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Event Planning Ethics – When Do You Get involved and When to Walk Away

Events often seem to exist in a parallel universe and we as event planners want that. We want to transport our guests into the event, we want them to forget the outside world, even their friends and family, and just enjoy.

But there is a dark side to this.

People can leave their morality and ethics at the door of your event and you have to decide when to get involved and when to just walk away.

When you see someone slip into the rooms of a person that is not their spouse, what do you do?

When you see drugs being sold, what do you do?

If someone asks for a bribe to get something done at your event, what do you do?

Where do you draw the line for both ethics and morality?

The first line you draw is your personal and professional safety. Always put into your event contracts that you have the right to walk away or even leave an event if you are afraid for your personal safety. If a customer balks at this, walk away from the customer. You need to make sure that you are safe. You cannot run your event planning business without you.

Professional safety is the next line. I will not be involved in anything illegal. I do not let customers break the laws or break a contract.

If a customer books a vendor outside of me, I always ask for the contract. (Learn more about Vendor Interviews) This allows me to stay on top of what other vendors needs are and what we can and cannot do. One clause I am careful to pay attention to is around tipping and staff requirements. I need to know if I can tip the staff, if they need food etc.

I always try to feed maintenance and on-site staff whenever possible. Hungry people are not happy people, setting aside plates for them is a simple way to keep people happy. I also keep cash on me to tip people out at the end of the evening. People now know me at my local venues, remember me, and I get amazing service. Treat people well and they will do their best for you. (Tipping is different than a bribe. That is my ethics line.)

The next line is event and client security. If I see issues at my events, I will find my point of contact at the event and let them know and ask what they would like to do. We can ask those in question to leave, have them escorted out, call the authorities, or drop it. I let them know that the decision is up to them but that they will also be responsible for their decision.

The final line is morals. I do not get involved in people’s personal lives. If they want to sleep around, how do I know that they don’t have an open marriage and their partner is fine with it? As long as they are not interfering with my event and not being indecent in the hallways – that is on them.

This may seem like an long list to walk through but it has been developed over years and many events. I have learned what my hard and fast lines are and when to walk away. My good name and that of my business are what is at stake. I keep the highest ehtics and my clients know that.

After Trade Show Checklist

Business, Events, Trade Show

Once your booth is packed up and you are safely back home from a trade show, it feels like a huge relief. But you are not done yet. Take a deep breath, get a good nights rest, and then finish off the trade show. Here is the after show checklist that I go through.

1. Unpack Trade Show Boxes and Restock

It is important to unpack between shows when possible. You can check your supplies, remove any trash, and restock as needed. I learned this the hard way. I didn’t unpack between shows and sent lead cards to another show – lead cards we needed to do give aways.

Also like to count the zip ties, pens, etc. to make sure that I have enough for the next show. See what you should keep in your trade show box here.

2. Follow Up with Leads

Following up with the people you spoke with is one of the most important steps you can take for a trade show. Send an email to the basic leads, call those that were hot. You can read about following up here.

3. Check Your Invoices

Trade shows are large operations and mistakes can happen. Double check your final invoices for any errors. Most show management and operators are more than happy to correct any issues that you bring to their attention if you do so respectfully.

Always check any hours that you have to pay for services and installs. This is where the biggest issues can happen – especially around over time and gold time.

4. Do a Wrap Up Meeting

Bring together the people from your company that were at the show. Talk about what went well, what could have gone better, and any ideas that can be used for the next show. Use the trade show survey.

Trade Shows are not done when you walk off the floor with your packed boxes. You need to complete the four steps above to make sure you get the greatest return on your investment.

Bringing Traffic to Your Booth

Business, Events, Trade Show

Trade shows are about how many peoples you can see if a very short amount of time. You have 4 – 8 seconds for your booth design to grab people attention and make them stop to speak with you. So how do you bring people to your booth?

Traffic Starts Before the Show

Bringing traffic to your booth starts with your pre-show marketing. Emails, social media, and direct mailers are all great ways to drive up interest.

A great way that a company did this was that they sent everyone a dollar and if you brought that dollar by their booth to match it with the serial number, you then got $100. Another time, I was sent a chemical test strip, if it turned a certain color you won a prize and were entered into the grand prize.

For the larger shows, work on finding your target market. You can set up appointments ahead of time, or offer a giveaway that will draw in that target market.

Traffic In Your Booth

First thing to do in your booth is smile and look at the passing crowd. Do not spend money on your booth and then sit behind a table and look at your phone or laptop. I ban phones and any computers not being used for demos in my booths. I also remove chairs. You can read about that here.

One of my favorite designs is a business that could do small batch runs for bottling and they put up a big banner in their booth that stated the exact run size they could do. This was a huge show, after they left, they had contracts to run for the next two months with leads that would book them out of the year. They had their larger competitors sending people to them and they sent larger orders to their competitors – ensuring the customer received the service that they needed.

Tying your booth design, major offerings, and marketing together, will bring people to your booth.

People are here to engage, so you need to show your willingness to be engaged.

The second part of engaging is knowing when someone is not a good fit for your company and how to move them on so you can talk to those who are a good fit. This needs to be done with tact and each person will require different approaches. Practice makes perfect with this.

You cannot speak with everyone at a trade show – and you don’t want to. Bring the right people to your booth and drive the ROI of your trade shows through the roof.

