Size of the Show, or “what the hell am I doing here?”
Now I’m going to talk about the incredibly dissappointing aspects of the trade show. Which, in my opinion, all stem from the size of the show. Let’s talk about the fact that since the show, I’ve received an uncountable number of emails from people all saying exactly the same thing: “I’m so sorry, I really wanted to see you at the show, but never made it to your booth”. The whole reason we pay a lot of money is for exposure, to get our products in front of people, to pick up new clients. Which absolutely can not happen if those buyers that ARE there can’t make it through the whole show.
The rumor was that when the JPMA show announced it was closing its doors, everyone flooded the ABC Show with requests to exhibit. So the ABC show just added more space. Gone was the “sold out” point, as if it had never exhisted.
I kid you not that if the buyers made it to our row, row 15, their eyes were so glazed over they just weren’t looking at things anymore. I even had people who were already my clients almost pass me up just because of sheer exhaustion. Not only was the bottom floor huge, there was a huge second floor also. Just a big blur of baby stuff.
Here’s how I feel about the amount of traffic they brought to the show: if I had just spent the same amount of time on direct sales & cold calls - the time I did preparing for the show, travelling to the show, setting up, showing, and tearing down the booth, - I would have picked up a hell of a lot more clients. I would have had more exposure walking into boutiques.
But I guess that’s worth a test, maybe next month, I’ll focus all that same energy and time on direct sales to boutiques and see what the outcome is.
I never even made it up to the second floor of the show. I called the last day of the show, a Monday, “exhibitor show and tell.” Buyers were outnumbered by bored and browsing exhibitors at least 8 to 1.
But never fear - they’ve promised to add even ANOTHER day onto the event next year. I guess they could make it family day.
This doesn’t even get into how the show was run. Messy bathrooms, no food or drink available after 4:00 pm (even vending machines at either end of the hall were either unplugged or broken). So right when you hit a wall, and need a beverage or a little boost, you have to exit completely. But, no worries, the show is open to 6:00 for those willing to suffer through it.
On the bright side, Pregnany magazine threw a wonderful dinner / cocktail party that was very enjoyable. I met incredible people at the show, so there is always good and bad. At the time that you are standing for hours in empty rows, it’s easy to get fired up about it. But you also have to take some responsibility for not drawing the traffic to your booth, and not doing enough of the pre-show work.
And numerous people have followed up, even those I didn’t get a chance to meet. I met press and made new industry contacts, met fellow entrepreneurs, and gained immeasurable experience just by going through that alone.
And I slept. I actually got some good nights of rest, which is a small miracle in itself.
7 comments September 23rd, 2007