Trade Show Tips

Start Now! Tips to Prepare for Returning to Face-to-Face Events

A presenter giving a live presentation to an audience at a trade show

Are you ready?

Ready to connect in-person and reap the ROI that only comes from face-to-face marketing?

Ready to fire up your live presentations, meetings and exhibits with a new focus on safety and efficiency?

The world is ready.

Ready to say goodbye to virtual events. We see a future for them in hybrid models, but as a substitute for in-person marketing, they often fall flat.

– A new study by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry finds “Exhibitors have a strong preference for live events—networking in particular—and feel digital events currently don’t provide a good ROI.”

– Glitches, screen fatigue, oversaturation and distractions … this Forbes article spotlights why in person events beat virtual events every time.

With COVID vaccinations and rapid testing ramping up, officials predict a return to a more normal-feeling world by summer/early fall. That may seem like a long way off, but when it comes to planning a great live experience, you’ll want to start now.

Get ready to go live!

Great experiences take time to create, especially since you may want to re-envision your approach. As you prepare for a new, safety-conscious world, here are three things to consider:

1. Plan a Presentation. Social distancing means minimizing close encounters, which means your reps may not be able to spend as much one-on-one time with prospects. A live presentation can ensure your visitors get a full, succinct message. Spacing the audience on squares or seats lets you limit capacity and control distancing, while running presentations back-to-back with a double cast lets people who missed one show return for another.

2. Re-think theme and graphics. It’s a new year and new chance to make a splash. Craft something that will make your return to the live events space shine. Be sure to include an inventory of graphics. Which will need to be replaced or refreshed? These often take the longest to plan, design and get approved, so create a production schedule now.

3. Consider a contingency. Could a hybrid model—a live experience with a complementary website/virtual option—help cover you in case a show is canceled? Plan each in tandem so they work together to help achieve your goals.

We’re ready.

MPG is ready to create experiences that connect in new and exciting ways with a focus on safety. We’ll help you get the most out of your investment when live events come roaring back—and the time to get started is now.

Contact us today. Let’s kick off a better, brighter year together.

Innovating for Safety: Returning to Exhibits and Presentations

Stage at the Together Again Expo

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s the importance of flexibility and innovation. As Covid-19 continues to challenge marketers, we’re talking with our clients about how they can adapt to safely exhibit and sponsor events at meetings and conventions once again.

The reality is that Covid will be with us for some time. And while digital events have been a great pivot for these early months, we’ve heard and experienced a “pent-up demand for a return to live events.”

Those were the words used by Cathy Breden, CEO of the Center for Event Industry Research, at the Together Again Expo in Orlando as she described the consumer sentiment surveys she’s been reviewing.

“Exhibitors have told us they’ve lost leads and sales opportunities, not having the ability to build brand awareness they’re accustomed to at live events, and a difficult time in maintaining and building the types of relationships with current customers and prospects (that they could face-to-face). And of course many companies launch new products into the world at live events.”

Every business is different. Companies must make the call whether to attend and/or exhibit at conventions and meetings. In many cases, those decisions are driven by things like travel restrictions to and from destinations, as well as quarantine requirements upon return home.

But it can be done. And we are excited about the creativity and commitment to safety shown throughout the industry. When it comes to individual exhibits and presentations, the experts on our team are planning to:

Cut Down on Crowds – Reducing capacity within tradeshow booths is vital, and organizations like the Global Biorisk Advisory Council have issued guidelines to help ensure each person can have 6 feet of space around them at all times. At MPG, we’re reviewing current booth layouts and expectations to determine how best to keep visitor count at the “sweet spot” of reaching as many as possible while maintaining social distancing.

Make Traffic One-Way – MPG has always advocated experiences that have a distinct journey, including a well-defined beginning and end guided by friendly ambassadors who keep things flowing smoothly. Traffic control and pulsing is one of our areas of expertise, and we anticipate utilizing it even more in the coming year.

Design for Distancing – Overt and subtle cues help visitors stay in their own zones. Seats in our presentation theaters will be spaced six feet apart. Furniture can be placed strategically to encourage distancing. And touches like drapes, plants and lighting can help create a warm, welcoming atmosphere.

