If your in the events industry then you most likely find yourself traveling several times through the year.  I do a good job of eating healthy while at home, eating foods with substantial nutritional value but when traveling it is a bit more difficult.  There are several things to take into account when traveling such as the new environment (heat, cold), food availability and lifestyle changes; these can effect your choices while on the road.  Here are a few tips that I find helpful while traveling:

• Bring your own food with you so that you do not have to rely on fast food and or deli’s.
• If you have access to a kitchen while on your trip then take the time to make a grocery run, cook/grill when you can.  (I know this is a tough one and is most likely not a viable option)
• Choose your restaurant carefully and early, do not wait until your hungry to decide.
• Most every restaurant has some healthy choices or you can make them healthy.  When ordering do not hesitate to ask questions about how the food is prepared and if need be request some substitutions.
• Avoid excess low nutrient / high calorie foods such as soda, fries, garlic bread, cheese sticks (this last one is a reminder to me)
• Go = Grilled and No go = Fried

That being said, enjoy what the location has to offer!  I was just in San Diego last week and over the course of 4 days I had 7 different types of fish, it was fantastic.  I would suggest the Tin Fish sea bass tacos if you find yourself near the SD Convention Center, sure does beat the roach coach.

If you haven’t heard of ISPO – The International Sports Business Network, it is one of the largest sports industry shows in the world.  Held in Munich it takes up 14 show halls in the new Munich Trade Fair Centre.  ISPO draws exhibitors and attendees from all corners of the sports and fitness industry; from action and traditional sport to home fitness and everything between.

Echelon Design had the opportunity to work with Bowflex in their efforts to launch a new international marketing plan.  Traditionally, Bowflex has been very successful in selling their machines through the use of infomercials here in the US.  Evidently, we (Americans) are the only people in the world to buy products that are sold on TV, Europeans would require the products to be placed in traditional “big box” retail stores and ISPO was the perfect platform for such an initiative.  Echelon was asked to design an environment that showcased the TreadClimber and Select Tech product lines that could be leveraged to generate key international partnerships with select “big box” retail stores.

ISPO was held February 6-9 and I would say that the results speak for themselves.  During those three days, Bowflex wrote immediate orders that put them at nearly 500% ROI (they did not expect to write orders at the show).  Needless to say, Bowflex has a great product line and a well known name; Echelon was thrilled to be a part of a fresh marketing and looks forward to helping extend that brand as they continue to break into the European market.

Below is an overall view of the design concept and a quick photo that was taken during setup.

Label Expo 2010 was a great show for us and our clients.  Echelon had four projects at the show – Actega, Mark Andy, CEI and Lederle/Print Products.  In the case of CEI and Lederle/Print Products both clients approached us after they had contracted split island booths, just so happened that they were splitting the island with each other.  They shared common needs out of their booth, like, show mandated solid back walls, areas for large branded graphics, lighting, conference areas, storage and as much floor space as possible.  Each design opportunity presents a group of challenges and sometimes we get to use those challenges to our advantage.  We were able to execute all of their outlined needs and propose an interesting solution for storage, a shared closet structure splitting the spaces.  Not only do they both have a 4′ x 10′ storage closet but by sharing a closet structure it cut the following cost in half – structure rental, material handling, shipping, and labor while providing excellent graphic areas and meets the show requirement of a solid back wall.

Sometimes its the small and creative ideas that helps exhibitors who are working with a fairly strict budget stay on target.  All four exhibitors have contracted for the next show, were very happy with their experience with Echelon and the activity at Label Expo 2010, doesnt hurt that all of their display machines were sold by day two!

CEI 20'x36"

Lederle-Print Products 20'x30'

I recently had a chance to attend the worlds largest hospitality technology show, I had this opportunity thanks to two of Echelon’s newest clients Cetis, Inc. and Intelity who were exhibiting.  Cetis, Inc. is a leader in hospitality and enterprise phones, you can trace their roots back to 1983 (who doesnt love the 80′s).  Intelity is a fairly new technology company that gives guests of the hotel the capability to order any and all services offered by the property through the use of your iPad, iPhone and other devices.  Simply put, you can order room service, valet service, etc all with one touch on your favorite device.

The Cetis exhibit was a custom rental that we designed to be warm and inviting, a place that you might want to sit down and hang out in.  We accomplished this by including a raised conference/meeting area, using rich colors, large fabric identity sails, an architectural wall and a large product display area.

