Congratulations Karen May for being selected as one of Expo Magazines “Expo Elites” The Expo Elite honors the most creative-thinking individuals who have pushed the boundaries in their ever-evolving expo industry.

Brent began his career in the industry with Concept Convention Services in 1988. Brent was the Freight Manager for Concept from 1988 to 1995. He has managed freight for numerous conventions and tradeshows. These shows include Ace Hardware at 1.6 million pounds of freight and National Candy Wholesalers at 1 million pounds. Brent has previously worked in all aspects of the Arizona International Auto Show including freight and I & D labor. He has experience in all areas of the convention industry including Sales for National Associations.  Brent was a Sales Manager at Brede Exposition Service prior to starting CSI in 2007.

For the last 6 years Athon has been the Vice President of Operations for CSI etc. With the expansion into California and the growth of the company the timing is perfect.

Tight budgets and a need to prove return-on-investment for tradeshows has led many companies to decrease participation, but changing a marketing program to exclude or reduce exhibiting would be out of the question for other businesses.

An exit survey conducted by buyers at the second edition of IMEX America at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas revealed that hosted buyers expected to place $3.3 billion of business as a result of the show. For the exhibitors that took a piece of this $3.3 billion pie, IMEX America proved its worth.

“This is a firm endorsement of the high quality of buyers we attracted this year and proof, if any were needed, that the show delivers real business value and produces positive results for many months afterwards,” said Ray Bloom, chairman, IMEX Group.

Crowds gather at the 2013 NAIAS.The meetings industry isn’t the only group that places a high level of importance on its tradeshows. Automakers turn to exhibitions to make nearly all of their new cars known to the world, and the 2013 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in no exception. The show saw 59 vehicle debuts, with the majority being worldwide unveilings.

“This show is a reflection of the positive changes that are occurring in our industry,” said Jim Seavitt, chairman, 2013 NAIAS. “Automakers from around the world continue to place NAIAS at the top of their global auto show strategies.”

NAIAS is not only important for new vehicles, it serves as a yearly pep rally for the industry.

“You walk on to the show floor, and immediately sense a renewed feeling of confidence in the automotive industry,” said Seavitt. “It’s clear that the industry is back and the global manufacturers have saved their best for Detroit.”

Outdoor retailers also view the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) as vital to their business. At the 2013 SHOT Show, more than 1,600 exhibitors filled booth space covering 630,000 net square feet, equivalent to the area covered by the New Orleans Superdome or the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

“For the 24 years we’ve been going, the SHOT Show is the most important show we do each year,” said John Anthon, president of GATCO Sharpeners/Timberline Knives. “It is the largest venue globally and the most important. Every important customer comes to the show for that reason.”

Exhibitors at the SHOT Show also use the event for product unveilings that figure heavily into their bottom line for the year.

“The SHOT Show is the springboard for every new product that we introduce each year,” said Frank Devlin of Otis Technology. “It gives the industry the opportunity to see our new products and allows us to get feedback from them to know that we are heading in the right direction.”

Another tradeshow that is heavily relied on by the industry it serves is the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) Expo. The PPAI Expo is the industry’s largest and longest-running tradeshow.

“By all indications, the 2013 PPAI Expo was a huge success,” said Darel Cook, director of expositions and meetings for PPAI. “The general consensus from exhibitors was not only were there more distributors, the distributors also came to do business. The Expo continues to showcase the biggest, the most, and by far the best the industry has to offer. The Expo is indeed the show of the industry.”

PPAI Expo brought together about 3,300 companies from every facet of the promotional products field.

“This one is the show,” said Shurli Allinott, president of Langley, a British Columbia-based supplier. “Actually, if we had to choose one show, it would be this show. The quality of the customer is amazing. So many people come; Canada comes, the U.S. comes. It’s just an all-around great show.”

Tradeshows are also looked at as a crystal balls, predicting successful years for an industry and exciting companies for future growth.

The 60th PGA Merchandise Show, held in Orlando, celebrated its six-decade history while launching what many believed to be the most vibrant PGA Show in recent history, and one that will lead to a strong 2013 for the golf industry.

