Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

One of the things that see a quite a bit is the fact that many exhibitors just show up and hope people will come to their booth and buy their products or services.  This is such a missed opportunity if you don’t take advantage of the fact that you are giving your customer a chance to meet face to face and experience your conversation first hand.

I try to make as many appointments wit all my contacts that I can. This helps me set a good schedule before the event and sets out my time.  I can stay on track that way and make sure I get the biggest bang for my buck.  There is also another underlying thing that happens, people talk about you and the fact that you will be at the event.  Many of the people that you make appointments with will talk about you to your friends, your competitors and others in your industry. You ge4t seen as the expert or as the person in the know about what is going on at the event.  You are seen as the person that they need to know and meet or compete with on the floor.  This increases your stock exponentially.  Make your contacts now and get your calendar set before the show and you will see great benefits.

I just recently purchased a new smart phone and I am trying to change from the Blackberry I had to the new Droid X. I am not afforded the luxury of having the iPhone as I am not with their carrier.  I know that many of you also struggle with the technology as it comes out and I know that most users have no idea the capabilities of their phones.  This makes our smart phones for dumb users as I like to tell my wife.  The problem is that the technology is growing faster and faster and we have no way to keep up with what is available in most phones.  We have somewhat of the problem with the Go Go Gadget syndrome, never knowing what is going to pop out next.

I know that most organizers of events are now looking to become more mobile as the technology grows and as we become more sophisticated with using it.  Are you “mobile” yet?  That is the question I get from a number of vendors and suppliers of mobile applications out there.  We are seeing the number of iPhone apps being very difficult to review let alone, even count at this point in the game.  They are growing at a pace nobody can seem to keep up with.  We have the mobile applications section of Conventions.net and I encourage you to take a look at that page and familiarize yourself with what is available.  I have the new Android phone and that also has an applications store and we are now into complete overload as it relates to the application market.  We are now entering into the mobile world and we are seeing many new applications that are related to the event and conventions and conference world.  Are you mobile?  If you are mobile what is your favorite mobile applications?  If you are a mobile applications builder and you have an application for the convention industry please let me know about it!

I have been talking about the convention season like it is a time to get a license and hunt for prospects (enter Bugs Bunny skit or scene here using the “Wabbit Season/Duck Season”).  The fall is generally that time of year for me.  “Back To School” campaigns are also all the rage on advertisements for all the retailers.  All of this means that we will be inundated with the time that many of us will spend in an expo hall shaking hands, meeting people and getting to be exposed to a large number of people.  I believe that the the latter is what we need to learn to survive.  This is where we all start to get that cold and flu bug that seems to hit us and attack us as we get over exposed.  Here are my tips to being healthy during the convention season:

Wash Your Hands

This is one of the things that we all get to hear on a regular basis.  Our mothers stand over us and tell us we need to wash those hands and this is probably the best advice.  If you are at a location where there are a lack of facilities to wash, pick up some hand sanitizer and use it often and regular.

Drink Plenty of Water

This is not something that many of us do on a regular basis.  If you drink more water you are generally more healthy.  Staying hydrated is critical to fighting off bad health.  In fact, this can also help you with washing your hands as we all know what drinking lots of water does and the result, which of course we all wash our hands after doing.

Get  Exercise

If you are healthy you will have a better chance of fighting off any bugs.  We all tend to stay up late and get up early in the convention season.  It is the nature of the beast.  What we need to do is get up early and go for a run, or use the gym at the hotel where we are staying.  Get the heart pumping, get some air in those lungs and again drink lots of water while doing it and you will see the difference in how you can face not only the challenges of that busy convention schedule.

Three easy steps to take to give you that added little extra during convention season.  If you have your own tips feel free to share them.  We all need to be healthy for convention season.  I need to get out and run and pick up some bottled water so I can head into my convention season.  See you at your booth!

I am not sure if that is the case for all of you, but when my kids head back to school, it means I need to gear up for my own convention season.  Many of my conventions in the social media world begin in the fall and run through to the beginning of summer again.  I am not sure if this is a trend in all of the convention world, but it seems to make sense that while we parents are freed from our kids being under foot during summer we get back into the swing of conventions.  My kids finally go back to school today and I for one am looking forward to freedom of herding them, keeping them entertained, and trying to make sure they are not playing in traffic.

