Nimlok Tradepoints:
Rant #1 — Presence

I attend many tradeshows annually and take them seriously. I get annoyed when other exhibitors do not. A common mistake I see made on the show floor is exhibitors packing up before show closing. This seems to be more common with smaller exhibitors, especially those with portable or "pop-up" displays that are easily dismantled.

Most portable displays have many advantages because:

• They can be easily set up and taken down by one person within an hour and without tools, and
• The shipping crate(s) can usually be stored behind the booth or used as a table.

These benefits make this type of booth ideal for those quick getaways at the end of a show. Unfortunately, many booth staffers take advantage of this and do a great disservice to their organization by taking the booth down early and leaving.

Another advantage of the small booth is that you don't need a lot of people to staff it. Typically one or two people are needed. Unfortunately, because there are so few people from the organization on-site, some employees take advantage of this.

I am on-site at many shows conducting on-site booth and staff performance analysis for clients and I am constantly amazed at the number of small exhibitors who show up late each day for the show and/or leave early. I have seen them come to the booth and put in a full day reading the newspaper or a novel, working on their laptops or chatting on cell phones, etc. They seldom talk or interact with show visitors and then wonder why they never get any good leads at their shows.

At a recent show in Orlando, I was working in a portable booth with one other person. We qualified over 400 leads in three days. Our next door neighbor confessed she qualified six leads and "didn't think her employer would be coming back to this show." No wonder. She sat behind a table and never initiated conversations throughout the entire show. She did not seem enthusiastic about her product or organization. If her managers could have observed her on-site performance and booth etiquette, they might have identified a need for booth staff training.

At the same show, I was really annoyed and discouraged to see a government agency send an employee who was rarely at the booth. Attendees just cruised on by the booth. What a waste of our tax dollars!

What are your booth staffers doing at your shows? Do you care if they show up on time and stay for the full day? Are you one of those exhibitors who takes the booth down a few hours early to "catch my flight"? What opportunities is your organization missing when booth staff do this?

Whether I am in a small or large booth, there is usually a good prospect who drops by the booth just as the show is closing. I've seen this enough to know that it is very unwise to leave any show before it's over, and I usually plan a slow exit so that I can meet all prospects and customers. At a recent show in Chicago, I qualified three more prospects while tearing down the booth shortly after the show had closed.

If booth staff performance is a concern to your organization and you, here are two simple solutions:

1. Ask show management or a neighboring exhibitor to monitor your booth and personnel for these undesirable behaviors. Show managers also get angry when they see this happen and can even penalize companies, e.g., by lowering their priority for space selection in the future.
2. Tell your staff that you have hired someone to randomly monitor your shows and to evaluate booth staff performance. That should keep them on their toes!

Anne Barron, CME, is President of ABComm Ltd., an exhibit and event marketing firm specializing in strategic exhibit marketing.

Website: www.ab-comm.com

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