7 Steps to Tradeshow Crisis Management

by Susan Friedman

As we all know, life has its wonderful way of throwing curve balls at us to test our endurance, but most importantly to test how well we’ve planned the event.

What is your Plan B if something untoward happens unexpectedly? Do you have a Plan B and even a Plan C?

Here are seven steps for preparing for the unforeseen:

1. Brainstorm with your team what possible scenarios could occur.
2. Ask other employees for their thoughts on unpredictable situations.
3. List all possible circumstances.
4. Map out each one of the unpredictable situations outlining what and who is needed.
5. Generate a crisis planning checklist.
6. Hold a crisis meeting with everyone who needs to be involved.
7. Create a written plan of action and distribute it to all necessary team members

Follow these seven steps, and then pray very hard that you don’t need to use anything you’ve planned for.

Having a contingency plan in place will give you peace of mind so that you’ll sleep better knowing that everything is under control, whatever happens! Full Article.

Convention officials to show cost-cutting plans to customers

Chicago's beleaguered convention officials will meet next week with more than 40 trade show customers in an effort to explain plans to overhaul McCormick Place operations and cut exhibitor costs.

The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, which books shows into the facility, will hold the roundtable Wednesday. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency known as McPier that owns and operates the convention hall, will participate as well. More.

Five New Rules for Trade Show Technology

1. Online is not an add-on.

The virtual component must be integral to every step of your trade-show planning. Select the best online communities to reach your customers. And maintain your brand voice and image in every message.

2. Accessibility is key.

Make sure your trade-show web page is optimized for all the browsers, including those on smart phones. The design that looked great on Internet Explorer may be unreadable on a Droid. Three more.

What’s the Difference between a Shopping Mall and a Trade Show?

The customer service is often better at the mall.

To be fair that’s not always true. But, what is true is that most retailers devote far more energy to training their employees in customer service and sales skills than most companies devote to training their employees on how to behave in their exhibit. We take for granted that everyone knows how to act like a professional at a trade show. We assume they possess polished sales skills. And, by and large, that “should” be true and here is why. Full Article.

How to Launch a Social Network

It’s easy to create a social network website these days. However, having social network software is not the same as having a social network. For that you need people. More.

Revitalizing participation in events by reducing pricing and eliminating cost-shifting

By Jack Thompson, CMP, CEM, EXPOexpert, inc.

Until the middle class gets back to work and has money to spend…regardless of whether economic soothsayers tell us the recession is ending…business is still sucking wind. This situation has brought further various problems into the spotlight, problems which have been issues in the meeting, tradeshow, and special event industry for some time. However, as my friend, Bob Dallmeyer, recently stated during a presentation at the Midwestern Chapter of IAEE, the resurfacing of these issues is good because it gives us an opportunity to see if something beneficial can come from healthy dialogue.

Help with pricing!

We have seen the retail market respond to the economy by implementing dramatic discounts and price reductions. This is really smart. After all, if they didn’t cut costs, very few people would be able to afford their goods and they could price themselves out of business. Full Article.

iPad: Will it Work for Events

Today, at events, we already have event applications built around laptops, mobile phones and purpose built devices. What if anything would the iPad be good for at an event?

• Larger Screen = bigger fonts = easier readability for all types of attendees (like baby boomers). This means that you could create e-versions of your Show Daily, conference guide and exhibitor guides. This would make it very easy to make an event paperless AND preserve your sponsorship revenue.
• Incorporating Multimedia. There will be a clear opportunity to include multiple photos and video clips from the show floor in the e-versions of the Show Daily. Electronic Exhibitor guides could contain video demonstrations of products. Electronic Conference binders could contain speaker videos. The kicker? If you are recording sessions these sessions could be setup online and available for viewing/downloading on the iPad right away.
• Interactive Demos. Today – interactive demos can be a challenge to run on the show floor. I think that we will see more and more interactive marketing companies creating demos, games, quizzes, etc that get attendees engaged on the show floor (or in the street). These apps will help companies capture new leads, qualify them, and feed them into the CRM system right on the show floor. In my opinion, the iPad – as a hybrid of the iPhone and the laptop – will be perfect for this type of application. More.