The CMA Music Fest is the place to be for everything country music. CMT wanted to make a great showing, and asked Advent to help them display their brand with a custom exhibit that included a stage, a red carpet, and one big set of vehicle graphics.

Solutions

Advent helped CMT by designing a custom exhibit with opportunities for large format graphics that promoted the CMT Music Awards. The cubed design allowed CMT to present the images of many artists. The center of the custom exhibit housed a “photo op” stage complete with a CMT branded backdrop. Custom vinyl flooring gave the booth just the finishing touch it needed.

They owned an exhibit and all they knew how to do was take their big, heavy exhibit to the tradeshow. The cost of ownership was weighing them down. Every time they wanted to use the exhibit, they had to pay the cost of pulling it from their exhibit house’s inventory, then prepping it, repacking it, loading it up, and shipping it to the show site where one more cost was incurred called drayage, or material handling.

That whole budget for using the exhibit for one show, complete from their storage at their exhibit house all the way through installation and dismantle, was $60,000.

Advent performed an audit of that strategy and explained to the publishing company that they could save them money and still present the same brand presentation.

Advent was able to cut that budget almost in half and do a similar exhibit using our rental inventory in the same show city where the exhibitor had a show for $32,000. That’s a savings of $28,000. That money went right to the bottom line.

Check out the pictures below. (The brand name on the booth has been blurred out.)

• Videocassette Recorder (VCR), 1970
• Laserdisc Player, 1974
• Camcorder, 1981
• Compact Disc Player, 1981
• Compact Disc — Interactive, 1991
• Mini Disc, 1993
• Digital Satellite System, 1994
• Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), 1996
• High Definition Television (HDTV), 1998
• Hard-disc VCR (PVR), 1999
• Microsoft Xbox, 2001
• Plasma TV, 2001
• Home Media Server, 2002
• Blu-Ray DVD, 2003
• HDTV PVR, 2003

CES also has it’s own green initiative within the trade show regarding the following:

The International CES provides our industry an opportunity to convene at one time, in one place, at an eco-friendly blockbuster summit that minimizes your annual travel.

–By attending CES, our attendees avoid over 700 million miles of business travel – enough to travel from the earth to the sun seven times.
–Each of our attendees has an average of 12 meetings while at CES and approximately 1.7 million meetings are conducted in total.
–Representatives travel from over 140 different countries, offering a truly global opportunity.

We hope everyone enjoyed the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show!

Beck/Arnley asked Advent to design a custom exhibit that would showcase their brand at the AAPEX show. Specifically, Beck/Arnley asked for an open exhibit with a semi-private conference room, video projection, high branding, and kiosks with computers connected to the internet. Also, Beck/Arnley wanted to rent the exhibit.

Solution:

Advent designed a 20x30 custom rental exhibit that allowed Beck/Arnley to meet their show objectives. Edge-lit graphics present themselves in two aluminum towers that reach to 16 feet tall. That height allows for elevated branding, and also creates an open feel down below on the show floor. The semi-private conference room is complemented by seating space in the middle of the booth. Two kiosks allow booth visitors to browse Beck/Arnley’s website for products.

Renderings:

DriverTech felt like their top of the line in-cab communications system was flying under the radar, but they knew their product was ready to take off. They asked for a trade show exhibit that would mark DriverTech as a major player in the trucking industry.

Solution:

A custom exhibit that communicated the DriverTech difference by utilizing large format video that showed the DriverTech system in action. The 20x20 scalable exhibit can transform into 10x20 or 10x10 based on the footprint of the show.

20x20

10x20

10x20

Figure out the reason why you are doing the show.  Pick your space and start to develop floor plans.  Keep in mind the flow of people, what you would like to offer to your audience, and of course know your audience!  This is the best time to read over your contract and make note of details that could sneak up on you.  Carefully read through rules and regulations.  Track when your payments should be made and set that up in your calendar.  Submit your application as well as the first payment.  Determine your budget in advance, since you are getting such a head start it should be easy to keep up with your budget.

Six Months Before:

At the six month mark, set goals and objectives for your the trade show.  If some of your work needs to be outsourced during the event, make sure you start to line that up.  Find a company for set up or tear down, plan out transportation.  Find an exhibit designer and begin to develop a design plan.  Plan a marketing strategy on how to get people into your booth.  Whether you send e-mails, postcards, small meaningful gifts, this needs to be prepared now.

Four Months Before:

Line up the tradeshow staff you would like to work your exhibit and plan out travel arrangements.  Find out if there are any specific needs for the exhibit itself.  Finalize design products and select the floor plan for your exhibit.  Start advertising for your show.

