Zero Cost Tips to Increase Tradeshow ROI a Bajillion Percent

Originally published in February 2019

I recently attended the BETT show (a very large British educational technology show). We announced a new partnership and integration with Microsoft Teams. In walking around the show, I saw a ton of “professional” booth staff doing the following:

1. Staring into their phone
2. Looking bored
3. Not making eye contact
4. Not knowing how to demo their product
5. Not knowing how to pitch their product in one minute or less (so I could decide if I wanted the longer schpiel)
6. Not asking what my needs were and going straight into their product features.

To be fair, I saw some amazing folks who could talk, teach, engage, and knew exactly why they were there. And they learned why I was there using great open-ended questions. I learned a lot and ended up with some great possible partners I would never have met had they not done the right thing as I was shuffling by in my overstimulated tradeshow visitor trance.

Our booth at Turnitin? We did a pretty good job. But don’t take my word for it:

The proof is in the pudding. When you train and expect staff to not just know their products, but understand people, energy, and engagement (including some cultural cues for the region in which you are showing), your ROI on conference investment goes up by a bajillion percent.*

I put together this super simple “listicle” style slideshow with an overview of some of the things your booth staff should be trained in. (Although I hate listicles I have submitted to the demands of the masses.) Feel free to steal it. With citation. After all I do work for Turnitin.https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=8296840479428945580&li_theme=light

Seriously, I can’t believe how a little effort in training and energy makes all the difference in the world between a listless, lifeless, boring booth and an energetic, interesting, and networking-ready, sales-oriented booth.

I’ll say it another way: I would rather go to a table with a drop-cloth and a monitor with an energetic, engaging booth staff than to a fancy double-decker booth with a fancy coffee machine and bored, disengaged staff who are posting on Instagram.

I’ll close on a positive note. At BETT I saw one of the best presentations and 30 second value proposition explanations I’ve seen in a long while at a small table in the “new technology” section. This person was well dressed, engaging, made piercing eye contact, could answer all of my questions, and truly engaged with me. Turns out this person had been a consultant for a major firm and is now the founder and CEO of a fairly large conglomerate of companies and technologies. Yet there this person was, pressing the flesh and engaging people at a conference. Someone to emulate!

Cheers,

Gary

*This is only a rough estimate. Your mileage may vary. But engagement, lead gen, and brand influence can only improve using the simple techniques and training outlined here.