“It’s gratifying to see such enthusiasm at the PGA Merchandise Show,” said Ted Bishop, president of the PGA of America. “The activity on the PGA Show floor and at surrounding events is a great start to the 2013 golf season. This is the biggest the PGA Show has been since 2008, and that’s a great signal that golf is vibrant again.”

The PGA show covered 1 million square feet of the Orange County Convention Center, including 465,000 square feet of branded exhibits.

“This is my 33rd show and our 20th year as an exhibitor,” said Harris MacNeill, president of Champ and MacNeill Engineering Worldwide. “For us, the PGA Merchandise Show has helped us establish our brand and establish relationships with national and international customers. It’s the single most important thing we do all year.”

The 2013 PGA Merchandise Show brought together more than 1,000 companies and brands introducing new equipment to more than 43,000 attendees from 75 countries.

“The PGA Merchandise Show is fantastic this year,” said Tim Finchem, commissioner of the PGA TOUR. “Now, if we can transfer this positive energy to the year ahead, it promises to be another productive year. The industry is moving in a positive direction.”

Exhibiting budgets may be under the microscope in today’s economy, but for many companies, the tradeshow has become a living and breathing thing that their industries couldn’t survive without. Written by Charlie Boyd Tuesday, February 26 2013 08:00 Exhibit City News

How should account executives target prospects in this new economy?
It is imperative for account executives to be in-tune with what is trending and those industries that are tracking growth. For example, are there any industries that are growing due to new and changing technologies or are there any natural events causing new industries to emerge? Think “global warming.” Industries that are going through change, like healthcare, also can offer good prospects.

Karen May, EVP of sales and marketing for CSI etc.What do you believe is the number one trait necessary to succeed as an account executive?
Never forget this is a people business. While there are significant advances in technology making our lives easier, the value of human contact and thoughtfulness never should be replaced by a smartphone. Without question, delivering an outstanding customer experience is also a key trait. From the first contact with a client through project completion, a successful account executive will build and maintain trust and ensure deliverables are on target and on time.

What are the biggest challenges facing sales professionals today?
Getting the knowledge of end-to-end service. It is no longer about rentals and setting up shows. It is about what you can do in total for clients to help them drive their businesses. If you do that, then you know what true end-to-end service means. Our portfolios have expanded greatly beyond rentals and setting up shows. We must now partner with our clients to help them drive their businesses.

What advice can you offer to an individual that wants to pursue a career as an account executive?
New account executives need to spend time developing their network and nurture it. Use the tools available to you, such as Facebook and Twitter, to develop your brand and your company’s brand. Track important dates and activities in the markets. Keep a history of what works and what doesn’t work. Talk to people.

It cannot be said enough: Develop your network and nurture it. Social media platforms are excellent tools, and the best part is, the biggest investment to you is time. Spend time building your brand and your company’s brand. Get involved in as many activities as you can in your markets, and get out and make connections.

What is your greatest accomplishment?
I asked my friends to comment. They said it is how I prioritize people in my life and how I enjoy all that I can from those relationships. It gets blurry when you are having a great time. But, seriously, I have two. Winning the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International “Life Time Achievement Award” at age 48, and my passion for dog rescue. I have raised more than $1 million by myself and rescued hundreds of dogs. Just last week, I literally shut down a freeway by throwing my car in park and running down the street against traffic chasing a disoriented dog.

What personal attributes, outside of pure sales ability, are important to building a book of business for the long term?
Style – certain clients like things a certain way. While I would like to be the solution for all clients, I have to know what they like, not just what I like. Also, understanding what a customer wants and needs. What works for one client won’t necessarily work for another, so tailoring to each customer is necessary.

Feedback and honesty – I want my clients to feel a certain connection with me beyond that of a vendor. I want them to know I have their best interests at heart. Integrity – enough said. Timeliness – if I commit to someone, I am there. Commitment – when I work with a client, I am there 100 percent. Quality – it is in the details. Never lose focus on the priorities, but the quality of little things matter, too.

