One of the LinkedIn event groups hosted by Francis Friedman, Learn How to Make Your Tradeshows, Conferences, and Events More Profitable has a discussion about in-booth entertainment. Some of the responses provide great suggestions while others highlight various people who are could provide their services. For this post, I am selectively choosing to share some of the creative recommendations.
Original LinkedIn Question
Melissa Scartissi, Marketing Communications Project Manager- Trade Shows at Fresenius Medical Care asked this question:
Suggestions needed for trade show booth entertainment…
I need some ideas! I’m looking for suggestions/ideas on entertainment within my booth. Last year we did caricatures and this year we are looking to do something different. Any suggestions/referrals are welcome!
Responses to Melissa Question
Sean Roberts, Vice President Strategic Global Growth at Blazer Exhibits & Events provided this commentary:
Here are some basics for consideration. How much space within your exhibit / stand can you dedicate to your entertainment? Or do they have to be completely mobile within the space? What is your budget for entertainment? I have spent well over 100k on entertainment and as little as a few thousand. Now, here comes the stuff that everyone overlooks because it means more work. Are you looking to just draw people? Fine, there are many cool ways to just draw people and some have been mentioned. Or do you want to draw people and then subliminally or overtly educate them on your Brand, products, and services? Why would you want to do that?…Oh yes that nasty, greedy sales department that complains that you are not providing quality leads from the shows and they put a noose over your cubical and replaced your office chair with an electric chair and your car has a hose running from the exhaust into the passenger compartment. Motivated to find the correct solution yet? Traditionally, Marketing and Sales are at each others throats and loath each other, but in successful corporations they actually work together.
Let’s remember your job – to provide a tool or series of tools that will carry the Brand, the Brand Message, tell the product or service story and convince the prospective clients to stop and spend more than the average 30 seconds to three minutes with you. No small task!
This next response is from Bill Sell, Revenue & Lead Generation Strategist at Portfolio Media Group:
Hello Melissa. It’s 2012 and you might want to think a bit out of the box with the entertainment – try a mini TV studio set with lights and a small half-round table for the interviewees and guests – think ‘The View’ set. Invite a journalist from your industry – many do freelance work like this – and have them conduct short interviews right in your booth. Make a simple backdrop for the “show” using your company logo on a sheet of foam core board. Add some seats for a studio audience and a simple P.A. system so people in the audience can listen in. The lights and camera(s) WILL cause people to stop and take notice, and many to sit and listen.
Each interview becomes “content” for your company website and can become a blog post – you would have new stuff for your site for months! Every person interviewed will want to post their clip on their own website and if any of them blog, they will include the clips in blog posts. If there are some very good interviews the journalist “host” might even use the clip for publication. Lots of use of the “entertainment” in your booth.
The video clips can be posted on YouTube or Vimeo.com really easily, and if you want to add titles and graphics it’s simple to do with Windows MovieMaker (on most PCs already) or have someone with simple video skills use a software program they use to do this. Paying a camera person $200 a day, the host $400 a day plus air and hotel and the editing person $20 per clip to edit and add graphics should get you memorable booth entertainment along with marketing “content” that relates to your company for many months. Contact me directly if you want to talk about this in greater detail – not a sales pitch since I am neither a camera person nor the producer.
Another suggestion was from Gino Ferrazzano, Business Development at Marketing Genome Project:
Have you looked into any kind of interactive event technology? Digital Graffiti Walls are a big hit at trade shows as attendees can digitally draw on a screen that can be branded with your company info and then post their designs on all kinds of social media outlets. Mulit-touch tables can be an interactive way for attendees to learn more about your products or services, same with gesture walls, christie tiles and several other really cool attention-grabbing ideas.
If you are interested in the other responses which had personal recommendations, please click here to review them.
What ideas or suggestions do you have for Melissa? Please share with us and we all can learn.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
In my experience, you can do entertainment for entertainment sake which might get attention and slow traffic by your display long enough for sales to connect with suspects. But personally, we always started with a business goal for any booth activity and then developed a fun, engaging and memorable visitor experience that
hooked an audience pre-show, during and post-show in a way that conveyed a strong message and takeaway that resonated with booth visitors days or even weeks after the show. The trick is to know your audience, to
understand what will motivate them to act, to understand the culture of your company and what your leadership will be comfortable with and to keep your message simple, but always tied to the essence of your brand in the minds of your best customers.