- Bring it on…let the games begin!
It was in here, I know it was…the fun, who didn’t pack the fun? Now that fall show season is in the throes of getting old and the gypsy Frisian horse can see the barn door (your office and time off the road!) – try to keep focused but light-hearted.
You have had those show’s that everything that could go wrong sends you over the edge; the staff that is cranky from being at several shows and still nursing achy feet; and the boss that is getting the figures on the show actuals with that frightening look and a post-it note that says – “blood pressure pills – bottom drawer!”– Yeah, all of this can put the wet blanket on the last shows for the year. But, you have to step up to the stage gypsy! Time to break out the tambourine and mandolin and start dancing and smiling! Those end-of-year leads are critical and the industry shows for planning are still important – you can’t let things fizzle!
Time for the magic powder that works better than a Margarita on Cinco de Mayo – extra potent fun in the booth – granted things can go amuck quickly as everyone is pretty slap happy at this point so just know that you could lose control and may have to do some “we won’t do it again bows” at the end.
EXAMPLE #1: one year we had the sticky head guys as a promo item…”Dart Man” – nice hanging banner sign designating aisles up above our booth had a great graphic — a TARGET! Needless to say there was a line down the aisle launching the darts at the sign – thank goodness people didn’t notice until the last day of the show and we were not excommunicated from the show! (FYI – DartMan’s sticky top makes a great lint grabber for those table cloths!)
EXAMPLE #2: Defense Show – Incoming…yup the pop rocket nurf things – pretty soon there was a full-blown “and the rockets red glare” going above the booths – though the glare was just from the amount of rockets that were synchronized to go off by a variety of staff in every booth on the show floor at the reception!! Looked like nurf confetti!
EXAMPLE #3: Booth had stuffed animals the kind that people kill for on the show floor for their kid(s). The company that brought them was from Asia and they brought a “mascot” outfit of a huge Panda Bear – all good until they put it on and it appeared to be so top-heavy that it made the mascot look tipsy and he was handing out the coveted animals and trying to gather the leads – people were literally chasing him down the aisles and trying to steady him so he could hand them an animal – the greatest thing was he gave up on the hand-held scanner and was having people drop their business card down the pants of the costume in exchange for the animal – you gotta want it is all I can say!
Don’t be afraid to have some fun on the show floor – add a game – you see golf standard games out there to win the putter – add in something extra, harder shots through your booth – I always thought a moving hole would be great, but have not been able to figure out how to make it happen maybe a robotics show could help with that – something fun…get the medical robot chasing people for an autograph or add voice! Have a photo-op with a variety of cardboard cutouts or a model if the budget allows – something…add some fun – there is only so much “official business” people can take, and this is the time for some light-hearted ideas!
Yeah…the image…let me know how that gypsy booth soccer game goes – 🙂
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