In this video, I'll outline five tips for attending trade shows,
that I think every entrepreneur should consider.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hey, guys.
I'm Alan Brannigan from Founder Cave.
I've been an entrepreneur for over 15 years,
and I've attended more trade shows than I care to remember.
So we're going to talk about that today.
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So let's get into it.
Attending trade shows can be a great way to network,
meet new clients or customers, or support existing customers
and clients.
It can be a great way to keep a finger
on the pulse of your industry, in terms of technology
and products that are out there, and also what's
happening in your market.
But at the same time, there is a real cost with attending.
Particularly if you're having to travel
a long distance, like me.
I live in New Zealand.
So unless it's in New Zealand, or the East coast of Australia,
I'm looking at least an 8 to 12 hour trip.
And believe me, I've attended a lot of trade shows.
Everything from CES to Mobile World Congress,
and all of the small ones in between.
From Europe to the US to Australia to Asia.
So I know a thing or two about attending trade shows.
And I thought I would just outline five tips today
that I think would be really useful for you.
In particular, if you're new to coming to trade shows.
And if not, maybe it's just a bit
of a reminder of good practices.
So that's a good segue into tip number one, which
is to be very clear on the purpose of you hitting a trade
show in the first place.
If you're an entrepreneur, or just starting out,
or you're a small business and cash flow really is king,
every dollar counts.
You've got to be very clear on why you're going.
And again, at that stage of the business,
really, you're deriving cash either
from investment or revenue.
So therefore, if it were me, those
have got to be the two key reasons for attending a trade
show.
Am I going there to find potential investors
and partners?
Or am I going there to find customers of channel partners
or distributors?
Now, once you've identified that yes, I do
need to be at this trade show, or we're going to attend,
and these are the people I need to talk to.
Like I say, get on LinkedIn, if you've already
got their contact details, send them a note,
send them a LinkedIn message, an email, whatever it is.
Send them a note and say, hey, I'm going to be at this show,
I appreciate you're really busy, but it would be really great
if I could get a half an hour of your time time,
if we could catch up over a coffee or a beer
or whatever it is.
Or I'm going to be at this booth,
please come and say hello.
But don't make it "spam-y," make it quite personal.
Again, you're going for very, very targeted contacts here.
And I liken it to, you're going spear spearfishing,
not drift net fishing.
Don't just turn up and think, oh, well,
all these people are going to be here,
and I'm just going to canvass them all, and see who I meet.
No, no, be very clear on who you're going to go see.
Try and arrange meetings ahead of time,
so you can choose when.
Everyone is going there, especially
if they're an executive or somebody high up.
They're not going to have much time,
and their calendar is going to be
booked, right through from lunches to dinners.
So it is a bit of a junket, some of these trade shows.
So make sure you get some calendar allocation.
Even if it's just, hey, let's just
grab a coffee on the side of your booth, or whatever it is.
This brings me to point number two, which
is make sure you get a return on your investment.
So really watch your cost of attending this trade show.
So for example, where is it?
What of my travel costs going to be?
Not only getting there, but what are the costs
going to be whilst attending?
So I've got hotels, I've got meals and entertainment,
I've got the tickets, obviously, for the show.
All these things sort of add up.
Particularly, I would strongly look
at a business case for whether you're
going to an exhibit at a show, or just attend.
There's a big cost difference there.
And particularly when you're starting out,
I'm not convinced, personally, that having a stand and a booth
is going to be the way to go.
Are you going to get the base rate of return on investment?
Like I say, we're looking at spearfishing here.
Not driftnet fishing.
So yes, if you really think that's what you've got to do,
then fine, and certainly the larger companies,
it's worth their while.
Because bear in mind too, the biggest stands--
Yes, you've got some things, and you're showing your wares
at the front of the store.
But the real business gets done in the back.
So all of these booths have meeting rooms at the back.
And they're stacking their calendar ahead of time.
So they're inviting all their existing or potential
customers, partners, anyone they want to meet,
and they're all having conversations in the back.
Very, very rarely will you have somebody just walk up to you,
and all of a sudden that becomes a business
deal sometime in the future.
You're going to weed through a lot of chaff,
if you're trying to do it that way.
So yes, if you think that's a business case,
and it all stacks up, then by all means, look at exhibiting.
