Author Kurt Schauer
“Only the convinced can convince.”
With this sentence, Joseph Joubert, a French moralist and essayist from the 18th century, sums up the prerequisites for a successful trade fair presence. You shouldn't just be inspired by a professional, holistic and sophisticated trade fair concept in a small circle - this enthusiasm must be passed on. Because one thing is certain: successful projects can only get off the ground through enthusiasm. This is all the more true because people from different disciplines come together in the context of trade fair planning and presence to jointly create the framework for the event.
Internal workshop of the trade fair staff
It is crucial to get the employees who will later form the stand staff at the trade fair on board early on and to involve them in the planning and convince them. In an internal workshop, important questions should be discussed and clear answers found:
- What are our goals and how do we want to achieve them?
- Who do we want to address?
- What strategy do we pursue?
- Does our trade fair appearance fit into the existing communication concept?
- If there is no concept: Can we develop a concept through our trade fair presence?
We are your specialists for trade fair concepts
A workshop on trade fair planning should ideally be prepared and moderated by external specialists, as the internal view of a company is often very different from the external view. Development engineers, for example, tend to want to present all of their achievements. This often leads to trade fair stands being overloaded with exhibits and becoming confusing, which means that the actual concept gets lost in the crowd.
Our job is to make your brand "three-dimensional" and easy to understand on the trade fair stand - be it through a color system, signage, labeled exhibits or intelligent icons. We bring our understanding of space, form and material to the table. Of course, different perspectives collide in this planning step. With enthusiasm and possibly the moderation of a so-called trade fair coach, the entrepreneurial internal view can be meaningfully supplemented by a design and communicative external view. This creates innovative strategies and successful models for experience-oriented encounter communication that brings people together at the trade fair stand and encourages exchange.
Our experienced team will be happy to support you in developing tailor-made trade fair concepts and stands and will accompany you through workshops so that nothing stands in the way of your next trade fair appearance. Our range of services also includes coaching your trade fair staff both before and during the trade fair. We are available as an external contact from the very beginning, take over the overall coordination and enable your trade fair staff to concentrate fully on experience-oriented encounter communication.
Specifically: The difference at a trade fair is not only made by the corporate design (CD), but above all by recognizing and using the potential of the corporate identity (CI). A trade fair appearance gains identity and differentiation when all relevant factors - especially the stand staff, who embody the spirit of the entire company - are taken into account.
It is clear that trade fair success requires more than enthusiasm alone. Unguided enthusiasm does not lead to the goal. It is complemented by courage and discipline: courage to take new and surprising paths in communication without turning corporate communication on its head, and discipline to consistently implement the approved concept - with the necessary perseverance and support from an agency or a trade fair coach.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression”
In fact, especially at a trade fair, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression - a thought that is aptly conveyed by the well-known advertising slogan for the anti-dandruff shampoo Head & Shoulders from the 1980s. It is therefore crucial to pay careful attention to how this first impression is created. A trade fair appearance is largely shaped by the staff at the stand. If they are not competent, friendly and sociable, even the best trade fair stand presentation is of no use and the chance of making a good first impression is wasted.
Five tips from the trade fair coach of the KAOS advertising agency for good trade fair staff:
- Make the right choice: Take enough time to check the qualifications of your employees at all levels. This is not just about technical know-how, but also about sociability, communication skills, politeness, friendliness, resistance to stress, quick comprehension and high motivation.
- Appoint a booth manager: Appoint a stand manager within the team who will be responsible for the stand and the appearance throughout the entire trade fair – ideally in close coordination with the trade fair coach.
- Create a work and process plan: Set a detailed schedule for the exhibition stand and distribute tasks clearly among team members. This will avoid boredom or uncertainty about what to do and when.
- Ensure clear distribution of tasks: Define the tasks at the trade fair stand precisely and record them in writing so that all employees can see them at any time. Checklists can be helpful to ensure that all tasks are completed.
- Train your employees with enthusiasm: Your employees must know exactly what the aim of the trade fair is and what the company wants to achieve. Whether it is about maintaining existing customers or acquiring new customers by presenting new products - everyone should have sufficient knowledge of the company, corporate identity, products and new products. In addition, basic etiquette rules should be clarified, from politeness and uniform clothing to the proper handling of empty coffee cups.
A useful addition: nice and always functional tools at the stand are a conversation guide and a small trade fair etiquette guide that summarizes the "do's and don'ts" during, before and after the strenuous hours at the trade fair.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”
"What you cannot measure, you cannot control," wrote the American economist Robert S. Kaplan in his 1996 book "Balanced Scorecard". This wisdom should play a central role in every advertising and marketing concept - especially in the trade fair industry. Why go to the trouble of careful budget and trade fair planning and organization if the success cannot be measured afterwards? Therefore, despite all the enthusiasm for good conversations, exciting inquiries and interesting offers, the following steps should definitely be observed:
- Cost/benefit check and invoice controlling: These steps should show whether the effort was actually worth it.
- Evaluation of visitor registration: The visitor data professionally collected during the trade fair must be evaluated.
- Maintaining new contacts in the CRM: The newly acquired contacts should be added to the company's own database (CRM) and maintained there.
- Writing a final report: This report should later be presented to all those involved – ideally with the same enthusiasm that drove the project from the beginning.
What began with enthusiasm becomes a successful "call to action" thanks to a convincing trade fair concept, sophisticated advertising media and smart giveaways - especially when trade fair staff are involved early on and supported by a trade fair coach. So it's high time to prepare for the next trade fair.
Any questions?
Hubertus von Kolkow
Head of Brand Consulting/Strategy