My first convention I will be attending this year is in Vegas and in fact I will be an exhibitor and a speaker, and I am actually helping run a track about non-profits and causes in the social media world.  Stay tuned as I get ready for that to kick off and you will be hearing more about what I have in store for that show in Las Vegas in October.  I have some smaller events that I am going to be attending and some I will be speaking at and will report my progress as we get back into the swing of convention season.  In the meantime, parents be happy those kids are headed back to school!

Photo via Avolore

I have been thinking for a while about convention and trade show leaders.  The people that lead us up the hill in this time of economic troubles.  The ones that make us feel good about where we are in the industry.  Those that are our though leaders and those that have companies that they are keeping on the path to success.

I have been thinking about what makes a good leader and what do the conferences, conventions or trade shows that are successful have in common?  I think the answer is simple and obvious, they have good leadership.  Last night on Twitter this conversation came about about companies that work well and what they have in common.  It also talked about the traits of the leaders of those companies that were successful.  Some of the traits of the leaders were:

• Passion
• Vision
• Fearlessness
• Determination

Those may sound like things we all have but in some leaders that exude these traits.  The funny thing is that if you ask each of us about what we think of when we think of a good leader and what traits we find important, each of us would have a different answer.  It does seem that we all wont to follow those that inspire us to be followers.  Some leaders have a confidence that we want to follow. It makes me think of what are the traits I want to see in a leader.  I have talked about events that fail and have been talking about events that are struggling but those that are winning the struggle and the battles are those with good leadership.  What are the things you look for in your event leadership?

Photo via Hamed Saber

I have seen it a thousand times and experience it nearly everyday in my kids, video garners attention.  What I mean by that is when I tell my kids to do something they always say, “just one more second, I want to see this!”  It is that last minute piece of video or cartoon or what ever the case.  I see it at the local bar, with video in the background everyone gravitates to the movement and the sound or the flashy images going on the screen.  It can be a commercial for some obscure soap, the latest television show or the scores of the day and the weather channel.  It doesn’t matter what the images are, we always seem to gravitate to the television screen or video screen.

Your exhibit booth can be the same way and garner the attention of trade show attendees by using the same content.  If you have a short 3-5 minute video that can be looped about your product or service, make sure you put it in a place that is seen by the attendees as they pass by an then take note.  I would be willing to bet they like my kids or like that restaurant customer have to just watch that last bit before moving on to the next thing. The example in the photo here is an exhibit display offered by Skyline Exhibits showing a video in a display wall.  Many exhibit booth dealers can provide you with systems for video to be integrated into your display.  This will give you every opportunity to capture the attention of attendees.   It gives you every opportunity to strike up a conversation that might not otherwise have happened without a little video in their world.

Photo via Skyline Exhibits

I recently attended a “hybrid convention” and I will talk more about that when I recap my attendance at the latest TS2 show in Boston.  The show as a great success and I want to absorb all that went on there but I wanted to quickly get the information out here on location based software.  Location based software or what is used in “geo-location” is all the rage in the mobile community and the geo-location community.  What is geo-location based software?  This is software that pinpoints your location using cell sites or global positioning sites.  I can locate where I am using my mobile phone.  This has lead to the software like what is being used now by the early adopters and the technology world.  What are the applications that are being used?  The two main applications are Gowalla and the one I am using called Foursquare.

Foursquare was recently mentioned at the TS2 show by Jim Rooney the head of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, someone that we have featured here before as a forward thinking leader in our industry.  Jim is responsible for helping run, along with his great staff of people, the Boston Convention Center.  He mentioned that he is looking into the location based applications as a new technology they are interested in implementing at the MCCA.  This can only mean that many of the leaders in the space are also looking to use the new software and its applications.  If you want to look into this as a way for you to make your convention or trade show better, we can help.

Editor:  The following is a post that I received as an email from one of our employees at Conventions.net.  I had to post it because it is a classic example of what cool stuff happens between companies and their employees.

