It’s simple and so basic we all know we have to get this done post-show but I had one of my people hauled over the coals recently because she didn’t follow up on prospects and contacts made at a recent show.

All of that planning and preparation, the budget that is invested and finally the actual hard work and effort which goes into a successful show – if you don’t follow up on your contacts post-show, you are kissing off somewhere between 50% and 80% of your results.

You simply cannot be forgiven for not following up after the show.

Attendees give out their contact information in the full understanding they are going to be getting some follow up information and sales calls – this is one of the givens with conventions and trade shows.

Make your follow up calls when you say you are going to make them and in any event, leave it no later than two or three days after the show and absolutely no more than a week.

Make sure you are organized at the show so you capture all the information you need and have it arranged for easy use when you are performing follow-up.

Remember, follow up calls are expected from the attendee and demanded by your own success standards!

This is so essential it cannot be underestimated nor ignored though it is easy to forget what you need to do when you are in the aftermath of a trade show.  It is vital to understand and accept that you are in the middle of a process which does not start when the show opens but started in fact some considerable time previously when you started down the road of exhibiting at trade shows.

By the same token, the work is not over when the trade show finishes and you pack and head for home – the process is only partially over and you must follow through for maximum return on all of your hard work.

I was in Las Vegas recently for PMA 2009 which is one of the world’s largest exhibitions for consumer electronics and as you can imagine there was a huge amount of drone and chatter going on in this cavernous series of exhibition halls.

Not only does Nevada host PMA but Las Vegas is certainly one of those towns which has a lot of pizzaz and va-va-voom with the strip and casinos and a definite 24 hour, round-the-clock lifestyle.

I saw several trade show displays with slot machines on them and this was a surprise to me – attendees were falling over themselves playing them and I just could not understand what was going on – I mean, here we are in Gambling Central for the world with slots all over the place, and yet, in this arena, surrounded by state of the art techno gizmo’s here are these guys playing slots like they were about to be phased out forever?

I grabbed one of the guys I’d seen and recognized from a show a couple of years ago and asked him what was going on – the company behind the booth with the slots was allowing attendees to win vouchers which could be cashed in for casino gambling chips which I thought was pretty neat given we were in Vegas.

I got hold of one of the exhibitors, Mike Hollenbrook and we talked about business, PMA 2009 and what was going on – they had used slot machines before and always they provided a great attraction mechanism with flashing lights and sounds of money being paid out.  With the exhibition taking place in Vegas they had gone a step further after a successful tie -in with a casino on the strip.  Casinos want people pulled into their gambling and gaming arena while the company was meeting a bunch of highly-paid convention visitors who would be bound to unwind somewhere in Vegas in the evenings so what better way than get the casino to sponsor the slots and prizes for the convention attendees in exchange for which the casino was given a head start on the convention attendees attention.

I like this kind of deal best of all – someone else pays for it and you get something to bring in the attendees to your booth – everyone wins unless you have a really bad evening on the tables for real!

One of the frequently asked questions I get  from newbies focuses on how to attract attendees to their trade show displays and get them to interact with you as an exhibitor.

The honest answer I have is, “Try everything!”, and this is no joke!

In my career and trade show experience I have tried everything from scantily clad bikini babes through to popcorn machines and everything in between.  There are some constants which keep appearing but no matter what the angle you employ, whatever the artful hook you think will worm its way into the minds and affections of attendees this is not really the right question to be asking.

The real question exhibitors should be asking is, “How do I get into the mind of my attendees?”

This is the first step for everything when it comes to trade shows and employing them successfully.

Attendees go through several stages when they attend a show; in the morning they are bright and generally awake, for those who are attending for several days or just for the day, they usually have been deprived of some sleep – have something available to wake them up such as coffee and some Danish.  I always make sure we have freshly brewed coffee because the smell is a great attractor of attendees looking for a caffeine jolt in the morning.

By midday, attendees are looking for lunch and a place to crash while they eat and take a look at their ill-gotten promotional gifts from exhibitors.  Again, I make sure we have good fresh coffee, club sandwiches and soup available – again, make sure it can be smelled a mile away because this brings in attendees.  For this to work, make sure you have plenty of privacy areas situated on your stand and make sure your people are on their toes when it comes to spotting potential clients who also happen to be in search of something hot and filling.

The mid-afternoon through to early evening are when many people are tiring; it is a long day in a convention hall and especially if you are on your feet all day whether as attendee or exhibitor.  I tend to arrange for a shift change-over in terms of those reponsible for manning the booth every 3 hours; an odd time shift but one I use because it keeps my booth people fresh and ready.  The flip side of the coin is that attendees are also becoming dead on their feet with fatigue – from mid-afternoon onwards I tend to make sure that we have something bright and snappy happening at the booth to liven things up when competitors are flagging.  Now is the time to have anything that looks bright, makes a noise and offers some alleviation from the convention drone and hum that permeates trade show halls.

March 21st is the official start to Spring and in a couple of weeks hordes of college kids will be descending upon Panama City FL where I am spending a couple of days with family before the Mary Jane toking crowd swamps the place.

With Spring around the corner and shortly afterwards the end of the first quarter for 2009, now is an excellent time to take stock of progress so far with 2009.

So far, the new stand we ordered has been in action for 4 events – we found the open plan design has worked well in bringing prospects onto the stand but we are looking for an addition to provide some extra seating tucked away off one of the back corners.  This underlines the fact that no matter how much planning and preparation you put into designing your trade show display and arranging things for actual events, it is only when you have the experience of using the kit in practice that you get to explore the advantages and discover the shortcomings.

Fortunately, we chose a design and a supplier we know is able to provide modular additions to the main stand as we need them so this does not pose a huge issue for us but whenever you are looking at investing in a new stand or buying one pre-owned, you must take this into account when making a buying decision.

One of the reasons for my break from the hectic schedule of the first few months of the New Year is because the initial quarter sets the tone for the rest of the year and especially the summer season which is we get set up for the Christmas/Winter season when we make the bulk of our turnover and profits.

For the doomsayers with the economy in a nosedive, our numbers are up on like-for-like sales from the same shows we have already attended this year compared to last – more than this, like-for-like for the months of January and February are also positive and March looks like it will be going the same way – in other words we are set for Q109 being ahead of Q108!