Exhibiting at an industry conference can be a pretty expensive exercise, so it always amazes me when I see companies who have not put much thought into their presence.

Having attended and participated in 100+ events over the last 30-odd years, and having often been asked about this by organisations wanting to achieve a greater impact from their event investment, I thought I’d share my experiences and provide some tips on how to maximise the value from your efforts.

Understand what your objectives are from having an exhibitor stand

Are you looking to generate conversations, leads, create brand awareness, or get a better understanding of the markets’ needs? Unless you have a market stall that you are selling your goods from, you are less likely to generate or close deals – the same way that a CV won’t secure you a job, as it’s simply a way to secure the interview.

Set your metrics and measure them. A hundred conversations that don’t lead to any follow up meetings may feel great at the event, but they’re pointless when it comes to achieving a return on the investment.

Know how to strategically and actively stand out

Being in a large conference hall amongst dozens (or even hundreds) of other exhibitors doesn’t guarantee you results. Research the potential audience profiles and figure out what challenge(s) they are looking to address by investing their valuable time to attend the event.

Give delegates a reason to stop and give your booth a second look – this can be through the look of your booth, your messaging, or something innovative on your stand that captures their curiosity or provides an excuse for them to stop and ask your team a question.

You’ll generally only get one opportunity to engage with someone walking past your booth; once they’ve walked past and subliminally crossed you off their list, they are highly unlikely to stop again on subsequent walk-bys. This is why booths designed as coffee lounges or providing refreshments are so much more effective – people will generally visit them multiple times during the event and will often bring other people with them (providing that the coffee or refreshment is of high quality, of course!).

The other benefit is that your team gets multiple opportunities to engage in a conversation whilst the delegates are in the queue. Conference organisers recognise these are premium assets so they obviously come at a premium fee, generally offered in very limited numbers. This makes it even harder for smaller organisations to justify the expenditure, so if you can’t secure one of those premium spaces, pick a space that’s directly adjacent. Last year, several events had puppy pens where delegates could sit and play with the puppies, which obviously created queues of people waiting to participate. If the queue is likely to be passing your stand, you can utilise that opportunity to engage with the delegates.

One other observation would be to make sure that you have more than one touchpoint with the attendees, such as the main booth area, a speaking engagement or an ancillary event. This will bring stronger brand awareness throughout the tradeshow, as well as having several touchpoints that attendees can connect to.

Put your best faces forward – literally

This one really frustrates me. The number of times that I see exhibitor staff sitting on their booth reading a book or doing their emails is astonishing. This is a great way to tell a prospect not to waste their time stopping at your booth.

Be approachable, make eye contact and keep delegates in mind. For example, it’s pretty intimidating for a delegate to approach a booth anyway, and that’s magnified when booth staff are all huddled together. Also, ensure your team is rested so they bring positive energy to the booth every day. And importantly, ensure everyone on your team knows how to open a conversation. “Can I help you?” is not an engaging opening line. Again, think of the delegates and your target audience, and consider asking a question about their experience at the event so far.

Lastly, smile! As much as being at a trade show is very draining, ensure that your team gets sufficient sleep in between the show days. There’s nothing worse than having personnel on a booth looking drained, unenthusiastic, or hung-over.

Aesthetics and experience matter

Think ahead to how your booth experience will come to life in the venue. For example, for me, a dark carpet in the booth that contrasts with the generic show floor carpet creates a subliminal barrier for people to step into your booth.

Have the right personnel in the stand and in sufficient numbers. Depending on your objectives, ensure you have the appropriately skilled and experienced team members manning the booth. If your objective includes generating sales opportunities, it should follow that you put your best salespeople on the booth. They are the best placed people to engage in a conversation, articulate your value proposition, potentially provide a short demo, and qualify as to whether the delegate can help facilitate a meaningful follow-up meeting. Your sales team should be able to capture requirements and arrange a subsequent presentation when you can have the most relevant people in the room, as well as their undivided attention.

Like it or not, “swag” or “giveaways” are part of the experience you’re creating for delegates, so be strategic and purposeful with a novel or unique item. What will be memorable and useful for the delegate, and how does it connect with your brand or offering – both at the event and long after?

Amplify your presence. On the whole, you’ll get one opportunity to capture someone’s attention when they are walking past your booth. If you have something opposite you that distracts their attention, you just blew that opportunity! So you need to create a way to make delegates curious about you, or actively look for you.

This can mean anything from leaving flyers on meeting tables to social media promotion in advance of the event. I have previous real-world experience with carpet bombing an event with postcards with only the company logo on them. While I wasn’t popular with event organisers, it generated a ton of curiosity from delegates.

Be creative and find a reason to have people talking about your booth when they are elsewhere in the exhibition hall or event. This creates the FOMO effect that drives a broader audience to your booth.

To find out more about Clearspeed and their involvement with events in the insurance industry, visit their website here. 

Content provided by Manjit Rana, EVP Insurance – UK, EMEA, and APAC, Clearspeed.