What should veteran account executives be aware of in order to survive and thrive in the industry?
Keep knocking on doors. It is not about what you have done, but what you have done for your clients, lately. The harder we work, the luckier we get.

What keeps you motivated and focused?
I sincerely like people and enjoy helping them bring their vision to life. There is nothing better than seeing an event go off fabulously. We work in an industry that makes amazing things happen – who wouldn’t want to chase that dream every day?

Did you have a mentor? If so, what was the one piece of advice he/she shared that you cherish?
I can’t say it was one person – all of the memories and things I learned along the way helped me. I think the theme of all my mentors is to enjoy what you are doing and do it well and with a smile. I have been very fortunate to have had many mentors along the way.

Over the last 25 years, Karen May has excelled in meetings and event-planning, tradeshow management, incentive travel and destination management. She has operated numerous local and international programs, ranging from ten to 100,000 attendees, and worked for such clients as GE Finance, IBM, the NFL and the NBA. CSI etc. is an Arizona-based national tradeshow and exposition contractor that works in partnership with resorts, conference centers, meeting planners and associations. CSI has the capacity to provide full-service show contracting or can provide products and services a-la-carte on an as-needed basis.

www.meetcsi.com karenm@meetcsi.com

Egan’s Entries On Exhibits & Events

We’ve all been in situations where a sales person tries to capture our attention with an innocuous question: “How are you today?” “Can I help you find anything?” “Enjoying your shopping?” And we’ve all escaped with one-word answers: “Fine.” “No.” “Yes.” And, thankfully, we were on our way.

The same is true in the tradeshow environment. Every exhibitor is trying to woo every attendee, and the chorus of faux pleasantries taking place at the edge of each exhibitor’s carpet resounds throughout the hall. The conviction that’s motivated every salesperson since we first ventured out of caves holds true here, too: There has to be a better way!

So what’s your most effective opening salvo in the effort to engage with show attendees? Do you use open-ended questions? Make an interesting offer? How do you get a visitor off the aisle and into your exhibit?

Perhaps the more important question is, “How do you avoid looking like a vulture, standing on the edge of the carpet, ready to pounce on the first warm body that passes by?” We’ve all seen that type, too, and nothing is more off-putting to an attendee than that sense of impending attack.

It seems strangely simplistic, but often the simplest solutions are staggeringly elusive. What really connects with show visitors is honesty and sincerity, accompanied with a smile and a warm welcome. It’s cliché because it’s true, but you do get what you give. John Gerrits, principal at JGerrits Group, says, “The comment by a sales person, ‘What are you looking for?’ is a turnoff. A pleasant introduction and a smile go further than anyone can imagine. If you just watch the individual approaching the space and pick up on eye movement and body language, you can start with something like, ‘I see that you’re interested in XYZ…’ then move on [with information about that]. Get to know the hot buttons of the visitor, explore his or her options, and pursue it from there.”

Sean Roberts, founder of Standingstonez, an exhibit industry consultancy, adds, “I like to continue with a conversational approach, possibly asking, ‘What brings you to the show today?’” Even if you get a wise guy who responds with “A taxi,” you’ve started a conversation, and if you appreciate their attempt at levity (even though you may have heard the line a million times before), you can engage the visitor and begin the process of qualifying him or her.

Sean continues, “The trick is to keep them engaged until you have discovery. I try to tell people working an exhibit to never ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions.” That’s the problem with those questions in this column’s first paragraph: it’s easy to shut down the questioner with a one-word answer, and then there’s nowhere to go.

According to Mike Mraz, tradeshow strategist and educator, “Watch for eye contact. If that contact lingers, you can extend your hand and begin a discussion. Look at the person’s name badge and, continuing the handshake, ask, ‘Bill, what do you know about XYZ Company?’ as you gesture with your left hand toward the booth’s logo. Listen to their answer (they may know a great deal, or believe they know something that isn’t, in fact, correct). Then, you can disengage the handshake and briefly tell them what you do, with a focus on what they’ve expressed interest in through their answer to your question.”

