The countdown begins
Paul Youngs
Single source supplier of print, promotional products, banners stands | Expert Print Management- The Print Experts!
You might be wondering what I mean by countdown.
But don’t worry, I’m not going to suddenly start spouting about Ch*****as – you’ll get enough of that when you start seeing mince pieces in Sainsburys in the next three weeks.
Instead, I’m talking about an entirely different, and much more personal countdown, which is the five-week countdown to the B2B Exhibition at Carrow Road on October 11th.
We’re exhibiting this year, and I’m really looking forward to it, but I’ve got A LOT to get done first.
You see, having done a fair few exhibitions and events over the years, and assisted numerous clients with their preparation, I know how crucial it is to prepare properly.
It’s a cliché, but when it comes to exhibitions and events, failing to prepare truly is preparing to fail.
And – on October 11th – I don’t want to fail.
Which means I need to put the prep time in.
And as I sat down with a blank piece of paper to start planning what we were going to do for the expo, I had a realisation that it might actually be pretty useful for me to share some of my thinking with you.
So that’s exactly what I’m going to do be doing over the next few weeks – as we go through our preparation, I’ll be sharing the process we’re going through and why – I hope you’ll find it useful for your own exhibition efforts.
And first up, I want to talk about the first thing you put on your blank piece of paper, and really, it’s about asking two fundamental questions:
Why are we doing this exhibition?
What are we trying to achieve?
Are you looking to sell directly from the stand? Do you want to talk to a handful of people? Or are you looking to build your list?
The answers to those questions will inform everything else you do, but the reason so many businesses get it wrong is that there’s simply not enough clarity around their overall strategy.
If you’re not sure what your strategy should be, just give me a shout and we can chat it through, and stay tuned for next week’s article!
By the way, I actually wrote a piece a while back on how to avoid wasting thousands of pounds at exhibitions. If you fancy a read, click HERE.