Useful Advice
PRESHOW
Exhibiting at GESS 2011
When arranging your own exhibit, you need to think through your strategy and aims and plan carefully how you will manage your exhibit.
Strategy and aims
* Who do you want to attract?
* What will you tell them?
* How will you stand out amongst your competitors?
* What image do you want to create?
* Will you be promoting or demonstrating particular highlights?
* What promotional materials will you use - such as screens, boards, display stands, posters, leaflets, brochures, samples and merchandise? Invest in having some of your Sales material translated into Arabic for your stand.
Planning
* Do some publicity. Tell potential customers why they should visit your stand.
* Use our PR service to promote your profile at our Exhibition
* Decide who will staff the stand. What technical know-how and communication skills do they need?
* Allow enough time to order and produce everything you need. Investing in some brochures and promotion translated in Arabic is a worth while investment
* List what needs to be done, by when, and by whom.
* Make sure everyone understands their responsibilities.
Practical details
* Book your space as early as possible to get the location you want.
* Look at the online manual to see what equipment is available to hire eg, tables, chairs, plasma screens etc.
* Source the equipment you are providing yourself and organise getting it there. Freight deadlines are crucial to ensuring your equipment arrives on time.
* Make sure your display materials fit the space and work with existing equipment.
* Check fittings - such as power supply and or internet connections - for the electrical equipment you are planning to use on your stand.
* Make sure you have enough stock of products and promotional materials.
Budget
* Work out a detailed budget to keep control of costs.
* Allow some contingency.
Merchandise
Promotional merchandise is designed to remind customers of your business, and reinforce messages. Choose something your customers will use that creates the right image of your business. Again a small investment in material displayed in Arabic will help secure business.
Manning your stand
* Create a warm and welcoming space.
* If you are demonstrating a product, make it obvious!
* Position your staff at the front of your stand to invite visitors in. The Middle East is a hospitable place but you do need to actively encourage them in.
* DO NOT eat your lunch, check your emails or conduct extra work on your stand.
* ALWAYS ensure your stand is manned.
POST SHOW
Strategy and aims
Don't go back to work after the Exhibition and forget all about it. Following up after the event is probably the most important part of the whole process - if you put it off for too long, you risk losing all the benefits you worked so hard to achieve.
* Have a debriefing with the staff involved to assess what worked and what didn't.
* Discuss how you can make improvements for future events while your impressions are still fresh.
* Measure your success against the goals you established before the Exhibition
* Follow up all the leads you made. Depending on their interest, follow-up could be anything from a sales visit to a phone call, letter or information pack.
* Evaluate the success of these leads. You will probably want to wait a few months to do this - moving from contact to customer can take a while.
* Follow up leads with other people who visited your stand, including media representatives who might be looking for post-fair stories to run.
* If you intend to exhibit again, reserve your place so you get the best location for the next event
