some vendors use candy or food to attract visitors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nyou will also need to carefully select your staff to work the space during the hours of the show or conference. it\u2019s important to get friendly, smiling people who know about your business and how to represent you well.<\/p>\n
selecting the conference <\/strong><\/p>\nwhich conference you choose to exhibit at can be crucial. your ideal client\u00a0must be in attendance, and this is something you must research carefully.<\/p>\n
i have made many mistakes with trade shows, and here are two i will admit so you can learn and avoid the costly expenses i incurred.<\/p>\n
\ni exhibited at an ewomen network conference a few years ago when my ideal clients were women. my table did poorly for a number of reasons. my reputation was not well known among the group; i would have done much better had i spoken from the stage or done some national volunteering for the group. for that group to ever pay off for me would be a multi-year investment of time and money, so i did not get a good roi.<\/li>\n i exhibited at an natp conference recently, and my table did poorly. many of my clients are members of this group, so i thought it would be perfect. and although natp members are my ideal client, are in my specialty industry and are current clients, i still goofed because the demographics didn\u2019t match up. at the conference, no one needed clients; they were all looking for exit strategies. the natp participants\u2019 average age was about 65, but worse, all of their practices were full. i didn\u2019t ask enough questions of the natp exhibit manager to avoid this mismatch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nif you do choose to exhibit at trade shows, i highly recommend you plan to do it every year for many years. this shows dedication and consistency to the group.<\/p>\n
how to select your trade show? we create a spreadsheet that lists all of the major events in our industry. we include two columns: expected attendance and cost of the exhibit space. we compute exhibit space cost divided by attendance to get cost per head. we compare that cost to the other trade show opportunities for the year. then we look at other costs such as hotel, air and staffing to make our final decision.<\/p>\n
hidden fees<\/strong><\/p>\nin addition to paying exhibit fees with the conference host, you may also incur costs from the hotel or the vendor that the conference host has secured to serve the exhibit hall. these costs include electricity to your space, equipment rental, shipping and setup costs. some cities require union personnel to handle everything that goes in and out of the hall, so please check in advance so that you will know what your costs are going to be.<\/p>\n
our display is so small that i usually check the bag on the airline and lug it myself to the event. alternately, you may be able to arrange shipping via a local fedex office, the hotel or the trade show\u00a0vendor.<\/p>\n
local options<\/strong><\/p>\nit can be very cost-effective to rent a display table at a local event, where small businesses gather and find out about each other. this could be hosted by your local chamber or another group. check around to see what the options are, and make sure your ideal client\u00a0will be present.<\/p>\n
pet peeve<\/strong><\/p>\none last comment on trade shows: if you are attending a trade show\u00a0as a participant and do not have an exhibit space, do not market to the people exhibiting or the other attendees while they are in the exhibit hall. that\u2019s just really bad form, and i see it at every show.<\/p>\n
as a marketing option, trade shows are best left to the experienced, extroverted entrepreneur. one option that achieves almost the same thing for a lower cost is to speak at the same conference. this ensures visibility, demonstrates your expertise and allows you to collect information from prospects who approach you after your speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
plus some mistakes to avoid.<\/strong> \nby sandi leyva<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1345,"featured_media":47752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2271,3120,3002,2295],"tags":[1056,6,114,822],"class_list":["post-52931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","category-pro-member-exclusive","category-special","category-solo","tag-entrepreneur","tag-bsg-business-builder","tag-small-firm","tag-solo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nmake the most of trade shows - 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n