Here’s where many sales trainers will instruct you to trot out your “elevator pitch.” What’s that? BusinessWeek calls it “the quick, succinct summation of what your company makes or does—so named because it should last no longer than the average elevator ride.” But Mraz has a different take, “I avoid anything that smacks of a ‘rote’ response. We must shape our message to the unique situation we discover the attendee to be in.”

Once you’ve given a brief, customized response to your prospect, you can move forward with more open-ended questions. “Who are you using for your widget polishing now?” This allows you to find out which competitor Bill is working with and whether there’s an opening for you to move into a “partial close” (a question that tells you if there’s any buying interest). For example, when Bill tells you which supplier is currently serving his company’s needs, you can ask, “Are you satisfied with their service (pricing, speed, quality or whatever is appropriate in your industry)?” Or, if you have data to back it up, you could say, “A recent study showed that 40% of companies who need widget polishing saved money using our service. Would you like to see how much we could save your company, Bill?” You’re into the discussion and leading the prospect into your exhibit. Business is being transacted.

Mraz brought up another important point: how to cut off a conversation with someone who’s not a prospect. “It’s a bit blunt, but you may have to come right out and say something like, ‘We’ve got some new pens here, Bill, with our website on it. And as you leave us today I’d like you to take one with you.’ Or be straightforward and say, ‘As we’ve been talking, Bill, it’s become clear to me that XYZ Company isn’t going to be able to help you.’ This is where you extend your hand again and shake theirs, saying, ‘I hope you find what you’re looking for with one of the other exhibitors.’ If you can offer them a referral, that’s even better.”

Sometimes non-verbal communication can do a better job of getting people into your display. Sarmistha Tarafder, with Skyline Displays in California’s Bay Area, offered an exhibit her company had created for Torani, a manufacturer of flavored syrups that are added to coffees and other beverages. Her simple suggestion, “Keep the big payoff way back in the booth.” Which is precisely what was done in the exhibit that showcased a tasting bar installed along the back wall, in full view from the aisle, where its presence beckoned people to take that fateful step off the aisle carpet and into the exhibit for a flavorful payoff, indeed.

Dave Egan is head writer at Writers Direct Group, a full-service outsource writing resource for live trade show presentations, event theming, product demos, website content and other written- or spoken-word business communications. Contact him at Dave@WritersDirectGroup.com or 877-7GET-WDG [877-743-8934].

Egan’s Entries On Exhibits & Events

In this era of technological interactions, using everything from texting to social media, we may be discounting the importance of “old fashioned” face-to-face meetings. At its core, that’s what a tradeshow is: a chance for you to meet—in a face-to-face setting—prospects, current users of your product or service, new business partners and even potential new hires.

You (and other members of your tradeshow team) can also network with business professionals and peers, as well as speakers, authors and others that may be involved in the educational track that often accompanies a tradeshow. Why is this important?

Relationship building is key to business success. It turns customers into Brand Advocates (people willing to speak out in public or on social media about your company and its products or services). Brand building happens on the tradeshow floor, as a result of everything from how your exhibit is designed to how your prospects see you as a potential solution to their problems. By meeting face-to-face, you learn what your prospects need, what they want, and what prompted them to look to your company for help. This information is easier to obtain when your prospect is in front of you, as opposed to being in front of a computer screen.

Prospects can meet you through your website or social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. These have become convenient ways of communicating with potential customers. But at some point, it’s valuable for prospects to meet the people “behind” the company or the business name. Being seen on the tradeshow floor is a way interested people can be drawn to you.

Professor Richard D. Arvey, Ph.D. at the Business School of the National University of Singapore, wrote a white paper entitled “Why Face-to-Face Business Meetings Matter.” In it, Arvey offers five reasons why face-to-face settings are still important to the successful conduct of business:

1. “Face-to-face meetings allow members to engage in and observe verbal and non-verbal behavioral styles” that aren’t communicated through technological tools, from texting to tweeting, to the telephone, to videoconferencing.