Go Touchless – At a time when touchscreens, games and other high-touch interactives could help spread disease, live presentations are going to shine. They’re a great way to deliver a complete message and engage your audience safely and succinctly. At the end of the experience, rather than handing out sample bags, consider giving a code visitors can enter digitally to get samples sent to them.

Give Branded Masks and Safety Swag – Our MPG team sees this as an opportunity for our clients to transform their visitors into walking advertisements.

Dividers, Partitions and Shields, Oh My! – In areas where people will be in close contact, we’ll use transparent partitions to provide extra barriers. We also are considering a transparent panel between our presenters and audiences.

Re-imagine Panels and Presentations – Space chairs and podiums six feet apart. Instead of a shared mic, use individual mics or a boom. Participants should wear masks unless they’re speaking. And instead of a large panel, consider pre-recording the conversation on a platform like Zoom, then playing it back live.

Sanitize and Sanitize Again – While each venue should have services and guidelines for disinfecting surfaces and air, plan and stock up for your own cleaning protocols as well. At MPG, we already know we’ll be disinfecting our presentation theaters after every show. It not only reduces germs, it provides an added sense of confidence that we’re taking care of every detail to help keep visitors safe.

For the time being, these are “the new norms of face-to-face engagements.” But with a few modifications, we can still provide a great experience. To discuss how you can create a safer exhibit at your next convention or meeting, contact us.

Safer Conventions and Meetings: Glimpsing the Future and Gaining Hope

A socially distanced general session at the Together Again Expo

Conventions and meetings are coming back: That’s the message we heard loud and clear at the Together Again Expo in Orlando. In some parts of the world, re-openings already are happening. But they will look and operate differently—at least until Covid-19 is no longer such a threat.

The Together Again Expo was designed to showcase how an event can enable those all-important face-to-face connections while helping ensure the safety of all involved. Masks: check. Temperature checks: er… check! Staying 6 feet apart? Double check. Yes, it’s possible!

Exhibitors and attendees demonstrated best practices while sharing new smart technology and services in the arena of social distancing and elevated wellness and safety. In many ways, we experienced the convention of the future.

So what does that look like? Today’s post looks at the big picture, while our next one explores individual booths, presentations and meetings.

#1 – Partnerships and Planning are Key …

… With Health Officials – In May, the Global Biorisk Advisory Council, a Division of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, introduced its GBAC STAR™ facility accreditation program on cleaning, disinfection, and infectious disease prevention. It provides “third-party validation that ensures facilities implement strict protocols for biorisk situations.”

The Orange County Convention Center, where Together Again was held, has the GBAC accreditation, and many other venues either have or are working on getting it. Together Again organizers also walked through with their facilities and plans with the Florida Department of Health.

One other innovation we heard about was medical concierge services, which can provide 24/7 advice and resources to event participants.

… With the Hospitality Infrastructure – Everyone traveling to an event needs to feel safe from the plane to the hotel to the places they eat and the transport they take to meeting/convention sites. Airports, hotels and other service providers should be implementing their own safety procedures and seeking third-party verification such as the GBAC accreditation.

#2 – The Basics are Essential.

Masks and Temperature Checks Mandatory – At Together Again, participants received branded masks, and those who passed the temperature check were given an “I’m cool” sticker to wear.

Social Distancing For All – In addition to design that encouraged the standard “6-feet-apart” rule (more on that below), ambassadors roamed the area to remind people to keep their distance as they conversed and interacted.

Sanitize, Sanitize, Sanitize! Everywhere we looked, staff were wiping down surfaces and using electrostatic sprayers and other disinfecting methods. New technologies were also on display, not only to clean but to instill confidence in participants.  

#3 – The Guest Experience Has Been Reimagined.

Lower Capacity Lowers Risk – Future trade show floors will have fewer people, with entry perhaps limited alphabetically by time of day.

Traffic Flows Flow Differently – One-way traffic and wider  aisles reduce crowding and allow for social distancing.

Central Session Spaces Replace Breakout Rooms – The biggest change we saw was a central staging area where general sessions and breakouts alike take place. Seats were positioned six feet apart, and one design concept showed each with its own desk, storage area and power so attendees could create their own self-contained “pods.” This arrangement may mean fewer breakouts, or repeating sessions to maximize attendance, but it reduces traffic moving from room to room and avoids putting people into smaller enclosed spaces.