Three Months Before:

Again, go over the exhibitor manual, you will need a refresher at this time.  Communicate with your exhibit supplier the dates for your exhibit and reserve.  Confirm all travel and lodging arrangements make changes if needed.  Plan presentations to happen in-booth and brief staff on sales approaches.  If any meeting rooms are needed go ahead and submit reservations.  Pick out catering menus if needed, and plan a meeting for before the show.

Two Months Before:

This is where you will start tying up those loose ends and getting a lot of the little work done.  Get name tags, press kits, graphics, briefing packets, training manuals, and agendas finalized and sent out to the appropriate people.

One Month Before:

This is where you follow up on everything, preview displays, send everything that needs to be shipped to the location by the appropriate date.  Meet with staff about event.  Finally, make sure that you have everything that you may need a copy of copied and ready.

Upon Arrival

Go to your booth and make sure everything that is needed is there.  Talk with the hotel about meeting rooms if needed for your staff.  Be there when the booth is being set up.

During Show

Coordinate with your staff any current needs that are occurring.  Make note of how to do it differently next year.  Go ahead and reserve your space for next year.

After Show

Again, be there when they dismantle your event.  Handle any sales leads that occurred during show.  Most importantly, send out thank you notes to the people who stopped by.  They may not have been a lead, but that could change.

For supplemental reading you can study up on basic trade show planning.

Click here for the Trade Show Studies 101 Download (PDF).

1.  Identifying Shows. Do the trade shows you currently attend maximize your effectiveness?   Are there other trade shows that would serve you better in the future?

2.  Matching objectives. Will the right audience be in attendance in satisfactory numbers?  Can the show adequately demonstrate your product?  Does the nature of the show fit your brand?

3.  Research. What are the demographics of the show?  Who attended the show last year?  What kind of experience have past exhibitors and attendees reported?

4.  Visit. There is no substitute for experience.  Have you considered attending the show prior to exhibiting?

5.  Location, location, location. Research shows that 40–60% of attendees will come from a 200 mile radius.  Where is the show and how does it fit in with your geographic distribution goals?

6.  Timing is everything. Other concurrent events can have a major impact on trade show attendance, public interest, and opportunity.  What events are scheduled in the host city for the same time?  What industry related events are going on elsewhere?  Will the impact on your trade show be positive or negative? How can you use this information to your advantage?

7.  Opportunity knocks. Do other marketing opportunities exist at the show? Would sponsorship be beneficial to your brand? How would a post-show event fit into your marketing strategy?

8.  Choose wisely. Don’t get stuck in a corner.  Have you checked the floor plan to choose a spot on the floor that will optimize traffic through your booth?

Advent leads from the forefront of the cutting edge modern marketing industry by fueling brands with the explosive power of experiences.  Advent creates an emotional bond with audiences by leveraging the unrivaled effectiveness of experiential marketing through targeted events, engaging exhibits, and branded spaces.  High impact and high touch strategies mark Advent’s creative advantage and have helped rapidly expanding brands communicate messages that gain immediate and lasting resonance with consumers.  For more information, please visit www.adventresults.com.

Over the past couple of years, most marketing executives have complained about one or more of the following problems:

• Our marketing efforts and trade show strategies are not yielding the desired results
• Our market messaging is unclear and often times inconsistent (i.e., collateral, web site, lobby and/or trade show booth) so it doesn’t accurately reflect our desired image
• We’re not seeing enough of the right people in our booth and/or booth traffic in general is down from past years

Research shows that a business can expect to attract 1 to 2% of their targeted audience into their tradeshow booth. That percentage can jump to 20% or more by better targeting which leads to more qualified prospects. In order to achieve better “booth traffic” one needs to create and then execute a comprehensive marketing and trade show strategy.

Pre-Show: 9 Essential Trade Show Planning Tips

Showtime: 3 Tips for Managing Trade Show Staff

Post-Show: Follow That Lead: 3 Tips for Post-Show Strategy

Advent was challenged to produce a 20x30 custom exhibit in less than 3 weeks to reflect the newly developed brand of Copperweld. The goal was to create a custom exhibit with a conference area, stage, kitchen and bar with a strong brand focus.

Copperweld knew time was short, and didn’t know if a custom exhibit design was still a possibility. Adding to an already short time frame, the contacts for this project were mostly in the UK and Germany. Advent  could only communicate through email a couple times a day because of the time difference. Graphic approval was especially difficult to keep on schedule. Rushing the setup of international shipping was also a challenge. From clearances to commercial invoices, it was like learning a new language.

