Before we run through the list let’s just begin with the organisor of an Exhibition. These guys have spent hours, days, months and often years perfecting an event for YOU to provide you with business opportunities in your Industry Sector. Nothing has been taken lightly, every detail has been discussed, intensely researched to ensure the location, venue, and the experience on the day is going to be beyond your wildest dreams.  Often whole teams of professionals have been specially selected for their expertise to ensure the smooth running of the event with sales & marketing executives, logistics, operational, PR to create the perfect Event. Many large corporate companies who take exhibiting very seriously know all too well the importance of getting it right and it’s not just a simple case of turning up and talking to  people. Over many years of experience some companies have formulated their own exhibiting techniques and the below is 10 top tips often used for achieving Exhibiting Success!

 

1. Exhibition ‘Game’ Plan: Get yourselves an Exhibition Plan for your Business. The plan should begin with Aims of Exhibiting: Bullet point all the stuff you want to achieve out of exhibiting i.e Introducing a New Product to Market, Market Research on a service/product, generating  more Sales Leads, visibility for company branding, want more business exposure, want to look after existing customers or it may be to position your products/services  within your market.   
2. Marketing Material: Check, check & double check that your marketing material communicates all that you have listed in your Exhibition ‘Game’ Plan.  Give something to entice the punters. Special Show Discounts & great one off Deals go down really well together with the odd branded pen & chocolates.
3. Stand Display: Ensure all stand graphics are clear, easy to read and avoid long lists of text or paragraphs as often delegates only have a few minutes to absorb data.  On the day of the event don’t sit behind your stand and make sure you are standing to meet & greet interested individuals. Always a winner, provide a raffle prize draw for gaining business cards. 
4. Location, Location, Location: Booking early always means you have an advantage in picking prime spots with a high footfall.  An added bonus to booking early is that the Organisor’s  will ensure you not only get the best spot but they are more likely to include you in additional PR building up to an event.
5. Booking Early: If you can book early it gives you TIME to think of great text for the Pre show marketing material. So when organisors are sending out their e-mailers  & countless bulletins leading up to the event you’ve got interesting stuff to shout out about. All this familiarity in seeing your company name & branding is building your reputation with whoever is coming to the event. Tell them how fantastic you are! Don’t hold back. Tell them why they should come and see you at the Show. What a great opportunity for them to meet you. Create some juicy deals, fabulous discounts & special  offers they can only get from attending the show. Give them a reason to come and want to get to know you!   
6. Increase your opportunities:  The organisors are doing their bit to encourage delegates to attend. So what about YOU! Don’t leave it all to the ELEMENTS. There are loads & loads of simple, easy and reputation building ways to ensure you maximise the exposure of your company at an Event. Write an article or a blog telling everyone what’s new, where you will be exhibiting, what special deals they have for you if they attend. Done well this is a savvy move to  create a buzz for your product and presence at a show.    
7. Your Website: Don’t forget to update your website. If you’ve been listed to be exhibiting then you can expect traffic to your website for a quick bit of research by delegates before coming to the show. So check that everything is correct, pop an updated blog, photo it will all help with first impressions. 
8. Invite your Database: You don’t have to invite your entire database but it helps. This is a perfect opportunity for you to find out those sitting on your database are serious about doing any business with you. Depending on your aims, exhibiting at an event can sometimes be perceived as great neutral grounds for selling. Delegates feel less pressured within the sales process and more likely to attend to check you out. 
9. Social Media: Most of us are on these platforms. So shout about your presence. Let the world know you are attending:  Face book, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+    Give your followers an opportunity to meet you.
10. Follow Up Your Leads. We can always count on a thank you from the organisor, but thats because they have systems & process’s in place to ensure they look after their delegates. Send all those that visited your stand a email outlining your companie’s products/services a thank you for visiting your stand with a simple outline of your products.  How many of us get any follow up emails from exhibitors. Those that do leave a good impression!   

  

The above top 10 listed is by no means definitive but we hope that it will be useful in your event planning in 2012. And when it comes to evaluating the outcomes of exhibiting at an exhibition we hope you reflect on whether  the above techniques were applied to your exhibition plan. We hope you have a great exhibiting experience in 2012!