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Casual Articles - Exhibit Hall Do's and Don'ts - For Exhibit Hall Managers, Event Hosts and Exhibitors Too
In recent years gift baskets have become extremely popular, with an increasing number of options available, plus a number of speciality baskets, such as golf enthusiasts, new baby and gourmet baskets. Another type of basket in great demand is the corporate gift basket.In choosing corporate gifts, a company has to decide what it is trying to achieve in giving the gift at all. Like any marketing decision (and let's be honest, this is marketing), the choice needs to take into account costs, purpose and likely benefits, as well as any possible adverse reaction if a bad choice is made. So, your corporate gift basket, if that is the general choice you make, should be appropriate not just to the recipient but the level and importance of the business relationship you have with them.I am stating the obvious in saying that the corporate gift basket you send needs to both please the recipient, and fu
- offer places for people to interact with each other. organize through similar interests, but ask for accountability and action to be taken...emphasize more active involvement on the part of participants. use experiential exercises to surprise attendees out of passive learning mode. this brings the material in the conference to life.
- integrate the five senses - ask attendees to diagram, fingerpaint or record on audio/video, what their experience has been that session/morning/day. this pays off even more later when you get to show how much activity has gone on - the unsolicited testimonial as it were.
- create a party atmosphere when appropriate. this won't 'fly' for the more serious industry conferences but let's face it, many conference goers rely on this annu
The average company loses half their customers in 5 years and half their employees in 4 years? This has significant impact to overall customer, employee, investor and supplier loyalty. Loyalty is the degree to which these groups are loyal to your product, service and organization.In today's market, being customer focused is a key to survival and longevity. High levels of loyalty have positive impact on customer satisfaction, profitability, and reputation. Happy employees work harder, produce more and stay with an employer longer. Investors and suppliers feel increased confidence in the organization and their actions reflect that.So how do you know if your organization is lacking in loyalty or strong in it? Here are just a few key steps in gauging and improving loyalty:1. Evaluate current levels of loyalty. Information can be gathered from customers, employees, supplier
When it comes to numbers of booths, the color of the carpets, how much to charge for what size of booth, etc., that stuff is the science. When it comes to managing expectations and meeting the needs of the disparate 'shareholders' as it were, that is the art.
I've been to many, many exhibit halls in many markets, as speaker, presenter, event host (too many times to count) as well as just plain attendee. It's really magic when both the art and science of the hall come together and I can tell you that it's harder to achieve than it looks. For the most part, it's the art side that gets neglected.
Here are some tips to increase your chances of knocking it out of the park:
(1) Let it flow.
Traffic is essential to making an exhibit hall hum. At best, the hall takes on an 'electric' aspect, and people wander through not just to 'check out the booths' as if ticking off an item on their 'make the conference worthwhile' checklist. They go back to the hall because that's where the excitement is - like the midway at the carnival, the cafeteria in the office building, or the commercials during superbowl. If the talks and presentations at a conference are the bones, the exhibit hall and the flow of traffic in and out of it are like the connective tissue that make the bones work.
As such...make sure the hall itself is in the middle of all the presentation rooms.
This can be tough because some of the buildings these conferences are held in weren't designed with this in mind. An attendee has to trek a long way away from their next breakout to even get near the hall. Don't hold your conference in that venue if this is the case. The exhibit hall will fail.
Also...make sure all the doors (entrances/exits) etc. are wide open to the hall. All of them - don't force people to squeeze through one half a set of doors - they'll leave.
If you must have security at the doors, make sure it is friendly and unintimidating for attendees to get through. Even better, ask why you have to have security in the first place. Unless you actually have a need for a metal detector, isn't more people going into the hall better than fewer? Let them in, for pete's sake, let them all in.
(2) Add value. In doing so, come to embrace the 'commerce' side of exhibit halls.
Too many conference organizers are scared of promoting their exhibit halls for fear of being too commercial. They are what I call purists. They want the event to be educational. They want to receive accolades as to the content of the conference. A worthy goal, to be sure. And, once again, information is only information - what if you look at the exhibit hall as a place to add value over and over information?
