2012′s Biggest Trends In Trade Show Marketing

Trade show exhibiting is an ever-changing, ever-evolving world. To explore the new developments in the industry, we polled Skyline dealers throughout North America asking them one question: “What do you think the biggest trend in trade show marketing will be for 2012?” Read Full Article from Skyline Trade Show Tips

Exhibition Industry Continues to Flourish, Outperforming Overall Economy (GDP)

DALLAS, 21 February 2012 – Today, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), in its analysis of the latest data collected for the CEIR Index, reports that overall exhibition industry activity increased by 3.8% from the level one year-ago during the fourth quarter of 2011, and rose by 2.7% for the year 2011 as a whole. After a brief pause in the second quarter of 2011, the growth of the exhibition industry picked up its pace. The industry’s performance continued to surpass real GDP, which only grew by 1.6% during the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to the final quarter of 2010.

The forecast for 2011 was for 2.3 percent industry growth; however, actual growth was 2.7% which is 15% better than forecast. The exhibition industry outperformed GDP for three of the four quarters during 2011 and by 1% (2.7% versus GDP 1.7%) for the year. Since most exhibitions are typically trailing economic indicators, only time will tell if the industry can continue to outperform the overall economy. Continue Reading

To Become A Better Exhibitor, Become A Better Marketer

It’s understandable that as an exhibitor you get caught up in logistics, because no matter what, you have to get your booth from point A to point B (and to point C, D, E, and so on). But those required logistics can sometimes crowd out the even more important marketing aspect of trade shows.

So let’s take a few minutes to set logistics aside (don’t worry, they’ll still be there when you get back) and focus on how you can be a better marketer who just happens to use trade shows. Continue Reading from Skyline Trade Show Tips.

Staying connected with your tradeshow booth attendee after the show

Learn how surveyed trade show attendees give an honest assessment of how they view the show experience and how they deal with what they've learned from the show when they return home. This report provided by Bartizan Connects, a provider of Lead Retrieval systems for trade shows, recently surveyed trade show attendees across a range of industries and show profiles. The focus of the survey was to determine how they view the show experience and how they deal with what they’ve learned from the show when they return home.

When the data was analyzed, they were struck by how ineffective post-show interaction was between attendees and exhibitors.

Download the free document from The Tradeshow Network Marketing Group.

How Trade Show Booth Staffing Is Like Speed Dating

Compared to many international trade shows, U.S. shows have relatively short show hours and fewer show days. This means that most attendees don’t have a lot of time to spend with any one particular trade show booth. They will try to hit as many booths as they can. Oftentimes, there are other events associated with a show that attendees are also visiting. In short, there is a lot of competition for attendee’s attention and you don’t have a lot of time to impress them. Full article at Skyline Exhibits.

Tradeshow Display Bloopers

Bloopers seem to somehow appear at most trade shows and anyone who knows the slightest bit of technology will realize that not everything goes as planned. Plugs get kicked out, systems crash, banner ads crumble, phrases that seem perfectly safe get misinterpreted. It’s all part of the game. Click here

Free Lead Retreival App

iLeads is the world’s first lead retrieval app. It enables exhibitors to collect trade show leads using an iPhone® or iPod touch®. It’s a new and better way to collect data and exchange information. iLeads benefits exhibitors, attendees, organizers, registration contractors and even sponsors. With features such as notes, surveys and qualifiers exhibitors can capture, qualify and manage trade show leads anywhere.

Link from ConWorld

Use QR Codes so You Don't Get Thrown Away After Tradeshows

In this article, you'll learn...

• Three ways to incorporate QR codes at tradeshows
• Five important things to consider before using QR codes

Click here for full article from Marketing Profs.

Video: Exhibitor Training

From the SEMA Exhibitor Education Summit. Learn how to: Save big bucks on Show costs, such as material handling, electrical and related Show expenses; Use social media to expand your marketing reach; Properly plan and budget to add value to your Show experience; Explore promotional opportunities through sponsorships; Use proven strategies to get buyers to your booth; Work one-on-one with Show experts to reduce your expenses and maximize your ROI.