But me, personally, I would rather go for just attending.
Another good compromise is maybe just to book a hotel suite,
so it's a bit cheaper than exhibiting,
and you can still book all you're meetings there.
So you're not having to meet people in cafes or anything.
You can actually schedule, hey, look, on your next break,
come up to suite whatever-it-is, and let's
have a coffee and a chat.
So that's a good mid-ground, and one to consider.
Other things to look at are the actual tickets
for the show itself.
So really assess how many days do I need to be there?
Do I really need the full, four day attendance thing,
or can two days be sufficient?
Do I need to attend all these, seminars
or do I need the VIP ticket, where
I can go into all these different talks
and hear from industry experts and thought leaders?
Or am I just here to meet specific people
and get deals done.
Having said that though, one thing that I would say
is really key, in terms of networking,
especially if you've already arranged,
or you know who's going to be there, is the opening event.
There's usually a reception, opening drinks event,
with a keynote speaker.
Typically, there will be a dinner.
Now, that won't be cheap, more often than not.
But it's a good chance to get in front of some people.
Again, you've got to look at who's going,
and if they are big companies, there's a good chance
that someone from their company is going
to be attending those things.
And then, usually, there's a closing drinks, as well.
Point number three is setting yourself
some clear goals and success criteria
for attending the show.
So again, if you're an early start,
you're looking for investments, you're looking for sales.
You don't walk away from a trade show with a sale,
so you've got to have something tangible and meaningful
that you can say, yes, this was a success.
And you've got to put a time stamp on that.
So for example, you'd be looking at, OK,
well how many viable leads am I going to get?
Or how many conversations have I been able to have,
based on the targeting list that I had?
How many follow up meetings or phone calls
am my walking away with?
How many distributors have I met,
so I could set up a potential distributor
agreement in this region?
What did I learn from the show?
Did I get any press coverage?
All these type of things.
But just list them out, and say, right, these
are the things we have to hit, and success looks like this.
And have a scale, I don't know, from five to zero, where
five is wonderful, and zero, hey, not so great.
But if you do that, not only will you
be quite focused on what you've got to do at the show,
but as you start to attend some of these events,
you'll start to gauge whether A, you've
got the right goals and metrics there,
and should you be a bit more realistic.
Or you're starting to see a trend of,
hey, this show really isn't happening for us,
we're not getting anything like we wanted out of the show,
but this one over here was great.
So just look at those things.
But if you don't measure it, it doesn't get managed.
So set yourself some goals and some metrics,
so at least you've got something to track against.
Tip number four is gold, and that's try and get a speaking
engagement, if you can.
Now, if you're just starting out,
it's unlikely you're going to be asked to be a keynote speaker.
But these forums, especially the large ones,
if they're going on for five days,
there'll be little breakout sessions here and there.
And they'll be looking for subject matter experts
to participate.
Whether it's actually giving a presentation,
or sitting on some sort of panel discussion.
So what you want to do then, is you
want to start to work with the organization that's
hosting the event.
They'll be affiliated somehow.
They'll have a community, a LinkedIn profile,
they may already have a very engaged web site.
An organization, maybe you have to pay to be a member,
and you get cheaper tickets, and all that sort of stuff.
But start to network in there, and try and build your profile
within the organization community
that's hosting the event.
So there will be things.
Last year, I was lucky enough to be
invited by Millikin Institute for their Asia summit.
That was hosted in Singapore.
And I was there to be a part of a panel
discussion around technology trends,
and what that means for elderly people, both now
and in the future, around health, and lifestyle,
and wellness.
But I was there as a subject matter expert in technology,
and how we can assist elderly people.
Because that's what our company does.
So look for these things, and try and get yourself
on an invitee list.
You'll get a free ticket, more often than not,
you probably won't get the VIP one,
but you'll get a free ticket.
But you'll get your profile up there, too.
So your photo, your company logo, will be on that website.
So that you're getting some brand exposure.
If you're lucky enough, you do it very well,
you might get an interview by one of the journalists that
are there afterwards.
You just never know, it's a great opportunity
for your marketing people to post a press release.
You'll get a photo op.
Usually, they'll provide you with a video, maybe not
the raw video, but you'll get a Vimeo link or something.
