Exhibit Booth Backups

How to work smarter not harder for the best trade show experience

Sustainable Exhibiting

Your Guide to Planning Early and Getting the Most From Your Investment.

Understanding the process of freight

The ins and outs of booth transportation

Your booth properties and freight go on a journey as soon as they leave your hands. Understanding the safe and efficient transport is critical to your exhibiting success! Planning this ahead of time will not only help you prepare for your show better but give you peace of mind knowing when and where your exhibit is at all times.

Guidelines for submitting graphics

You have your exhibit design planned out and you’re excited to head to a new event. But next step is to tackle the graphics needed to make your design a reality. You may not know where to start, or you may just need a few tips on file type or resolution.

This handy guide will help you answer questions like “What’s the best way to save my graphics file?” or “What’s the best resolution for in-booth viewing vs. across the show floor viewing?”

Exhibiting made easier

Resources for a worry-free exhibit experience

Exhibit like an expert

Exhibiting at a trade show? Here are six easy ways to customize your booth for attendees

Attract and engage key audiences at your booth and beyond with powerful personalization strategies

There’s a change happening on the exhibit floor. Today’s trade show participants come to the exhibit floor armed with information. They’ve done their homework. They know what problem they want to solve or which products they want to demo. They’ve researched products online, asked colleagues their opinions, read or posted questions on user boards, and used the event’s online planner to mark the exhibitors they want to see. They are less likely to walk every aisle window shopping. So in this new paradigm, what can you do to attract attendees and ultimately engage your target audience?

The answer is personalization.

The more you can show your booth visitors that you know what their challenges are, what they need to learn about, and their goals for the exhibit floor, the more you can reframe your interaction around specific needs. This results in better engagements, quality conversations, more qualified leads, and increased ROI. Ready to personalize your in-booth experience? Here are six cost-effective ways to increase customization while driving engagement:

Know the attendees

You choose to exhibit at a specific trade show because you understand that, in general, your target audience will also be there. But not every audience member has the same needs.

Think about the types of people attending, and what they came to the exhibit floor to see and learn. A C-level attendee does not have the same interests as a middle manager or technical specialist. Don’t treat them the same way or expect them to dig through all the information in your booth to find their desired content. Look at the demographic information in the conference prospectus. What are the titles of the attendees? What types of organizations do they work for?

If the information is not in the prospectus, chances are the show organizer has the information from a post-event survey. Ask the show organizer if they have data on the attendees. See if they can offer insights into personas, interests, preferences, and more. With this information in mind, you can adjust your in-booth experience or pitch to better meet those needs. Brush up on information about your key clients and prospects and show up prepared to discuss their personalized needs.

Organize content by need

Frequently, exhibitors organize their booth by products. While sometimes that is efficient, organizing your booth by solutions can be more helpful to attendees. C-levels are looking for insights into the future and inspiration. Have a space that is about future products, not just the products they already rely on, and make those products available to learn about and purchase.

For current clients or end users, provide an educational area for attendees who are looking for help as well as other audience members seeking products to solve their problems. Don’t forget about your touch-screen content. It’s unlikely that attendees want to spend time looking through information on all your solutions. Have specific touch screens for specific topics.

Start personalizing pre-conference

Use your pre-show communication to identify exactly which individuals want to discuss. When sending out invitations to meetings or in-booth presentations, ask questions on the RSVP. Keep that information on hand so that when the attendee comes by the booth, you can immediately engage him or her with conversations about their particular challenges and opportunities.

Increase traffic with personalized experiences

Creating unique experiences is a great way to attract attendees. Augmented reality, games, demos, and other interesting experiences draw traffic. These activities can be used to identify the attendee’s persona and needs level. Have activities that allow attendees to self identify. It can be a quiz, a choice of augmented reality experiences, or simply questions asked by crowd gatherers. Once the attendee’s persona is identified, sales reps know how to engage with the attendee and direct them to the products or area of the booth that will fulfill their needs.