Add value to the exhibit hall experience by:
- creating places for people to interact with speakers, through signings, sure, but how about q&a sessions, hot seat coaching or demos, like the ginsu knife demo at the home show?
- offering a range of options for food, right in the hall. attendees don't always want to have to sit down at the moment the conference schedule indicates, in order to fuel themselves. get creative with food offerings - making it easy, inexpensive and integrated with the exhibit hall experience...people bond over food, big business gets done over food, the right food and water in the right spots can transform an entire conference and exhibit experience.
- offer places for people to interact with each other. organize through similar interests, but ask for accountability and action to be taken...emphasize more active involvement on the part of participants. use experiential exercises to surprise attendees out of passive learning mode. this brings the material in the conference to life.
- integrate the five senses - ask attendees to diagram, fingerpaint or record on audio/video, what their experience has been that session/morning/day. this pays off even more later when you get to show how much activity has gone on - the unsolicited testimonial as it were.
- create a party atmosphere when appropriate. this won't 'fly' for the more serious industry conferences but let's face it, many conference goers rely on this annua
A number of economic changes are magnifying the role of small business and creating the impetus for entrepreneurship.In the past, many people perceived small business owners as shopkeepers – the mom ‘n pop shops. Today, with a status boost, they’re entrepreneurs, and perceived to be on the leading edge.But is now the right time to step up to the plate and take a swing at starting a small business? In the audio book, “Sound Advice on Small Business,” author Jim Schell points to a number of economic changes creating momentum for entrepreneurs.Continued downsizing in the Fortune 500 sector is one change, as corporate CEOs strive to keep earnings up to stock market expectations. “The corporate rat race has become more stressful to its inhabitants, and more tenuous,” says Schell. “Today’s Enrons and Worldcoms haven’t done the image of the big guys any good, either.”Job creatio
Traffic is essential to making an exhibit hall hum. At best, the hall takes on an 'electric' aspect, and people wander through not just to 'check out the booths' as if ticking off an item on their 'make the conference worthwhile' checklist. They go back to the hall because that's where the excitement is - like the midway at the carnival, the cafeteria in the office building, or the commercials during superbowl. If the talks and presentations at a conference are the bones, the exhibit hall and the flow of traffic in and out of it are like the connective tissue that make the bones work.
As such...make sure the hall itself is in the middle of all the presentation rooms.
This can be tough because some of the buildings these conferences are held in weren't designed with this in mind. An attendee has to trek a long way away from their next breakout to even get near the hall. Don't hold your conference in that venue if this is the case. The exhibit hall will fail.
Also...make sure all the doors (entrances/exits) etc. are wide open to the hall. All of them - don't force people to squeeze through one half a set of doors - they'll leave.
If you must have security at the doors, make sure it is friendly and unintimidating for attendees to get through. Even better, ask why you have to have security in the first place. Unless you actually have a need for a metal detector, isn't more people going into the hall better than fewer? Let them in, for pete's sake, let them all in.
(2) Add value. In doing so, come to embrace the 'commerce' side of exhibit halls.
Too many conference organizers are scared of promoting their exhibit halls for fear of being too commercial. They are what I call purists. They want the event to be educational. They want to receive accolades as to the content of the conference. A worthy goal, to be sure. And, once again, information is only information - what if you look at the exhibit hall as a place to add value over and over information?
Add value to the exhibit hall experience by:
- creating places for people to interact with speakers, through signings, sure, but how about q&a sessions, hot seat coaching or demos, like the ginsu knife demo at the home show?
- offering a range of options for food, right in the hall. attendees don't always want to have to sit down at the moment the conference schedule indicates, in order to fuel themselves. get creative with food offerings - making it easy, inexpensive and integrated with the exhibit hall experience...people bond over food, big business gets done over food, the right food and water in the right spots can transform an entire conference and exhibit experience.
- offer places for people to interact with each other. organize through similar interests, but ask for accountability and action to be taken...emphasize more active involvement on the part of participants. use experiential exercises to surprise attendees out of passive learning mode. this brings the material in the conference to life.