When your booth staffers are trying to persuade prospects that what you offer is the ideal solution to their problem, it’s useful to have access to all the behavioral cues that can help your salespeople close the sale.

2. “Face-to-face meetings afford participants opportunities to develop transparency and trust among each other in ways that are not always possible compared to other forms of communication.”

Selling requires trust, and the tradeshow setting gives your sales staff the avenue to build transparency and trust with prospects.

3. “Face-to-face meetings allow participants to evaluate and judge the integrity, competencies, and skills (e.g. verbal skills) of others,” whether that’s a prospect, a competitor or a job candidate.

You can be certain your prospects are evaluating and judging companies they may want to do business with, and you have to be there to be evaluated. Also, a brief chat with a potential new hire on the show floor can tell you more about him or her than you’d discover on an employment application.

4. “Face-to-face meetings allow participants to develop strong social relationships.”

In an environment where the participants can stand toe-to-toe and shake hands on a deal, that behavior facilitates social bonding and increases your stature with prospects. Those business relationships can take on a more personal dimension, once both participants have met face-to-face.

5. “Attending face-to-face meetings help individuals develop more clear understandings of how they themselves ‘belong’ to the organization in which they work, how they fit in and their relative status among other group members.”

This speaks not only to interactions with booth visitors that help build your brand (allowing prospects and customers to feel a sense of “ownership” in your organization), but also to the shared group experience of your staff working the tradeshow together. “Surviving” that experience can bring your people closer together, improving relationships among your personnel.

It’s important to note that online communications with your customers and prospects can—and does—have a place in your marketing mix. This column isn’t meant to suggest that face-to-face interactions should replace your marketing efforts through social media. Rather, it’s necessary to create an integrated marketing mix, where your participation in tradeshows can be exploited through online communications.

For example, your tradeshow calendar might be posted on your website, with instructions for prospects to contact you to schedule an appointment with a sales rep at the show, or simply an open invitation to stop by your booth and say hello. Through social media like Facebook and Twitter, you can promote your participation in upcoming shows—even offering social-media-only opportunities to participate in contests or giveaways.

Another reason tradeshows are important to your business is that your sales staff will be interacting with decision makers and people who hold the purse strings for their companies. It’s difficult in online marketing efforts to tailor your “pitch” to the person who’ll be writing the check, purchasing your product or service. But in the exhibit hall, most attendees have purchasing power. In that face-to-face setting, your salespeople can absolutely tailor their product presentation to each individual prospect.

Consider, too, that tradeshows are an ideal environment for generating excitement and “buzz” about your product or service. This happens in your exhibit, but it can also move outside your booth through press releases and your own efforts at promotion through online channels. Whether that energy is centered on your product or service, an in-booth presentation or product demo, or a contest or giveaway—all these things can be shared through both social media and traditional media.

Don’t forget your Brand Advocates when it comes to promoting what’s going on in your exhibit. Their efforts to share the news with their followers, and in the online communities in which they participate, can be very persuasive.

Dave Egan is head writer at Writers Direct Group, a full-service outsource writing resource for live trade show presentations, event theming, product demos, website content and other written- or spoken-word business communications. Contact him at Dave@WritersDirectGroup.com or 877-7GET-WDG [877-743-8934]. 

Egan’s Entries On Exhibits & Events

In this era of technological interactions, using everything from texting to social media, we may be discounting the importance of “old fashioned” face-to-face meetings. At its core, that’s what a tradeshow is: a chance for you to meet—in a face-to-face setting—prospects, current users of your product or service, new business partners and even potential new hires.

You (and other members of your tradeshow team) can also network with business professionals and peers, as well as speakers, authors and others that may be involved in the educational track that often accompanies a tradeshow. Why is this important?

Relationship building is key to business success. It turns customers into Brand Advocates (people willing to speak out in public or on social media about your company and its products or services). Brand building happens on the tradeshow floor, as a result of everything from how your exhibit is designed to how your prospects see you as a potential solution to their problems. By meeting face-to-face, you learn what your prospects need, what they want, and what prompted them to look to your company for help. This information is easier to obtain when your prospect is in front of you, as opposed to being in front of a computer screen.