Other, bigger-picture ideas were discussed, too.

For example, organizations may hold more regional and local events vs. single big conventions so attendees don’t have to worry about air travel and/or quarantining upon their return home.

And of course, the “hybrid” experience we’ve all been hearing about is here to stay. Even when Covid-19 is no longer a major threat, allowing people to experience at least some of an event digitally from home can actually build attendance for future in-person events by building awareness and interest.

With all of these protocols in place, we heard many Together Again Expo attendees say they felt more comfortable there than they did at their local grocery store. It’s a testament to our growing hope and confidence that with collaboration, creativity and conscientious attention to detail, we can bring back live events sooner rather than later.

To discuss how you can safely host and participate in live events, contact our team.

 

Together Again: What Re-Opening Live Events Could Look Like

Together Again Expo in Orlando

Last week we did something we haven’t done since February—we attended an in-person convention. It felt wonderful and a bit odd. In the five months since Covid-19 forced the cancelation of live events around the world, we’ve grown used to experiencing them virtually. But screen fatigue has shown us that nothing can replace face-to-face interaction, and we’ve eagerly awaited the time when we could all be together again.

It just so happens that Together Again is the name of last week’s expo, organized by a group of intrepid industry pros who wanted to explore and showcase how live events can safely re-open. More than 1000 people gathered at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando for a day of sessions and exhibits showcasing everything from state-of-the-art disinfecting to design for social distancing. Masks were mandatory. So were temperature checks. We found it hopeful and enlightening.

Why did we attend? Because, frankly, live events are an essential part of our livelihoods and those of others who provide services, goods and talent tied to tourism and conventions. An estimated 6.7 million jobs have been lost in the events industry this year.

But live events also are important to our clients. While everyone has made the “pivot” to digital (Another 3000 people participated in Together Again Expo’s live stream), we are hearing anecdotally and seeing in real time how virtual events can’t replicate the live experience. In a State of the Industry panel, Cathy Breden, CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, said in all of the consumer sentiment surveys she’s seeing, brands are reporting that they’ve lost leads and sales opportunities, as well as the ability to build awareness and relationships that they were accustomed to at live events.

Time and again during last week’s expo, participants asked the question: Is it too soon? Covid cases are still climbing, so should anyone be gathering for something as big as a convention?

As one panelist put it so eloquently, we are industry leaders, and leaders take risks. Someone has to go first.

Because live events won’t come back all at once, but they will come back. Some parts of the world are already seeing a return. And fighting Covid-19 is a marathon, which means the way we operate will be different for quite a while. We all need to be prepared to usher in the “new normal,” because while we want to get back to gathering and making money, the safety of attendees, exhibitors and staff is the most important consideration of all.

Over and over, this is the message we heard last week: We can do it if we work together.

Our team learned a lot at the Together Again Expo, and it gave us a lot of hope. In the next few days, we’ll be sharing more details and thoughts on safely reopening live events. We also welcome your questions and ideas. If you’d like to chat about how you can safely get together again, then contact us.

Why You Need a Tradeshow Presentation in 2020

If your marketing plan includes exhibiting at trade shows, then you need a live presentation.

Why? Here are five reasons a trade show presentation, done right, can be one of your most effective tools for maximizing lead count and building relationships.

#1: It grabs attention – Even the most beautifully designed booth is a snooze-fest without something going on inside. Not everyone will feel up for a game, and touchscreens are so ubiquitous that few people find them exciting anymore. A presentation with an engaging theme, professional talent, and eye-catching visuals brings a little showbiz to your space. Put it in a prominent spot, and it signals to passers-by that you’re worth stopping for.

#2: It captures many eyes at once – Instead of only allowing a few people to participate, a trade show presentation engages a crowd, maximizing the number of people who can be a part of the experience.

#3: It communicates your full message – A good presentation combines storytelling with expert timing to make sure your audience hears and sees everything you want them to hear and see.

#4: It takes the pressure off your staff – With public speaking left to the pros, your people can focus on engaging one-on-one and closing sales. An effective tradeshow presentation helps qualify leads, ensuring that everyone you interact with knows the basics and is ready to go in-depth.