Advent kept a tight schedule and delivered the custom exhibit on time to the show in Germany. The client was pleased with the end results, despite the challenges of such a quick-turnaround.

1. Choose good people. Your image does not stop with an elaborate booth, fancy advertising or impressive literature. These certainly help, but it’s your people who actually sell the company, and its products and/or services. They make up the strength and backbone of your exhibiting presence. The team that you choose to represent you is your ambassador. These people have the awesome responsibility of making or breaking future relationships with attendees, prospects and customers. The attitude, body language, appearance, and knowledge of your people help to create a positive perception of your business in the minds of the customers and prospects that visit your booth.
2. Make sure they are well-trained. Don’t man your booth with entry-level people with little or no product knowledge just because they’re available. Make sure that everyone at the show knows why you’re exhibiting, what you’re exhibiting and what you expect of them. Going through a “dress rehearsal” in advance of the show is a good way to demonstrate what you expect of them.
3. Evaluate staff performance at the end of every trade show. Let them know that they will be evaluated and that their ratings will be made public. They need to understand that attending a trade show is not vacation time but rather an opportunity to maintain and grow relationships with their customers and a time to begin creating new relationships with their prospects.

3 Post-show activities that will increase your tradeshow ROI:

1. Create effective follow-up. Effective follow-up is too valuable of a tool to misuse, and for that reason it should be well thought-out far in advance. It is to your advantage to develop an organized, systematic approach to follow up. Based on your ranking system, develop a follow-up procedure for all your show leads. A ranking system will allow sales staff to assign a code to each prospect to determine readiness levels and interest levels of all booth visitors. For example: 1= immediate need, 2= need within the next 6 months, 3= partial interest, 4= not interested.
2. Decide how you will follow-up based on your ranking system. Whatever system you use, it’s critical that some kind of follow up is done in a timely manner (within three to five days after the show). Remember, if you don’t follow up, chances are that your competitors will!
3. Utilize different methods of follow-up. Send out emails, video emails, regular mail, or make the phone calls to follow up on the contacts and leads you made during the trade show within three to five days. The faster you send them out, the more your business will stand out from the rest.
   

1. Select the Right Shows and Space at the Show. Ask yourself the following questions: What shows have you attended in the past? What are the business reasons to continue to attend or to stop attending a particular show? What are the best sources for finding new shows?
2. Set clear goals for your trade show participation. What do you want to get out of it? Do you expect to sell a particular amount of inventory at the trade show, or expect to become known to a certain number of wholesale suppliers? Are you focusing on promotion or hoping to launch a new product? You can have more than one goal, of course, but the point is that you need to be clear about what your participation in the trade show is going to achieve.
3. Do your research. You need to choose the trade shows that will give your business the best ROI or ROO in terms of your goals. If your goal is on-site sales, having a booth at that big splashy trade show where your booth is one of a dozen that sell similar products will not be the best choice. You want to choose a trade show that best targets the audience that you want to reach, and best suits your participation goals. Find out what the particular trade show’s objectives are and then evaluate the show’s audience.
4. Plan your budget and book your space. Find out everything you can about your space, including where it is on the floor, what kind of other exhibits will be around it, whether it’s a high traffic or low traffic area, and the physical conditions of the booth space (such as lighting, electrical outlets, etc.).
5. Plan your exhibit in terms of your audience. Who is the audience that you’re targeting with your trade show display? Is it the retail customer? Wholesale buyers? Other businesses within your industry or vertical market? Remember, different audiences “shop” trade shows differently, and have different needs.
6. Advertise in advance. Put the word out that you’re participating in a particular trade show, by inviting your clients, customers, suppliers, and other contacts to attend the show. (Be sure you give them all the details, such as your booth number.) If you have one, be sure to advertise your coming trade show attendance on your Web site as well.
7. Develop an overall marketing message or marketing theme. While developing your promotional plan, advertising, promotions, special events, sponsorship and media relations, keep a consistent theme throughout. This will help reinforce your message to prospects as well as enable them to better recall who you are and what it is you do or sell.
8. Encourage attendees to visit your booth. Your goals and target audience that you established in your planning stage are the nucleus for your promotional strategy. The main promotional vehicles to generate booth traffic include: personal invitations, telemarketing, direct mail (which includes broadcast faxes, emails and video emails), advertising, public relations and the Internet. As you plan your campaign keep in mind the following three questions… Who are you targeting? What is your message? What incentive will you use to drive “booth traffic?”
9. Read the exhibitor service manual. The exhibitor service manual is the official guide to everything you need to know about participating in the show. It contains all the relevant show rules and regulations, order forms for show services, installation and dismantle dates, registration, show promotion, contractor and shipping information. It’s important to sign up early to take advantage of possible reduced rates that some show organizers offer for early sign-up with prepayment. Other ways to lower your costs are to pre-order show services and also pay bills early to take advantage of prompt payment discounts. Some discounts range from a low of 2% to as much as 10%. Also, make sure that you observe all deadlines because services ordered on the show floor could result in as much as a 50% premium. Lastly, order more wattage than you need because you don’t want to risk a breakdown or having to pay a higher floor price for ordering it at the last minute.