Prospects can meet you through your website or social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. These have become convenient ways of communicating with potential customers. But at some point, it’s valuable for prospects to meet the people “behind” the company or the business name. Being seen on the tradeshow floor is a way interested people can be drawn to you.

Professor Richard D. Arvey, Ph.D. at the Business School of the National University of Singapore, wrote a white paper entitled “Why Face-to-Face Business Meetings Matter.” In it, Arvey offers five reasons why face-to-face settings are still important to the successful conduct of business:

1. “Face-to-face meetings allow members to engage in and observe verbal and non-verbal behavioral styles” that aren’t communicated through technological tools, from texting to tweeting, to the telephone, to videoconferencing.

When your booth staffers are trying to persuade prospects that what you offer is the ideal solution to their problem, it’s useful to have access to all the behavioral cues that can help your salespeople close the sale.

2. “Face-to-face meetings afford participants opportunities to develop transparency and trust among each other in ways that are not always possible compared to other forms of communication.”

Selling requires trust, and the tradeshow setting gives your sales staff the avenue to build transparency and trust with prospects.

3. “Face-to-face meetings allow participants to evaluate and judge the integrity, competencies, and skills (e.g. verbal skills) of others,” whether that’s a prospect, a competitor or a job candidate.

You can be certain your prospects are evaluating and judging companies they may want to do business with, and you have to be there to be evaluated. Also, a brief chat with a potential new hire on the show floor can tell you more about him or her than you’d discover on an employment application.

4. “Face-to-face meetings allow participants to develop strong social relationships.”

In an environment where the participants can stand toe-to-toe and shake hands on a deal, that behavior facilitates social bonding and increases your stature with prospects. Those business relationships can take on a more personal dimension, once both participants have met face-to-face.

5. “Attending face-to-face meetings help individuals develop more clear understandings of how they themselves ‘belong’ to the organization in which they work, how they fit in and their relative status among other group members.”

This speaks not only to interactions with booth visitors that help build your brand (allowing prospects and customers to feel a sense of “ownership” in your organization), but also to the shared group experience of your staff working the tradeshow together. “Surviving” that experience can bring your people closer together, improving relationships among your personnel.

It’s important to note that online communications with your customers and prospects can—and does—have a place in your marketing mix. This column isn’t meant to suggest that face-to-face interactions should replace your marketing efforts through social media. Rather, it’s necessary to create an integrated marketing mix, where your participation in tradeshows can be exploited through online communications.

For example, your tradeshow calendar might be posted on your website, with instructions for prospects to contact you to schedule an appointment with a sales rep at the show, or simply an open invitation to stop by your booth and say hello. Through social media like Facebook and Twitter, you can promote your participation in upcoming shows—even offering social-media-only opportunities to participate in contests or giveaways.

Another reason tradeshows are important to your business is that your sales staff will be interacting with decision makers and people who hold the purse strings for their companies. It’s difficult in online marketing efforts to tailor your “pitch” to the person who’ll be writing the check, purchasing your product or service. But in the exhibit hall, most attendees have purchasing power. In that face-to-face setting, your salespeople can absolutely tailor their product presentation to each individual prospect.

Consider, too, that tradeshows are an ideal environment for generating excitement and “buzz” about your product or service. This happens in your exhibit, but it can also move outside your booth through press releases and your own efforts at promotion through online channels. Whether that energy is centered on your product or service, an in-booth presentation or product demo, or a contest or giveaway—all these things can be shared through both social media and traditional media.

Don’t forget your Brand Advocates when it comes to promoting what’s going on in your exhibit. Their efforts to share the news with their followers, and in the online communities in which they participate, can be very persuasive.

Dave Egan is head writer at Writers Direct Group, a full-service outsource writing resource for live trade show presentations, event theming, product demos, website content and other written- or spoken-word business communications. Contact him at Dave@WritersDirectGroup.com or 877-7GET-WDG [877-743-8934].