Video 1hour, 20 minutes

Four Event Marketing Predictions for 2012

In this article, you'll learn...

• Which technologies and tactics will emerge for event marketing in 2012
• How event marketers can boost tradeshow success using new trends

Read more from Marketing Profs

How to Calculate Your Costs

From Exhibitor Magazine.

In a perfect world, exhibit managers would sit down once or twice a year to plan their trade show budgets. Show budgeting is often a frantic, data-starved, number-crunching binge launched after a visit from management.

This article has the statistics, formulas and guidelines you need to accurately estimate expenses for your next trade show.

Exhibitors Favor Attendance Quality Above All Else

The quality of attendees is by far the most important factor to exhibitors when deciding whether to exhibit at a trade show or exhibition, according to a new study by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research.

The study found that 84 percent of marketing executives surveyed cited attendance quality as the most prevalent factor driving the decision to exhibit. “Results to this study indicate that an exhibition’s reputation for delivering quality attendance is the most influential factor in persuading a company to exhibit,” stated CEIR Research Director Nancy Drapeau. “In a business climate where resources are scarce, exhibition organizers are wise to allocate some of these resources to audience acquisition and retention efforts,” she added. “Bringing the right audience to exhibitors and the right content to attendees that keeps them coming back positions an event for stability and growth.” Continue Reading from Association Meetings

How to Make a Trade Show Profitable

If you’re going to spend thousands of dollars for a trade show booth, get your money’s worth.

By Vanessa Merit Nornberg | Nov 23, 2011

This week I spent time filling out the application to attend the largest trade show in my industry. The small booth costs $3,995, just for the raw space. Add to that the airfare, lodging, meals, and costs of having sales reps in the booth instead of in the office, as well as the time and labor before the show getting displays ready, and I spend close to $10,000 to get us there. While that’s a good bit of money, I know it is worth spending, because my team will typically do three to five times that in sales on the trade show floor, and that’s not counting additional business after the show.

However, there are a lot of companies that exhibit at this show which don’t do as well as we do—yet they have paid the same money, and often times, a lot more, to be there. When they return home, I imagine they lament that it was not a good show for them and worry about how they are going to recoup their expenses. This moment of hindsight comes too late.

Here’s how I recommend you make a trade show profitable—ahead of time: Continue Reading from Inc.

Section 179 Tax Incentive for Exhibitors Ends December 31

Thinking about upgrading or purchasing a display for your upcoming trade show season? Do you have some marketing funds that need to be used before the end of the year? Want to stretch your exhibiting budget and get more display for the money? The time has never been better for investing in your company with a new display, thanks to the Section 179 Tax Incentive. Continue Reading from Exhibitor News Network.

NEW CEIR RESEARCH ON EXHIBITION TRENDS – Third Fact Sheet Released

Exhibitions Deliver Unique Value Not Provided by Other Marketing Channels

DALLAS, 17 November 2011 – Today, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) releases the third fact sheet in the new study series reveals that marketing executives find business-to-business exhibitions uniquely valuable.

Ninety-nine percent of surveyed marketing executives identified a unique value of business-to-business exhibitions that is not provided by other marketing channels. The most popular value is the ‘ability to see a large number of prospects and customers over a short period of time,’ selected by 60 percent of executives.

CEIR Research Director Nancy Drapeau, PRC observes, "This result is impressive in light of the many options available to marketers. The ability to meet face-to-face with a critical mass of an organization’s prospects and customers in a compressed timeframe is a highly coveted value unique to business-to-business exhibitions."

Background on the Study
On 10 November 2011, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) announced the release of results from The 2011 Changing Environment of Exhibitions Study which explores how the exhibition industry is evolving and provides key market insights on opportunities and threats.

Findings document the current and planned use of the full array of available marketing, communications and sales tactics; positioning of business-to-business exhibitions in this mix; current high priority marketing and sales objectives and perceived value of using business-to-business exhibitions to achieve them; as well as the factors that drive the decision to exhibit or pull out of an exhibition.

