Imagine this scenario. A nonprofit trade association decides it wants to add a tradeshow to its annual conference. It's never produced a tradeshow in the past and wants to secure a third-party planner to produce the show. Typically, an association tradeshow should have a potential of $150,000 or more in revenue to justify securing a third-party planner to provide full scope of services. Both the association and independent planner want to establish a partnership that will be profitable for … [Read more...]
Co-Locating Your Conference Can Be Risky And Rewarding
Co-locating your conference can be a high-risk, high-reward proposition. Before you decide to co-locate your conference with another conference, you need to view the decision through a strategic long-term lens. Defining Co-Location At the basic level, co-locating a conference is placing two or more conferences at the same location, at the same time. Some organizers blend both conference experiences together seamlessly. Others have two separate conference experiences allowing attendees to attend … [Read more...]
Would You Like Fries With That Booth?
Attendees are changing the way they plan and consume trade shows. If you’re still using static PDF floor plans and exhibitor listings, you’re missing out on the opportunity to upsell — and to connect buyers and sellers. According to research conducted by CEIR (Center for Exhibition Industry Research), nearly 75 percent of young professionals (40 years old and under) create a must-see list of exhibitors before coming to a trade show. That staggering percentage has opportunity — and … [Read more...]
Three Trending Tradeshow Sales Strategies
The trend for exhibit and sponsorship revenue is shifting away from the show floor. Brand marketers value marketing and sponsorship opportunities more than the exhibit real estate. The Facts...Are Changing 85% of a trade show’s revenue comes from space. 15% is from sponsorship and advertising. Source: Doug Ducate, President and CEO, Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). But that is changing. The tradeshow revenue mix is shifting in favor of sponsorship and advertising. Three … [Read more...]
Calculating ROI For Your Tradeshow Booth
Was exhibiting at that tradeshow worth your time and resources? How would you know? In today's world where so much business is conducted on the phone or digitally, meeting customers, prospects and other stakeholder face-to-face is extremely important. At the same time, you want to effectively keep your costs down and use your time and resources wisely. In order to do that, you need to measure and improve your current strategies. Without data, your decisions about exhibiting or attending are … [Read more...]
Five Tips To Improve Your Tradeshow Exhibitor Communications
Recently, I’ve been doing a bit of research and consulting on exhibitor communications. While I’ve lived in and around shows for many years, in the past my focus has been more on revenue, lead management and ROI, and not so much on the service, hand holding and communication of confirmed exhibitors. Most tradeshows have at least four exhibit segments: Anchor Exhibitors - occupying island booths and typically long-term loyal exhibitors In-Line Exhibitors - The little guys occupying the … [Read more...]
Four Ways To Flip Your Tradeshow Buying And Selling Model
“People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy!” Jeff Gitomer. That’s one of my favorite truth quotes, from Gitomer, a speaker, sales trainer and author of The Sales Bible, Little Red Book of Selling and many others. This truth is playing out in the way buyers are changing how they attack and derive benefits from their trade show participation. Buyers don’t want to receive a stack of preshow mailers and get spammed by every exhibitor before the show. Buyers don’t relate well to aggressive … [Read more...]
How The Billboard Effect Influences Your Tradeshow
About a year ago, I learned about a term used in the hotel industry known as “The Billboard Effect.” Defining The Billboard Effect Chris Anderson Ph.D., assistant professor at Cornell University, conducted a study on the impact of hotel reservations for hotels with or without a presence on Expedia. During the study, four hotels were rotated on and off Expedia for a three month period. Three Findings About The Billboard Effect Hotel placement on Expedia resulted in a 20-percent increase in … [Read more...]
