5 Ways To Help Exhibitors Who Have Limited Resources

Many professionals, especially within the events industry, are running “lean” these days – there’s fewer staff and more responsibilities to go around, across the board...

Knowing this, as an exhibition organizer, you may be wondering if there’s a way that you could help your exhibitors with small teams and limited resources even more (so they can benefit, of course, but also so you can save yourself from some extra hassle and headaches).

Good news: there is and you definitely can!

Here are five suggestions to get you started:

1. For any tasks you want an exhibitor to complete, make them easier and even more obvious.

Think about the warnings you see on medicine, appliances, and even in the policy statements online and follow their lead with your text formatting; even if you’re just skimming through those documents (like your exhibitors may be skimming through your emails), the big, bold, all caps warnings are likely to catch your eye.

Next, instead of only sending emails (especially instead of only sending the same emails over and over), mix it up: try sending a calendar invite (which would include built in reminders, as a bonus to you and them) or utilizing formats like text messages, phone calls, and direct mail too – that way, even if email feels too overwhelming for an exhibitor to tackle one day, they’ll still have a chance to get your message.

Finally, bundle your deadlines with the information required to complete them (including direct links, when relevant), along with a quick explanation of why it’s important and a quick tip or two to help exhibitors maximize their related efforts (e.g. if there’s a deadline for housing, maybe you’d remind them to avoid scams and advise them to take advantage of the shuttle for transportation and networking).

2A. Be available for questions (and be prepared to “go first”)…

Exhibitors don’t know what they don’t know, so you may need to “go first” to suggest what questions they should be asking (especially for those who are new or overwhelmed by other responsibilities) – sending a list of potential discussion topics (or even timely tasks) can give them the confidence to reply and take advantage of the help you’d like to offer them.

Speaking of responses, reply to any inquiries as soon as you can. It’s good to set boundaries (you can’t be available 24/7, so listing “office hours” when you’re typically checking messages or an estimate on the typical wait time helps a lot)…

Just don’t forget that there’s a difference between a quick reply and a helpful reply (saying “I got your message and am working on getting you a good answer” is comforting when received within an hour or two… any longer and you’ll want to include a little more information, e.g. “I need to check with [DEPARTMENT] on that, but should have an answer by [DATE].”).

2B. …but, don’t feel like you do all of the heavy lifting all the time.

On the other hand, exhibitors should know (or be able to reasonably find) what you’ve already shared with them… they just may not realize they still have the information or how to get back to it when they need it.

So, whether the answer is in an email or on your website, it’s perfectly okay to direct exhibitors to those resources instead (e.g. “You’ll find that information in our recent newsletter; the subject line was “[SUBJECT]” – please let me know if you didn’t receive it or can’t find the archived copy in your dashboard under “[TILE NAME].”).

To save time and empower your exhibitors to be even more self-sufficient, create short explainer videos or process guides that you can quickly copy/paste in cases when the email/web-listing wasn’t clear enough.

Some organizations also dedicate time (through their show team or an outside expert) to schedule one-on-one consultations with exhibitors, this way, exhibitors can address all of their important questions at once, with a real human, vs. sending you a whole bunch of emails as questions pop up.

3. Differentiate free resources and opportunities from paid ones, according to which exhibitors can benefit the most.

This may be the point where you and I disagree; but, in my experience, not every exhibitor should invest in every paid opportunity (even if it’s an exhibitor whose resources aren’t limited)… in my opinion, some opportunities just aren’t a good fit for some people.

The good news is, if you choose to be transparent about that, it will help you to boost your credibility with your exhibitors. If you aren’t recommending everything to everyone, they can trust that the opportunities you are recommending to them are more likely to be a good fit and they’ll be able to weigh your advice accordingly.

Furthermore, when exhibitors aren’t wasting their limited resources on so many wrong opportunities, they’ll have that extra budget to invest more in the right ones; this is great for your show team (increased spend is often more profitable than initial spend) and doing so also helps your exhibitors (as the right investments could help them improve their results and overall satisfaction with your show) – win-win!

4. Share your own tips regularly, especially if you’re also doing your best with limited resources.

Beyond any formal exhibitor success programming your organization offers to exhibitors with limited resources, you (personally) can be an excellent resource to those professionals, even beyond your trade show.

Feel free to share your wisdom year-round on other topics too; especially if have direct experience with (and any effective “hacks” for) time management, leadership (or working with leadership), content creation, etc., those are all great topics to incorporate, as they are likely to impact your exhibitor, both in their preparations for your trade show and otherwise too.

5. Encourage your exhibitors to fully utilize any resources they do have.

Sometimes, exhibitors don’t realize that they have as many great resources as they do!

In this case, I’m not even talking about the many free resources/opportunities available through your show… but, even more generally, the big three resources (including time, money, and staff effort) can be swapped for one another in most circumstances.

For example, if an exhibitor has a limited budget, using their time more wisely (e.g. to meet early deadlines) can help them overcome that challenge and “do more with less.”

In the end, it isn’t your responsibility to help your exhibitors overcome their limited resources, but it is in your best interest.

Hopefully, the tips above will help you get started…

And, for more ideas on how you can help your exhibitors (and sponsors!), click here to register for our upcoming IAEE DC luncheon on May 15 – this session will highlight a variety of ways you can overcome the challenges you and your peers are facing now.