This document, Exhibitions Offer Unique Value Not Provided by Other Marketing Channels, is the third of 10 separate fact sheets that will be released with actionable suggestions on how organizers and exhibitors can use the results to enhance their business objectives.

CEIR’s online research library available at www.ceir.org offers industry professionals an array of tools to assist in the planning and marketing of exhibitions for organizers, exhibitors and suppliers. Industry trend data is also a trusted source for press, consultants and the financial community.

This initiative is funded by grants from the Exhibition Industry Research and the MPI Foundation, CEIR.

Methodology: The data for this study was obtained from an online survey of marketing executives across industry sectors who are involved in marketing and promotions decisions, including deciding whether to exhibit at exhibitions. Target companies included those that exhibited in at least one business-to-business exhibition in the past two years. A total of 298 executives participated from a sample of 14,636, for a response rate of 2.1 percent.

For more information on this report series, contact Nancy Drapeau, PRC, Research Director of CEIR at ndrapeau@ceir.org or +1 (207) 332-9839.

About CEIR
CEIR serves to advance the growth, awareness and value of exhibitions and other face-to-face marketing events by producing and delivering knowledge-based research tools that enable stakeholder organizations to enhance their ability to meet current and emerging customer needs, improve their business performance and strengthen their competitive position. For additional information, visit www.ceir.org.

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Media Contact:
Susan Brower, CMM, CCP
sbrower@ceir.org
+1 (972) 687-9207

7 Deadly Sins of Tradeshow Marketing (and How to Avoid Them)

From not doing preshow marketing to simply not having good booth staff – in this post you’ll learn the top 7 reasons why exhibitors don't make sales at trade shows. It will also teach you the best trade show exhibitor practices. Continue Reading from TSNN

Does Swag Work?

This year, the U.S. promotional products industry is estimated to be a $17.4 billion market. To put that figure in perspective, American wineries have annual revenues of $14 billion, breakfast cereal manufacturers have revenues of $12 billion, and movie ticket sales are about $10 billion. Americans will spend more on swag this year than they do on amusement parks and arcades, more than on dry cleaning, more than on coffee shops including Starbucks and Peet’s.

Swag sells. But, why? And more importantly, can it really do much to promote your brand? Continue Reading from Fast Company

Jim Spellos Speaking at Collaborate 2011

Great 8 minute video on Social Media. Click here.

McCormick Place Labor Pact Preserves Some Work-Rule Changes

10/27/2011 - Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday announced agreements with two McCormick Place labor groups that largely will preserve work-rule changes enacted at the convention center last summer.

Under the agreements with the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and Teamsters Local 727, the major reforms to remain include allowing show managers and exhibitors to assemble their own booths, handle their own equipment and unload their own vehicles.

Concessions from the unions also include allowing work to be done by two-person crews, instead of the three workers required before. Other terms that survive from the original June 2010 work-rule reforms are significantly lower food prices and the ability for exhibitors to choose their electrical service provider.

The pact revives work-rule changes ordered by the Illinois General Assembly but later tossed out by a federal court. The original round of reforms came after several big trade shows threatened to leave Chicago for rival convention host cities.

"We made changes last year in direct response to what our customers demanded," Jim Reilly, trustee of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, said in a statement. "Now, working in partnership with labor, we have overcome some of the biggest obstacles to our efforts to lure new shows to the city."

The settlements reached with carpenters and Teamsters will end their federal lawsuits that challenged some of the reforms.

Events at McCormick Place support 66,000 jobs and generate $8 billion of associated spending a year, according to officials at the Friday morning news conference.

For more information contact Mitt Arnaudet, Member Services Director of the Exhibition Services & Contractors Association, at mitt@esca.org.

5 Ways to Make Your Trade Show Booth More Exciting

Fall has arrived, which means conference and trade show season is hitting full swing. Perhaps your company is one of the many small businesses that will set up a booth in an exhibit hall — and you’re wondering how to get attendees to stop at yours to see what you’re all about. Continue reading from Intuit Small Business Blog.