5 hacks for engaging with the resource I underrated the most at eComm Berlin Expo

Are you a startup going for the first time to an International B2B expo? Well, congrats! I loved the experience of E-commerce Berlin Expo . In your case, it will be a huge step that will help you increase your network. I imagine you wont start by going as an exhibitor, but as a visitor. So, I am sharing some of the hacks I put together for a better interaction with the most underrated resource: (the thousands) of visitors.

When you're not an exhibitor, but a visitor you can afford the luxury to be in any place you want: the conference, the masterclasses, the 1:1 meetings, the visitors lounge, the VIP corner or, why not, the food court. I was overwhelmed by the huge crowd, even if I prepared myself in advance and my schedule was optimized to connect with potential B2B partners or prospect clients.

For the future events, what I will also have in mind is to apply these hacks, as they will help me validate more FLYST , the B2B startup I co-founded.

1/ Directly interact with visitors. There are at least 10k B2B visitors, with a 25% ratio for women. It is a great pool for an offline A/B test. You'll have an impressive amount of answers in just few hours and a good start for a short quality time discussion with those who show interest in what you 'sell'.

2/ Narrow down the niche your prospect clients are playing in. Imagine what are the exhibitors your prospect clients would visit. For instance, my prospect client might be a bigger online fashion retailer that would automatically go for the massive integrators like Zeos or Tradebyte. The tactic here is to approach their visitors with whom they had 1:1 meetings.

3/ Explore your competitors ecosystem. Identify your competitors who are participating as exhibitors. They are more notorious and their awareness made them easy to be discovered by your shared pool of potential clients. The tactic here is to approach as many of their visitors, as they are qualified leads for you, too ;)

4. Pick wisely the masterclasses you attend. Imagine what are the ones your potential clients would be interested in and get there with your leaflets or business card. Do your best in order to get a minimal chat. You'll have few minutes for that while waiting in the queue to enter the class or when you're in, but you are all waiting for the speakers to put their presentation on the displaying screen. Valuable time to interact.

5. Make the most of the VIP lounge session (scheduled for the last 2 hours of the event). At that moment you'll be tired and hungry literally, but do a very last effort to join some discussion groups or o a small chat while waiting in the queue for a coffee or a glass of wine. On the background there will be a DJ set, so you'll get refreshed soon enough.

If you have the chance, drink a beer with your competitors. In the last hour of the event the visitors will be less and less interested in exploring the stands. The competitors who are exhibitors might appreciate you saying 'Hi!'. You are in this together, so you might share, to a certain extent, the same struggles even if your from different regions of Europe.

Adriana (FLYST co-founder)