How can you effectively evaluate your trade show team's performance with post-event analysis?

SMART goals are a very common way of writing goals but one thing I have placed in my training is Harmony to make it SMARTH goals. By 'harmony' I am referring to the goal being easily understood by everyone that is working towards it. The easy example in trade shows is leads. A lead to Jack may be someone walking past the stand with a pulse. A lead to Jenny may be a visitor that comes onto the stand and takes materials away with them. If the team isn't united on what it is to meet a goal, then you will strike trouble.

I think the key to post show evaluation starts before you exhibit. By setting measurable objectives you can then stack up performance. I think many companies set very loose objectives or ones that aren’t measurable, this causes problems for post show evaluation

Setting goals for all the people on your team who go to an event is crucial. We forget that it isn't just the # of sales demos you gave or the # of cards you pick up at the booth that's important. Being versed in how to deliver value quickly, customer service, and differentiation are key to ensuring people don't approach you just for the swag. Of course, it helps though.

The most important part is going in to the trade show with a post-show strategy. What are we doing with the leads with collect, do we have the bandwidth for follow up's quickly, do we have a mechanism for that (email, meeting setups, physical send-out), do we have valuable email content scheduled to immediately send & then follow a cadence, etc. Then further away from the show, tracking & evaluating the business received from the leads. I like to do a quick team debrief immediately following the event for perception of show success, then monitor the relationship growth post-tradeshow ongoing to make decisions on whether that's a repeatable show.

From my experience and strong recommendation the companies that are successful in trade shows are the ones that have an orchestrated follow-up strategy in place that is defined in the first phase of pre-show. Right after setting the goals and metrics for the trade show. It is important that all stakeholders that play a role in the follow-up are aligned on how to do this effectively. What do we collect, how do we collect, who is doing what and when, how do we report and for how long? This involves sales, marketing, IT, customer service etc.

This is a very important step and needs to be written in a way that someone else can pick it up and understand it. Today's workforce is very 'agile' and 2-3 years is about the average stay in a job. There is every chance the person completing a report will not be there to act on its recommendations. So, the language needs to be very straight and easy to be interpreted by the next person in the chair.

I think this is one of the most important steps beyond being present at the tradeshow. Many companies lose "steam" by waiting weeks or months to follow up on lead list. Sales and marketing must align before the show to be ready to keep the conversations going. Additionally, keeping tabs on who has been contacted, how many times, and any new business that came from those conversations is super important regardless of how long the sales cycle is.

I would consider some key metrics such as: - measure the quantity and quality of leads generated during the event. - analyze booth traffic, visitor engagement, and interactions. - collect input from team members and event attendees for insights. I would also evaluate team dynamics, communication, and collaboration and compare performance against past events and industry standards (benchmarking).