I attended a conference on Monday this week in London and I have to say it was excellent. It was all about innovation in the UK technology industry and I learnt a lot about what this sector feels it needs to continue to thrive. Good marketing, strong partnerships, appropriate finance, effective employment and retention strategies and much more was discussed.
As with most conferences there was an exhibition area running in the networking rooms. I’m a big fan of exhibitions, they can be an effective part of your marketing mix, but so often they are poorly used. If you want top tips for how not to get results / value for money then please follow these guidelines:
1. sit at the back of your stand checking your email,
2. don’t approach and talk to people looking at your stand,
3. don’t collect contact details for following-up after the show,
4. leave your handouts at the office,
5. man the stand with people who clearly aren’t comfortable being there,
6. spend your budget on giveaways with no clear call to action
7. design your stand for your your comfort and not for lead generation
If you follow this guide, I guarantee your exhibition stand will be unsuccessful and a waste of your budget. Instead, you could invert all of these points and make a real impact.
What do you think? If you’re going to invest the thousands of pounds it takes to hold an exhibition stand, you might as well get value for money.