- integrate the five senses - ask attendees to diagram, fingerpaint or record on audio/video, what their experience has been that session/morning/day. this pays off even more later when you get to show how much activity has gone on - the unsolicited testimonial as it were.
- create a party atmosphere when appropriate. this won't 'fly' for the more serious industry conferences but let's face it, many conference goers rely on this annu
GET TO KNOW YOUR ORGANIZATION: If you don’t understand an aspect of the organization or a procedure within it, ask. If you still don’t understand, ask again. Question until you are sure you understand the topic. It’s easy to feel your questions aren’t sophisticated enough, especially when you work with people who have been doing what they do for years. Start with basic questions like “What does our organization do?” “How does our organization do it?” “Who needs our product?” “Who does what with that product?” “Who are the people who get the work done?” Most long-term employees love to answer questions that make them feel smart, and valuable.STEPS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHERE YOU WORK: Aside from asking long-term employees for background information: --Read the backlog of the organization’s annual reports. Find out what’s really happening where you work. --Read the organization’s prospectus. --Attend
Also...make sure all the doors (entrances/exits) etc. are wide open to the hall. All of them - don't force people to squeeze through one half a set of doors - they'll leave.
If you must have security at the doors, make sure it is friendly and unintimidating for attendees to get through. Even better, ask why you have to have security in the first place. Unless you actually have a need for a metal detector, isn't more people going into the hall better than fewer? Let them in, for pete's sake, let them all in.
(2) Add value. In doing so, come to embrace the 'commerce' side of exhibit halls.
Too many conference organizers are scared of promoting their exhibit halls for fear of being too commercial. They are what I call purists. They want the event to be educational. They want to receive accolades as to the content of the conference. A worthy goal, to be sure. And, once again, information is only information - what if you look at the exhibit hall as a place to add value over and over information?
Add value to the exhibit hall experience by:
- creating places for people to interact with speakers, through signings, sure, but how about q&a sessions, hot seat coaching or demos, like the ginsu knife demo at the home show?
- offering a range of options for food, right in the hall. attendees don't always want to have to sit down at the moment the conference schedule indicates, in order to fuel themselves. get creative with food offerings - making it easy, inexpensive and integrated with the exhibit hall experience...people bond over food, big business gets done over food, the right food and water in the right spots can transform an entire conference and exhibit experience.
- offer places for people to interact with each other. organize through similar interests, but ask for accountability and action to be taken...emphasize more active involvement on the part of participants. use experiential exercises to surprise attendees out of passive learning mode. this brings the material in the conference to life.
- integrate the five senses - ask attendees to diagram, fingerpaint or record on audio/video, what their experience has been that session/morning/day. this pays off even more later when you get to show how much activity has gone on - the unsolicited testimonial as it were.
- create a party atmosphere when appropriate. this won't 'fly' for the more serious industry conferences but let's face it, many conference goers rely on this annu
This is a pretty common statement from most of the national restaurant chains; "We don't take reservations." That's fine. But they do have "Call ahead seating." Wow, talk about the best of both worlds. They don't have to hold a table for a few minutes to satisfy a reservation commitment, but they do get the luxury of knowing that a party will be there at a particular time.What a great system for the restaurant. What a lousy system for the consumer. Don't you just love it, even if you have called in or ahead or whatever they're calling it. You arrive. You receive your pager and you wait around for twenty, thirty... forty minutes. I don't think so.Here's our problem. Consumers in mass accept such policies. It won't be until we say "No, thank you" that this type of service will stop. I don't know about you, but I value my time. There is no way that eating some sort of fancy deep
Add value to the exhibit hall experience by:
- creating places for people to interact with speakers, through signings, sure, but how about q&a sessions, hot seat coaching or demos, like the ginsu knife demo at the home show?
- offering a range of options for food, right in the hall. attendees don't always want to have to sit down at the moment the conference schedule indicates, in order to fuel themselves. get creative with food offerings - making it easy, inexpensive and integrated with the exhibit hall experience...people bond over food, big business gets done over food, the right food and water in the right spots can transform an entire conference and exhibit experience.
