An Alternative to Booth Babes

I have a cool client with an exciting new product that they are launching in a few months at a major tech trade show.  The company is small: just the CEO, CTO, me as a part-time advisor, and outsourced software development and marketing teams.  They asked me to help plan their participation at trade show in early 2020. As part of a joint venture I developed with the media company that puts on the trade show, we are getting a big space at the show to launch the product.  So as I started to plan, I realized that we have a problem: a three-day show in a big space with a big booth staffed by, at most, three people. Plus each of the three of us intends to try to meet one-on-one with as many potential customers and partners as we can schedule during the show.

Not too long ago the solution would have been simple: hire temporary promotional staff a.k.a. “booth babes”.  But that approach is understandably far less popular today -- and not the best way for my client to introduce themselves to the industry.  So I started to brainstorm. Hiring temporary staff that couldn’t be accused of being “babes” didn’t seem to make much sense. After all, aside from the typically skimpy outfits, the main criticism of booth babes is that, because they are hired just for the event, they aren’t knowledgeable about the company or the industry -- any other temporary employee is going to have the same issue.  And then I had an idea.

Helping to plan, setup, execute, tear down, and analyze the results of a trade show could be a great mini internship.  At first I thought about college students but, because I have two kids in high school and the business teacher at their school was a high school classmate of mine, I zeroed in on high school.  And the more I thought about it the more perfect it seemed: a group of smart, engaged high school students will be great to help plan and execute a trade show. Who better to get a fresh perspective from and who would know more about what the latest cool promo tech accessories are?  And not only will they be easy to train to greet and engage prospects but they will gain a valuable perspective on key aspects of business. Plus I’m betting that most of the prospects will not only be impressed by our decision to involve young people in our market launch efforts but will also be understanding that the students aren’t experts in the industry or our company.  The students will function as greeters to get the prospects’ information, ask a couple qualifying questions, and introduce the qualified and interested ones to the CEO, CTO, or myself for involved discussions.

Then I remembered my own experience entering the business world after college.  I had more exposure to business growing up than most but my perspective was narrow.  I knew a good bit about our family business of medical services and billing but almost nothing about other types of businesses.  Being a part of a big trade show and gaining an understanding of the marketing and sales processes involved would have broadened my outlook considerably.  I might have trimmed years off the time it took me to figure out that business to business technology marketing and sales was a good match for my interests and abilities.

Plus we have a significant problem in American education today: too many students getting out of high school, college, or even graduate school without having obtained the skills and attitudes that businesses need and value.  Too many young people seem to lack understanding of the basics of how businesses operate and overcome challenges like competitors, labor costs, and regulatory changes. So getting exposed in high school to a real business launching a new product could provide young people with a huge leg up on peers with whom they will soon compete as aspiring entrepreneurs and employees. 

Next week I am meeting with the business and entrepreneurship club at my kids’ high school for which my high school pal is the faculty sponsor to pitch my idea.  I hope that they see the educational value and even fun that helping to plan and execute a successful trade show attendance can be. And if this works maybe it could become a major trend -- a way for businesses to connect with young people in a win-win way.  In South Florida, where I live, we host a trade show of some type every few days it seems so the opportunities for businesses and young people to help and learn from each other are numerous. So maybe this idea can scale -- we shall see. Godspeed.