How Exhibitors are Gambling with their Event ROI

What do Las Vegas and Trade Shows have in common? They’re timeless experiences, baby.?

While Covid taught us that digital conferences are amazing for connection and accessibility, the feeling of in person exchanges will always triumph over virtual seminars. The excitement alone created by the buzz of the exhibit hall is an addictive beast!

Las Vegas has seen thousands of attendees to their shows over the past few years, cementing their forever name as the event hub of the United States, and we’re finally seeing the real impact and flow of how exhibitors are approaching the floor in this next generation of events.

As the costs associated with exhibiting skyrocket, event professionals find themselves scrambling to chase the high of the perfect event while stretching their budget.

Pressure to meet KPI’s and generate an ROI that higher ups will be happy with often create a roadblock for creativity. Just like tourists playing blackjack, exhibitors often take a gamble when attempting to make the most of their marketing materials, trying to keep up with the ever evolving pace of events.

While Vegas may be a hub for gambling and events, it’s best to leave the odds on the roulette table, and place a sure bet on your booth.

Here are the top 5 ways that exhibitors place a risky gamble on their booth, and how you can hedge your bets to ensure an ROI you can celebrate at the slots with.

Booth Construction:?

Build and burn booths have become popular, with the ease of setting it up and forgetting about it after the show appealing to busy event marketers. The gamble comes when your booth costs more than the floor space you have, has faulty construction, or has no recognizable link to your brand messaging.?

If you want a booth that is easy to set and forget, opt for rental. There are endless options of high end technology pieces that can outfit your exhibit displays that are both budget friendly and attention grabbing.

Information Sharing:

It’s standard practice to bring a box of brochures, print out one sheeters for new products, or put a connection out there on a business card stamped with a hope and a prayer. This leaves room for a whole circus of errors. Lost or damaged paper goods, not getting updated materials in time, and never getting a follow up are just the famous few that we usually stress, and that usually stress exhibitors.

Think about the costs that can be saved and the information that can be retained by simply making the switch to digital collateral–just from shipping and printing alone, it’s over $3k each show.

Lead Capturing:

Dropped out of pockets, crumpled at the bottom of bags, ditched in the airport alongside snack wrappers–this is the fate of too many business cards. With the amount of hands shaken and names learned at each show, you can’t hedge your bets of a connection on a simple piece of paper. Sure, lead scanners are integrated into many booth plans, but what information do they really give you? And–how often are you getting sent to spam?

By integrating lead capturing into your media kits, or creating your own lead capturing interface, you can get the information you really need to make a connection–and even better, a sale. Track interaction metrics on content, send collateral with category interest, and make sure you get a message through to the right person.

Exhibit Accessibility:

As we mentioned earlier, Covid taught us that the power of digital communication is unmatched for accessibility and connection. We should not lose sight of that when we are returning to the show floor. All too often exhibitors stick to old school sales methods, or stick themselves behind a table. It sours the experience for a busy or shy attendee, who simply doesn’t have the time to put in the work to cross the buy-in barrier from the aisle.

Creating easy to access points in your booth where you can share information–be it via self guided touchscreens with your collateral, hands on demonstrations, or displays that share content for visibility–is a game changer. If you build it, they will come!

Acting Invested:

This may seem like a no brainer, but a sad truth of the event industry is that 50% of the time, your team behind the booth does not act like the want to be there. We see sales people scrolling through their phones, hiding behind their tables, and borderline ignoring potential customers who are at the fringes of their booth. This can stem from disinterest, but most of the time, it comes from the fact that your event staff is stuck juggling so many balls that they are wiped out by the time the show rolls around.

You can combat the epidemic of sad looking salespeople by making sure that your team is supported before the show. Take the time to create a marketing plan that is easy to execute, make information interactive and accessible, and hire a team that will make your booth look like the busiest club on the strip.

Making a winning bet at trade shows is easier than you think.

The costs associated with the buy in may be high, but they will be anyways–think of it as gambling at a high limit table. Go in with a plan, pay attention to your hand, and always make sure you’re a step ahead of the competition. You’re going to pay to play–you may as well win big.

This edition of the LED Revolution was brought to you by our Marketing Manager, Megan. Megan Granett is an event evangelist and creature of creativity, bringing insights on how technology can make in person marketing more fruitful for all involved.