Don't Leaflet Me This Way

Apologies to any fans of the 1980's song whose attention might have been grabbed by the title of this post. This one's not for you.

This post is actually directed to any conference sponsors and exhibitors out there. And to those people, I have a confession to make. I never read your colourful, beautifully designed brochures, leaflets or flyers that you hand out from your exhibition stands. Same for the ones you stuff inside our conference satchels. And I suspect this confession applies to most delegates at most conferences these days. 

The Lindor Balls that you offer at your exhibition stand are eaten and appreciated. Those drink bottles with your logo on the side that you give out, they're awesome and I promise you they do actually get used by my kids at basketball games. And branded USB sticks are always kept and utilised. Keep them coming !!!

But the truth is that most brochures get chucked out at the first opportunity, without much more than a cursory glance. Sponsors – please don’t take this personally, I’m not being rude and I do genuinely appreciate the fact you have decided to support the conference and invest in the industry. 

It’s just that in this day and age, aside from books (which despite the nay-sayers, are still doing well) we don’t have the time, inclination or energy to read hard-copy, printed things even if they are glossy, nicely folded brochures with very cool font and colourful, professional photos.

They simply do not get read, by anyone, any time, anymore. 

The ones that banks leave in their branch brochure holders – no one reads them. The wordy booklets that super funds and insurance companies are obligated to send out with a covering letter – either get chucked out or placed in a file somewhere until they get tossed out (unread) 7 years later in a summer clean-up.

So the plain truth is that the brochures at conferences are really just expensive, unnecessary corporate junk-mail.

I’m not exactly sure what the best solution is for sponsors or exhibitors who understandably wish to get their corporate messages out to their target audience. Active networking, old-style conversations, quirky video messages and handing out innovative corporate promo style toys and fun, interactive games (although ditch the golf-putting green guys, we're over it) perhaps are all much more effective options of engaging your conference audience. 

Things like sponsoring the barista cart and then having your sales guys strike up a chat with the coffee-lovers in the queue can't hurt. Attending the actual sessions and chatting to the people in the next seat costs nothing and at least creates a relationship.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there is HUGE value to be had in sponsoring a conference attended by your target audience. But when it comes to leafletty paper give-aways, I genuinely think sponsors and exhibitors are all wasting their money and should give serious thought to more effective, innovative ways to get the most out of their sponsorship dollar. And yes, I'm aware "leafletty" is not an actual word, but it helps me make my point clearer.

The days of reading stuff printed on paper are basically over. Not convinced? Ask yourself, how likely is it that you would be reading this post right now if I handed it to you on a folded-up piece of paper?

Andrew Klein is a Conference MC and Facilitator and a Trainer in Pitching Skills and Presentation Skills. He reads a lot - but rarely (with the exception of books) if it's printed on paper. Judging by the amount of Christmas brochures he's received at home the past few weeks, it's clear that the "No Junk-Mail" sign on his mail-box doesn't get read either.

www.andrewklein.com.