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Ten Rules to surviving a trade show
By
Peter Shankman
If you’re in PR, or
Marketing, or if you are in someway involved in
spreading the message of your company, face the
depressing news now – at some point in your life,
you’re going to have to deal with a trade show.
A veteran of way too many
of them, I offer a few secrets, on the off chance that
it might improve the three or four days of your life
that you’re going to enter with the best of intentions
and leave wanting to buy shares in Excedrin.
1) Prep, prep, prep… But
not only by the book..
If you are tasked with managing the show, then make
sure you and only you do it from beginning to end. The
reason I say this is because the trade show people
know how hellish it is, and will try to help – They
usually send along a manual the size of a Volkswagen,
with everything you could possibly need, from phone
numbers of the convention or hotel caterers, to
pre-printed shipping labels so you don’t lose your
stuff on arrival. Use this book – but make sure you
get it. Don’t let it go to the client, or to a
subordinate. Don’t let it out of your sight, or you’ll
never see it again. Make sure it has your name on it,
offer a reward if it’s returned, and really go through
it – it actually does have some valuable information
in there.
2) Cities are very big
places. Do your homework before you book your hotel.
A story: PR girl I knew once booked a block of rooms
at a local Sheraton, because on the map, it seemed to
be only three blocks away from the convention center.
She scheduled the meeting room there, had all the
meetings lined out with all the press, and was so
psyched that it was so easy. Well, the hotel WAS three
blocks away. Unfortunately, three other hotels were
closer, and those three blocks happened to be directly
through a major freeway – (you guessed it,) with no
pedestrian access. A total of one reporter showed up
for her meetings, because he happened to be staying in
the same hotel.
Be very careful where you book offsite – it’s a
great idea to do it, makes it much more relaxing and
less stressful on all involved, but call first – A
visual map is not a good idea. Call
the hotels around and ask the concierge.
Find a friend who lives in that city and ask them. I’m
also a fan of calling up a local taxi service and
asking to speak to the dispatcher who’s not on duty.
(They usually have two.) They’ll give you great advice
from the standpoint of how long it’ll REALLY take you
– not how long the hotel or brochures say. “A few
blocks” from the hotel could be a mile or more, and in
hotel-rush hour traffic, you’re nixing an extra hour
of sleep that you’ll surely miss when you wake up
after a party for an 8am meeting.
The dispatchers will be honest with you - they hate
traffic as much as you do.
3) How overnight shipping
works…
Overnight shipping is an interesting beast. You see,
99 out of 100 times, your stuff will arrive, in face,
overnight. That’s usually the easy part. The hard
part, however, is figuring out where it arrived. The
convention centers and hotels are VERY picky about how
your stuff is addressed. If it’s off by so much as one
letter, you’re not getting your packages, at least not
without one long-ass fight. In fact, I was just at a
trade show last week, where I saw a company with
absolutely no marketing materials whatsoever. Why?
Because they got lost in transit. Always send a batch
to your hotel, using a different shipping company, and
keep an extra backup supply in your office. If
everything gets lost, you can have another shipment
sent to you. Finally, keep copies of everything you
send on a USB Flash drive – worse comes to worst, you
jump to Kinko’s, pay through the nose, and have them
reprinted.
4) Speaking of paying
through the nose…
You know you’re at a trade
show when a water costs $5.50, and the catering
service charges you $85 for a plate of cold-cuts.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about this
– trade shows and convention centers are notoriously
expensive for everything you could possibly need as an
exhibitor – from sandwiches to electricity – need
high-speed access for the week? $1,500 isn’t uncommon.
How about $75 for ONE outlet of electricity? Or, my
personal favorite - $465 for a conference table for
the meeting room. Sorry to say, it’s gonna happen.
Only piece of advice I can give you – Put it all on
American Express, so at least you get some points for
it. Oh, and don’t try to move anything heavy yourself
at the convention centers… These are union halls,
baby. I’ve actually seen people plug sound systems in
at their booth, only to have a union person come over,
unplug it, and then replug in the whole system.
Scary.
5) Setting up your
appointments… (Or, take a left, then your third
right…)
We already talked about
placing yourself near the convention center if you’re
going outside of it – but what if you’re inside of it?
GET A MAP of the convention center for the specific
show at which you’re exhibiting the second you get
there (which should be at least 2 nights before the
show starts,) and figure out the best way to get to
your booth or meeting room from any entrance. Then
plot it out and send it as a follow-up to all your
reporters, or whomever you’ve set meetings with.
There’s nothing worse for your headache than the
client not having his meeting with Business Week that
you’ve been promising him all week because the
reporter couldn’t find you in hall C-2. Sending out
clear directions is not only appreciated by the
reporter, but it also makes for a nice “Just
confirming our meeting on Tuesday” email, and let’s
you confirm under the guise of “helping.” (which you
are, so it’s cool.)