Gloria Clements is an experiential marketing sales executive with Advent. Advent thrives at the forefront of the cutting edge experiential marketing industry and for 20 years has helped rapidly growing companies communicate the essence of their brand and vision domestically and abroad through exhibits, events, and office environments. Based in Nashville, Tennesse, the company is a creative industry leader with Fortune 500 clients like VF Corp and Mars, International. For more information, visit www.adventresults.com.

Well, the percentage of people who feel jazzed and excited about a trade show is parallel to mowing your lawn in 100˚+ day. So then what’s the remedy to getting your team excited, and happy to be your company’s ambassador at a trade show? Here are 5 tips to prepare your team to rock the show like a good 80s cover band.

1. Incentive?

People are driven and motivated by various things. Money, gifts, perks, time off work, and even awards are all things that drive employees to excellence in the work place. If you can’t afford to “pay off” your workers to do their job, then try and think outside of the corporate box. Studies show that a good percentage of people are driven by verbal affirmation from a boss more than they are by money. Taking that extra minute to recognize an employee can go a long way when you need them in a pinch.

2. Educate Educate Educate!

If there is something people hate, it is being uninformed. How many times have you been in a situation and someone asked an important question, and lo and behold, you didn’t know the answer? This happens all too many times, for various reasons. Try to collect all of the information you need your team to know well in advance before the show; perhaps a morning breakfast meeting on your tab, or even a relaxed meeting in the conference room with doughnuts. Either way, make sure you get the team ready with the information they need on the floor.

3. The Good Shepherd

“Where is the duct tape?” “Do you have a sharpie?” “I need a power strip!” Don’t leave your team to fend for themselves 30 minutes before the doors open. Take extra steps to think through exactly what they will need before they leave the office for a teary goodbye. A good idea is to have a “Trade Show Tools Kit.” Include scissors, masking-scotch-duct tape, extension cords, power strips, pens, pencils, paper, stapler, and any other things you might think necessary.

4. Create Your Dream Team

The people you send to a show are going to be the faces for your company and its beliefs and core values. Don’t send someone who you think will taint the image you want to project of your company. However, don’t pick people who are all alike. Create a hodge-podge style team of personality, humor, skill, intelligence and other characteristics that can speak to all sorts of trade-show attendees. Remember, there will be many different people who are coming up to your booth—try and estimate what people within your own company could speak to the masses.

5. Fun Is Okay

Who said fun wasn’t allowed at work? Granted, too much fun on the job decreases productivity. There is a balance that can be maintained. It has been said that in order to gain new business, that if you sell yourself, your products and services will take care of themselves. Enjoy yourself on the floor!

Logan Hartline is a senior graphic design major at Lipscomb University. Creativity, productivity, and passion for art have spelled success in the form of several honors including the Robert M. Neal Scholarship for Fine Arts, the Lipscomb University Art Department Scholarship, and a dynamic marketing internship with Advent. Advent exists atop a rapidly expanding experiential marketing field and helps companies communicate the essence of their brand through engaging exhibits, environments, and events. For more information, visit adventresults.com.

Needs:

• Stunning visual impact
• Show 400 SKUs
• Stay within old budget
• Private conference area

Solutions:

• 20x40 “retail boutique”
• Enclosed lighting
• Rental Components
• Dramatic launch to new product line

When thinking “green” as it relates to a trade show booth, it means using materials in your display that are sustainable, reusable, renewable, reduces waste or uses less resources.

Manufacturers are developing new products continuously to support sustainable practices.  The demand for these products has prompted development of products such as substrates for graphics that are high quality and environmentally friendly.  Advent offers graphics that made with the first and only internationally patented biodegradable graphic substrate.  The following is a short list of materials that can be used to create a “green” trade show booth.

