When you decide to exhibit at a trade show, you are committing to a significant investment, in booth space rental, a few great looking trade show displays, and travel expenses for one or two staff. Ensure you leverage that investment as much as practical – one of the goals you most likely have is to extend the exposure your company or business has in your industry. If this is the case, you may want to consider making your company part of a seminar – either a free seminar or a paid event.

Business people attend seminars because they would like to learn new information about the industry. Hence, the speakers at conventions have a tendency to be considered experts at the field. If someone from your company or organization was the featured speaker at a convention, that appearance would serve to raise your company’s name recognition and status in the industry – if the seminar is conducted well. It is also good PR as media are usually present at the seminars also.

Free conferences are good choices to get in front of peers and potential clients that want to study new features of your industry. But that is why you have to use caution in choosing the content you include in your discussion. Business peers and prospects who attend the free conferences desire to learn about the industry. They did not just enroll in the conference to learn about just your company, and they most likely will leave bad reviews if they feel they sat through a commercial in place of a class. You would still boost your exposure that way, just not in the way you probably were expecting!

It is reasonable, though, to incorporate your company’s name in a discourse in a free convention. It’s even possible to talk about what your company does. But you need to do it by using your company as an example that shows whatever point you were discussing in the industry at large. Be sophisticated, and you can educate and publicize at the same time.

Presentations during paid conferences are less confining than ones that take place in a free conference. In this case you have a captive audience that paid to be in front of you, and it is acceptable to chat about your company and what you have to offer the guests. What you will want to ascertain before you commit to appearing at a paid presentation is that the attendees are really going to wish to pay attention to you while you have them in front of you. Maybe you have attended a paid conference that included a meal? Did you pay much attention to the speaker, or were you more focused on the food, the conversation, or your Blackberry? Take advantage of making a presentation at a paid conference if you will be convinced in your power to hold your audience’s attention.

If you do choose to present at a seminar at the trade show, you need to give serious consideration as to who will speak for your company. You must select someone who’s charming, who’s not worried to speak in front of large groups of people, who’s very well informed not only about your company but also about the industry as a whole, who’s able to think on his or her feet, and who has a good humorous personality. If you have a person who embodies all these qualities, you have a treasure on your hands. If you do not, you want, as a minimum, someone who knows the business, who can talk confidently, and who is easily understood.

Very likely, if you have decided to present at a seminar at a selected trade show, you may wish to do so again the next year. Visitors at seminars usually are asked to review the discourse, so if you provide good data and are entertaining, you will probably get asked to present again. You may also desire to request copies of comment cards, so that you will know for certain what the attendees liked about your presentation and what they did not. That information will help you tune up your next discourse.

Presenting at a convention at a trade show is another PR opportunity for your company. If you have an interest in this, send a proposal early to the show’s producers, highlighting a topic they should want to include in their show. It’s another good method to get your company’s name in front of the show’s visitors.

Before investing a lot of money in your next trade show, do yourself a favor and grab your FREE report on trade show ROI. While on our website check out the many other resources that can help you find the absolute best trade show display for your next show.

Tags: B2b Marketing, marketing, trade show displays

This entry was posted on August 17, 2011 at 8:15 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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