Half of Trade Show Owners Discounting Booth Space

Is the glass half empty or half full?

In their May 2009 survey, UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, found that about half their members (show owners from around the world) said they had discounted their booth space costs within the last several months.  The discount was on average less than 10%.

If you’re a glass-is-half-empty thinker, you may think that this demonstrates how trade shows are being negatively affected by the global economic crisis. 

But if you’re a glass-is-half-full thinker, you could be happy that now you can reach a concentrated gathering of your best prospects at a discount.

Survey respondents were from 57 countries.  See the full report here.

When The Trade Show Is Slow

Be ready to act when you're at a slow show.

Every once in a while you find yourself stuck at a slow show.  Perhaps the show is in a declining market, or it’s a new show yet to get established.  Maybe it’s the show city rotation, or it’s just the last day at an otherwise popular show.  Whatever the reason, you still want to make the most of it.  However, when the show is slow, it’s human nature for the staff to do one of two counter-productive things:

1. Start talking to each other.

The people you bring to staff the booth are usually the most outgoing people you have. So after 30 seconds of staring down the aisle, they get bored and want to talk to someone. Hey look, there’s someone to talk to, your fellow booth staffer!  Chief conversation topics:  Where are we going for dinner tonight, and boy does this show stink (which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy).  The problem is, now you’ve got two staffers out of commission.  It takes discipline and patience to instead resist the temptation to “chat amongst ourselves.”

2. Pounce on every passerby.
It’s slow, so go for the gusto and grab every attendee! We need to get a return from our investment at the show! Well, that may get a conversation started, but you won’t start a good relationship through intimidation.

Instead, wait for the solitary attendee to make eye contact with you (as you’ve been patiently waiting for them, instead of talking with your fellow booth staffer). Once (and if) they look at you, have your best smile ready, and ask a good engaging question, such as “Are you familiar with (Your Company Name)?”  That way you can start a conversation that will lead somewhere.  If they didn’t look at you, well, they may come back on their return trip.

When the traffic is slow, avoid chatting with your own staffers and pouncing on the rare attendee.  That way you get the most out of the traffic you do have.  And anyway, whether it’s slow or busy, you can only talk to one person at a time.

I was inspired by a post on the otisregrets blog about a trip to a slow trade show to write this post.

The Ultimate Concise Trade Show Checklist

What do you need to succeed at trade shows? If you can check these 16 points off your list, you’re well on your way:

1. Align your trade show goals with your overall marketing and company goals
2. Create goals that are specific, measurable, and timely
3. Pay early to avoid rush charges and (surprisingly high) late fees
4. Booth space rental is about one-third your budget, for the rest invest more in areas that give you the best R.O.I.
5. Pick shows with an audience that best matches your target market
6. Go back to the highest R.O.I. shows from previous years
7. Design your exhibit to boldly and clearly communicate who you are, what you sell, and why your prospects should buy from you
8. Design your exhibit to support your booth staffers as a workspace…and work to keep your ongoing expenses down
9. Reach out to attendees before the show, via phone, email, mail, ads, and the web
10. Offer attendees something of value (information, presentations, demonstration, show specials, giveaways) in exchange for a visit
11. Select motivated, friendly, knowledgeable booth staffers
12. Train your staffers to handle the steps to shorter trade show interactions: engage, present, qualify, and close
13. Capture at-show, on paper or electronically, the prospect info your sales team needs after the show — and then give it to them after the show
14. Before the show even starts, prepare a person, materials, and a database to fulfill your leads…and an all-out effort ready to follow up leads after the show
15. Plan ahead to give yourself more time to adapt to problems, especially for international shows
16. Take a binder with all your contracts and contacts with you to the show, including graphic art files on a thumb drive if your display gets lost

Like the list? Will use it? Think we missed something essential? Click now to share your comments.

Job Search Secret: Trade Shows

Find job opportunities at trade shows

With unemployment now at its highest levels in many years and millions of people out of work, perhaps it’s time for the unemployed to go to a trade show. 

Networking has long been a big reason why people attend a trade show.  In today’s economy, trade shows are a great place to look for jobs that have not been published on company websites.  See this article here on the MN Headhunter’s blog site, which also gives advice on how to find trade shows to market yourself at, and how to prepare for networking there.