In fact, if you want to check the link out below,
you'll see me at that panel discussion at Millikin
Institute last year.
Just as an example of the content
that you can get back from that.
That's a free video for you OK, it's
cost you to give that time, but you're building your profile.
So it's a really great way to raise your profile.
You'll get access to other movers and shakers in the show
that you didn't.
Going back to those dinners, you may even be invited to that.
It all depends on how big the show is, of course,
and where you sit in the hierarchy.
But the more you can get yourself in there,
and the more speaking engagements you get,
the more you build your profile.
They may invite you back the following year or the year
after depending on what their theme is.
But I can't recommend it highly enough.
Talk to your marketing people about how
you position your profile, and position yourself
within those organizations, to get those type of invitations.
OK, for tip number five, I just want to about networking
in general.
So we've already talked about having
a targeted list of people that you want to meet.
But you are going to be at the show for a period of time.
You'll have some downtime as well.
And let's be clear, whilst it's great to learn
about your market and trends, it's
very easy to slip into this mode,
particularly if you're going on your own,
to say, well, actually, I'm just going
to sit in this session here, because I really
need to learn about this new market trend in my industry.
Versus, I'm going to go over there and talk to those people,
I don't know who they are.
It's very hard to just go up and approach people, right?
I'm not particularly good at it.
It's like dating, right?
Just going up and speaking to someone can be difficult.
But the more you do it, it gets easier.
Even in hotels, too often as I'm walking down the hall
to my room, you see those trays of room service and stuff
outside someone's door.
Don't be the person that sits going, oh, yes, I've
got to get back to my room and do my email,
because that thing back in the office is really important
and needs my attention.
No, no, you've paid to go to this show, you're at the show,
be at the show.
Even when it's after hours.
So in the hotel, go down to the hotel lobby
bar, the local restaurant.
Again, if the hotel is near the venue, most of the delegates
are going to congregate around the bar or the restaurant,
or the lobby, and just strike up conversations.
And look, maybe it's the Irishman in me,
but I usually find that people are a lot more relaxed
and their more approachable when they've had a drink or two,
and things get flowing.
And just start talking to people.
You never know, you might meet that person
and they go, well, actually you should go meet Harry over here,
because he does X, Y, Z. Just build a rapport,
and start networking that way.
So those are my tips, guys.
There's a whole plethora of videos
out there around trade shows with advice of wear comfy
shoes, or always have your business cards on you,
use breath mints, all that sort of stuff.
And all that's great.
I just wanted to talk about the crux of it
from a perspective of an early stage
business, a small business, or a business
that cash really matters.
A, check that you really should be going out
in the first place.
If you think yes, OK, how am I going
to get a return on investment and do that business case.
After that, what does the success look
like from attending the show, and outline that criteria.
Try and build your profile, whether it's just
through networking, as we talked about,
or if you're lucky enough to get some speaking engagement.
And I guess, just always be mindful, back to network
and that, there's an emotional thing, right?
Particularly if you're just starting out in an industry,
you don't know a lot of people.
It's very, very difficult to attend these shows.
You feel lonely if you're by yourself.
And it's hard to just break the ice.
So you're just going to have to plow through that,
and come up with some ways that work for you.
So for example, me, arranging meetings ahead of time
just breaks the ice.
At least you've had some sort of contact with that person.
So try that first.
Getting a speaking engagement, you'll
be introduced just by default, from the people who
are organizing the show.
So that's an icebreaker.
Go down to the bars and have a couple of drinks,
and look for people who are having a good time,
and try and get a conversation going that way.
Don't hide in your hotel room, don't
hide out in the seminar rooms, or sit there on your phone
the whole time, or be that person at the reception
checking your email.
Force yourself to get out there.
You've spent money to go to the show.
There's things that you could have been doing back
in the office that you're not doing, because you're here.
Enjoy it, make the most of it, and get
the best return on investment for your business as possible.
So the question of the day is, maybe
it's two questions, is, what other tips do
you think are really useful for early stage
start-ups or small businesses for attending trade shows?
And I'd really love to hear about,
what are your best and worst experiences
at those trade shows?
I think that would be a fun conversation to have.
All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed that.
Again, if you like this, hit the Like Button, notifications,
subscribe, all these things you do.
And we'll see you next time.
Cheers.