#5: It’s not as expensive as you think! Tradeshow presentations can be as elaborate as your budget allows, with video, multiple presenters—even turntables, flashy lights and musical numbers. But you can be just as effective with a compelling product demo, or a single presenter and some well-done Powerpoint slides.

Our MPG team can help craft just the right approach; contact us to talk about how we can bring the magic of live presentations to your 2020 marketing plan.

Trade Show Booth Design Tips: Floorplan First!

You’re investing in a new tradeshow booth, and it has to look stunning, drawing visitors from across a crowded room. It has to tell a story about your brand, products and services. It also has to make relationship building easy. After all, face-to-face marketing is the #1 reason to exhibit at trade shows, right?

Designing a new trade show exhibit can be exciting. But before you look at cool finishes and technologies, you should accomplish one important task that might not feel as fun: You have to get the floorplan right.

It isn’t glamorous. It can be time-consuming. But the payoff is a booth that delivers on your investment by really working for you.

It’s about storytelling. The floorplan lets you plot out how you want visitors to experience your content. Think about building their knowledge and interest as they make their way through your space.

It’s about flow. Design your space so people can move comfortably through it. Avoid bottlenecks, and eliminate confusion with clear entrances and exits. Ensure that gathering areas are big enough to handle peak capacity. Pro tip: Tape out the floorplan in a large room, and physically experience it to see how it feels and find unexpected traffic snarls.

It’s about creating a great experience for your audience. When visitors are comfortable, when they can tell an experience has been well thought-out, they feel taken care of.

It’s about setting your team up for success. Decide how you want your reps to interact with guests, then create spaces that facilitate. If you’re selling, for example, your floorplan might place your team at the end, after guests have had an opportunity to learn about your innovations. Or you might place huddle spaces strategically throughout the booth for one-on-one conversations.

It’s the foundation of a beautiful design. Stunning shapes, impressive tech, beautiful materials… all these will be layered onto of a core experience that can be enabled and enhanced by your designers’ creativity.

At MPG, we tell clients the floorplan is often the hardest part of the process. Once we get it right, our designers are free to work their magic, while we can be confident the final product will not only look amazing, but successfully deliver on our client’s objectives.

To learn more about how MPG can help design your next trade show booth, contact us today.

Experiential Marketing White Elephants: Turn Challenges Into Gifts With These Tips

Happy holidays from MPG! As the year comes to an end, many of our clients are creating exciting new marketing experiences for 2019. Most projects, however, come with a few white elephants—challenges and line items that no one really enjoys, but everyone has to make the best of.

If that sounds like your next project, check out these tips for transforming some common live marketing white elephants into gifts your audience will love.

Challenge: Old booth or exhibit that generates little traffic

Transformational Tip: Consider adding a live presentation or live demos. Touchscreens and graphics rarely capture or hold attention. But a live person delivering your message creates instant engagement, plus the impression that your space is a “must visit.” Why be static and dull when you can tell a complete story with a personal touch?

Challenge: Highly technical content with lots of jargon

Transformational Tip: Find a theme that allows you to simplify while engaging your audience’s imagination and emotions. If you’re marketing to an audience of subject matter experts, you don’t want to dumb it down. But a layer of storytelling can bring your message to life and make it more memorable.

Challenge: Too much content

Transformational Tip: Spread it out over several mediums. Keeping experiences under five minutes—eight minutes max—keeps people from getting bored. Capture their attention first. Then post content experts nearby, hand out supplemental material, or direct your audience to a website.

Challenge: Too many cooks

Transformational Tip: It’s common to have a lot of stakeholders giving input and approval throughout the creative process. To minimize delays and bottlenecks, create a clear schedule with plenty of time for everyone to weigh in. Then create one point of contact between your internal team and your agencies.

Challenge: Unmotivated team

Transformational Tip: Face-to-face marketing is a specialty. Expecting your sales team to sparkle at a trade show for 8 hours a day may be unrealistic. Professional brand ambassadors, on the other hand, are experts at drawing people in, communicating full messages, and maintaining friendly smiles, even when their feet are killing them.

Do you have a project that could use transforming? Contact us to find out how we can make your message shine.

Interactive Games for Presentations: Make It Memorable By Making It Fun

Interactive games for presentations

Want to make your next presentation memorable? Then get the audience involved. Tactics as simple as questions that require a show of hands can pull people out of passive-listening mode. But if you really want them engaged with your message, then interactive games could be a winning strategy.

