Making the most of exhibitions

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IBG - SA Instrumentation & Control Buyers' Guide

November 2002 News

The logical discussion after any exhibition, be it visitor or exhibitor, centres on their personal judgement of the effectiveness of the event. As few definitive measures exist to make this evaluation, the opinion is generally of a very subjective nature. Clearly the visitor to the show would have a different measure of success to the exhibitor.

While the visitor may base their opinion on questions such as:

* Was the show representative of the industry?

* Was registration simple and were exhibitors accessible?

* Were exhibitors helpful and knowledgeable?

* Was there a good range of suppliers of a single technology?

* Was the venue accessible?

The exhibitor opinion would be influenced by the:

* Number of visitors to the show.

* Number of visitors to their stand.

* Contacts made.

* Corporate visibility achieved.

* Business done in rands and cents.

To ensure visitors' satisfaction and hence their return to future exhibitions, the above needs should be dealt with at all levels by the organisers and the exhibitors alike. The 'user-friendliness' of your exhibition stand is a joint function between organiser and exhibitor. As with any retail outlet, the most interesting 'shop window' attracts the buyer. From an industrial viewpoint, 'interesting' may not necessarily be the visual aspect, but may be a new product or technology that you have invited a visitor to see. It might be the live demonstration of a world-renowned product that creates activity on an exhibition stand. Either way the visitor needs to leave an exhibition with a confident feeling that the time invested to make the trip was worthwhile.

As an exhibitor the variables that influence individual success are numerous, however, when considering an exhibition in its totality, there are three questions that need to be answered:

1. Did the event provide the opportunity to expose your company to your target market?

2. Did the event provide the opportunity to acquire enough tangible business contacts to justify your participation?

3. Did the event stimulate real business-to-business activity with your own or any other company?

With the cost of a single sales call now approaching R500, the value of group representation by way of exhibitions is becoming more and more important in maintaining a cost-effective organisation.

Malcolm Findlay

(011) 476 2066

penmac@icon.co.za

www.penmac.co.za

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Making the most of exhibitions

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