- offer places for people to interact with each other. organize through similar interests, but ask for accountability and action to be taken...emphasize more active involvement on the part of participants. use experiential exercises to surprise attendees out of passive learning mode. this brings the material in the conference to life.
- integrate the five senses - ask attendees to diagram, fingerpaint or record on audio/video, what their experience has been that session/morning/day. this pays off even more later when you get to show how much activity has gone on - the unsolicited testimonial as it were.
- create a party atmosphere when appropriate. this won't 'fly' for the more serious industry conferences but let's face it, many conference goers rely on this annu
In the fitness room the other day, I caught a glimpse of a movie trailer on television. A father spoke very open-heartedly with his son about his work as a fireman. He acknowledged the fear that welled up in him when he looked into a small, dark room filled with life-threatening heat and flames, and described the instinct to run in the opposite direction.He had to pause in a safe hallway and assess the situation, the father explained, consciously remember why he had chosen his work – and why he must go forward into the fire despite his fear. Strange as it may sound, I find creating a culture of inclusion to be a lot like this.People differ in so many ways that wherever two or more are gathered “combustion,” in one form or another, is likely to follow. Although they may be uncomfortable at times, these differences are vital. Our challenge is to understand this
- offer places for people to interact with each other. organize through similar interests, but ask for accountability and action to be taken...emphasize more active involvement on the part of participants. use experiential exercises to surprise attendees out of passive learning mode. this brings the material in the conference to life.
- integrate the five senses - ask attendees to diagram, fingerpaint or record on audio/video, what their experience has been that session/morning/day. this pays off even more later when you get to show how much activity has gone on - the unsolicited testimonial as it were.
- create a party atmosphere when appropriate. this won't 'fly' for the more serious industry conferences but let's face it, many conference goers rely on this annual get together to party, hard. tie the celebrations into a greater whole by utilizing your exhibit hall space well. think beyond your 'gala dinner' - people want to have something fun to do each night, not just the last big one.
The best of all possibilities is when you ask the exhibitors themselves to participate in the above.
How can you transform a static exhibit hall full of brochures to an activity-based, participation-oriented conversation? The exhibitors will be thrilled to have you embrace their role - to provide value-based transactions that lead to business.
(3) Stop being embarrassed. Let go of the tentativity.
Too many exhibit hall managers, regardless of the industry, are unwilling to go full tilt on behalf of their constituents - the exhibitors. This taints the experience for attendees who pick up on this - no one is going to linger in the exhibit hall if the event managers are hesitant about promoting it.
It's true that the conference has to be successful as a whole - the attendees, who are paying to be there, must leave with value and eagerly await next year. The host organization has to turn a profit. But the exhibitors, who are responsible in large part for that profit, are too often the poor 'third-class' citizen in this group.
Stop being embarrassed that you have an exhibit hall. Your tentativeness about making exhibitors happy is so obvious it's like, well, *you're* the one that's on display. A simple tweak in attitude, valuing your exhibitors as key partners in making the conference a success, will net you bigger dividends than you might imagine.
Several final points that are usually ignored:
(1) Offer education to make your exhibitors the best they can be. First-timers especially will be forever in your debt if you help them look fabulous beside their bigger 'brother and sister' exhibitors.
(2) Ask your exhibitors to help publicize the event. Give them tools to make this easy, attractive, viral. Help them understand how to add value (see above.) Attendance is always a central concern for any conference - why not get everyone's oars in the water on this?
(3) Generate camaraderie among the exhibitors. There is value in the relationships among your vendor list, and as a conference host, you can be a hero by fostering these. How about an exhibitors only thank you session before or after the conference? Personal introductions of one exhibitor to another, just because you sense there is big business that could be done between them? An exhibitor mastermind call prior to the conference?
Like many things, it's the simple things that count. Start by realizing that a great Exhibit Hall can make a world of difference to your entire conference for all parties - attendees, exhibitors, and yourselves.
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