Trade Show
I love brainstorming sessions. I love to stand in front of a huge whiteboard and bounce ideas off of others. To build on ideas. To think up wild ideas. Some of my fondest memories of afternoons at work have been huddled around a white board and dragging random people into the brainstorming.
Below is an example of the questions I ask myself and others when brainstorming.
- What are my objectives and goals? This is obvious. Your booth design must work around your objectives and enhance them.
- Does the show have a theme? I exhibited at a show with the theme of Alice in Wonderland. I created hundreds of paper flowers as a backdrop.
- Is there a holiday nearby? The World Ag Expo always falls on the week of Valentine’s Day but I have never seen anyone take that and run with it.
- What hot trends are out that you can capitalize on? Photo booth? Bell Bottoms? Unicorns? Mermaids? Will any of the major trends work with your objectives?
- How can we make it interactive? What will draw your customers in?
- Does your company have an anniversary or milestone that it is hitting? These make great themes and get to celebrate your companies longevity.
- What constraints do you have? Booth size, budgets, materials, staffing.
- What would I do if my booth was half the size?
- What would I do if I had half the budget?
- What has worked in the past? You do not need to reinvent the wheel. Use what has worked and build on it.
I use words, doodles, and images to capture the ideas that come out.
I like questions 8 and 9 because it helps to distill your ideas down to their core essence. I ask these at the end of a brainstorming session. They strip away all excess and fluff to bring the objectives to the front.
What are your best brainstorming tips and tricks? What questions do you ask your team when building your ideas?
Trade Show
Engagement is the big buzz word in trade show planning. Getting people into your booth and creating a memorable experience can be daunting but there are great places to gain inspiration. Below is a list of places that I look to for ideas and concepts to push my booth ideas to the next level.
- Zoos and Aquariums – everyone loves to look at the exotic and graceful.
- Theme Parks – the excitement and thrill. Nearly everything is interactive.
- Art Installations – your booth is a work of art, what ideas can you get from others.
- Casinos – very few places are as good at getting people inside and keeping them.
- Museums – they are built to be living exhibits.
If possible, I do two walk throughs, the first to see what grabs my attention and the second, at a slower pace to see what catches other peoples attention. Find a bench and watch the people flow around you. I am watching for the following things
- What causes people to stop in their tracks?
- What do people stare at the longest?
- What do people stop to read?
- Watch for people in your demographic, where do they stop?
Take a sketchbook with you, you can doodle your ideas and insights. Take photos of what inspires you. Jot down notes. However you collect your thoughts the best. Then scan them all into your file system to pull ideas from as you need them. I keep my thoughts in a folder on the cloud so I can get at them at any time.
Where do you get inspiration for your trade show booths?
Events, Non-Profit
I feel that many people do Non-profit event budgets wrong. They start with what they will spend and at the end – figure out how much money they made. I believe you should start with the amount money you want to raise – and then see how much to spend and budget.
Example 1: If your non-profit wants to make $1,000 and you plan to have 50 people – your guests must spend $20 over what it costs you to host them. (1000/50=20) So, if it costs you $20 to have them at the event – you need to sell tickets at $40 a person.
Example 2: If your non-profit wants to make $100,000 and you plan to have 750 people – your guests must spend $134 dollars over what it costs you to host them. (100,000/750=134) Assume a nice dinner is $100 a person including the food and table rentals, you would need your guests to spend $234 for you to hit your goal.
Working backwards can ensure that you at least meet your financial goals and then figure out how to exceed them. But always keep in mind the cost per person and then adding how much you need to make from each of them on average.
Tips for keeping event costs down
- Promoting a Sports Team or School – use their trophies as centerpieces. They are free and provide talking points and even table names.
- Good food, lots of drinks, and music are your basics.
- Find a theme and go all the way. Cheesy is easier to do than elegant.
- Dollar stores have glass vases and candles.
- Rent the vases your flowers come in.
- Use white linens – people rarely care if they have been eating off of the iridescent golden camel linens.
- Supporting kids? Have the group you are supporting make the centerpieces. Some paint, craft paper and glue can go a long way.
- Supporting the arts? Do banquet tables instead of rounds and place white butcher paper over the white linens. Give people items to color with.
- Supporting kids in the arts? Buy the wine early and let them paint on the bottles. You end up with table decorations that will be used.
Trade Show
Being on a trade show floor can be very expensive, even for a 10 x 10 or 10 x 20 booth. Just the real estate you stand on can cost over a thousand dollars depending on the show and placement. As you start adding tables, chairs, electricity, graphics, and giveaways the budget can sky rocket. This does not include the cost of freight or of the booth staff time.
Carpet or other flooring can seem like a great thing to cut to save some money but I believe carpet or flooring is an essential part of most booths. My exception to this is if the show is being held on dirt.
My Case for Carpet
- Most shows will require you to have some sort of flooring, especially if they are carpeting the aisles as well.
- It is softer to stand on than concrete. It is not much but that layer or carpet can help you booth staffs joints and feet.
- It defines your space and allows you to bring in your brand colors or accent your booth decor.
- It gives a polished look to your booth. Imagine two booths, both have a table, two high top chairs, and the banners hanging on the pipe. One has carpet, the other is concrete. I am willing to bet you like the look of the booth with carpet better.
If I am in a budget crunch, I will often forgo the cheap giveaways and get the carpet. 85% of the people that will come grab your item will be trick or treaters. We have all seen these people, they look over a booth for what they can get for free, they are the ones that grab 8 pens – one for each of their grandchildren. I appease these people with a candy dish and keep my giveaway’s hidden to give to customers or true prospects
Trade Show
Trade shows are long days of smiling and repeating the same message in different ways to a wide range of people. They can be days of watching non-qualified attendees grab your pens or sit in your booth. It is a day filled with rejection for those who staff the booth. I have a few tips to help keep your booth staffers happy – especially if they are also your sales team.
- Let them figure out their own schedule
This was an eye opener for me. My last two shows I asked the sales people when they wanted to work and for how long, keeping in mind that the booth had to be staffed for the whole show. They stepped up and worked out the schedule that worked the best for them and their family. If your sales people want to work in one hour shifts, break for an hour and then come back for four more hours – let them. Just be firm in the number of people you need in the booth and the time frames. I had a dramatic drop in complaints and many of them actually stayed on the show floor – if not in the booth 80% of the day.
2. Make sure they know why they are at the show.
Explaining the benefits of trade shows is helpful, but put it into terms they will understand. What is in it for them? The lead list that you will distribute at the end of the show. The industry connections that they can make. Then make sure to follow through with the lead list.
3. Keep water, mints, and snacks on hand.
If the show will be more than 8 hours in a day or two days long, I always make sure that I keep water and snacks on hand for the booth staff. This ensures they are not wandering around looking for something to eat and drink when they should be in the booth. When the show starts early, I will often bring in breakfast for the first shift. (This also helps with the hangovers that often occur at trade shows)
4. Listen to them
I give anyone who was on the trade show floor from our company (staffing the booth or not) a survey that I ask them to complete within a week of the trade show end date. I ask them about the booth, the quality of the attendees, competitors, and what they would change next year or if we should attend next year. This allows me to keep upgrading my designs and gives them input into the shows.
I work hard to ensure my people are happy and taken care of when working my booths. I will go so far as to book hotel and airfare for them. Working trade shows has become much less of a drag and more of a perk. The biggest being – if you work the booth, you have access to the leads and can help shape the future of the trade show program.
How do you keep your trade show staff happy?