6) Nights…
OK, we all know that trade
shows have one major requirement that no one talks
about as such – going out each night. Whether it’s
dinner with the client or the reporters, or hitting
the Alanis concert sponsored by some company you don’t
care about, you’re going to go out, you’re going to
have fun, you’re going to drink to much, go to sleep
too late, and get up way too early. That said, try to
remember that you can lessen the amount that your body
will be pissed off at you by following a few simple
guidelines…
-
If you take vitamins,
double them for a few days before the show. (This
isn’t medical advice, but it sounds like it’s a good
idea.) You’re going to be running your ass off, and
not sleeping anywhere near enough, so it’s probably
logical to give your body as much offense as you can
before you go on the defensive.
-
Water… Drink often and
always – Convention centers and hotels are dry by
nature – you WILL get dehydrated .Start drinking water
(more than normal) a few days before the show, drink
up WAY more than normal during the show, (especially
if you’re going out at night and drinking/smoking) and
keep it up when you get home for a few more days. In
fact, it probably wouldn’t hurt us all to drink more
water all the time, anyway.
-
If you’re going to drink,
college rules apply: You’ll probably be hitting more
than one party/dinner/bar per night, so remember the
“beer than liquor” rule – beer than liquor, never
sicker, liquor then beer, in the clear. Although to
tell you the truth, it can’t hurt to temper each drink
with an in-between glass of water or Diet Coke – it’ll
help you in the morning, believe me.
-
If you can stomach them,
pop two Excedrin before you go out drinking – (Not
after, when your liver is already working too hard to
get rid of the alcohol.)
-
If you can get some extra
sleep, do it – even if it means giving up that last
party. Trust me – if you’re not used to partying like
a rock star, and then you do for five days, that
combined with recycled airline air, too much greasy
food, not enough water, and 40,000 other people, WILL
give you a cold at best, Strep at mid-best. Trust me –
Now when I go to the doctor for Strep, he asks me
either a) what trans-Atlantic flight I was on, or from
what show I just came back.
-
Finally, carry Chapstick
or some kind of lip balm with you always – like I
said, these convention centers are dry as hell, and
you’re not going to impress any reporters with chapped
and bloody lips. Some hand cream and sanitizer
wouldn’t hurt, either.
7) Your goodie bag… You
should have a goodie bag made up for every show – and
it should include the following.
-
A roll of Duct tape. Just
take my word on this, ok?
-
A full bottle of Excedrin
-
At least 8 “AA” batteries.
-
An extra laptop battery
-
A six-outlet “octopus”
plug – (you know, you plug it in to an outlet and can then plug in six
appliances into it.) Beats having to rent one from the
show for $40.
-
Pre-addressed FedEx
labels. You can bring your stuff to a FedEx office
near the convention center, and not
have to deal with paying the exorbitant shipping rates
at the center. Most hotels will do this for you for a
few bucks, too.
-
A pocket-knife or “Leatherman.”
You might have to ship it to your hotel room, if
you’re flying, but trust me, it’ll come in handy more
than once.
-
Did I mention the
Excedrin?
-
A phone # list –
everyone’s numbers, INCLUDING MOBILES, plus any
pagers, etc. Also, booth #’s, hotel room #’s, hotel
phone #’s, etc.
-
Finally, a USB flash
drive. They’re cheap as hell now, go and get one from
Bestbuy.com or something. That little device has saved
me numerous times already.
As I mentioned above, put all your essential files for
the show on it. Hell, buy two. :Leave one in your
hotel room in case you lose the one you have. And find
out how to install a password on it, so if you DO lose
it, you're not screwed.
8) Comfortable clothes and
shoes.
Here’s a tip – A trade
show is not a place to break in new shoes or clothes.
Just for kicks, I wore a pedometer at the last show I
worked – Over 22 miles in 3 days. That wasn’t me
working out – that was me walking the show floor,
getting to the convention center, etc. Scary, huh?
Comfortable shoes, comfortable clothes. You can be
professional in both, you know. Women: I know heels
are important, but can you find a happy medium? Say, 2
inches, and 60% comfort?
9) Swag…. (Swag, swag,
baby…)
What’s a trade show
without cool stuff to bring home? But be picky – YOU
DON’T NEED FOUR HUNDRED PENS, despite them all being
there. You’ll either throw them out, leave them at the
hotel, or they’ll explode in your bag. I’m a fan of
t-shirts, (you can never have too much workout
clothing) or things that are actually useful – I still
use backpacks from Internet World ’98 and ’99 as beach
bags in the summer. Why not? But be careful about what
you grab – Remember, you’ve got to get this stuff
home. (remember those pre-printed address labels?)
10) Finally, treat
yourself to one thing during the show – Maybe it’s a
facial before a day full of meetings, or a nice sedan
for the ride home from the airport as opposed to a cab
– but make sure you do one thing for yourself – not
for a client, or a reporter, but one thing for
yourself. It’ll make it a lot easier. Remember – it’s
only hell for a few days, then it’s over.
11) OK, one more bonus
tip… Do a recap when it’s done, but not only for media
appointments – make mention of everything you might
have noticed – the booth, the booth babes, you name it
– whatever you noticed that you think could be
improved, or was great – clients love getting feedback
like that – shows that you care about more than the
last placement. OK. I’m done now. Really. I’m actually
close to landing on this flight anyway… From, you
guessed it – a trade show. CTIA 04, to be exact. And
damn, are my lips chapped.
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