Key Points for Exhibit Staff
by Matt Hill, The Hill Group

The Basic Stuff (Which, of course, you know)

1. Be at the booth 15-30 minutes before the doors open.
2. Know about your services.
3. Be ready to answer common and tough questions.
4. There are no private conversations in the public areas of the booth. It’s okay to interrupt your colleagues during any conversation to let them know that someone else needs to talk with them.
   
5. Know what else is in the booth so you can direct or escort visitors to other areas.
6. Take care of yourself; get enough sleep (at night, not during the show), drink lots of water, and if your feet get sore soak them in cold water back at your hotel. “Flushing” is a good way to relieve sore feet- just stick them in a clean commode and continually flush them until your feet feel invigorated or keep a frozen bottle of water and roll your feet over the bottle at the end of a long day.

Some Other Stuff (Which you may not know)

1. Set the visitor’s expectation of how much time you can spend with them. For example, “Let me take five or ten minutes and explain this new service.”
2. Acknowledge waiting visitors and add them to your conversation if possible.
3. There might be two or three things you want every visitor to hear about your product or service - that’s fine. But focus most of what you talk about on what the visitor cares about.

Homework (You’ll be glad you did it)

1. Develop your two “Elevator Answers”.
   A. 30 second overview of your company.
   B. 30 second overview of your product / service.
2. Know as much as you can about your products and services.
3. Have 2 or 3 qualifying questions ready.
4. Know what’s going on in your booth (promotions, other services, etc.).
5. Know about your company’s receptions, hospitality events, sponsorships, etc.

Quick Booth Tips

• Don’t waste your time! Qualify visitors before spending time with them.
• Don’t immediately launch into 20 minute product pitches.
• Be approachable!
• Don’t stand in closed circles! Don’t make visitors wait! Don’t ignore visitors!

In Case You Have to Cut, What to Cut First

If your boss, or your boss’s boss, demands that you cut your budget by 5% or 10% or even more, what would you cut first?

Here are some tips industry veterans shared that can give you a place to start - and where not to cut first:

If you’ve measured your trade show program’s performance and can prove its success, be vocal about advocating for your program - don’t just take proposed blind cuts lying down. “Measurement is your friend” as those who measure are twice as likely to keep their budgets. Your corporate executives may want to reduce costs, but they will also recognize the value of bringing in revenue at a good ROI.

Don’t panic, keep your head and you will survive this downturn - and yes, there is a downturn now and it will continue, but we don’t know for how long.

Recognize that if there are fewer attendees at a show, the tire-kickers will be weeded out, so the higher-quality attendees will remain. Your booth staffers will have an easier time getting higher-qualified leads.

Rent your exhibit properties to avoid large capital expenditures and add flexibility.

Move more towards modular exhibits to lower shipping, drayage, storage and refurbishing costs, plus provide greater flexibility to adapt to changes.

Don’t cut booth staffers unless you really expect to have too many in your booth. For example, if you have a show that costs you $50,000 to exhibit at, and you trim 2 of your 8 staffers to save $2,000, you will cut your costs by only 4%, ($2,000 divided by $50,000) but potentially trim your leads by 25% (2 divided by 8). That decreases your R.O.I. with minimal savings.

Don’t just have an exhibit space, purchase sponsorships and advertising to give your company better exposure in all areas surrounding the event.

Similarly, don’t automatically cut your pre-show and at- show promotions budgets unless you have been measuring and know they don’t bring much impact compared to their cost. For example, if promotions have been only 10% of your budgets but bring in an additional 30% of your qualified leads, then trimming your promotions will actually reduce your ROI.

Write a brief of your measurement objectives before your show - and share it with your exhibit house or your booth decorator. You’ll be on the same page before starting design - and be more likely to get an exhibit that helps deliver the results you need.

Extend your exhibit’s reach before and after the show by setting up an event and exhibit-specific micro-website that previews what attendees will see, allows them to set up appointments before the show, and stays up after the show is over. If the convention you are attending has an opportunity to upgrade your online booth use that marketing tool to promote press releases, product launches, new products, etc.

CEIR Examines Effect of Today's Economy on Exhibitions
New Report Compares Data from Previous Recessions, Offers Insight

January 22, 2009 - The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) released today RCSR 21.09 The Effect of Economic Recessions on Exhibitions, which includes research that offers insight into participation at exhibitions during challenging economic times.

Last year, the National Bureau of Economic Research published news that most of the country had already realized - the United States is in a state of economic recession which may have commenced as early as December of 2007. With the unemployment rate at its highest in 16 years and economists unable to predict when the country will see positive growth again, exhibiting companies must be able to justify exhibition participation and be assured of a strong ROI from exhibiting - more so than ever before. In the 1980s, CEIR published two reports titled How Should Exhibitors React to a Recession? and The Effect of Economic Recessions on Trade Shows. These two reports have been revisited and supplemented to include data from each year for 1968 to 2007. These new reports indicate that even though attendance and exhibit space may decrease in recessionary periods, key buyers continue to attend each year and the percentage of attendees that actually have plans to purchase remains high.

The Effect of Economic Recessions on Exhibitions serves as a useful precursor to the 6th Annual CEIR Index, to be released in April 2009. CEIR members may download The Effect of Economic Recessions on Exhibitions for free at www.ceir.org. The cost for non-members is $48 USD.