I recently read through Rachel Wimberly’s blog post A Show Floor With Style and Flavor and had an idea or two myself. Wimberly states:
I’ve been to shows where I thought it didn’t work. For example, at ASAE & The Center for Assn. Leadership’s meeting last year at Chicago’s McCormick Place, the showfloor was only open for a few short hours, and lunch was served at exactly the same time.
Obviously, the planners at these conventions were not thinking or planning with the exhibitors in mind. I think that a separate planning stage needs to be planned for the exhibitor and show floor in mind. How can we get the attendees to funnel through the exhibitors so they can garner more leads? This should be part of every planners agenda. In the above instance, the main time period for the exhibitors to show their wares was during the lunch hour. When lunch is served people are not looking forward to hitting the booths, at least I’m not I would rather listen to my stomach.
Rachel goes on to give a better example:
Secondly, Richard Harper, Mandalay’s vice president of sales and marketing, said they made a distinct choice to go with a higher-end food product that was served in stands dotted here and there right on the showfloor. People ate and mingled and raved about the food, which included gourmet sandwiches and exotic salad selections. I, for one, happily ate my way though the exhibits.
This is an example of thinking through what was necessary to get the 4300 attendees to pay attention to the exhibit booths and reward them for so doing. Planners must make these types of adjustments to make sure their exhibitors can justify the huge expenses laid out for the booths. This will also help you sale return exhibitors for the next show you host.
I think that if you make the exhibition floor rewarding to the attendees it would be a benefit. In fact I recently attended a convention where they played bingo for prizes. if attendees would get stamped from each vendor they had a chance to win prizes. Some of the prizes were awesome, think 50″ plasma TV. I also like the idea of food and mingling. Why not had food stations next to the exhibitor or perhaps even better the beer! What is your idea for getting people to participate in the show floor? I would love to share your ideas on Convention Insider.
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September 12th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
There is no doubt that the success of a trade show floor plan is far more than the ‘lines on the page’. As often as people have a problem visualizing the house from the architect, the TV ad from the agency or simply ‘how far is 20” are show managers not able to visualize the floor plan once all the booths are in and more importanly - how will the attendees move around the floor, why and can that be controlled or improved. Obviously that vision is critical to the success for the exhibitors and thus the success of the event.
It would seem to me that ‘vision’ is one the important jobs of a show manager. If the show manager does not have that vision, the decorator, the floor manager, someone on the committee need to have have it. The key is realize its importance and then get it addressed. I have been a service contractor and consultant in the trade show and event industry for 23 years for nearly 3000 events and I can’t count how many times the show traffic issue and traffic draw issue has gone unaddressed. I know I always speak up - any good supplier on the show managers team will/should as well.
Every time I purchase a booth and actually exhibit, I ALWAYS purchase by the food, the bar, the seating area or even the rest rooms. The exhibitor has the same opportunity to study the floor plan and pick accordingly as will. Generally even the back of the hall is not a bad place to exhibit as by that point the attendees are not rushing by and have settled in. But I digress.
To your point, there is a ‘knack’; to floor plan management, traffic flows and where and when to any traffic draws/giveaways are. It does need addressed and ‘visualized’ prior to set up and needs to be an important part of planing. Different facilities, different exhibits and much more all offer challenges from year to year. Even if addressed, often it just does not work from venue to venue.
If show mangement is not thinking about it - just make sure you are as an exhibitor before the booth is purchased as there still is your own chance to ‘get it right’.