Making the Most of Your Trade Show

Each minute on the trade show floor must yield results

For the organizer
When you plan your show, are you relying on what's worked in the past or simply "what you've always done"? This may not be enough. Examine the information you have about how your attendees view and use the exhibit time at your shows. Do they view it as a time to socially interact with each other and potential vendors? Do they use it as a time to hash out business ideas and work toward getting ideas and quotes out of vendors that they want returned in a detailed format post-show? Do they use it to get a broad overview of what the industry is offering and then narrow down appropriate exhibitors to speak to? Now think about your show format: when is the exhibit hall open, what kind of activities do you use to encourage interaction, should you reconfigure the space to accommodate different goals? Think outside the usual pipe and drape configuration...let us help!

For the exhibitor
How well prepared are you for the attendee's actual needs? Have you thought about why they visit your booth and how you can best serve those purposes? This is a rare, important opportunity to be face to face with many potential clients. Let them know their business matters right from the start by configuring your space, your messaging and your offers to their needs. If yours is a product or service that can benefit from demos, highlight that in your space. Rehearse quick case studies that may match your probable booth visitors so you can quickly show how you can help. You only have seconds to grab their attention and a few more to establish whether there is a benefit you can offer, so make the most of it.

For the attendee
This is one of the few times you have the opportunity to meet potential vendors face to face. They have invested considerable time and effort to make sure they are bringing you useful information that can help your business objectives and it's all there at your fingertips! Save time and effort by researching exhibitors you want to spend extra time with and make sure to seek them out. Allow yourself ample time to view vendors you may not be familiar with as they may have the perfect solution you didn't even know existed. Bring a notepad and jot observations and contact information so you can queue your memory post-show and ensure the exhibitors you visited met the deliverables you asked for or so you remember where to get more information.

Want to go beyond the pipe and drape? Contact karenm@meetcsi.com to learn how innovative trade show formats can add value and increase yield for the organizer, exhibitor and attendee.

Wings to Fly

Here at CSI we realize we are truly lucky to be able to live our lives to our full potential. We believe it is our privilege and duty to help others who would not otherwise have the chance. We choose to support Wings to Fly, a non-profit organization that promotes life long self-esteem in young women by providing coaching and resources to build the confidence to build a life they can be proud of living. CSI provides donations on behalf of our clients that help support scholarships for girls so they can experiences the Wings to Fly camps that provide the resources and coaching.

Give Karen a shout if you want to learn more: karenm@meetcsi.com!

Why Physical Trade Shows Matter

Presenting your product or service live and in person to a group of what amounts to pre-qualified prospects must be an integral part of your marketing mix. Certainly virtual shows have their place and any savvy marketer is using a combination of social networking along with more traditional marketing avenues such as banner ads and email marketing and even print ads and direct mail. However-there's just never been a better time to put the right people from your sales team in a communicative booth equipped with the right message to market face-to-face. You're cutting through the clutter of piles of mail and streams of email and the call that always seems to come when no one has time to talk. Simply put, at a trade show you are in front of prospects who have taken the time and made the investment to come to a conference to learn and are entering the trade show hall specifically to find ways they can improve their businesses. They want to hear from you and you can find out what their needs are and sell what makes sense. Do you want to be the resource that's not there?

At CSI etc. we help our clients organize trade shows that are cost efficient and remarkably effective. We also provide tools that help exhibitors maximize their experience. Success for all. 800.471.7330.

We are Rock Stars!

We're excited to announce our very own Karen May's golf committee has won Committee of the Year from the Arizona Chapter of Meeting Professionals International. Karen chaired the committee with Bill Mesa from OB Sports. We thank everyone who voted for us!!

We're ready to make sure your next Trade Show reaches rock star status too...contact Karen and see what we can do!

CSI etc. Plants a Forest for You!

Did you know that as part of CSI's "Make Your Tradeshow Green" program, for every booth you contract with us to set up at your Trade Show, we will plant one tree in your company’s name through the National Forest Foundation’s tree-planting program. So have 500 booths, then you'll have 500 trees in your name. We can build a forest together. Let's even turn it into a tradeshow contest: "name the tree," "gather the most leaves," etc. We can go on and on.

Now what will YOU name them?? Mr. Green, Ms. Oxygen, Barky...ok, ok, we'll stop now. Let's get to planting some trees and the seeds of some great business at your tradeshow!

EVERYONE at Conference Services International gets wrapped up in our work

Meet Beauregard McGregor May "Mac". You see, we at CSI are very dedicated to our work. You could even say we get all wrapped up in it. Mac takes it slightly more literally than the rest of us, but our dedication is the same!

Want to know how us humans over here respond when our clients need something on the double? Instead of running around and getting tied up in knots, we act. When a client recently wanted to change their header graphic to their entrance unit late at night after set up was complete and hours before their show was to open, our in-house sign shop made it happen (we didn't even let them see us sweat as we switched out the header with attendees almost in sight!)

At CSI, we just get it done - no drama, no sweat, and sometimes just a bit of ribbon : )