Putting the 'E' in exhibit: emotion, excitement, experience, energy, enthusiasm and environment.

• Author: Hoffman, Jeff
• Position: ADVICE: TRADE SHOWS

"I DON'T KNOW THE definition of success. But, I do know the definition of failure; trying to please everyone."

I love this definition of success by Andre Malraux. This is nowhere more true than in the execution of a successful trade show program. Trade Show attendees will on average give you six to eight seconds to get their attention, and will visit about every fourth booth. Stop and think of your booth from the potential customers point of view. What will they experience if they step into your booth?

There are no more important people in your organization than salespeople and product managers. But, not when it comes to planning a trade show exhibit. They are just too emotionally attached. Assign someone the responsibility of creating an exciting emotional experience. Go outside of your organization if you can or need to. Empower them to focus on leveraging your brand, and identity. The single biggest mistake we see exhibitors make is planning a trade show by committee. Committees are like paint, the more colors (people) you add the more likely you are to get taupe (bland).

Only a few exhibitors will create an Experience for potential customers. You should be one of the few. When you sit down to plan your next show, do yourself a favor. Put away your catalog, and put away pictures of last year's booth, and ask yourself a different set of questions.

* What do we want the customer to Experience?

* What is the Event we are inviting them to attend?

* What promise will we make that will get an Emotional response?

* What is the Excitement?

* Where does the Energy come from?

* What will the Environment need to be to support the above?

Do something crazy...