Tradeshow Organizer Survival Guide

Welcome to the Webinar, it will begin shortly. Trade Show Organizer Survival Guide

795 Folsom Street in San Francisco

Background and Methodology
Recently we surveyed trade show organizers across a range of industries and show profiles to determine how they’re handling the difficult economic times, and how they see the future of trade shows moving forward.
The methodology used for gathering this research was a series of online focus groups over a multi-day time frame in April and May of 2009 allowing respondents to candidly discuss and debate topics.
The results of the survey filled nearly 500 pages of transcripts.
Our interviewed show organizer’s shared their survival ideas with us, and now we share them with you.

The Economy
What impact is the economy having?
For some trade show organizers, it’s already taking a bite out of business. For
others, the impact is not yet felt.
Our respondents tell us:
The current economy is definitely affecting our organization. We saw a 40
percent drop in delegate registration at our last conference held in March
of 2009—non profit.
All corporate Marketing activities are taking a hit and that definitely includes
event participation, with all the planning and travel and lodging expenses that go
along with it.
Not only that, but tough money times give support to the ROI arguments of the
show alternatives (like virtual trade shows and online presentations)

What we learned
How are show organizers managing?
Budgets
Technology
Marketing
Exhibitor Communications
Social Media

• Keep current with trends in our industry • Attend seminars with lots of take-home value • Meet prospective suppliers • Scout for prospective employees • Forge relationships with prospective partners • Raise the visibility of our organization • Do all of the above in a cost effective way Why would anyone want to attend my show?

• LEADS! Attendees are prospective customers. Your trade show affords exhibitors a range of opportunities to obtain qualified leads. The show floor is an obvious place to obtain leads, but you no doubt provide other opportunities, such as seminars, coffee breaks, receptions, golf and tennis outings and so on. Exhibitors should be encouraged to take part and attendees should be encouraged to be receptive. They may need reminding of the importance of exhibitors and sponsors to the success of the event. Attendees should be encouraged to view exhibitors as colleagues, not as adversaries. • Competitive intelligence • Meet with current customers • Again, your trade show offers a very cost competitive means of accomplishing these objectives. It takes a lot of effort and imagination, but if you can become the equivalent of 795 Folsom, attendees and exhibitors will be plentiful. For exhibitors, add these items to the list above:

How do you prime the pump?
I’ll meet other attendees with whom I can share ideas, perhaps partner with, gain access to their networks
Meet exhibitors who offer solutions to my needs
Find products and services that address problems that heretofore I had not even identified.
Hear speakers who inspire, fire the imagination, inform.
Speaking of speakers….

How do you get exhibitors to open up their wallets?
It is easy not to exhibit at a show, unless, of course, you make it difficult not to attend your show.
When a company signs up to exhibit, make sure their competitors become aware of it. That is usually a motivator.
As attendees sign up, make prospective exhibitors aware of the companies that are sending attendees.
Enlist panels of attendees before which exhibitors can give a 3-5 minute presentation.

Almost Done – But wait there’s more… Since our time is limited , we will email you these following slides that have lots of quick ideas you can implement right away for improving technology at your show, marketing, pr and your social media presence.

How technology can being used:
Floorplan and Lead Retrieval Apps for smart phones.
Speaker Schedule updates via apps and instant messages.
There are hundreds of direct applications for events, tradeshows, associations and venues.
Session Tracking.
Online Agenda Building for attendees.
Sponsorships of mobile apps and eBlasts.
Outreach to online communities like LinkedIn.
Enhanced show websites with multimedia like podcasts and Online videos – updated constantly with news and links. Update site with videos of attendees and exhibitors throughout the show.
Social media outlets like Twitter let you listen to your exhibitors on what’s working and what’s not - get feedback, provide quick updates.
Instant polls in sessions with wireless devices.
Streamline staff workload when it comes to getting forms returned and manually entering
information on each exhibitor.
Spend less money on printed materials – offer electronic literature distribution, digital collateral.
Technology how to use it at your show

Marketing
Ways to drive traffic to your show website, increase visibility, get more press
exhibitors and attendees: 2 Quick and FREE Ways:
Make sure your website is enhanced for Search Engines – use all of the important keywords in your web copy that your prospects are searching for. Determine and create a list of most commonly used search terms for your show. Optimize all communications using the keywords people are using in Google to find your shows. For example, what would a potential customer type into the Google search box to find you?
For example, it seems simple but on your shows homepage make sure the text describes your show to your prospects. If it
is a Pizza Show, make sure your webpage uses keywords like, pizza shop owners, pizza chefs, Italian restaurant buyer,
pizza supplies, etc. This will draw traffic to your site.
2. Issue frequent press releases about your show. Announce new speakers, parties, exhibitor tools, etc. The press releases will draw large amounts of traffic to your site. Before you start: generate a keyword list to sprinkle in all communications.
Search engines love press releases. If you’ve been trying to get Google to index your site and link to your
content, then you should consider writing a press release because press releases are one of the fastest ways to get
Google’s attention. Issue press release to following websites for free:
www.prlog.org www.1888pressrelease.com www.free-press-release.com
www.prurgent.com www.i-newswire.com http://prcompass.com/
http://www.newswiretoday.com/ http://www.pr-inside.com http://pressreleasepoint.com/
http://www.prweb.com/ http://pressbox.co.uk/ http://www.exhibitoronline.com/news/submitNews.asp

Social Media – Ways to talk with exhibitors and attendees Simple & basic ways to communicate & increase show visibility, without going overboard: Set up a Blog for the show where you can make announcements to everyone involved in the show. While the info is the same as your site – the blog will increase the show’s visibility in search engines because you can add keywords and tags to all posts. It helps your customers find information quicker. And blogs are free. Go to Wordpress and check it out . Call the blog a keyword for your show to drive even more prospects to it. Instead of the PSA show Blog, call it the Pizza Show Blog. Also free - set up a twitter page, Facebook page and LinkedIn group, these sites also help you get your message out and will drive traffic to your show’s website. Create some quick exhibitor education videos and create a show YouTube Page. Use your Smartphone, quality doesn’t really matter. It’s easy and fun, you can sprinkle the videos throughout your blog, Facebook page and emails. Search engines love videos so don’t forget to attach keywords to the videos.

Final Thoughts I want to leave you with two last thoughts. If you want to become more effective, at least consider new vendor relationships. You may find that you will save a lot of money. And one tip from the world of lead retrieval: Exhibitors resent being denied access to the email addresses of the leads they collect. Some organizers tell us that it is their policy. Bad policy if you want loyal exhibitors who come back year after year.

iLeads Mobile App iLeads makes it easy for exhibitors to add notes and qualifiers to leads – this makes the leads more valuable for sales. Attend our iLeads web demo tomorrow at 12 noon ET, sign up on our website – bartizan.com and we will email you a sign up after this webinar.
iLeads Lead Retrieval guarantee:
No cost to you.
No cancellations.
No minimums.
We will never share your
list with anyone.

In Conclusion Visit us at Bartizan.com for a Quote Thank you for attending Today’s Webinar For iLeads pricing call our Sales Dept. : 914-375-7982 A copy of this presentation plus bonus materials will be emailed to you after it’s over. I can be reached right after this webinar for any questions, call me, Lew Hoff directly at: 914-375-7981 Visit www.bartizan.com to download the free whitepaper

Tradeshow Organizer Survival Guide

by Bartizan Event Registration & Lead Retrieval on Nov 17, 2010

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Tradeshow Organizer Survival Guide — Presentation Transcript