High-tech, low-tech, sophisticated or silly, games give your audience a stake in the experience. To find the right one for your presentation, start with a few questions.

What’s my tone? If your topic is light and your audience is up for a good time, you can be humorous—even zany. Ask yourself how far you can push before it feels like “too much.” Even with a serious subject, games are still a viable option. Go for something like audience polling, and keep the approach more buttoned-up.

What’s my objective? Want to drive home a key message? Try a game that includes trivia or call and response. If you want to collect information from your audience or gauge their knowledge, then surveys or polls are a good bet. And if you just want to infuse a little fun, then go for something that gets them out of their seats, competing, and smiling.

What’s my budget? Audience response systems, touchscreens and other high-tech game interfaces are impressive if you can afford them. If not, there are plenty of options that cost little to nothing.

Once you know your goals and parameters, you’re ready to get gaming. Here are some of MPG’s top interactive games for presentations.

Classic Games – For Crest and Oral-B each year, we’re tasked with engaging people as they wait to get into our convention booth. Our objective is to help pass the time, prep them for what’s coming, and reinforce some key product messages. Dental professionals like to have fun, so we’ve done versions of Family Feud, Pictionary and even “hangman” with a Crest + Oral-B twist.

Classic games are great because nearly everyone is familiar with them. So you spend less time explaining and more time having fun.

A few tips:

– Most classic games can be adapted to fit your presentation theme. Choose one based on how it engages the audience, then tweak the name, visuals and other elements.

– Most classic games require audience members to answer questions in order to score or advance. So they’re great for driving home key messages and providing jump-off points for deeper dives.

– Some classic game templates are available in Powerpoint, or they’re easy to create. For a game as simple as tic tac toe, all you need is a dry erase board.

Audience Response:  These work well in more structured presentations. And with a range of technologies and costs, it’s not hard to find one that fits your budget. You can take polls or ask the audience survey questions. You can even get segments of the audience competing against each-other. Challenge yourself to be creative and make it fun.

Interactive games for presentations

Low-Tech, High-Impact: No money for bells and whistles? These games require little more than a good presenter and a willing audience.

– Elimination: Have everyone in the audience stand, then ask segments to sit based on criteria such as years in their profession. The last people standing should represent an achievement or point of view that your presenter can elaborate on or celebrate.

– Word of the Day: Audience members vote, by show of hands or applause, on a word or phrase that the presenter must weave into his or her remarks.

– Call and Response: Whenever the presenter says a certain word or phrase, the audience must respond with their own phrase and/or action.

– Singalong: Re-write the lyrics to a popular song, put it onscreen, then invite the audience to help sing it. For extra fun, add some choreography.

Not sure whether a game is the right approach for your next presentation? Chat with MPG. We’ll craft a strategy guaranteed to connect with your audience, then execute with excellence.

 

 

Trade Show Trends: Our Top Takeaways from CES and ExhibitorLive

Live presentations draw crowds at Trade Shows

When you spend your days crafting concepts that inspire and engage others, you need a little inspiration yourself. That’s why MPG makes CES and ExhibitorLive must-sees at the start of every new year. We go to the consumer technology megashow and the exhibiting industry’s premier expo to experience new technologies and get a feel for the trends and themes that have the potential to resonate with our audiences.

We saw a lot that excited us this year. We also saw things that underwhelmed. And much of it confirmed our core beliefs about what works in the unique face-to-face marketing environment of a trade show.

Here are our top takeaways:

Booths Are Going Next Level

Everywhere we looked we saw multi-story booths. Two and even three levels are almost commonplace, providing intimate places for conversation above the hubbub, or even a bird’s eye view of the show floor. This approach definitely helps solve space challenges, but accessibility can be an issue.

People Don’t Always Think With Their Stomachs

Food and beverage themes have been big for several years, with booths featuring bartenders, chefs and other delectables. But at this year’s Exhibitor show, most of these were sparsely attended unless they provided something active and visually appealing, such as an “artist” rolling toppings into slab ice cream. To stand out, today’s F&B-themed experiences need to be extra-clever and eye-catching.

