So many shows, so little time and worse yet, only ONE of YOU! Yes, this is a common ailment of Event Managers in every industry. Whether you are working with meetings or large trade shows and conferences, there is still only ONE of you. Extending your resources can mean doing a little research and certainly knowing you can ask for help and pay it forward. Having the type of expertise Tradeshowgypies have is a unique and extensive resource in of itself. Your management, organization, personal and communication skills are only a few of the key elements that can be shared with teammates/partners/vendors/suppliers to get more work done.
Gypsies have been known to barter on occasion and this is how you can extend your resources. You say, but I don’t want more work! No one does, but sharing the load with your internal teams and external resources will help everyone and often produce a better outcome and solution. From experience and observation Event Manager’s take on too much and are let down when they know things could have been done better. Large shows can have so many things going that you need help! If you do not ask, you will not get what you need.
Sales teams and product reps who are regional can be extremely helpful and valuable to reach out to local attendees. Work with your sales team to drum up a message that benefits them in their sales and lead generation. Quality and quantity gets all marks checked in the business model for shows. Cold-call emails from Event Manager’s get trashed or worse alienate potentials as junk mail offenders. Offer a giveaway at the event for responses to your sales sent email.
Engage your partners or reps to get the show buzz going for each event with a participation nod to them at the event with a stand of their datasheets or a promo item relating to the partnership product/service. Limited to what you can handout? Turn it around and support them when they have an announcement. Find out if your team can add banner ads to their blog for a week or give them something that gives them social media visibility.
If you want to go New Technology, look into renting a BEAM at your show and travel around the show floor with someone from your office or your helpers can get people to your booth with follow-me messages as this is a REAL Person not an Avatar message. My last show had an attendee from another country who could not make it to his speaking slot and used the Beam to give his presentation. Others showed up on the show floor too! C-Level staff can rotate in and out and be escorted to key customers. That helper may just be a robot! *Steve Ernst – Event Presence is the vendor at SCCC and is Awesome to work with! http://eventpresence.com/
Partners and suppliers are happy to help promote if they have a ready-made message or graphic. In your announcement of participation at the show-event, include a thank you to partners/suppliers who are a part of your product/service. If logo and promotion materials are on a restriction, send a letter of recognition for their support. Those things add up and it never hurts to include a social media shout-out for great service.
Extend your reach and get better results, get those bartering skills honed gypsies!
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