Intelity is also a custom rental, our goal was to attract attendees to the exhibit with the use large story board graphics and highly visible demo areas.  We provided a overhead hanging sign, a conference space on the interior, and six custom kiosks that were used for product demonstrations and provided excellent space for large graphic murals.

I enjoyed working with both teams and was pleased to hear great feedback about the show in general as attendance was up from the 2009 show.

Trade show value and ROI comes after the event in the follow up – that’s where sales will come from.  But, most vendors fail in this area, 80% of trade show leads never receive a post show follow up, those followed-up on typically fall off the map after being sent the first and only email.  Think about it…..  We’ve invested significant time exhibiting at the event so that we can gain leads and prospects invested their time in visiting with us.  We owe it to every one involved to follow-up immediately.

Immediate follow-up is a must, “get it while its hot” as they say.  Plan ahead for follow-up, maybe it would have been appropriate to put a section for this in the pre-show planning.  I think that it is important to set actions for each type of lead, such as a customized email followed by a timely phone call for qualified leads, an email from the president for session attendees, an email blast from the marketing team for any unqualified attendee, etc.  Show generated leads are not cheap, $1,400 if you use the example given in part 1, so work all levels of communication while pushing for the sale, in person meeting and or demo.

Follow-up boils down to this……  Just do it!  We can come up with many reasons not to follow through with this step, “they dont want to be bothered”, “so much work piled up on my desk while I was gone”, “I dont even know where to start”.  Fact is that they are waiting for your out reach so set all of these fabricated reasons aside and do it!

At some point you will be able to call the trade show process complete and measure your results against your initial objectives.  This is when you have exhausted all leads and closed all the business that has resulted directly from the trade show itself.  If you kept good records of this activity, you should now be able to evaluate the success of this particular show.  After all, if you are going to put this much work and money into anything, don’t you want to make sure that it’s worth it?

Although ROI is one of the ways to measure your success, you should always consider the other benefits as well.  These benefits can include establishing your brand, community awareness, educating the public and building new relationships and alliances with other companies.  You will have to do your own analysis on these non-monetary benefits.

Best of luck with your upcoming shows!

Ok, you are prepared for the show and have addressed everything discussed in Trade Show Success Strategies ~ Pre-Show.  Opening day is just a few hours away and the question to ask is how do you make the most of your time on the floor?  How can we help insure that a desired ROI is obtainable?

It starts with YOU!

•80% of what a prospect remembers about a company is based on staff behavior and attitude
•YOU are one of the primary reasons why people will visit the booth
•64% of prospect’s impression is formed within 4 seconds
•YOU only get one shot at a first impression

Trade shows are unique sales environments in which everyone must be on top of their game.

•They are very expensive
•There are many distractions, anything from the neighbors circus act to the other neighbors “booth babes” can take your mind off the task at hand
•There is intense competition, you are surrounded by exhibitors trying to pull attendees away and into their booth..  Some of those are even your competitiors
•80% lookers vs. 20% real buyers
•You have limited time with prospects; 5-7 minutes
•They also provide a unique opportunity to beat the competition

How do you succeed in this unique environment?  Follow a 6 step process:

Step #1:  Attract & Approach

•Most attendees will not stop unless you approach them
•Use body language, appear approachable
•Attendees will not wait for you

Here are some interesting numbers for you.  6% of attendees will leave in 10 seconds, 11% leave in 30 seconds, 41% leave within the first minute if not approached.

Step #2: Qualify

•Know your audience
•Get the prospect to talk
•Respectfully dismiss unqualified prospects

Step #3 Present

•Rehears your presentation prior to the show
•Bond with the prospect and peak his or her interest in your companywill typically tune out
•Get to the point quickly, if you dont connect within the first 90 seconds the prospect

Step #4 Agree & Release

•Summarize your conversation
•Reconfirm prospects information
•Agree on specific next steps (followup call or meeting)
•Release and engage next prospect

Step #5 Document

•Capture good data (quality rather than quantity is the rule)
•Record key information, capture something personal about the prospect
•This may sound elementary but write clearly, accuracy is key

Step #6 Follow-up

I will dedicate the third part of this three part series to the “Follow-up” as I feel that this is all too often the weakest link in the process.