3 Rules that Can Derail Your Trade Show Set Up

Business, Trade Show

Trade show set up is stressful enough without running into the show floor authorities. It can be surprisingly easy to run afoul of the “floor cops” if you don’t know the rules. So here are the three main rules you need to watch out for.

1. Tool Usage

Some facilities do not allow you to use tools to set up your booth. Now tools can mean power tools or it can mean anything more than an allen wrench. When you are designing your booth, make sure you read your show rules to know what you can use to build your booth.

2. Load In Requirements

You can run up against facilities that will only allow you to hand carry items onto the show floor. Others say that you can use a hand cart one time. If you are going to need to haul items in, make sure you know what the rules are and if you need to ship items to the facility or to pay for them to haul items onto the show floor.

If you do have to ship, understand that you will pay to have it shipped to the facility, for storage, and then for them to move it from storage to your booth. You will also pay for them to store your boxes/ crates and then for them to move the boxes back to your booth, back to storage and to ship them again. Make sure you have these costs budgeted into your booth.

3. Set Up Hours

Some shows require that you are set up before a certain time, they do not want to open the show floor and have you scrambling to set up when attendees are arriving. They can even bar you from set up if you are not set up at the right hours.

This biggest thing you need to know is to read the rules.

Yes, they are often 5 – 10 pages long, but read them and know what you can and cannot do. If you run up against something you do not understand or if something isn’t in the rules but you feel like it is a gray area, ask show management before planning on it.

Trade Shows in 2022

Business, Trade Show

What will 2022 bring for trade shows?

Honestly, that is up in the air and changes constantly. With mandates changing on a daily basis, new variants of the sickness that shall not be named, and budgets still being tight, the predictions are all over the place.

Here are a few of the major things that I do predict.

Businesses will be much more intentional about their trade show spend.

Unfortunately, this may mean fewer vendors and sponsors at the local and regional shows. That does leave the door open for the local companies, or the companies that have the budget to attend the national shows and the regional ones to grab a larger market share.

It will also mean more targeted messages and after events. Many companies are limiting the people who will attend the shows as well. I would always be ready to go to a hybrid or totally virtual event until the end of 2022.

It can not be just about the trade show floor

You need to be exhibiting, speaking, and setting up client and prospect meetings while at trade shows. You also need to use social media and your website to extend the life and reach of your booth.

Follow up will become more important than ever with smaller numbers of vendors being able to target and personalize messages to their ideal client.

A table cloth and pop up banner probably won’t cut it.

As technology advances and it becomes harder to gain peoples attention, booth design must evolve as well. Interactive booths, augmented reality, and immersive experiences – even in a 10 x 10 will become the norm.

Be flexible

Anyone that tells you that they know 2022 will turn out like x is crazy. The world we live in is very fast paced and can change in the course of two days. Be flexible as you go about planning your 2022 trade shows, know when to roll with the punches and when to pull the plug.

What are your plans and goals for the 2022 trade show season? I am excited to hear about your plans.

Top 3 Trade Show Scams

Business, Trade Show

Trade Shows are big business and that always brings the scams out. People looking to make a quick buck can ruin your show and have a negative impact on your business cash flow. Here are the top 3 scams you need to watch for.

1. Housing / Hotels Scams

This is the most common scams that I have seen and have personally had hundreds of calls about “special deals” for hotels at trade shows. They will attempt to scare you by saying that the room blocks are filling up fast and you need to book and pay now. They request full payment (rather than the normal one night) and when you arrive at the hotel you will not have a reservation. These people scrape the companies that are listed as vendors on the show website and you will most likely receive 2 – 4 calls per show. Tell them what they are doing is illegal (they hang up very quickly), track the number, and pass it on to show management. There is not much that they can do but it does help.

Where do you find the legitimate room blocks for the show? In the Exhibitor Package that is sent to you. This will most likely be an email. You can often find it on the show website, under an Exhibitor tab. Some shows do have a housing authority that they ask you to book through but again, that information will be listed in the Exhibitor packet.

If you go outside of the show housing authority or with a third party vendor, please make sure it is one that you know and trust. The good part about going through the show housing authority is that they make deals with the hotels that any booking through them cannot be moved to another hotel if the hotel is oversold. They can also act as liaisons between you and the hotels for any issues.

2. Fake Shows Scams

This is harder to pull off but can be more lucrative for the scammers. They will create a website and information that looks legit and then ask you to come. There may be a “discounted rate” because it is the first year the show is running or they are looking for companies just like yours to be a part of it. Sadly, when you arrive at the venue to set up, there is no show and you are out the money. Always do you research on the show before signing up. I am wary if a show is a first year show, is not on the venue website, and it seems like too good of a deal.

If anything seems off to you, call the venue to confirm that the show is happening. (Please get the number for the venue from the venue website and not the person trying to sell you on the show.)

3. Outside Vendors Scams

When you are shopping around for show vendors, especially for an out of town show, please do your research. There are plenty of people out there who are willing to take your money and never show up. This can happen for print items, rentals, and even services.

If someone calls you up offering the deal of a lifetime for the show, be wary.

One other note on outside vendors, many shows require you to get special permission if the vendors will be on the trade show floor at all. Read through your rules so you know what you can and cannot do.

Trade shows are expensive but you need to be wary of people offering you ways to cut costs and corners. Do you research before signing any contracts and be wary of the people who require full payment upfront that are not a part of the show itself.

Looking to save some money on your shows? Check out this blog post.