Success Champions
Brain Drippings
So You want to Exhibit at a Conference? By Donald R Dodson
“... carefully consider your audience. At a businessoriented conference, you probably aren’t going to do well selling home improvement services.”
S
o, you’ve been inspired by events like Donnie’s Badass Business Summit and want to exhibit or vend at an event. What do you need to consider to do it successfully? Or is it even right for you? This is especially important as more events, conventions and things are opening up to in-person opportunities, though perhaps with some twists to consider. One of the first things to consider is what, exactly, you are promoting at an event. You may be service based, have products, or are promoting yourself such as a author. You might be doing all three! We’ll be discussing these as we progress. But suffice it to say, some events are just better suited to service and promotion as opposed to products and, of course, vice versa. This is really going to be important when determining if it makes sense to be at one of these gatherings. One of the biggest factors is one of the most common. Audience!
Audience. Just as in any situation, carefully consider your audience. At a business-oriented conference, you probably aren’t going to do well selling home improvement services. It’s not that business folk don’t need those services, but that’s not the mindset they have at such a conference. They are
18
www.DonnieBoivin.com
seeking information to help them do better in their fields, or even products, like software that helps to that end. I have seen a jewelry person sell very well at such an event, because the attendees are away from home and want to get something for their loved ones at home, but this is a rare example. In some cases, they might not even be permitted to vend at that event. Demographics are an important factor, too. The audience at a firehouse craft show, Comic Con, and a Business expo are likely very different. Additionally, you need to consider your traffic. Comic Con has tens of thousands of attendees, whereas a small show you might be lucky to see a few hundred. That density is important in determining if the expenses are worth attending the show at all.
Expenses While we are talking about expenses let’s look at this. Most inexperienced exhibitors just focus on the booth fee. Granted it’s a large part of your costs, but there are lots of hidden costs to consider. The two largest secondary costs are travel/lodging and labor. If you need to travel a significant distance, you are incurring travel and lodging costs. For the longest time, just starting out I would not vend at an event that required an overnight stay…it just simply wasn’t in my budget. Labor? Yes, labor. Even if you are gonna man that booth yourself for the duration, there is a labor cost involved. What business production are you NOT doing because you are on the sales floor? Plus - that travel time. My Econ 101 folks will recognize this as an Opportunity Cost. Of course, the potential sales and networking are a factor too. Because prospecting and sales is very important. It’s a balancing act. If this is your first event, you are going to need all kinds of exhibit “infrastructure”. Everything from tables, display stuff, banners, etc. - to giveaways, marketing materials to hand out and if you sell products, a means of doing Point of Sales. And events themselves might require certain things that create costs. I am doing a fine art show