I don’t usually write reviews but I want everyone to know how happy I am with Quality Logo Products! I’m getting married soon and I knew I wanted to have some wine glasses personalized with our wedding date and names, so I spent some time researching different promotional products stores. Most of the websites I went to had glasses but they all seemed overpriced or their setup charges were cost prohibitive. I was honestly about to give up when I stumbled upon a coupon code for Quality Logo Products and decided to check them out.
I found some wine glasses I liked right away and got excited when I saw they were in my price range. While I was trying to estimate how much 200 glasses would cost me with shipping, I noticed there was a button that said “Live Help” under the picture of the glasses. I clicked on it because I figured it would be easier for me to just talk to someone from Quality Logo Products, and I’m SO glad I did! My rep, Anthony, was so friendly and he helped me estimate my shipping costs within a couple of minutes. He also gave me other favor suggestions based on the budget I gave him, which was very helpful because that’s how I found the bride and groom stress balls I ended up ordering with the glasses. I saved about $20 with the coupon I found, which also helped! Anthony made me feel at ease with the whole transaction and there was never a point when I was kept out of the loop. He let me see electronic proofs to make sure my wedding info was the way I wanted it, he sent me email updates to let me know when my favors shipped and to let me know my tracking number, and he always emailed me back if I had a question. I can’t imagine what my experience would have been like if I hadn’t found Quality Logo Products!
I just know that our wine glasses and cute stress balls are going to be a huge hit at the reception. The quality is amazing. Much to my surprise, thanks to the special packaging Quality Logo Products uses, not a single wine glass arrived broken – they were all still intact. I can’t wait to give them out! I couldn’t even tell you how many other online stores I searched for wedding favor ideas before I found Quality Logo Products, but I know I’ll never go anywhere else again. I’ve already recommended them to everyone I know and I will continue to do so. Don’t bother with the other promotional products sites: go to QualityLogoProducts.com right now if you know what’s good for you!

In early 2007, I remember sitting in a bar in Austin, Texas and finding all of my friends on Twitter.  I had less than 100 people I was following then and I could remember seeing in real time what they were doing and what they were reading or watching on television or what bar they were buying drinks at in town.  It was very easy to follow along and it was a real cocktail party at that time.  Fast forward now a few years and my personal Twitter account has more than 11,000 followers and I am trying to follow along myself with more than 8,000 people.  Obviously, I cannot follow along with that many people in the real world of Twitter now but I have a good chance to talking with a few of them during the day.

We here at Conventions.net have been on Twitter for a while now and we are integrating other areas of social media here with our blog too.  I think Facebook is soon to be in the offering of places you can have conversations with us.  I will let you know when we get that up and running.  For now, you can follow along with our tweets at the Conventions.net Twitter page.  We will be updating with you what we are doing, will be sending updates about blog postings, and what new and interesting things we find on the Internet.  We are also working on making sure you know the latest news, and of course, we love chatting with you.  Feel free to follow along with us there and we will talk to you soon…or is it Tweet with you soon?

With the recent crisis occurring in the Gulf of Mexico with the BP oil spill disaster, it is tough to make it through an entire conversation without that becoming a topic of interest to most anyone that is up on the news.  This made me think of what trade shows and conventions think of the spill and what they are doing when someone asks them about their water conservation.  It made me think back to the Tools of the TRADEshow newsletter and a tips and tricks article on how to conserve water.  I tend to keep everything and the newsletter is a great source of info.

The newsletter article mentioned a tip that resonated with me being from Colorado and how we sometimes get into conditions of drought.  We often go into a plan B way of dealing with water conservation here, like lawn watering conservation and landscaping tactics to conserve water.  Businesses also get into the swing with conserving water by doing things a little different.  Is your trade show conserving water?  Here is a tip that I saw in the newsletter that I thought was a simple way to contribute to water conservation.

Serve water at meals only by request, rather than pre-filling hundreds of glasses. Meeting Strategies Worldwide estimates that if you avoid pre-filling water glasses at banquet lunches for 2,200 people for three days, you can save 520 gallons of water!

That sounds like not a lot of water but it can mean a small contribution to the water supply, and if we all did a little something to help conserve water, we would be doing our part for the environment and the event industry!  If you want to get more tips like this from the Conventions.net newsletter, I suggest you go to the Conventions.net site and enter your info in the eNewsletter signup to receive it via email.  It takes only a short time and you can get many tips and articles about how your can make your event or trade show and convention a better experience for all.