Exhibitors, sponsors, who needs them?
As a conference organiser you need to create the time, space and networking model that allows total immersion by exhibitors and delegates without detriment to the stream of content presentations.
Here are some insights if you are a conference organiser that may deliver more for your exhibitors and delegates
Typically the conference model allows delegates access to the exhibition during registration and refreshment breaks. Of course it’s essential that the refreshments are served within the exhibition area. If you are running a medical or healthcare congress the research papers can also be located in amongst the exhibitors.
To maximise the opportunity for both exhibitors and delegates, you may wish to consider a new USA model which more clearly and deliberately segments what people do with their time. Registration – which is generally earlier in the States – is followed by the content stream, lectures, seminars etc., from say 9am to around 11.30am. The exhibition opens at that time allowing many exhibitors to set up beforehand on the same day, and have exclusive access to the delegates between say 11.30am and 3.00pm when the lectures recommence.
This more concentrated way of slicing the available time can be seen to offer many benefits. There is a concentration of attention during the content component and a clear opportunity to interact with the providers of services and products who exhibit.
Another useful way of saving time and concentrating attention is the introduction of topic tables at lunch. Exhibitors can sponsor these tables and delegates choose which topic they wish to attend. This is another reason for delegates to stay in the venue.
Add into this mix the tremendous opportunities that social media – tweeting in particular – bring to the impact of your conference and you will see how you can stretch and extend the learning well beyond the event itself.
As conference organisers you can also make the often daunting task of exhibiting much easier. You can show your exhibitors – and prospective exhibitors - how it can be done. For example please refer below to a simple checklist of what they need to do before the show.
Top Ten Tips to make the most of your time at an event:
- Decide who – specifically – you want to speak to – meet – engage with
- Decide which key message(s) will resonate with your chosen audience
- Decide what you need to know to prioritise your target prospects and your messages
- Interrogate the proposed show or event organiser before committing to attend (ask us for our 10 key questions to organisers)
- Select carefully the Live Marketing activity which will work best for you
- Plan everything – address the what and the why before the how (what you want to achieve, why you are going, before how your stand should look)
- Execute everything professionally – consider staff roles, the visitor journey and your desired outcomes
- Capitalise on your investment – measure everything - and follow up relentlessly
- Debrief immediately, objectively and then again two months later – to capture the learning
- Develop a Live Marketing strategy which will pro-actively deliver your new business pipeline, brand enhancement and market intelligence by identifying suitable conferences.
Seven questions that your exhibitors should use to debrief post event:
- What were your key objectives?
- How large was your stand?
- How many staff did you use?
- How many new prospects want to see you again?
- How well did you achieve your objectives?
- What was your total investment?
- What return on investment do you estimate?
Furthermore you need to manage your exhibitors’ expectations and to do this you should consider holding a Masterclass both face-to-face and by webinar, well in advance of your event.
Typical topics to discuss during a Masterclass:
- The awesome power of exhibiting.
- Objectives and priorities
- Who do you want to speak to
- What do you want to say to them - your key messages
- The end – what outcomes and how to follow up successfully
- Measurement: “on–stand” activity needed to deliver a respectable R.O.I.
- “Selling” the next engagement with your prospect.
- It can be done – case histories, ideas and testimonials
- Follow up – the vital ingredient
A very different approach needs to be taken by exhibitors at a conference, with limited time, space and people, than that which they would take at a normal tradeshow.
Exhibitors have to tell their story – very quickly – to several delegates at once, in an exciting, entertaining and compelling way, and they need to leave the delegates wanting more. The real objective as I have learnt over many years should be to “sell the next appointment”.
Trying to sell products or services to delegates who are brain-strained from lectures cannot work. But an entertaining, dramatic, attractive stand experience, lasting no longer than a few minutes, carefully planned, scripted, rehearsed and professionally presented will work wonders.
Another strong tip is that wherever your exhibitors or sponsors have a seminar or presentation slot, they need to put out feedback forms, which are simple to complete and can yield a fortune in terms of market intelligence from the audience.
One of the key benefits of exhibiting at a conference is to gather market intelligence and engage in Active Listening and here is where your exhibitors will derive serious value.
Five key benefits that exhibiting – particularly at conferences – can offer.
- It is permission marketing – your delegates have chosen to attend and if they approach a stand or walk past it, the exhibitor is entitled to approach them. After all they are subsidising the delegates’ attendance.
- Exhibitors can gather enormous amounts of market intelligence by listening carefully to the views and comments of your delegates. They should consider the three or four key questions that they would like to ask and then create an appropriate way of doing so (our Outcomes product has been proved to work extremely well in these situations).
- Exhibitors need to remember that there is no better way of initiating and developing personal contacts than meeting at a conference. All attendees are in the same space at the same time and share a common experience. This can develop into a relationship on which long term business is built.
- Exhibiting is the most measureable medium. Everything can be planned. How many delegates do they need to meet to end up with the required number of enquiries? How many enquiries will they need to turn into sales later? And at what average customer value? How many market intelligence questions can they ask – and of how many relevant visitors? How many more visitors now know an exhibitors brand – and their key messages - after visiting their stand?
- Exhibitors need to be reminded that they have the opportunity to deliver a total experience of their organisation – not just their products and services – but their values, their culture, their people, their professionalism and their relevance to your audience.
If you are serious about attracting new exhibitors and sponsors and getting existing exhibitors to return and play an ever increasing part in your event, you may find the above insights of value both to your own organising team and to your exhibitors.
In summary, you need to manage the expectations of all parties and in this way; your sponsors will see what an intensely valuable opportunity you are offering. But “if you always do what you’ve always done – you’ll always get what you’ve always had”.
Be brave and challenge your own teams, review the idea of a new conference format or model, and risk changing the exhibiting habits of a life time.