This is a process that will, without a doubt, put you on track for success in a trade show environment.  Remember that to begin new relationships, you must first engage and create a positive impression.   Being mindful of the fact that people need to trust you before they do business with you, be approachable, and listening more than you talk will help you do exactly that.

It is pretty easy to walk the show floor and spot the exhibitors that “just show up” and it is more common than you may think.  I was in Orlando for the HDI show last month and had a chance to catch lunch just before my departing flight.  The guy sitting next to me was obviously a sales guy, you know the look, that had been a staffer for an exhibitor at another show that was in town.  Mistakenly, I struck a conversation with him, I asked “how was the show for you guys”, “I hate trade shows” he responded, “really, why?”, “I think they are pointless and I dont like begging people to buy my product” he says.  Luckily it was time to catch my flight right after that comment.  Do you think this guy should have been representing his company at the show?

Exhibiting at a trade show can be an invaluable experience.  However, if you and your team are not prepared, your ROI will reflect that.  To get the most from exhibiting, you should have a realistic budget, goals, prepared staff, collateral in place, and set appointments.

Review and Implement a Realistic Budget
Setting a realistic budget is vital to the success of your show.  Common things to take into consideration are exhibit space, exhibit materials, show services, pre-show promotion and staff expense/time.  It’s almost impossible to realize positive ROI when you don’t know how much you’re spending – and what you’re spending it on!  I will be using a $70,000 overall budget for illustrative purposes below.

Set Goals

One of the best place to begin planning for the show is by identifying your trade show goals and strategies. Simply put, this is the way that you will position your company, products, and or services at the actual tradeshow. What are you trying to accomplish? What specific outcomes are you trying to achieve? What resources are you willing to commit to the actual event?  Your goals might look like this:

Goals:
- 500 Qualification Conversations
- 25 Commercial Leads
- 25 Enterprise Leads
- Cost Per Lead= $1,400 ($70,000 ÷ 50)

Staff Preparation

First step ~ be sure you are sending the correct staff members, dont send “that guy” I met in the airport.  Preparing your staff for the show can involve creating scripts for them, role-playing, and answering any questions they might have. Your trade show checklist should establish certain expectations regarding their collection of sales or leads. It should also remind you to assign specific responsibilities to your employees as early as 4 months before the event. Then, schedule weekly or biweekly training sessions to help them develop skills to engage visitors and qualify leads at the show.  Put together a presentation to bring the staffers up to speed with your goals and strategies, a good exercise is to show them exactly what it will cost for your company to simply have a presence at the show.  That might look something like this:

Overall budget= $70K
12 hours of show time
$5,833 per hour
$97.22 per minute
$1.62 per second

Collateral

This includes brochures, fact sheets, stands and posters for your booth. For trade shows, it’s a good idea to have these on a CD or USB drive and also include images or videos so you can give them to travel sellers to take away. You will need enough collateral for the show as well as for follow-up meetings and mailings.
Appointments

Be well prepared by taking the time to pre-schedule appointments, this will truly help you maximize your efforts.  Take it a step further and try to set these appointments with decision makers!

With these objectives in mind, you should feel good about what is to come from the show.  “But you dont have to take my word for it” – Burton ~ Reading Rainbow

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, what would you add?

Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation Monday calling for Topeka to be known for the month of March as “Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics.”  All in an attempt to get on the Mountain View tech giant’s radar as a test bed for new fiber-optic technology that would bring it Internet connections at top speed.

The Topeka Capital-Journal wrote that Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation Monday that designates the town as “Google” for the duration of March, in an attempt to make it a more palatable choice for a test market than some of the other cities in the running–like Grand Rapids, Mich., and Baton Rouge, La. It’s not intended to be as permanent as the Oregon town that actually renamed itself Half.com in exchange for cash and free STUFF.

Topeka is no stranger to temporary name changes.  As the Capital Journal explains:

Jim Ogle, general manager of WIBW-TV Channel 13 “told the council Monday about how Mayor Joan Wagnon in August 1998 issued a proclamation temporarily changing Topeka’s name to “ToPikachu” in recognition of the nationwide kickoff here of the ‘Pokemon’ media franchise, which features a fictional species of creatures named ‘Pikachu.’”

Ogle said that if Topeka could change its name “for a small doll that sounds like I sneezed,” it could certainly do the same for Google.