There was a time in the tradeshow field (some have called it the “good old days”), when men—and it was always men back then—gathered in some far away city to talk business, swap stories, rub elbows and knock back a few drinks, all in the name of greasing the wheels of commerce.
Thankfully, things have changed. Women have entered the ranks, taking on every position from tradeshow manager to sales executive to CEO. Shows have become less like a larger around-the-water-cooler bull session and more about measurable ROI: showcasing the latest and greatest products and services, meeting with prospects, and using time-tested sales techniques and technologies to get passersby off the aisles and into the booths. But let’s shift our focus to what happens inside those structures now that we’ve moved into the 21st century.
Is there really a generational difference in the way business at tradeshows is done?
Baby Boomers grew up when meeting “face to face” meant standing “belly to belly.” The buyer and seller were separated by a handshake’s distance. Younger generations have spent their careers separated from coworkers and customers not by a handshake, but by a monitor. Everything they own seems to have a screen, from a cell phone to a laptop to a tablet to a desktop computer. Meeting or talking with others is done just as often via Skype as it is around a conference table. These people text as frequently as they talk.
Steve Miller is a consultant growing businesses and events, as well as a self-described “marketing gunslinger.” In addition to this, he presents workshops in high schools to help teens better prepare for adulthood. The “fee” he charges the schools is getting to use these opportunities as focus groups with the almost-adult participants.
Miller’s goal is to learn what they think about the future, and how new communication tools (like Skype, texting, Facebook and other online social media resources) will affect their lives. The single biggest thing he’s learned? “Despite cool tools like social media and Skype, they understand the value of face-to-face meeting. They want to ‘meet the face they’ve been looking at on Skype all this time,’” Miller reports.
Steve says that, while there are differences between the ways generations interact with others, “my long-time mantra still applies: where value is clear, the decision is easy. Young people want marketers—all marketers—to prove that the time attending a trade show or visiting an exhibitor is more valuable than any other alternative available.
“I think the older generation somehow thinks the myriad of communication tools available today makes the younger generation fundamentally different. They’re not. To be sure, we must learn how to communicate with the younger generation with the marketing tools they want to use. I’m not yet convinced social media fills that bill. Social media is a massive communication tool, but I have yet to see anybody use it really, really well in a B2B environment.
“Yes, the younger generation today is all over Facebook and Instagram, but not for business purposes. It’s all about personal. Yet we ‘gray hairs’ seem to think that, because there are two billion people on Facebook, it must be a great marketing tool. That’s like the old joke about the little girl digging through the giant mound of horse manure because there must be a pony in there somewhere! Show me the money. Show me the measurable results.”
Miller finds this whole area of discussion rather humorous. “All these great ‘marketers’ are guessing what the younger generation wants, and what will attract them to events and how to talk to them,” he says. “I’ve actually reached out to these ‘kids’ and asked the questions. How many tradeshows or events have set up committees and/or focus groups in their industries with the younger generation and asked them for help? That’s what I would do if I were them.” (For more of Steve’s unique philosophy, go to http://www.twohatmarketing.com).
Are shows relevant to this younger generation? Seeing tradeshows become a relic of a past era is still some time away, according to research by Exhibit Surveys, that finds both show attendance and show size trending upward, even though fewer and fewer of the participants (both attendees and exhibitors) are Baby Boomers.
We’re poised on the brink of a change in the way tradeshow marketing is done. But it may be less an earthquake than a tremor. For all the hype about social media, change in the way we communicate with one another has been happening constantly. It’s hard to imagine how business was done before the introduction of the telephone, fax machine, overnight delivery or email. But all have revolutionized how we’ve communicated. Yet, whenever the opportunity arises, we still seem to want to do that face-to-face.
Dave Egan is head writer at Writers Direct Group, a full-service outsource writing resource for live trade show presentations, event theming, product demos, website content and other written- or spoken-word business communications. Contact him at Dave@WritersDirectGroup.com or 877-7GET-WDG [877-743-8934].