Smooshed!  That’s the sound you hear as the face-to-face marketing worlds and the virtual universe collide!  Maybe it’s also akin to the new “Big Bang” as the entire world is re-created into a new form of living, working, loving, communicating.  Anything really.  Very cool!  Very exciting! And full of new opportunities!

Last week I attended Event Marketer Magazine’s Countdown Workshop in New York City.  As always, I left with my head spinning and feeling a bit “dinosauresque.”  But I took comfort in realizing that few people in the room (if any) knew much about what was presented.  Most of us had the “deer-in-the-headlight” look by the end of the first session about entering the digital age for event marketers.  The takeaways for this session, however, were well worth the time spent.

I spent six plus long days recently setting up and then working a trade show exhibit.  Was the show a success?  Depends who you ask.  I survived standing on carpeted cement for 6 days, so by that measure my survival was a success.  But how about the exhibitors?  Did they walk away with results that made the collective $12,000,000 spent by the exhibiting companies worthwhile?  Do they even know?

Comic-Con, Wow!, what a show! Two Hundred thousand plus attendees, half in costume, all looking for as many give-a-ways as they can cram into their oversized Comic-Con carry bags.  In addition to the trade show exhibits, all crammed with interactive games, celebrity signings and of course free t-shirts, the attendees attend panel discussions featuring their favorite movie, cable & broadcast TV shows, and famous character artists.   It was a typical retail, B-to-C show.  But what can the B-to-B producers learn from Comic-Con?  Plenty!

For those of us over 50 this may recall the Who hit from the 70’s.  It’s an appropriate question today as many businesses reassess who and what they are in light of the minute-by-minute changes all around us.  I realize this is a basic question, but forgetting your identity has been the demise of many companies, organizations and even countries.

Trade Show ROI Tip #3 - Staff Preparation

Trade shows are shows.  And like any good Broadway show requires a number of key components to be successful.  Skyline Genesis Event Marketing builds business “sets”, typically referred to as exhibits, displays, or booths.  For the purposes of this blog let’s call them sets.  In addition to a good set you need a show with a good plot, skilled direction and competent actors (preferably stars!).  So, the question is, are you sending stars to work your next trade show?