This is an interesting campaign and it might just land Topeka super fast internet that Usain Bolt would struggle to keep up with; but until then I think we can all have a little chuckle at this one.

I am certainly glad that Topeka chose this attention grabbing method over the “Tattoo Avertising/Human Billboard” route.

I am constantly amazed by the continuous advances in technology such as navigation devices, iPhones, etc.  They are functional, desirable, very cool and fun to use; in some cases they are also a fashion statement (i.e. my sexy white 3Gs iPhone).  If you are anything like me, you rely on your smart phone to look up the number of your favorite carryout spot, points of interest, email, weather, answer everyday questions, or to use any one of the 50,000 available apps.

Im sure you have read, heard, or thought of this topic before, by relying so heavily on our iPhones/smart phones, does it make us dumber?

To this day, I can tell you every phone number that I learned in the first 16 years of my life, I can also tell you that I have not learned a single number since.  In fact, I have to look in my contact list to find my wife’s phone number.  Not good.  Im not saying that memorizing numbers makes someone smarter but I do think that the simple tasks that we are now looking to our phones for rather than using our brains problem solving ability might be making ME a bit dumber.  Use it or lose it?

Want another example of this? Think navigation systems. I went my whole life navigating by the stars (not really, just maps) and finding my way. I have a great track record of reaching my destinations, no matter the mode of transportation. I looked at a map, related it to my surroundings, and found my way. All too often, navigation today is handed off to a device.  Many motorists can’t make sense of a basic road map, or estimate the distance between two points on a printed page.  They are lost if their machine loses touch with the satellites.  That being said, I rarely look at a map anymore, thanks Nav.

Most of the time, technology works as intended.  We get to our destinations faster thanks to Nav systems, its more than convenient to have a wealth of information at your finger tips at any given time.  But many people who rely on technology have given up something vital yet intangible.  They’ve lost the ability to think through a navigation problem themselves.  They have become slaves to technology out of intellectual laziness, and the laziness makes them less smart. The brain wiring that solves navigation problems allows us to solve other problems too.  Computers don’t have that flexibility, and neither do we when we let a device do our thinking.

What are your thoughts?

Its hard enough finding time to “get your fitness on” while trying to balance family, work and LIFE.  Now throw traveling into the mix and it can be very difficult to stay committed to any type of routine.  Traveling from home for business or pleasure is one of the major reasons why people fall off the fitness trail–and stay off. Crazy schedules, unfamiliar surroundings and lack of proper equipment all can wreak havoc with your established exercise program. But you don’t have to forego fitness while you’re on the road. Whether you’re jetting cross country to a meeting with a client or sailing off for some fun in the sun, you can still maintain fitness goals. All it takes is exercising a little creativity and simple planning.

My January is shaping up to be a month on the road, if your anything like me then you might have gained a pound or two over Thanksgiving and we still have Christmas to go.  So, in preperation for my time away from home, these are a few things that I consider in regards to fitness:

Do a little extra planning- Call the hotel and ask if there are fitness facilities available to guests. If there are – which they’re usually are now days – great. If not, ask about parks or fitness facilities nearby. Or do what I often do, and cancel your reservations for a hotel with fitness facilities included.

Checkout the surrounding area – If your boss won’t budge on a hotel with fitness amenities, you can still end up on a treadmill if you’re a member of a large commercial gym or YMCA. Most of these offer the use of their other worldwide locations to their clientele.  If your not a member of one of these gyms then you can still go to a local gym, most offer reasonable weekly rates.

If all else fails……….

– If the you cant manage either of the above options then you had better pack light! This way you will have room in your suitcase to bring equipment for a modified workout. You can include:

-Running shoes and fitness apparel – bring your workout gear and can double as casual day wear or sleepwear. Make sure to consider your destination. If you’re going to Vegas bring shorts and forget your sweat suit.

-Exercise videos & mat – This one is Duane’s fav.  It will easily fit in your suitcase along with a fold able exercise mat.

-Jumping rope or resistance bands – These will hardly take up any room in your suitcase. Plus, a jump rope is one of the most effective calorie-burning workouts you can do. With a resistance band you’ll get some weight training in for a total workout.  Just attach it to a door knob or chair.

-Push ups & Dip Stations – probably the lightest weight workout gear to take on vacation. All you need is a little floor space. With dips, just grasp the edge of a coffee table or low chair and you have a personal dip station at your disposal.

Good luck……