NEWS & UPDATES

June 16, 2008 In By Advent

5 Tips for a Good Trade Show Team

Let′s be hon­est: the thought of get­ting away from your desk for one, two, or even three days is an excit­ing propo­si­tion. No email, no tele­phone calls, no dead­lines. Just enjoy­ing the excite­ment and com­mo­tion of another trade show in a new city. What could be more perfect?

Well, the per­cent­age of peo­ple who feel jazzed and excited about a trade show is par­al­lel to mow­ing your lawn in 100?+ day. So then what′s the rem­edy to get­ting your team excited, and happy to be your company′s ambas­sador at a trade show? Here are 5 tips to pre­pare your team to rock the show like a good 80s cover band.

1. Incen­tive?

Peo­ple are dri­ven and moti­vated by var­i­ous things. Money, gifts, perks, time off work, and even awards are all things that drive employ­ees to excel­lence in the work place. If you can′t afford to “pay off” your work­ers to do their job, then try and think out­side of the cor­po­rate box. Stud­ies show that a good per­cent­age of peo­ple are dri­ven by ver­bal affir­ma­tion from a boss more than they are by money. Tak­ing that extra minute to rec­og­nize an employee can go a long way when you need them in a pinch.

2. Edu­cate Edu­cate Educate!

If there is some­thing peo­ple hate, it is being unin­formed. How many times have you been in a sit­u­a­tion and some­one asked an impor­tant ques­tion, and lo and behold, you didn′t know the answer? This hap­pens all too many times, for var­i­ous rea­sons. Try to col­lect all of the infor­ma­tion you need your team to know well in advance before the show; per­haps a morn­ing break­fast meet­ing on your tab, or even a relaxed meet­ing in the con­fer­ence room with dough­nuts. Either way, make sure you get the team ready with the infor­ma­tion they need on the floor.

3. The Good Shepherd

“Where is the duct tape?” “Do you have a sharpie?” “I need a power strip!” Don′t leave your team to fend for them­selves 30 min­utes before the doors open. Take extra steps to think through exactly what they will need before they leave the office for a teary good­bye. A good idea is to have a “Trade Show Tools Kit.” Include scis­sors, masking-scotch-duct tape, exten­sion cords, power strips, pens, pen­cils, paper, sta­pler, and any other things you might think necessary.

4. Cre­ate Your Dream Team

The peo­ple you send to a show are going to be the faces for your com­pany and its beliefs and core val­ues. Don′t send some­one who you think will taint the image you want to project of your com­pany. How­ever, don′t pick peo­ple who are all alike. Cre­ate a hodge-podge style team of per­son­al­ity, humor, skill, intel­li­gence and other char­ac­ter­is­tics that can speak to all sorts of trade-show atten­dees. Remem­ber, there will be many dif­fer­ent peo­ple who are com­ing up to your booth—try and esti­mate what peo­ple within your own com­pany could speak to the masses.

5. Fun Is Okay

Who said fun wasn′t allowed at work? Granted, too much fun on the job decreases pro­duc­tiv­ity. There is a bal­ance that can be main­tained. It has been said that in order to gain new busi­ness, that if you sell your­self, your prod­ucts and ser­vices will take care of them­selves. Enjoy your­self on the floor!

Logan Hart­line is a senior graphic design major at Lip­scomb Uni­ver­sity. Cre­ativ­ity, pro­duc­tiv­ity, and pas­sion for art have spelled suc­cess in the form of sev­eral hon­ors includ­ing the Robert M. Neal Schol­ar­ship for Fine Arts, the Lip­scomb Uni­ver­sity Art Depart­ment Schol­ar­ship, and a dynamic mar­ket­ing intern­ship with Advent. Advent exists atop a rapidly expand­ing expe­ri­en­tial mar­ket­ing field and helps com­pa­nies com­mu­ni­cate the essence of their brand through engag­ing exhibits, envi­ron­ments, and events. For more infor­ma­tion, visit adventresults.com.

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