I say this to my team all the time: failing to plan is planning to fail. I learned it in my days at Apple and it’s remained true through everything I’ve done since. You need to line up the ducks of suppliers, resources, and measurements, then knock them all down with a tight schedule. As I mentioned in last week’s post, I learned a lot of lessons exhibiting at AIME. Here are a few of the things I took away from the experience.
-
Early on, measure and get dimensions of your entire space from the event organiser. If you’re paying for it, maximise it.
-
Consider your delegate flow when designing a layout (how you want to engage and capture people). We had a 2x3 metre stand and somehow managed to have a retail display, video content, two people on stand, a queuing area, and a coffee cart.
-
See if you can get a designer to model/spec in your artwork, furniture, laptops and hospitality areas in a 3D application (like Maya). This will allow you to fully plan and visualise your space. Having a model of where things will go will create a much easier bump in, you’ll already know where things need to go.
-
Proof your prints. Even tell your printer a little white lie that you’ll need your artwork ready so that it’s all 100% good to go on bump-in day.
-
Create a hook to get people to engage with you. I had some cheeky cards printed that said “You look like you need a coffee”. At the beginning of each day of the show I made sure everyone got one. I said “bring over this card, and we’ll make you a real Melbourne coffee”. Keep it simple.
-
Ensure you have a contact and follow-up strategy. Capture as many delegate details as possible. We used Mailchimp’s lead capture app on our iPad when people grabbed a coffee. The hook was there by holding a draw to win an endota spa voucher + the Specialty Coffee Book of Victoria.
-
Follow up, follow up, follow up! Exhibitions need to be treated like laying a concrete slab when building a house. Each time you engage with a prospect you are continuing to build a relationship and a “house” with them.
These were just a few of the things that I learned on the other side of the fence, but maybe they’ll help you next time you’re putting together a trade stand.