Free Trade Show Seminars This Week

Want to sharpen your trade show skills?  Skyline is offering free trade show seminars this week in IA, MN, OH, PA and WA.  To learn more and register, go to www.skyline.com/seminars.  We’ve helped over 100,000 exhibitors since starting our seminars in 1988.

CES Officially North America’s Largest Trade Show

What is the largest trade show in North America?  When the final, audited tally came in, the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show actually had 113,085 attendees, more than the previously estimated 110,000 attendees.  Held in Las Vegas from January 8 to 11, 2009, CES had 2,700 exhibitors, and even 300 new exhibitors.   

Read more about it at the Successful Meetings website here.

What’s Working in Exhibiting: New Skyline White Paper

To find out what’s really working in exhibiting now, we worked with Tradeshow Week to survey and analyze the best practices of today’s trade show exhibitors.  The response was amazing.  You and your peers shared over 1,000 new tips, filled with methods to make the most of a trade show program.  94 of these tips are included in the new 32-page What’s Working in Exhibiting White Paper.

Skyline has just published the new 32-page What’s Working in Exhibiting White Paper.  Click here to get your copy.

The Two Big Questions:  How to Increase Results and Stretch Exhibiting Budgets Most of all, exhibitors shared their best advice for 7 key parts of a trade show program.  Here’s the gist of what your peers said is making their trade shows more effective in each exhibiting topic: Exhibitors said they had most success boosting their results with pre-show marketing and show selection.  Show selection also was a key method to stretching exhibiting budgets, as was reducing booth staffing expenses, and saving on display shipping.  Further successful methods are related in the White Paper.      Show Selection  This was the only facet of exhibiting that was frequently mentioned as a key driver in both improving results and reducing costs.  Survey respondents on average are going to 2.2 less shows in 2009, about 15.2% less.  As one exhibitor commented, fewer shows can be a good thing: “We did fewer shows, but with a greater presence.”  Budgeting   Exhibitors reported they are trimming their 2009 budgets by 9.2% on average.  Those who are decreasing their budgets outnumber those increasing by 4 to 1.  However, about half are keeping their budgets the same.  Other than reducing their number of shows, the two most popular methods of stretching their budgets are to reduce booth staff expenses and to save on shipping with lighter weight displays. Measuring Results   90% of exhibitors said they are doing some sort of measurement.  The key: Create a process and formula to actually measure and report sales generated from trade show leads.  Exhibitors who could show sales to justify their trade show program actually were twice as likely to get their budgets increased instead of decreased.  As one exhibitor said, “The only successful justification is sales revenue.  One good sale will pay for a full show’s marketing.” Lead Management   Best practice:  Put more effort into following up your leads.  When exhibitors focused on lead follow-up, more of them actually increased than decreased their budgets.  Lead management elements included persistent, planned follow up, a good CRM / database program, and a person responsible for it.  Note:  these are the same elements needed for measuring results! Exhibit Design   Less really is more.  Exhibitors reported their primary ways to change exhibit design that improved trade show results was to go more simple, including a more open and less cluttered layout, and exhibit graphics that are bright, clear and straight to the point.  Most exhibitors are also going for more flexibility to easily change graphics and booth configurations. Booth Staffing  By far and away, exhibitors say sales people make their best booth staffers, followed by their top management.  Exhibitors are getting better results by improving how they select staffers, communicating their goals before the show, and booth staff training.  Said one survey respondent, “We pick the ones that have proven track records and set high expectations for any newcomers.”  Promotions  Exhibitors rely most on direct mail and email for their pre-show promotions.  When asked which at-show promotions are working best, exhibitors liked free giveaways / drawings, discounts, and demonstrations.  One exhibitor described their proactive pre-show marketing thus: “We identified targets and reached out to key attendees before the show.  We invited key prospects to lunch/dinner meetings to have more in-depth conversations off the show floor.” Much of marketing is taking risks and experimenting.  Your peers have been doing just that, and this new report lets you tap into their recent successes and failures.  Take advantage of the wisdom of crowds, and get yourself a copy of the What’s Working in Exhibiting White Paper.