If budget allows, try incorporating some technology into your booth to track and capture your own attendee data. Using a second screen product on an iPad within your booth can help you collect stats on most popular topics. Incorporate interesting elements that change based on attendee preference, like monitor content or even various colors of uplighting, to create ownership and interest. Ask the show organizer if they offer a beacon strategy so you can push out custom messages to attendees when they pass by your booth. You can even create an interactive digital installation, like a photo booth or graffiti wall, which boosts engagement while also creating opportunities to capture key data.

No matter which tactic you take, make sure it ladders up to your overarching show and marketing strategy — nothing is worse then technology for technology’s sake!

Interact at the attendee pace

Not everyone wants to immediately engage with a sales rep. Many attendees are more comfortable when they can explore a bit on their own. Incorporate a self-guided interaction within your exhibit booth so that attendees can learn about your products and services on their own terms. This could include an iPad or digital monitor driving a “choose your own adventure” presentation or, for larger booths, a physical tour around the space. By monitoring what the attendees are most attracted to, your booth staff can customize the conversation to focus on those specific things. Clearly identify content sections so that the self-guided tour doesn’t become a scavenger hunt for the information the attendee needs.

Customize follow-ups

Ensure you have a solid data collection strategy for your trade show (a CRM system, badge scanner, or something more robust) and use that data to create unique and custom follow-ups. Send attendees information based on their preference(s), not a blanket recap of everything you offer. Memorialize everything you have learned about the individual so that your sales team can access it before making a sales call or visit. When sales can start from a position of knowledge, you can help effectively shorten the sales cycle.

Checklist for exhibitors: measurement 101

Seven steps to get started with measuring your trade show booth

Like the world’s great mysteries, unlocking the secret to why exhibiting at a trade show is such an important part of the marketing mix is no easy task. We know that there is tremendous value in events. But most trade show booth managers are strapped for time, overloaded, and often wearing many hats. Figuring out an exhibit measurement plan is not high on the priority list.

But it should be.

Being able to accurately point to metrics that prove the value of what you do can help you defend or grow your exhibiting budget, increase internal support, and show positive impact on your organization’s overall business goals. And here’s the good news: getting started with exhibit measurement doesn’t have to be difficult. Use this checklist to tap into many resources you probably already have, so you can quickly and easily build the trade show booth measurement report of your dreams.

Start with strategy

Have you clearly defined your goals and objectives for your exhibit? Are you exhibiting at multiple shows? How much does your strategy change from show to show? How do your exhibit goals ladder up to your overall marketing objectives? Once you have your end goal in mind (increase sales, raise brand awareness, etc.), you can begin to develop a measurement plan.

Establish consistency

If you are exhibiting across multiple shows, it’s important to have a solid and consistent measurement protocol — even if your goals change. This can help normalize your data when you examine it across your entire portfolio, and will provide guidance as to which events performed the best for you.

Determine your ROI

Consider the cost of your trade show booth or sponsorship and the financial goals you have in mind. How many qualified leads will you need to turn into sales to ultimately justify your exhibit space and expenditures?

Get clarity on your objectives

What are the key objectives of your organization? Most organizations have goals that go beyond financial and include things like brand awareness, new customer contact, market research, and more.

Hone in on the details

With your show strategy clearly in your crosshairs, determine the specific ways you will demonstrate impact: number of leads, shortened time to close on a deal, increased social media mentions, etc. Be as specific as possible and seek to gain consensus among the members of your team.

Tap into technology

Consider all the ways technology can help you with your exhibit measurement goals on site. Badge scanners and lead management only scratch the surface. Do you have a digital display? Can you track attendee interest? Find out from the show organizer if it is possible to gain access to mobile app data specific to your exhibit.

Collect and analyze

After the show, gather the data from your varied sources so you can manage and analyze it. Start with simple, flexible tools like Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets, but also investigate custom tools with specialized features that can help you paint the bigger picture with a little more clarity.

With these simple steps in mind, you will be on your way to mastering the art and science of exhibit measurement.

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