Live Presentations Draw Crowds

We see it every year. Big booths with lots of touchscreens stand empty, while 10X20s with magicians and other performers are crowded with people. Call them cheesy or hucksterish, but they’re getting something right. Using a professional to deliver messages in an engaging way is a surefire strategy to get people to stop, listen and interact.

Timing Is Everything

For maximum crowd-draw, presentations should happen back to back. We saw one exhibitor with a cool fashion week theme, models in amazing outfits, and an empty red carpet. They were only doing their presentation a few times an hour, which meant… you guessed it, no one in the booth. If you’re going live, then double cast so that your booth is always full.

Immersive trade show booth at CES

Technology Is Still Scaling Up

Virtual reality, touchscreen games, and many other new technologies are still either one-person activities or able to engage just a handful of attendees at once. Balance these out with demos and experiences that engage bigger audiences. You’ll vastly increase the number of people who walk away with your full message.

Immersion Works

Some booths almost made us forget we were at a tradeshow. They plunged us into stories and environments that reminded us how powerful a good theme can be. In sessions at Exhibitor, we heard about how younger audiences want experiences that take them outside of themselves. More and more, we think they’ll be demanding exhibits that are truly unique.

Face to Face is Still Best

People attend trade shows so they can connect with real people and experience brand benefits for themselves. So make sure you’re providing something they can’t get online. One quote from an Exhibitor session stood out: “If what you’re considering can be done better with a website, then come up with something else.”

At MPG, we believe meaningful interaction with real people is the key to trade show success. If you want to ensure your booth is packed and your visitors are fully engaged, then drop us a line. We’d love to chat.

Jetting into the New Year with International Business Travel Tips

A few members of our team were lucky to spend some holiday time in Barcelona, helping with an international meeting. The event went well, but required quick thinking and creativity from everyone. That’s because weather snarled airports around the globe, causing canceled flights, delays, missed connections, and lost luggage.

Organizers who had planned to arrive a comfortable couple of days in advance got there the night before. A few key personnel arrived with just hours to spare. Many were without a change of clothes, let alone professional attire.

Luckily, most were able to fit in a quick shopping trip. And our team helped ensure that presentations were formatted, rehearsed and ready to go, even if the speakers were bravely battling jetlag. We learned a few things, that’s for sure!

So here’s our New Year’s gift: Tips for performing at your peak while abroad. Assuming you’ve done the basics, like making photocopies of your passport, securing visas, and getting cash in the proper currency, be sure to…

Store files online. Powerpoints, agendas, spreadsheets… If you’ll need it onsite, don’t let the only copy travel on someone’s laptop. Use Box, Google Drive or another online option to ensure everyone can access their materials from anywhere.

Rehearse at home (or on the plane). Don’t count on a leisurely rehearsal day to make sure you’re ready. Practice your presentation, with slides and any other visuals, well before you leave. If that’s not possible, spend some of your airplane time going over it in your head.

Be healthy before take-off. Travel takes its toll, especially if it’s drawn out with extra flights and long waits in airports. To arrive as fresh as possible at your final destination, start getting plenty of sleep, fluids and healthy food at least a week before you depart. While en route, drink lots of water, avoid caffeine and alcohol, and try to eat light.

Carry on toiletries, and a change of clothes. If possible, bring enough for a day so you can be fresh should your luggage get lost. That includes clean underwear, a toothbrush, make-up and an extra shirt or lightweight dress that looks more professional than your travelwear.

Pack energy food. There’s always a chance you’ll have to skip a meal, or that the local fare won’t appeal to a sensitive stomach. Bring granola bars, trail mix, pretzels—something you can eat on the go that will keep you fueled for the journey.

Let the hotel help. The concierges at our hotel were wonderful at tracking down our luggage and making sure it found its way back to us. Rather than spend time on the phone, struggling with an unfamiliar language, take advantage of the services available where you’re staying.

Save receipts. Most airlines will reimburse for the cost of replacing clothes and toiletries up to a certain amount per day. It might not be much in the long run, but every little bit helps.

Keep calm and soldier on. Travel woes happen—everyone understands that. Focus on what you can control: doing your job as well as possible. And, if you get a free moment or two, make the most of the trip by seizing the opportunity to sightsee. You won’t regret it!

Are you looking for a new experience in the New Year? Give us a call to discuss how MPG can put your message in the spotlight.