worth the investment.

People:  Attendees said they visited booths because of the greeter (13%), product demo (that a person usually does!) (11%), and to see a rep (10%), which adds up to 34% of interested attendees.  Thus, the people that you choose to staff your booth truly matter.

Other findings from the study.

• Sponsorships and ads do increase brand awareness among trade show attendees, but do little to increase booth visitation.  If the goal is to get leads, then sponsorship appears to be the wrong promotional tool.
• Pre-show promotions are key in getting attendees to the booth, as only 20% said they visited because of “happenstance.”
• Giveaways and greeters are effective investments for driving booth traffic.

Trade show booths are the intersection of people, product and promotion, and all are essential in attracting attendees.

The Incredible Value Of A Proactive Booth Staffer

When asked who started the interaction between them and the booth staffer, attendees said that 89% of the engagements were started by the rep.  So without booth staffers that engage visitors, exhibitors will get far, far poorer results.

To Influence Attendees To Buy, Help Them Learn

Marketech believes this is the key takeaway from this research report:  There was a strong correlation between learning from an exhibitor and being more inclined to buy from them.  For example, when an attendee learns something new, they were 27% more inclined to buy from the exhibitor, but if they did not learn something new, they were only 6% more inclined to buy from the exhibitor.  An attendee who learns from you is more likely to become your client.

But it has to be relevant learning, cautions Marketech:  “Identifying the visitor’s agenda and speaking to it must be one of the most important elements in preparing a staff to work an event.  Otherwise, the exhibit staff is merely delivering an information dump that does not achieve either party’s objectives and is a waste of time.”

Other “Best Practices” Recommendations For Exhibitors:

• Create a reason for attendees to put you on their “must see” trade show list
• Ask your sales reps to invite their customers and prospects
• Be sure to train your staff to best engage with attendees
• Create a learning environment in your exhibit to drive purchasing behavior, and be creative in transforming known information into something new
• Teach technicians to mention your brand name while they do demonstrations to increase memorability with attendees
• Pay attention to non-customers and influencers, too, because they can spread the word to buyers, too
• Increase memorability with hands-on demos

The size of this study – based on over 3,000 interviews – gives you an unprecedented body of experience to help you enhance your trade show program.  There’s great advice here, especially about drawing in attendees with product info, promotions, and the right people, and about creating a true learning environment to make attendees more likely to buy from you.

Boost your trade show results with insights from this new white paper, What Attendees Tell Us About Best Practices, based on over 3,000 interviews with trade show attendees.  Click here to get your free copy now.

If you do nothing else with your graphics, get these two things right with your trade show exhibit:

Clearly state 1. Who you are, and 2. Describe what you do.

Who you are and what you do.  That’s it!  Simple.  Basic.  Trade show 101.  Yet…so hard for so many.

Depending on the size of your trade show display space, you have roughly 3-5 seconds to catch that prospective visitor’s attention.  If they cannot clearly identify who you are and/or what you do, your odds of attracting their interest dramatically fall.

In today’s economy, the trade show floor is now being walked by more senior level decision makers.  With more to do in less time, no one has time to waste.  If your prospective visitor (and future client) cannot clearly identify who you are or what you do, then the easiest decision for them to make is to keep moving on to the next space.  They do not have the time nor do they want to spend the energy to try and figure out what solution you provide.  At most shows, there are simply too many other messages competing for their attention.

If you are a large organization, stating that you are XYZ may not be enough.  What division of XYZ?  And then simply state what you do.  What is the problem you solve?  What is the solution you are offering? What makes you different?  The idea is to help your prospective visitor easily make the decision that you are indeed someone that may fill their need.  After all, that is why they are there at that show.  They have a need and are seeking out someone to fill that need.

Following this rule will also help save your booth staff time, energy, and money by helping the prospective visitors qualify themselves rather than wandering into your space trying to figure out who you are and what you do and eventually getting to the point where it is clear by eating away at your staff’s time and resources.  This frees your staff to fully concentrate on true potential clients.

Adding graphics that help tell the story, some pointed bullet points, and even a testimonial or two all help encourage that prospect to stop… once they can identify who you are and what you do.  And making sure your booth staff is properly prepared and trained to work as a team on the show floor will only help increase your show ROI.

But it all starts with the basics.

Who you are and what you do.  That’s it! Simple.  Basic.  Trade Show 101.  And not so hard.

Round out your knowledge of trade show basics by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. With almost 100 tips, the report reveals the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today to boost their results and stretch their budgets. Click here to request your free copy. 

How important is it to measure and communicate the results of your trade show program?  Here’s how essential measurement is to your success:

• “If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.”  - Robert Heinlein
• “What gets measured gets done, what gets measured and fed back gets done well, what gets rewarded gets repeated.”  - John E. Jones
• “In God we trust, all others bring data.”  - W. Edwards Deming

So yes, measurment is imporant.  That is why Skyline is honored to offer you an updated tool to help you measure your trade show program.

The 3rd version of the “Measurement Made Easy” Trade Show and Event Calculator CD program now gives you a place to record and calculate 20 different trade show metrics.  There are 5 measurements for before the show, to help you prepare, and 15 measurements for after the show, to help you measure how you did.

But like a bike with 20 gears, you may not need to use all of them.  So for this 3^rd edition, we highlighted the 7 metrics we feel are the most important:

Before The Show

1. Pre-Show Promotion

In today’s competitive trade show arena, you need to invest in promotions to get more attendees to cross from the aisle into your trade show booths.  This calculator helps you calculate your cost per contact from pre-show promotion, so you can see how much extra value promotions bring your program.

2. Attendance

Surprise: Your best shows may not be the biggest shows, but the shows that have the most people that fit your target market.  This calculator helps you delve deeper into each show’s audience to discover the shows that are the best value for you.

3. Estimated Budget

With this calculator you can quickly estimate for a show how much you might spend on key areas such as booth space, trade show displays, travel, show services, and more.  The estimates are based on industry average budget expenditures.

After The Show

4. Budget Versus Actual

So, how close to your estimated budget did you actually spend?  This calculator lets you compare what your actual costs to what your original estimates – and see where you had the biggest percent differences.

5. Cost Per Contact

This simple calculation lets you calculate how much each individual contact cost you after your entire show budget is added up.  Then you have a cost that you can compare against other ways to get face-to-face contacts.

6. Cost Per Lead

One of the most popular metrics, this calculator not only helps you calculate cost per lead, which is your total trade show exhibit program investment divided by your number of leads, but also track (and define) leads by quality, such as “A” leads, “B” leads, and “C” leads.

7.  Potential Return On Investment

While ROI is the ultimate measurement for most companies, it can take many months, if not years to close B2B leads with their longer selling cycle.  This gets you a viable number quicker, by considering lead counts, percent of sales-likely leads, average sales dollars, and exhibiting investment to get to a potential ROI.

There are also 13 more metrics you can measure, calculate, record, and report with this updated Measurement Made Easy CD.  And as with previous versions, the program allows you to record your show data, then print reports for management.

We are grateful for Marketech for creating this program and allowing us to share it with you.

Measure and justify your trade show program with the newly updated Measurement Made Easy CD.  Click here to ask for your free copy of this program.