Fabric made from recycled coke bottles

Aluminum

Steel

Copper

Cotton

Recycled Cardboard

Low VOC Paints

Bamboo

Soy Ink

Doing more with less is another way to support sustainable practice, and having a fabulous, memorable booth design is one of the most important ingredients for a successful trade show experience.

Companies that are the leaders in custom exhibit design have eco friendly material options for your consideration, as well as the creative resources to meet your display objectives using these alternatives.  Advent, an experiential marketing firm in Nashville, TN, is an expert in the field of custom exhibit design.  Their work is known internationally; the company is committed to green practices and offers a large variety of sustainable materials.

The following displays from Advent have aluminum frames and substrates that are eco friendly.  These examples are basic, very portable components, but eco friendly trade show booth displays can be as big as your imagination.

Choosing sustainable materials for your trade show booth may offer benefits to your organization in addition to the positive impact on the environment.  This choice communicates your commitment to sustainable practices to your audience at trade shows.  It also sends this message to your organization’s employees.  Be a green leader and let your display demonstrate that greener choices are better.

Teresa Drozak

Expo Coordinator

2008 Tennessee Green Business Summit and Expo

What grabs people’s interest on the tradeshow floor? Is it the overwhelming amounts of information about each and every aspect of a company’s services, or is it a well thought out and powerful experience? When everything else is stripped away, the choice is incredibly simple.

You have two seconds

One of the easiest ways to grab someone’s attention and to create an emotional response is to greet them with a powerful graphic element. It is surprising to see how many people believe that the only way someone will understand and “get” what they do is to put their entire brochure’s content on their custom exhibit. What is funny about this train of thought is that we really only have a matter of seconds to capture someone’s attention on the tradeshow floor.  Your images are often your first touch point with clients.  A content heavy image is not a functionally efficient tool.  We live in the information age where worlds of data exist at our fingertips we don’t need to go to a tradeshow for pure information anymore.  Likewise, in the age of dot-coms and YouTube our attention spans have been shortened and vast amounts of texts tend to make the majority of people glaze over and walk right past your tradeshow booth. The excellent news is that it doesn’t have to be this way! (check out our gallery)

One picture vs. a thousand words

A good design can tell what you do better than an entire book of your abilities. The purpose of your graphic element is to convey your message and draw a powerful emotional response that moves beyond reason.  You can attract people and draw them in to a face-to-face experience with you. Many companies have accomplished this by having a well composed and relevant image with a logo and a quick phrase, a one-liner, or even just a word. Some people are even drawn into your space to complement you on your designs opening you up to the opportunity to engage with them about your services.

Engage through curiosity

The danger with giving people lots of information they can get on the fly is that they may pass right by assuming that they “get” what you do. If your graphics are well thought out and relevant, however, you open the chance to work off of people’s curiosity to come in and find out.  Art has the unique power to engage an audience.  Once your have engaged a potential client in conversation, then you can establish a dialogue and open communication.  Building relationships with tradeshow attendees results in many valuable, targeted leads.  The best part about your graphics bringing people in and letting you engage with them is that you can record your encounters throughout the length of the show and have a measurable ROI.

Design is key.  Strong imagery can be an incredibly powerful tool in custom exhibit design. You can use these with your knowledge to make your next tradeshow successful!

Great Design:

–Grabs attention quick

–Evokes an emotional connection

–Immediate impact

–Engages audience

–Sparks curiosity and conversation

–Functionally efficient use of space

Content Heavy:

–Inefficient use of medium

–Wordy and confusing

–Lacks grabbing power

–Low impact

–Weak emotional response

Wes Buchanan is an acclaimed graphic designer and the 2007 “Spirit of Advent” award winner.  His accolades include several “Teddy” awards for tradeshow booth design and innovation.  His creative mind and artistic hand have helped rapidly growing companies communicate the essence of their brand and vision through experiential marketing using exhibits, events, and office environments.  Based in Nashville, Advent is an industry leader with Fortune 500 clients like VF Corp and Mars, International.

Copperweld knew time was short, and didn’t know if a custom exhibit design was still a possibility. Adding to an already short time frame, the contacts for this project were mostly in the UK and Germany.  We could only communicate through email a couple times a day because of the time difference. Graphic approval was especially difficult to keep on schedule.  Rushing the setup of international shipping was also a challenge. From clearances to commercial invoices, it was like learning a new language. 

Advent kept a tight schedule and delivered the custom exhibit on time to the show in Germany.  The client was pleased with the end results, despite the challenges of such a quick-turnaround.